On the Nobel Prize....
December 8, 2023 - Narges Mohammadi deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. The Peace Prize doesn't deserve her.
Happy Hanukkah!
What are your favorites for 2023? We’ll have our book list out soon. In the meantime, kudos to Krista Parris, who is a producer for the documentary Stolen Youth. It made Vanity Fair’s top TV for 2023. Check it out.
Onto our column…..
On Sunday, December 10, the Nobel Peace Prize Award ceremony will take place in Oslo, Norway1. Absent from the ceremony on Sunday will be the prize’s recipient: Narges Mohammadi.
Mohammadi is a human rights activist and a feminist advocate in Iran. She is the co-director of the Defenders of Human Rights Center, an organization founded by another Nobel Laureate, Shirin Ebadi, who won the prize in 2003. Mohammadi is currently in Iran’s infamous Evin prison for allegedly using propaganda to undermine the Iranian government.
The Nobel committee noted that she won “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.” On hearing the announcement, Mohammadi noted that “the name Mahsa Jina Amini emerged from the depths of my being.”
In 2022, Iran’s morality police arrested Mahsa Amini for not properly wearing the Islamic head covering, the hijab. She died in custody, sparking country-wide protests against the government. Hundreds of thousands, angry not only about Amini’s death but increased oppression and decline in living standards, turned out for these protests. It is no coincidence that Mohammadi won the Nobel Peace Prize this year. And that’s the problem.
Mohammadi’s prize is well deserved. At the same time, it is political grandstanding — an opportunity to point out the Iranian regime’s brutality. It is also virtue signaling, which is something the West is prone to do when it comes to Muslim women.
Iran’s regime is brutal. Its treatment of women is unconscionable, particularly when it comes to dress codes, freedom of movement, and opportunity. Yet, Iran is not the only place where women are oppressed. As Zeynep Tüfekçi points out, there are female activists in Saudi Arabia who “have fought against gender oppression and been imprisoned, restrained, and silenced.”
But Saudi Arabia is key to Western interests in the Middle East.
Tüfekçi notes:
When a great Western institution condemns Iran and overlooks repression by its neighbors, reactionaries in the region can use this selectivity to paint those struggling for women’s rights as mere policy pawns for Western interests. The very prize that’s supposed to recognize the cause of these brave women instead ends up as a symbol of Western indifference, hypocrisy and selective interest.
Selective interest is a point that Lila Abu Lughod makes in her work. Lughod, an anthropologist, is the author of Do Muslim Women Need Saving? In a piece she penned for Time, she notes:
“Western notions of human rights can be credited for the hope for a better world for all women. But I suspect that the deep moral conviction people feel about the rightness of saving the women of that timeless homogeneous mythical place called Islamland is fed by something else that cannot be separated from our current geopolitical relations.”
She notes that the West reduces “Muslim women to a stereotyped singularity” that is easily used to justify policies and actions in the Middle East. Take Afghanistan. In 2001, George W. Bush defended his war on terror and invasion of the country as also being a “fight for the rights and dignity of women.” Ask Afghan women how that worked out for them.
Let us celebrate Mohammadi and her tireless efforts not only on behalf of women in Iran but for human rights overall. Let us also keep in mind that women are not a singularity. Women can be religious, secular, liberal, conservative — a multitude of possibilities. Stop treating women as a tool or a checkbox to advance an agenda. It is not only false, but dangerous. — Elmira
Elsewhere in the World.....
On our radar...
Speaking of dangerous, this week, the NYT reported that Israeli intelligence knew about Hamas’s plan well in advance.
Israel’s signals intelligence agency, warned that Hamas had conducted an intense, daylong training exercise that appeared similar to what was outlined in the blueprint.
But a colonel in the Gaza division brushed off her concerns, according to encrypted emails viewed by The Times.
“I utterly refute that the scenario is imaginary,” the analyst wrote in the email exchanges. The Hamas training exercise, she said, fully matched “the content of Jericho Wall.”
“It is a plan designed to start a war,” she added. “It’s not just a raid on a village.”
