BLOGS

James Carter, the 39th President of the United States, https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/james-carter/

Topics: Civics, Civil Rights, Civilization, Climate Change, Democracy, Education, Existentialism, Nobel Peace Prize, Nuclear Power

James Earl Carter Jr. was the 39^th President of the United States. In 1980, I voted for the first time as an eighteen-year-old for his re-election. He lost to Reagan, the “Gipper,” who launched his presidential campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi, blocks from the assassination of voting rights activists Cheney, Goodman, and Schwerner by domestic terrorists in white robes,[1] and the first uttered promise by a political candidate to “make America great again,” without defining “when” greatness was, or how he would bring it about. It has recently been revealed (long suspected) that his operatives had a secret deal with Iran to hold the hostages until after the election was “won,” then miraculously release them after Reagan’s inauguration.[2] He was the first president to comment on the climate crisis and put solar panels on the White House roof. His successor, safely in the pockets of the fossil fuels industry, promptly took them off and forgot about the crisis.[3]

Carter was an Annapolis Naval Graduate, and a Nuclear Engineer (I did wince at his southern pronunciation: “new que lure”). He rappelled into a nuclear reactor after a meltdown and lived to a hundred to tell about it.[4] Jimmy Carter negotiated peace between Egypt and Israel at Camp David in 1978, two years before I voted for him, and the year I received my driver’s license (that I am scheduled to renew this summer). He is the reason that we ratified the Panama Canal treaties. He established full-diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China and negotiated the SALT II Treaty with Russia (important in the Cold War/M.A.D. era). He is the reason we HAVE a Department of Education. You can see why I was proud to vote for him.

His post-presidency was astonishingly productive. He witnessed over 100 elections promoting democracy around the world. He and his wife Rosalyn built up to 1,000 homes through Habitat For Humanity. He won the Nobel Peace Prize “for work to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” In addition to all of that, he still managed to teach Sunday School at Maranatha Baptist Church in Georgia. Jimmy Carter, a one-term president, and the longest-lived ex-president, was the backlash to Watergate.[5]

The Nixon administration years brought us Watergate and the lack of trust in our institutions, which we currently still endure today. It started with his first Vice President, Spiro Agnew, accepting bags of money in the White House (as he had as Maryland’s governor),[6] Richard Nixon’s departure before impeachment and removal, and his pardon by his unelected Vice President, Gerald Ford, which gave a green light for future presidents to skirt the law.[7] He colluded with a foreign power to win an election before collusion was “cool.”[8]

If history is not propagandized, obfuscated, or “banned” beyond this moment, Jimmy Carter will go down as our only authentically Christian president. I say authentic versus “cultural,” now used to describe people who like the ritual, music, and customs around holidays (Christmas just concluded, unless you include Epiphany), but may be non-practicing, non-theist, apathetic, trans-theist, deist, pantheist, or atheist, like Richard Dawkins,[9] of “The God Delusion.” For Jimmy Carter, God was no delusion. He walked out his faith, while other politicians memorized scriptures to spout from podiums.

He was our first openly Evangelical Christian President, and it’s why politicos like Michelle Bachmann supported him initially. He ran afoul of the religious right when he applied federal law and the Bible against Bob Jones University for their anti-miscegenation (“interracial dating” and generally not wanting African Americans as students – old school terminology).[10] The right pivoted to a B-Movie actor who could “act” presidential but showed zero interest in being of intellectual heft to BE presidential. Hence, a former reality show host isn’t much of a departure from the Reagan model.

They’ve never been about that “Jesus’ life.” Jimmy Carter always was.

Godspeed Jimmy, to Rosalyn’s arms.

[1] Aug. 3, 1980: Reagan Gives “State’s Rights” Speech at Neshoba County Fair, Zinn Education Project, https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/reagan-speech-at-neshoba/

[2] Expert analyzes new account of GOP deal that used Iran hostage crisis for gain, PBS News Weekend, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/expert-analyzes-new-account-of-gop-deal-that-used-iran-hostage-crisis-for-gain

[3] Where Did the Carter White House's Solar Panels Go? David Biello, Scientific American, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/carter-white-house-solar-panel-array/

[4] How Jimmy Carter Saved a Canadian Nuclear Reactor After a Meltdown, Blake Stilwell, Military.com, https://www.military.com/history/how-jimmy-carter-saved-canadian-nuclear-reactor-after-meltdown.html

[5] James Carter, 39^th President of the United States, https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/james-carter/

[6] Spiro Agnew and “Bagman,” https://www.southplattesentinel.com/2019/02/26/spiro-agnew-and-bagman/

[7] Watergate Scandal, Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/event/Watergate-Scandal

[8] When a Candidate Conspired With a Foreign Power to Win An Election, John A. Farrell, Politico, https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/08/06/nixon-vietnam-candidate-conspired-with-foreign-power-win-election-215461/

[9] Richard Dawkins, a “Cultural Christian,” John Stonestreet, Breaking Point, https://www.breakpoint.org/richard-dawkins-a-cultural-christian/

[10] The Real Origins of the Religious Right, Randall Balmer, Politico, https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/religious-right-real-origins-107133/

Topics: Existentialism, Nobel Laureate, Nobel Peace Prize

Press release. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2023. Fri. 6 Oct 2023. < https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2023/press-release/ >

Narges Mohammadi is a woman, a human rights advocate, and a freedom fighter. Her brave struggle for freedom of expression and the right to independence has come with tremendous personal costs. Altogether, the regime in Iran has arrested her 13 times, convicted her five times, and sentenced her to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes.

