There is hectic activity inside the office of the South Asia coordinator for the initiative, ‘1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005’. The over one year of intense work on the project is culminating in a press conference on June 29. “The Nobel Peace Prize to a thousand women jointly!” That is how most people have reacted upon hearing it for the first time.Women and men from the media walk in and out of the office. Everybody wants to get the full story as questions are asked and answered excitedly. The coordinator is not tired of answering them. There is a special glow on her face as we all watch the idea which started off with nothing but determination, take this decisive shape today. However, there is an embargo on revealing the names to the press just yet; that would be done only at the press conference. Everyone is especially curious about the names of the 92 nominees from India — which is the highest from any one country.Similar meetings are going on in several cities in India and many other locations in different parts of the world. Yes, this year the Nobel Peace Prize does stand the possibility of being given to a 1000 women jointly, from all over the globe. This is undoubtedly one of the most innovative projects of recent times. It was the brainchild of Dr Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold, member of the Swiss National Council in Berne and of the European Council in Strasbourg. The idea has been relentlessly pursued by 20 coordinators from over 150 countries since then.The initiative makes a few critical points. It redefines “peace” by saying that peace is not the absence of war; and broadens its definition by including every kind of human security as something that leads up to peace. The initiative propagates the concept of peace within the home, outside the house, in the country, and in the world. Further, it underlines that peace cannot be achieved by the work of one person alone, it needs the engagement of millions working at various levels; those 1000 nominations this year is therefore symbolic of the idea.It is interesting to note that the Nobel Peace Prize that was instituted in 1905, has been awarded to women only 12 times in more than a hundred years. Therefore the project is also to identify and honour the work of thousands of women leaders who have spent their lives in crusading for a “just” peace without the world knowing about them.The idea and the names of the nominees have been submitted to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in Oslo and the nominations have been accepted by the Committee. Come October and we shall know their verdict. But the verdict of the common people is clear: for the people, these women are heroes in their regions, who have added a dimension of security to their lives.
