March 24, 2019
More than 40,000 sign petitions backing NZ Premier for Nobel Peace Prize
as NYT says "America Deserves a Leader as Good as Jacinda Ardern"
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
More than 40,000 people had by Sunday morning signed two petitions calling for New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to get the Nobel Peace Prize.
As Ardern has been widely praised for her leadership in response to last week’s terrorist attack on two Christchurch mosques, The New York Times has published an editorial, titled "America Deserves a Leader as Good as Jacinda Ardern."
A French petition for Ardern to the Norwegian Nobel Committe, which selects recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize each year, had garnered almost 3000 signatures by Saturday morning.
The change.org petition to the United Nations had more than36,000 signatures. It praised Ardern for her gun control action, getting the government to pay for the funerals of all 50 mosque shooting victims, for dressing in black and wearing a hijab when meeting victims' families and for hugging them. The petition states:
"If a Nobel Prize for Peace could be given to a spontaneous statement for wisdom and courage, rather to a person, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern deserves it.
"... Her strong leadership after the shootings in Christchurch, the first attack of its kind in New Zealand's modern history, could teach a thing or two to other world leaders who at times have come short when tragedy strikes."
Radio New Zealand asked should she be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize she would have to wait until the 2020 event, with nomination having already closed for this year.
U.S. Deserves Leader ‘As Good As Jacinda Ardern’
Meanwhile, a New York Times editorial on Thursday heap praise on New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s leadership in the wake of March 15 tragic twin attack on mosques in Christchurch killing 50 worshippers and injuring scores.
The Times editorial entitled ‘America Deserves a Leader as Good as Jacinda Ardern’ said the world should learn from the 38-year-old that has stunningly responded to the horror.
The NYT Editorial Board highlighted her swift action in signing a ban on all military-style semiautomatic and automatic weapons and for calling on social media companies to curtail hate speech that spreads on their platforms.
“In New Zealand, it took one mass shooting to awaken the government. In the United States, even a string of mass killings — 26 dead in a school in Newtown, Conn.; 49 in a nightclub in Orlando; 58 at a concert in Las Vegas; 17 in a school in Parkland, Fla. — has not been enough. Nor has the fact that 73 percent of Americans say that more needs to be done to curb gun violence, according to recent polling,” it said.
It commends the world’s youngest female head of government for her capacity to carry a nation from the shocking events what she called New Zealand’s ‘darkest hour.’
Here are excerpts from the New York Times editorial:
“The murder of 50 Muslim worshipers in New Zealand, allegedly by a 28-year-old Australian white supremacist, will be long scrutinized for the way violent hatreds are spawned and staged on social media and the internet. But now the world should learn from the way Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister, has responded to the horror.
“Almost immediately after last Friday’s killings, Ms. Ardern listened to her constituents’ outrage and declared that within days her government would introduce new controls on the military-style weapons that the Christchurch shooter and many of the mass killers in the United States have used on their rampages. And she delivered.
“On Thursday, Ms. Ardern announced a ban on all military-style semiautomatic and automatic weapons, parts that can be used to turn other rifles into such weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines. “It’s about all of us,” she said, “it’s in the national interest and it’s about safety.”
“Earlier in the week, she told Parliament that social media sites must address the ease with which the internet can be used to spew hate and images of violence. “We cannot simply sit back and accept that these platforms just exist and that what is said on them is not the responsibility of the place where they are published,” she said. “It cannot be a case of all profit, no responsibility.”
“…the display of what one deranged man can do with weapons designed for combat seemed to persuade a majority of New Zealanders, and a strong majority in Parliament, of the need to ban rapid-firing weapons.
“That attitude stood in stark contrast to the way the National Rifle Association and its political allies in the United States have resisted any restrictions on weapons like the AR-15, the semiautomatic rifle used in several mass killings.
“In New Zealand, it took one mass shooting to awaken the government. In the United States, even a string of mass killings — 26 dead in a school in Newtown, Conn.; 49 in a nightclub in Orlando; 58 at a concert in Las Vegas; 17 in a school in Parkland, Fla. — has not been enough. Nor has the fact that 73 percent of Americans say that more needs to be done to curb gun violence, according to recent polling.
“The ban on terrorists’ weapon of choice was only one of the areas in which Ms. Ardern showed what leadership looks like in time of crisis. In lieu of trite messages, she donned a black head scarf and led a group of politicians to visit victims’ families; speaking without a script to a school some of the victims attended, she urged the pupils to “let New Zealand be a place where there is no tolerance for racism. Ever.”
“She told grieving families, “We cannot know your grief, but we can walk with you at every stage.”
“New Zealand’s prime minister is emerging as the progressive antithesis to right-wing strongmen like Trump, Orban and Modi, whose careers thrive on illiberal, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant rhetoric.”
The Journal of America Team:
Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Senior Editor:
Prof. Arthur Scott
Disclaimer and Fair Use Notice: Many articles on this web site are written by independent individuals or organizations. Their opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Journal of America and its affiliates. They are put here for interest and reference only. More details
Your donation
is tax deductable.
Article by
Journal Writes