On Thursday 3rd November, Australia’s Father of Reconciliation and 2008 Recipient of the Sydney Peace Prize, Patrick Dodson, presented Prof Noam Chomsky with the Sydney Peace Prize at a Gala Dinner in the beautiful surrounds of the MacLaurin Hall, the University of Sydney.
I wish to draw attention to Professor Stuart Rees’ recent article on the ABC’s The Drum site on the 2nd of August 2011 http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/2821144.html , asking “Can critics write less aggressively about someone with whom they disagree?”, specifically about” critics of this year’s recipient of the Sydney Peace Prize, Professor Noam Chomsky.”
I find Prof Rees’ comments astounding!
I can’t believe that the learned Professor fails to recognise that the very act of awarding the “Sydney Peace Prize” to choices such as Chomsky, Desmond Tutu and especially Dr Hanan Ashwari and Robert Fisk is itself a ferociously aggressive statement.
The choice of these recipients is a slap in the face to many in Australian society and around the world and I’m not being precious here. The enemy of peace is belligerence., either with the sword or with the pen, or with the peace prize.
There are many, many people on this planet who are deserving of recognition as workers for peace and whose rewarding with an Australian peace prize would be lauded by all sides of the spectrum.
Why be deliberately belligerent and provocative? Why not actually choose peace and really be a peace foundation?
So whats your objection to the three recipients you mentioned?
Instead of Robert Fisk, I meant to add John Pilger. It’s easy to get them mixed up. Sorry.