by WarIsACrime.org
U.S.
whistleblower and international hero Bradley Manning has just been
awarded the 2013 Sean MacBride Peace Award by the International Peace
Bureau, itself a former recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, for which
Manning is a nominee this year.
A petition supporting Manning for the Nobel Peace Prize has gathered 88,000 sinatures, many of them with comments, and is aiming for 100,000 before delivering it to the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo. Anyone can sign and add their comments at ManningNobel.org
The International Peace Bureau (IPB) represents 320 organizations in 70 countries. It was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1910. Over the years, 13 of IPB's officers have been Nobel Peace laureates. See ipb.org
The Sean MacBride prize has been awarded each year since 1992 by the International Peace Bureau, founded in 1892. Previous winners include: Lina Ben Mhenni (Tunisian blogger) and Nawal El-Sadaawi (Egyptian author) - 2012, Jackie Cabasso (USA, 2008), Jayantha Dhanapala (Sri Lanka, 2007) and the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (2006). It is named after Sean MacBride, a distinguished Irish statesman who shared the 1974 Nobel Peace Prize, and is given to individuals or organisations for their outstanding work for peace, disarmament and human rights.
The medal is made of "peace bronze," a material created out of disarmed and recycled nuclear weapons systems, by fromwartopeace.com The prize will be formally awarded on Sept. 14 in Stockholm, at a special evening on whistleblowing, which forms part of the triennial gathering of the International Peace Bureau. See brochure at: PDF.
by WarIsACrime.org
IPB's Co-President Tomas Magnusson said, "IPB
believes that among the very highest moral duties of a citizen is to
make known war crimes and crimes against humanity. This is within the
broad meaning of the Nuremberg Principles enunciated at the end of the
Second World War. When Manning revealed to the world the crimes being
committed by the U.S. military he did so as an act of obedience to this
high moral duty. It is for this reason too that Manning has also been
nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. In more general terms it is well
known that war operations, and especially illegal ones, are frequently
conducted under the cover of secrecy. To penetrate this wall of secrecy
by revealing information that should be accessible to all is an
important contribution to the struggle against war, and acts as a
challenge to the military system which dominates both the economy and
society in today's world. IPB believes that whistleblowers are vital in
upholding democracies - especially in the area of defense and security. A
heavy sentence for Manning would not only be unjust but would also have
very negative effects on the right to freedom of expression which the
U.S. claims to uphold."
Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire recently wrote: "I
have chosen to nominate U.S. Army Pfc Bradley Manning, for I can think
of no one more deserving. His incredible disclosure of secret documents
to Wikileaks helped end the Iraq War, and may have helped prevent
further conflicts elsewhere."
Maguire explains how far-reaching Manning's impact has been: "While
there is a legitimate and long-overdue movement for peace and
non-violent reform in Syria, the worst acts of violence are being
perpetrated by outside groups. Extremist groups from around the world
have converged upon Syria, bent on turning this conflict into one of
ideological hatred. In recent years this would have spelled an
undeniable formula for United States intervention. However, the world
has changed in the years since Manning's whistleblowing -- the Middle
East especially. In Bahrain, Tunisia, Egypt, and now Turkey, advocates
of democracy have joined together to fight against their own
governments' control of information, and used the free-flowing data of
social media to help build enormously successful non-violent movements.
Some activists of what has come to be known as the Arab Spring have even
directly credited Bradley Manning, and the information he disclosed, as an inspiration for their struggles.
".
. . If not for whistleblower Bradley Manning, the world still might not
know of how U.S. forces committed covert crimes in the name of
spreading democracy in Iraq . . . Now, those who would support foreign
intervention in the Middle East know that every action would be
scrutinized under international human rights law. Clearly, this is for
the best. International peacekeepers, as well as experts and civilians
inside Syria, are nearly unanimous in their view that United States
involvement would only worsen this conflict."
Won't you add your name to the petition now?
Mairead Maguire adds: "Around the world, Manning is hailed as a peacemaker and a hero. His
nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize is a reflection of this. Yet at
his home in America, Manning stands trial for charges of espionage and
'aiding the enemy'. This should not be considered a refutation of his
candidacy -- rather, he is in good company. Burmese politician
Aung San Suu Kyi and Chinese writer Liu Xiaobo were each awarded the
prize in recent years while imprisoned by their home countries."
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