{"id":125378,"date":"2019-01-07T12:00:08","date_gmt":"2019-01-07T12:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=125378"},"modified":"2019-01-04T14:52:52","modified_gmt":"2019-01-04T14:52:52","slug":"mairead-maguire-nominates-julian-assange-for-the-2019-nobel-peace-prize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/01\/mairead-maguire-nominates-julian-assange-for-the-2019-nobel-peace-prize\/","title":{"rendered":"Mairead Maguire Nominates Julian Assange for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>7 Jan 2019 \u2013 <\/em>Nobel Peace laureate Mairead Maguire wrote today to the Norwegian Nobel Committee nominating Julian Assange, Editor-in-Chief of WikiLeaks, for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize.<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Maguire wrote:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cJulian Assange and his colleagues in WikiLeaks have shown on numerous occasions that they are one of the last outlets of true democracy with their work for freedom of speech.\u00a0 Their work for true peace by making public our governments\u2019 actions at home and abroad has enlightened us to their atrocities carried out in the name of so-called democracy around the world.\u00a0 This included:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Footage of carnage perpetrated by NATO\/US military<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Release of email correspondence revealing conspiracy for regime change in Middle Eastern countries<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Elected officials paid to deceive the public<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>\u201cThis is a huge step in our work for disarmament and nonviolence worldwide. Julian Assange, fearing deportation to the U.S. to stand trial for treason, sought out asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in 2012.\u00a0\u00a0 Selflessly, he continues his work from there increasing the risk of his prosecution by the American government.\u00a0 In recent months the U.S. has increased pressure on the Ecuadorian government to take away what remains of his freedom.\u00a0 He is now prevented from having visitors, telephone calls or other electronic communications, thereby removing his basic human rights.\u00a0 This has put a great strain on Julian\u2019s mental and physical health.\u00a0 It is our duty as citizens to protect Julian\u2019s human rights and freedom of speech as he has fought for ours on a global stage.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cIt is my great fear that Julian, who is an innocent man, will be deported to the U.S. where he will face unjustified imprisonment.\u00a0 We have seen this happen to Chelsea (Bradley) Manning who allegedly supplied WikiLeaks with sensitive information from NATO\/US Middle Eastern wars and subsequently spent multiple years in solitary confinement in an American prison.\u00a0\u00a0 If the US succeeds in their plan to extradite Julian Assange to US to face a grand jury, this will silence journalists and whistle-blowers around the world in fear of dire repercussions.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cJulian Assange meets all criteria for the Nobel Peace Prize.\u00a0\u00a0 Through his release of hidden information to the public we are no longer na\u00efve to the atrocities of war, neither oblivious to the connections between big business and the acquisition of resources and spoils of war.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cAs his human rights and freedom are in jeopardy, the Nobel Peace Prize would afford Julian much greater protection from governments\u2019 forces. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cOver the years there have been controversies over the Nobel Peace Prize and some of those to whom it has been awarded.\u00a0 Sadly, I believe it has moved from its original intentions and meaning.\u00a0 It was Alfred Nobel\u2019s will that the prize would support and protect individuals at threat from government forces in their fight for nonviolence and peace, by bringing awareness to their precarious situations.\u00a0 Through awarding Julian Assange the Nobel Peace Prize, he and others like him will receive the protection they truly deserve.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cIt is my hope that by this we can rediscover the true definition of the Nobel Peace Prize.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI also call on all people to bring awareness to Julian\u2019s situation and support him in his struggle for basic human rights, freedom of speech, and peace.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/mairead_maguire.png\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-43678\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/mairead_maguire.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"280\" height=\"80\" \/><\/a><em>_________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Mairead-Maguire-e1536937113442.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-118576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Mairead-Maguire-e1536937113442.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"125\" \/><\/a><\/em><em>Mairead Corrigan Maguire, co-founder of <\/em>Peace People,<em> is a member of the <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/\" >TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment<\/a><em>. She won the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize for her work for peace in Northern Ireland. Her book <\/em>The Vision of Peace<em> (edited by John Dear, with a foreword by Desmond Tutu and a preface by the Dalai Lama) is available from <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.wipfandstock.com\/\" >www.wipfandstock.com<\/a>. She lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland. See: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.peacepeople.com\/\" >www.peacepeople.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">The Peace People<em> began in 1976 as a protest movement against the ongoing violence in Northern Ireland. Its three founders were Mairead Maguire, Betty Williams and Ciaran McKeown. Over 100,000 people were involved in the initial movement and two of the founders, Mairead and Betty, received the Nobel Peace Prize for that year. Since its inception, the organization has been committed to building a just, peaceful society through nonviolent means \u2013 a society based on respect for each individual, and that has at its core the highest standards of human and civil rights. <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.peacepeople.com\/\" >www.peacepeople.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>7 Jan 2019 \u2013 Nobel Peace laureate Mairead Maguire wrote today to the Norwegian Nobel Committee nominating Julian Assange, Editor-in-Chief of WikiLeaks, for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. Ms. Maguire wrote:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":118576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nobel-laureates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}