In a new book, The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA, Liz Mundy writes about how women at the CIA warned superiors about Al Qaeda and the threat the group posed to the US before 9/11. They were all dismissed as “girls.”
Israel-Palestine
The conversation around Israel-Palestine is emotionally charged, with lots of perspectives but few people listening and engaged in dialogue. This conversation between Keren Yarhi-Milo and Amaney Jamal is worthwhile. (And also a case for a feminist foreign policy) (Columbia University - SIPA)
Rape as a tool of war needs to be condemned, in every instance. Dahlia Lithwick, Mimi Rocah, Tamara Sepper, Jennifer Taub, Joyce White Vance, and Julie Zebrak on the need to show up for Israeli victims of rape. (Slate)
Israel’s assault on Gaza is overwhelming. Djaouida Siaci argues that it violates the Genocide Convention, which Israel is a party to. Time to take the country to the International Court of Justice. (Middle East Eye)
Listen: What does the phrase "From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free" really mean? Maha Nassar breaks it down in conversation with Yara Hawari. (Rethinking Palestine)
Cop28
Sigh. An oil executive is leading the UN Climate Summit in Dubai. Yeah, it’s going as well as you think, writes Li Zhou. (Vox)
Also, he mansplained his there is “no science” behind fossil fuels to Mary Robinson, which is just 🤬. Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath and Andrew Freedman on Al Gore’s defense of the former Irish president. (Axios)
Organizers put together a day that looks at the health impacts of climate change. Rising temperatures are causing heat waves, an increase in the spread of infectious diseases, and impacts food supplies and access. All of it is contributing to worsening health and even causing an increase in death. Carissa Wong offers some visuals that will blow your mind (and not in the good way). (Nature)
Let’s accelerate the global green energy transition, says Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock. To start, break out the checkbooks and invest in climate partnerships. (South China Morning Post)
In other news….
There are 28 countries that do not have laws against domestic violence. In 68 countries, women do not have the same rights as men to marry. In 43 countries, there is no legal protection against sexual harassment in the workplace. Women make up only 12 percent of AI researchers. Read the rest in this 50 of the World’s Most Sexist Laws, Policies, and Norms Report - it’s jaw dropping. (UN Foundation)
With the EU Artificial Intelligence Act in its final stages of negotiation, Ella Jakubowska wonders how effective the EU’s regulations will be and who will enforce them. The result may contribute to the already widening imbalance between states and people. (Euronews)
One billion people live with disabilities worldwide. Despite this, they're often excluded from human rights conversations. Shantha Rau Barriga says the disability rights movement, championing "nothing without us," demands inclusion in decision-making. (Open Global Rights)
US
Authoritarian regimes are aligning against western democracies. US Congress is stalling on funding Ukraine and other national security priorities. That is dangerous for democracy overall, writes Liz Schrayer. (The Hill)
Once upon a time, the GOP “had an international vision,” writes Kori Schake. It advanced free trade, opposed authoritarianism, and promoted democracy around the world. Today, half of the Republican party wants to suspend aid to Ukraine. (This week they did block aid to the country). Schake makes the case for conservative internationalism. (Foreign Affairs)
Legislators across the US need to strengthen protections for transgender people, particularly Black and Brown trans women. This is especially important as violence against the LGBTQ+ community is on the rise, writes Bria Nelson. (HRW)
US elections have long been contentious and tense but next year’s presidential race has reached a new level of intensity. As Biden and Trump go head to head, it seems that a war on disinformation is what election officials and administrators are fighting, says Allison Mollenkamp. (Just Security)
Africa
This is why you need to have women at the table. Marthe Wandu, Esther Omam, and Sally Mboumien are a part of the 1st National Women’s Convention for Peace in Cameroon. Created in 2021 with an eye to ending fighting and advocating for women and children in the west African nation, it was awarded the 2023 German Africa Prize. Silja Frohlich and Eyong Blaise bring us their story. (DW)
Asia
