Dear Members of the
Norwegian Nobel Committee,
We wish to nominate Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning and Edward
Snowden for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize, in honor of their
unparalleled contributions to the pursuit of peace, and their
immense personal sacrifices to promote peace for all.
The year 2020 began with Julian Assange arbitrarily
detained and tortured, at risk of death according to the UN
Special Rapporteur on Torture and over 100 medical
doctors, for revealing the extent of harm and illegality behind
the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
2020 began with
Chelsea Manning in her second year of renewed imprisonment for
resisting to testify to a Grand Jury empanelled against Wikileaks,
after having also been imprisoned seven years previously and
tortured, following her disclosures that were published by
Julian Assange.
2020 began with
Edward Snowden in his 7th year of asylum for
revealing illegal mass surveillance, in defence of the liberties
underpinning revelations such as those made by Chelsea Manning
and Julian Assange.
The
Collateral Murder video, provided by Chelsea
Manning in 2010 and published by Wikileaks, honored the
dignity of those slain needlessly in war.
It gave names and
identities to victims whose humanity had been kept from public
view, capturing the last moments of life for a young Reuters
photojournalist,
Namir Noor-Eldeen.
Namir, who was killed
in cold blood while on assignment in Baghdad, was described by
his colleagues as among,
"the pre-eminent
war photographers in Iraq" with "a tender eye that brought
humanity via quiet moments to a vicious war".
For humanizing Namir
and his driver Saeed Chmagh, a father of four, slain in front of
two children who sat strafed with bullets in a van, Julian
Assange faces 175 years in a US prison under the 1917
Espionage Act, and Chelsea Manning is currently detained
without charge.
As well as humanizing innocent victims of war, in 2010 Julian
Assange and Wikileaks exposed the means by which public
abhorrence of killing is overcome, and peace subverted, by
psychological manipulation and strategic messaging.
In March 2010 the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
produced a memorandum, subsequently published by Wikileaks,
entitled, 'Afghanistan: Sustaining West European Support for the
NATO-led Mission-Why Counting on Apathy Might Not Be Enough.'
At the time of the memorandum, 80 percent of French and German
publics opposed greater troop deployment to Afghanistan.
The memo expressed
concern that public,
"indifference
might turn into active hostility if spring and summer
fighting results in an upsurge in military or Afghan
civilian casualties."
To overcome public
opposition to the "bloody summer" ahead, the memorandum advised
tailoring messages for French audiences that,
"could tap into
acute French concern for civilians and refugees," given that
French "opponents most commonly argued that the mission
hurts civilians."
"Appeals by President Obama and Afghan women might gain
traction" the memorandum added.
With respect to the
legalities of peace, Julian Assange and Wikileaks have
contributed to the historical record on the International
Criminal Court (ICC), established in 2002 under the Rome
Statute of 1998, to promote the,
"peace, security
and well-being of the world."
The ICC's mission was
to end impunity by prosecuting,
"the worst
atrocities known to mankind": war crimes, crimes against
humanity and the crime of genocide.
When the ICC's
enforcement capabilities were taking shape in the years
following its inception, cables published by WikiLeaks exposed
bilateral deals between nations under Article 98 of the Rome
Statute, in which states placed themselves outside the ICC's
jurisdiction.
The Article 98 deals
undercut the ICC's power to prosecute war crimes and other
internationally illegal obstacles to a peaceful world order.
Later, in 2013, when
Edward Snowden revealed the warrantless
mass-surveillance of citizens and officials worldwide, he
exposed an immense global network with the capability to
intercept and obstruct peace proponents such as Chelsea Manning
and Julian Assange.
Edward Snowden's
revelations have contributed to international investigations,
transparency initiatives and legislative reforms around the
globe.
These are but a selection of the contributions that Julian
Assange, Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden have made towards
pursuing and defending lasting peace.
Together, their actions have exposed the architecture of abuse
and war, and fortified the architecture of peace.
In return, all three
individuals have been forced to sacrifice the very liberties,
rights and human welfare that they worked so hard to defend.
A Nobel Peace Prize for Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning and
Edward Snowden would do more than honor their actions as
individuals.
It would ennoble the
risks and sacrifices that those pursuing peace so often
undertake, to secure the peace and freedom for all.
Sincerely,
Sevim Dağdelen Member of the German Bundestag
Doris Achelwilm Member of the German Bundestag
Diether Dehm Member of the German Bundestag
Sylvia Gabelmann Member of the German Bundestag
Heike Hänsel Member of the German Bundestag
Andrej Hunko Member of the German Bundestag
Ulla Jelpke Member of the German Bundestag
Jutta Krellmann Member of the German Bundestag
Fabio De Masi Member of the German Bundestag
Żaklin Nastić Member of the German Bundestag
Dr. Alexander S. Neu Member of the German Bundestag
Eva-Maria Schreiber Member of the German Bundestag
Alexander Ulrich Member of the German Bundestag
Kathrin Vogler Member of the German Bundestag
Andreas Wagner Member of the German Bundestag
Pia Zimmermann Member of the German Bundestag
Sabine Zimmermann Member of the German Bundestag.
