Broadly speaking, the Nobel Prize celebrate efforts to make the world a better place.
So, of course, there are gonna be haters.
News that pro-democracy activists Joshua Wong, Nathan Law, Alex Chow, along with the the entire Umbrella Movement, have been nominated for the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize was welcomed by many.
Some were predictably less pleased.
First up, we have the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB).
Chairwoman of the pro-Beijing party, Starry Lee claimed the nomination, by a bipartisan group of US congressmen, would harm Hong Kong’s relationship mainland China.
“The whole Occupy Central movement did not have any actual help in pushing forward Hong Kong democracy,” she said, according to RTHK.
“We all know that the way for us to have more room under One Country, Two Systems is to build mutual respect. Do you think this action will help to build mutual respect? I don’t think so.”
Sure, it’s understandable that the pro-establishment camp remain dismayed by the 2014 movement, which saw tens of thousands of people bring parts of Hong Kong to a stand still to demand a free election of the city’s leader.
But in hearing the news of the nomination, one pro-Beijing figure was downright furious.
Ben Chan, another DAB lawmaker, took to Facebook to vent, invoking the name of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish scientist, who bequeathed his fortune to institute the Nobel Prizes.
“This is an insult to Nobel and devalues the Nobel Prize,” Chan wrote.
“If ‘Mr Nobel’ were alive, blood would be spilled and the peace prize would be cancelled immediately!”
Funnily enough, it was because of spilled blood that Nobel decided to institute the prizes in the first place, specifically to atone for his legacy of destruction as the inventor of dynamite and producer of weapons.
But anyway.
In their nomination, the 12 US Congress members praised the Hong Kong protesters’ courage in standing up to the Chinese government and pushing democratic reform despite “harassment, threats, detention, and legal and financial repercussions.”
Dozens of protesters, including Wong, Law and Chow, have since been prosecuted for their involvement in the demonstrations, which lasted 79 days.
According to the Nobel Prize website: “A nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize may be submitted by any person who meets the nomination criteria.”
Qualified nominators, among others, include elected representatives, government cabinet members, university professors, members of the International Court of Justice, former recipients, and current and former members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
The next Peace Prize will be handed out in December.
But perhaps the pro-Beijing camp will be more excited about China’s ‘Nobel Peace Prize alternative’ the Confucius Peace Prize, that way they can cheer for people who have worked to undermine democracy, like recent nominee Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte.
