The Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony distinguishes from other Nobel ceremonies and awards. In addition to another venue – Oslo, Norway, and not Stockholm, Sweden, this direction, unlike others, is less scientific and more political. This feature makes the award a clear political statement in the international arena. In particular, Liu Xiaobo, who could not attend the ceremony, a Chinese human rights defender detained by the authorities, was laureate in 2010 (Nobel Prize, 2011). Although Liu Xiaobo’s imprisonment by the Chinese government violates human rights, a speaker Jagland’s argument calling for democracy and rights support as the only path to peace may not be absolutely correct.
Communication Techniques
Political events, especially those involving a specific statement, should be organized carefully and competently, especially in communication. Using various techniques – verbal, non-verbal, and visual – the organizers presented their position on the achievements of laureate Liu Xiaobo. The analysis included the speech of the chairman Thorbjørn Jagland (‘The Nobel Peace Prize,’ 2010) and the comments of the announcer of the ceremony (Nobel Prize, 2011). Verbally they were tolerant and polite, which is typical of a political event of a high level. An important verbal part of the speech is a message that the speaker transmits (‘Elements of speech,’ n.d.). It is crucial that the speech was understandable and relevant, not overloaded with statistics, facts, and scientific concepts. The message of Thorbjørn Jagland consisted of few interrelated statements supporting Liu Xiaobo’s activities in the non-violent protection of human rights in China. He drew the audience’s attention to that achievements as human rights are always fought for and that human rights and democracy are prerequisites to peace.
Verbal as well as non-verbal communication was typical for the political situation. For example, non-verbally, the audience expressed support for the speaker’s words in the form of applause, and in the cases, everyone was self-controlled. However, the organizers paid much attention to visual communication in the ceremony. They even ensured that the decoration of the hall with flowers was part of communication. The compositions contained flowers belonging to the Four Gentlemen group, known as Four Noble Ones, important for Chinese culture (Nobel Prize, 2011; ‘Four Gentlemen,’ n.d.). Thus, verbal and visual techniques were most influential at the 2010 ceremony.
The chair left empty for Liu Xiaobo, where his medal and diploma were put, emphasizes the strong support for his activities once again. The laureate’s portrait, placed next to the chair, at a certain angle of view to the speaker, significantly strengthened the feeling of the presence of Liu Xiaobo. At the same time, the absence and presence of representatives of some countries conveyed a message about their attitude to the choice of the laureate.
Key Issues
The winner of the 2010 Nobel prize was a human rights activist, which became the central theme of the speaker’s speech. Liu Xiaobo was imprisoned due to Charter 08 written by Chinese dissidents (Nobel Prize, 2011). This manifesto called on the authorities of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to carry out political reforms and ensure citizens’ freedom of speech and other human rights (‘The Nobel Peace Prize,’ 2010). Due to human rights violations by China, in particular, the very detention of the laureate was a violation, Jagland wanted to highlight their importance. The speaker emphasized several times that human rights and democracy are the paths to peace and nations fraternity that Alfred Nobel bequeathed (‘The Nobel Peace Prize,’ 2010). Given that today the world is full of conflicts and problems even in democratic countries, some of his arguments can be questioned.
Democracy and liberalism have long been guiding principles for countries. However, more and more specialists are claiming their current decline (McKay, 2019; Peters and Besley, 2021). For example, according to Peters and Besley (2021), India abandoned democracy in favor of its interests. The primary democratic leader – the United States at the same time has significant problems with equality and the history of many conflicts in the 20-21st centuries, which destroys the reputation of democracy. Matthews (2019) believes that the reason for the problems is that governments act in the interests of political and economic elites, not the majority. The problem originates from the time of the concepts’ formation when only those who owned property were considered people (McKay, 2019). Moreover, there is a contradiction between capitalism and democracy since, without restrictions, capitalism will constantly challenge freedom and contribute to inequity (McKay, 2019). Thus, there are significant shortcomings in the existing political systems and concepts on which they are based, which require revision.
Reference List
Elements of speech communication (n.d.)
Four gentlemen (n.d.)
Matthews, T. (2019) To be equal and free: The nexus between human rights and democracy. Berlin: Heinrich Böll Foundation.
McKay, I. (2019) ‘Are we witnessing the death of liberal democracy?’, The Conversation.
Nobel Prize (2011) Nobel Peace Prize 2010 presentation speech.
Peters M. A. and Besley T. (2021) ‘Making democracy safe for the world? Philosophy of war, peace and democracy’, Educational Philosophy and Theory, pp. 1-4. doi: 10.1080/00131857.2021.1960503
The Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony 2010 (88 minutes) (2010).