Last week, US officials announced that it had foiled an attempted assassination of a Sikh activist in New York. The assassin: the Indian government. It follows this past September’s diplomatic row between Canada and India, after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Narendra Modi’s government of murdering a Sikh Canadian leader. Why is the Indian government targeting Sikhs? Gunisha Kaur and Simran Jeet Singh explain. (Time)
EU leaders are in Beijing for the EU-China Summit. Trade and Ukraine are high on the agenda. Will Xi Jinping listen to European concerns and work to resolve them? Simone McCarthy discusses. (CNN)
Listen: Chinese feminist stand up? You bet. As Xi Jinping’s government clamps down on feminists and propagates its “leftover women” campaign to shame women into having children, many Chinese women are leaving. Alice Su found them at a comedy club in NYC where they regularly meet and engage in comedy. (Drum Tower)
Australia may have signed on to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples but does not seem to be keen on implementing it. Lidia Thorpe says that it is time to put the framework into law. (The Guardian)
The Americas
Venezuela and Guyana are locked in a territorial dispute over an area where oil and gas have been discovered. Last weekend, Venezuela held a referendum on whether the country should reclaim rights over the territory. It passed, but voter turnout was abysmally low. Julia Symmes Cobb dives into the details of the dispute. (Reuters)
The Inter-American Dialogue and Global Americans hosted Ecuadorian President-elect Daniel Noboa. The young president-to-be is ambitious and is hoping to address the nation’s socio-economic problems on every level. Bernada Jarrin sums up his points here. (The Dialogue)
A case for strengthening ties between Latin America and Africa: Andrea Ordóñez breaks down the importance of a unified regional approach. (Americas Quarterly)
Middle East
44 years after the Iran Revolution, violence – physical, legal, and social, still exists against women, writes Haleh Esfandiari. The government treats women as second-class citizens and suspends its Family Protection Law, a law code that protects women from child marriage and divorce rights. (Wilson Center)
Egypt holds presidential elections on Sunday. Nabila El-Gaafary on how the results are a “foregone conclusion” under Sisi’s dictatorial rule. (The New Arab)
Europe
Thousands turned out for Giulia Cecchetin’s funeral in Rome. The 22-year old was murdered by her ex-boyfriend. Anna Manzon on the call to take action against femicide in Italy, which many funeral attendants say is “not a country for women.” (Balkan Insight)
Giulia Cecchetin’s father is calling on men to be “agents of change against gender violence,” writes Colleen Barry. (AP)
Russia’s supreme court labeled the international LGBTQ movement an extremist organization. Ellen Ioanes explains this is part of Putin’s strategy to paint himself as Russia’s protector against western immorality. (Vox)
Putin's narrative portrays ex-Soviet states as submissive, framing Ukraine's Western aspirations as a threat to Russian identity. Julia Khrebtan-Hörhager writes that this cultural division creates a dichotomy of "us" versus "them." (The Conversation)
History always oscillates with the politics of the day, says Anna Zacharias in her recent report. Nearly a hundred years after the Ireland Civil War, historians began to question the received narratives of the war. (New Lines Magazine)
Technology
In his recent visit to Vietnam for an artificial intelligence conference, OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman said the organization is rethinking its hybrid profit-and-nonprofit corporate structure. Lien Hoang with more. (Nikkei Asia)
Links We Loved....
This is an Instagram account we can get excited about. Chris Judge started A Daily Cloud during the pandemic. It has become a thing.
Step up your latke game with these recipes.
We heard a lot about COP28, but what can we expect out of it? This podcast (conducted by four female experts in the field!) explains the ambitions of the recent summit.
Taylor Swift is Time’s Person of the Year for 2023! (We don’t know how to feel about that…..)
Opportunities
Global advisory firm Teneo is hiring for a number of positions, worldwide. You get to work with the amazing Naureen Kabir.
The Young Professionals in Foreign Policy is taking applications for its Rising Experts Program thru December 19.
Editorial Team
Elmira Bayrasli - Editor-in-Chief
Editors:
Pin-Shan Lai
Catherine Lovizio
Maya Scott
Emily Smith
It is the date that the founder of the prize, Alfred Nobel, passed away. Coincidentally, it is also Human Rights Day. On December 10, 1948, the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (Look at all the things you learn here. You’re welcome.)