Ian Bunn | Political & Popular Culture Arts

Tomas Magnusson the 62 year old Swedish co-president of the International Peace Bureau has published an article on the Inter Press Service titled ‘why isn’t the Nobel Peace Prize for the champions of peace? Magnusson states “Leaders of the European Union (EU) will gather … to receive an increasingly controversial Nobel Peace Prize. Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor and industrialist, established the five prizes by his will in 1895 and there is a growing international awareness that his prize “for the champions of peace” does not go to the recipients Nobel had in mind. …nowhere has the EU declared a political ambition to promote the global peace order of demilitarised nations that Nobel described with unmistakable clarity in his will. …Norwegian politicians are entitled to have their opinion on the EU as a contributor to “peace” and they are free to throw great parties for political friends. But they are not free to use the entrusted money and the prestige of the Nobel prizes to promote their own agendas. A will is a legally binding instrument, yet, in the last decade, the prize has become totally disconnected from Nobel’s disarmament purpose… …In the will, Nobel formulated his purpose in unmistakable terms: he wished to free the world from the scourge of militarism and wars and ensure that resources were used for the benefit of people rather than feeding the voracious appetite of arms races. Nobel gave his peace prize to the world, wishing to foster innovative changes that would “confer the greatest benefit on mankind”. …The legitimate Nobel winner should be an opponent rather than a proponent of military programmes and policies. The world spends exorbitant amounts on a busted model of security and an illusion that it can be achieved in confrontation rather than cooperation. To use the peace prize to promote the visionary peace plan of Nobel would be the best thing that could happen to the poor and unhappy of the world, to the environment, human rights, democracy, women and children, victims of war ¬ everywhere, every year.”

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Kenneth Saul Rogoff the 59 year old American Professor of Public Policy & Economics, and a chess Grandmaster has published an article on the Project Syndicate titled ‘Will Governmental Folly Now Allow for a Cyber Crisis?’ claiming most politicians are congenitally incapable of making difficult choices until risks actually materialise. In the article Rogoff states “When the financial crisis of 2008 hit, many shocked critics asked why markets, regulators and financial experts failed to see it coming. Today, one might ask the same question about the global economy’s vulnerability to cyber-attack. Indeed, the parallels between financial crises and the threat of cyber meltdowns are striking. Although the greatest cyber threat comes from rogue states with the capacity to develop extremely sophisticated computer viruses, risks can also come from anarchistic hackers and terrorists, or even from computer glitches compounded by natural catastrophe. …No economy is more vulnerable than the US, and it is arrogance to believe that US cyber superiority (to all except perhaps China) provides it with impenetrable security from attack. …Unfortunately the solution is not so simple as just building better anti-virus programmes. Virus protection and virus development constitute an uneven arms race. A virus can be just a couple hundred lines of computer code, compared to hundreds of thousands of lines for anti-virus programmes, which must be designed to detect wide classes of enemies. We are told not to worry about large-scale cyber meltdowns, because none has occurred, and governments are being vigilant.”

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Catherine Élise “Cate” Blanchett the 42 year old Australian actress, theatre director and ambassador for the Australian Conservation Foundation, has come under attack in a scare campaign from conservatives and climate change skeptics over her support of the proposed Australian Carbon Tax ‘Just Say Yes’ campaign. Blanchett appears in advertising for the campaign funded by a coalition of unions and green groups, and has been accused by conservative politicians of being a well paid actor engaging in gestures which will have no effect, failing to understand the plight of the poor who can’t afford their power bill. Blanchett responded to the criticisms with “I’m absolutely committed to supporting the action on climate change … it’s one of the greatest challenges we’re facing. It’s about the future generations, our children”.

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Xavier Ghazi the 60 year old French caricature artist living and working in Australia has won his fourth Bald Archy prize with his spoof art painting of Australian born bad boy WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The work is titled ‘Bad Ass-Ange’, depicting an over proportion headed Assange, with his trousers down to his ankles, and having a leak into Uncle Sam’s top hat ie “pissing off the empire”. The 2011 Bald Archy exhibition that began in Canberra the nation’s capital, is a competition of art works that make fun of Australian politicians, celebrities or other notoriety people with a prize of $5000 for the winning entry. The competition now in its 18th year is claimed to be judged by Maude, a sulphur crested cockatoo.

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