Narges Mohammadi is still in prison.

Announcement

“Zan – Zendegi – Azadi”
“Woman – Life – Freedom”

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2023 to Narges Mohammadi for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all. Her brave struggle has come with tremendous personal costs. Altogether, the regime has arrested her 13 times, convicted her five times, and sentenced her to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes. Ms Mohammadi is still in prison as I speak.

In September 2022, a young Kurdish woman, Mahsa Jina Amini, was killed while in the custody of the Iranian morality police. Her killing triggered the largest political demonstrations against Iran’s theocratic regime since it came to power in 1979. Under the slogan “Woman – Life – Freedom”, hundreds of thousands of Iranians took part in peaceful protests against the authorities’ brutality and oppression of women. The regime cracked down hard on the protests: more than 500 demonstrators were killed. Thousands were injured, including many who were blinded by rubber bullets fired by the police. At least 20,000 people were arrested and held in regime custody.

The motto adopted by the demonstrators – “Woman – Life – Freedom” – suitably expresses the dedication and work of Narges Mohammadi.

Woman. She fights for women against systematic discrimination and oppression.

Life. She supports women’s struggle for the right to live full and dignified lives. This struggle across Iran has been met with persecution, imprisonment, torture, and even death.

Freedom. She fights for freedom of expression and the right to independence and against rules requiring women to remain out of sight and to cover their bodies. The freedom demands expressed by demonstrators apply not only to women but to the entire population.

In the 1990s, as a young physics student, Narges Mohammadi was already distinguishing herself as an advocate for equality and women’s rights. After concluding her studies, she worked as an engineer as well as a columnist in various reform-minded newspapers. In 2003 she became involved with the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Tehran, an organization founded by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi. In 2011, Ms. Mohammadi was arrested for the first time and sentenced to many years of imprisonment for her efforts to assist incarcerated activists and their families.

Two years later, after her release on bail, Ms Mohammadi immersed herself in a campaign against the use of the death penalty. Iran has long been among the countries that execute the highest proportion of their inhabitants annually. Just since January 2022, more than 860 prisoners have been punished by death in Iran.

Her activism against the death penalty led to the re-arrest of Ms Mohammadi in 2015 and to a sentence of additional years behind walls. Upon her return to prison, she began opposing the regime’s systematic use of torture and sexualized violence against political prisoners, especially women, that is practiced in Iranian prisons.

Last year’s wave of protests became known to the political prisoners held inside the notorious Evin prison in Tehran. Once again, Ms Mohammadi assumed leadership. From prison, she expressed support for the demonstrators and organized solidarity actions among her fellow inmates. The prison authorities responded by imposing even stricter conditions. Ms Mohammadi was prohibited from receiving calls and visitors. She nevertheless managed to smuggle out an article that the New York Times published on the one-year anniversary of Mahsa Jina Amini’s killing. The message was: “The more of us they lock up, the stronger we become.” From captivity, Ms Mohammadi has helped to ensure that the protests have not ebbed out.

Narges Mohammadi is a woman, a human rights advocate, and a freedom fighter. In awarding her this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to honor her courageous fight for human rights, freedom, and democracy in Iran. This year’s Peace Prize also recognizes the hundreds of thousands of people who, in the preceding year, have demonstrated against the theocratic regime’s policies of discrimination and oppression targeting women. Only by embracing equal rights for all can the world achieve the fraternity between nations that Alfred Nobel sought to promote. The award to Narges Mohammadi follows a long tradition in which the Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded the Peace Prize to those working to advance social justice, human rights, and democracy. These are important preconditions for lasting peace.

Oslo, 6 October 2023

Topics: Democracy, Existentialism, Fascism, Nobel Laureate, Nobel Peace Prize

The 2022 Peace Prize is awarded to human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the Russian human rights organization Memorial, and the Ukrainian human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties.

The Peace Prize laureates represent civil society in their home countries. They have for many years promoted the right to criticize power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens. They have made an outstanding effort to document war crimes, human rights abuses, and the abuse of power. Together they demonstrate the significance of civil society for peace and democracy.

The Nobel Peace Prize 2022. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2022. Fri. 7 Oct 2022. < https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2022/summary/ >

An appropriate symbol for the Nobel Peace Prize. There are many worthy others, of course.

Topics: Existentialism, Nobel Peace Prize

“We must either learn to live together as brothers, or we are going to die together as fools.”

― Martin Luther King Jr.

See Also. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Media AB 2020. Fri. 9 Oct 2020. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1964/king/facts/

Announcement
The need for international solidarity and multilateral cooperation is more conspicuous than ever. The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2020 to the World Food Programme (WFP) for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas, and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.

The World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger and promoting food security. In 2019, the WFP provided assistance to close to 100 million people in 88 countries who are victims of acute food insecurity and hunger. In 2015, eradicating hunger was adopted as one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The WFP is the UN’s primary instrument for realizing this goal. In recent years, the situation has taken a negative turn. In 2019, 135 million people suffered from acute hunger, the highest number in many years. Most of the increase was caused by war and armed conflict.

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2020. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Media AB 2020. Fri. 9 Oct 2020. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2020/press-release/>