Dean Adil Najam on NPR on Nobel Peace Prize 2014
Dean Adil Najam of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston Univeristy was invited by the National Public Radio show All Things Considered to comment on the choice made by the Nobel Committee for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.
This year’s prize was shared by 17-year old education activist Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan and 60-year old child-servitude activist Kailash Satyarthi of India.
Prof. Adil Najam said that the Nobel Committee had made an “excellent choice” and has sent forth the message “that we have to give dignity to every child in every stage in her or his life.” This, he said, is “the message of both of Kailash and Malala.”
Dean Adil Najam went on to say:
“I think that the Committee is making a very important connection. And the connection they’re making is that it is society’s responsibility to give the options of a dignified life to every child. And to give the options to every parent that they don’t have to make the type of choices that puts their own child’s life in peril. That’s what Malala has been saying… And that’s, in many ways, what Kailash is saying. That children should not be working in conditions that are subhuman. They should not be in conditions that are slavery-like. And the way out of that is education. That’s the link.”
You can listen to and read transcript of the full interview here.
Earlier, just over a year ago, Dr. Najam had written an OpEd (October 5, 2013) making a case for why Malala Yousufzai should be given the Nobel award. In that, he had argued:
The Taliban had shot at her with bullets to silence her… She had shot back with words of conviction, nerves of steel, grace under pressure, and a generosity of heart that stunned even her admirers and shamed her antagonists. She emerged as the clear victor… Those who had wished to silence Malala Yousufzai, instead gave her a new, stronger, more vigorous voice.
Malala’s is clearly a story of courage and grace. But the Nobel Peace Prize is not an award for valour… The Nobel award should be given to her not because of what happened to her on that cursed October day, but rather for what she stands for… An award for Malala would be a celebration of the idea that education is the best answer, maybe the only answer. That education is worth fighting for. That education is the only way to win.
Read the full OpEd, “Nobel for Malala” (The News, October 5, 2013) here.
Prof. Adil Najam was part of the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) team that wrote the third and fourth IPCC Assessment Reports, work for which the IPCC was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.