The “Nobel Peace Prize” Promotes US War Threats – Tjen Folket Media

Hereby we share an unofficial translation of an article by Tjen Folket Media, from Norway. Since we published this translation, there have been an amendment made to the original text, it is included below:

Correction: In the original text we wrote that “the peace price” is awarded by the Norwegian Parliament. However, it is awarded by a committee of 5 people (The Norwegian Nobel Committee) appointed by the Norwegian Parliament – mainly former politicians closely connected to the biggest bourgeois parties.

The awarding of the “Nobel Peace Prize” to María Corina Machado is sparking strong reactions internationally. At the same time as the US is attacking civilian boats off the coast of Venezuela and escalating war threats against Venezuela, the “peace prize” is being awarded to a politician who supports this aggression against her own country.

Last week, the Norwegian parliament awarded the “Nobel Peace Prize” to María Corina Machado. Machado is presented as an “opposition politician” working for democracy. However, several people point out that she is actually working for US imperialism’s plans for the country. She has given her support to the US “war on terror” in the Caribbean, which is now being used to attack Venezuelan civilian fishing boats. In 2002, she supported a coup attempt in the country against Hugo Chávez, carried out by forces in the country’s military who stated that they were acting with US support.

In response to the award, Venezuela has closed its embassy in Norway.

Several people have also pointed out that there was much debate beforehand about awarding US President Donald Trump the peace prize, which would have clearly sent very strange signals from the Nobel Institute, given the genocide against Palestinians, the war against Iran this summer summer, and several other wars. After Machado received the prize, she has expressed support for Trump several times and has dedicated the prize to him.

In connection to the award, it was claimed that Machado worked for a “peaceful transition to democracy”. However, this claim is in direct contradiction to Machado’s actions. Her support for Trump and his actions and interventions is in no way promoting democracy. Machado has even encouraged Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to bomb Venezuela and has given her support to Netanyahu’s genocide.

This awarding of the peace prize is a direct approval and encouragement to the US and Trump to continue escalating the intervention against Venezuela. It is an attempt to give legitimacy to intervention, attacks, invasion, and so-called “regime change”. This does not promote peace or democracy. So-called US attempts at “regime change” in Iraq, Afghanistan, and former Yugoslavia have killed hundreds of thousands in the last decade, and the struggle for democracy in these countries has suffered severe setbacks.

With this prize, Norwegian imperialism is promoting US imperialism’s interests and wars, and lending it indirect legitimacy as a so-called “neutral peace nation”. This is not the first time Norwegian imperialism has done this. One of the most obvious examples was the awarding of the peace prize to US President Obama in 2009, during the ongoing US occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, followed by much aggression in the coming years against Yemen, Syria, Libya, Somalia, and Pakistan.