Greta Thunberg Nominated For Nobel Peace Prize

Two members of the Swedish Parliament have nominated 17-year-old Greta Thunberg for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. Jens Holm and Hakan Svenneling submitted her name just prior the expiration of the nominating period at midnight on January 31. Last year, she was nominated by a Norwegian legislator. According to the rules of the Nobel Prize committee, any “members of national assemblies and national governments (cabinet members/ministers) of sovereign states as well as current heads of states” are eligible to make nominations.

The Nobel Prize committee does not publish the nominees prior to that announcement of the award, but it is known that a member of the Norwegian legislator has nominated the people of Hong Kong for their valiant resistance to totalitarianism by the Chinese government. The representative, Guri Melby of Oslo, said in a statement supporting her nomination, “I have nominated the people of Hong Kong, who risk their lives and security every day to stand up for freedom of speech and basic democracy, to the Nobel Peace Prize for 2020. I hope this will be further encouragement to the movement: #StandWithHongKong.”

Holm and Svenneling tell the Associated Press, Thunberg “has worked hard to make politicians open their eyes to the climate crisis” and “action for reducing our emissions and complying with the Paris Agreement is therefore also an act of making peace.”

Indeed she has. AP notes what began as a lonely vigil by the Swedish teenager in front of the Swedish Parliament three years ago has inspired millions of people around the world to join protests demanding faster action on climate change. She is the founder of the Fridays for Future movement that has inspired similar protests by large numbers of young students who believe adults are moving much too slowly to address global warming.

Last September, she delivered a strongly worded speech to the UN Climate Action Summit in New York City in which she said, “How dare you! You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.” And she famously stared down America’s now impeached president outside the building. For that courageous act alone, she deserves to win this year’s Peace Prize.