Nuevas ideas para la paz y el Premio Internacional de la Paz Johan Galtung

Excepting the Nobel Peace Prize, most of the international peace prizes are little known; some are not even regularly awarded; and a number of these, including the Nobel Peace Prize, shows little appreciation for the role of peace educators and researchers in promoting peace and building peace in different parts of the world. The denial of Noble Peace Prize to peace academics like Richard Falk, Elise Boulding and Johan Galtung and several others is a reflection of its bias against peace thinkers, peace educators and peace researchers. Such a show of disrespect to the weavers of peace ideas, peace seeders, peace planters, and fosterers of peace movements negatively impacts the creation, flow and flourishing of new peace ideas. Emphasizing the need to build a fearless peace perspective on Gaza and on other conflicting issues, the present paper highlights the importance of new peace ideas in these dangerous times. In addition, it calls for an energetic role of the peace visionaries, peace educators and peace researchers in dealing with the challenges arising especially after the genocide in Gaza. In this context, it suggests the creation of a new peace prize, as prestigious as the Nobel Peace Prize, but more impactful. It further suggests that this prize should be named Johan Galtung International Peace Prize to memorialize Galtung’s contribution as a brilliant peace thinker and prolific peace scholar and to keep the succeeding generations informed about the grave injustice done to him by the Nobel Peace Prize, which denied this award to one of the most deserving candidates. This paper, which includes a brief appraisal of a few, indeed very few, international peace prizes currently being awarded, attempts to explore the prospects for the institution of a new international peace prize and seeks answer to questions like why should such a prize be called the Johan Galtung International Peace Prize, how can such a prize be instituted and how can this prize induce the peace educators and peace researchers to come out with new peace ideas in these tormenting times.