Tariq Ali on Democracy Now: European Union awarded Nobel Peace Prize despite ties to NATO, crippling austerity cuts

Has the Nobel Peace Prize Committee jumped the shark? In what seemed an early April Fool’s prank, the Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union for, in the words of chairman Thorbjoern Jagland, its historic role in transforming Europe "from a continent of wars to a continent of peace." This honor was bestowed despite the EU’s savage push for immiserizing austerity on Spain, Italy, and Greece—cuts that have led to violence on the streets, and the participation of many of its member states NATO military interventions in Afghanistan and Libya.




Today, on Democracy Now!, Tariq Ali, author of many books including The Obama Syndrome: Surrender at Home, War Abroad, discussed his reaction to the Committee’s decision, stating:

To give the prize to the European community, at a time, effectively, when economically, it is promoting unemployment, creating real class divides in virtually every country in Europe, where it has led to enormous violence on the streets of Greece, because of the policies being pushed by the EU ... it is a complete and utter joke.

Visit Democracy Now! to watch the interview in full.