Rolling Stones for the Peace Prize – mutual understanding irrespective of generations, ethnicity, political background through 60 yearsRolling Stones for the Peace PrizeMusic creates mutual understanding and brotherhood across ethnicities, social classes, generations and cultures. The Rolling Stones have been touring all over the world for almost sixty years. During these years they have held over 2000 concerts. Everywhere they go, they encounter enthusiasm and joy. People flock to their concerts and enjoy the unity and music.Although it is the entirety of the Rolling Stones' contribution to brotherhood that must be considered for the Peace Prize, we will mention here a couple of the concerts where the Rolling Stones show their solidarity. We will also take a closer look at some of the record releases where the Stones take sides for the victims of war and disasters.
Solidarity concerts and contributions to reduce tensionAs early as 1967, the band tried to break down the barriers between Eastern and Western Europe when they held a concert in Warsaw. They discovered that the tickets were reserved for members of the Communist Party and few tickets had been available to fans. To remedy this, they took singles and EPs out on the town and distributed them among young people they met on their tour. In this way, Polish young people also got to take part in the musical joy conveyed by the Rolling Stones.
After the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro began to nationalize industrial and American property in Cuba. The United States responded to nationalization by imposing trade restrictions. Cuba thus turned to the Soviet Union, which increased tensions in the region. In 2009, President Barack Obama began easing restrictions on Cuba. Obama also removed the country from the list of countries the United States believed funded terrorism.
As part of the process to ease the tension between Cuba and the United States, the Rolling Stones were planning a free concert in Havana. The concert was held in March 2016 for more than 500,000 Cubans and visitors. This was the same month that Barack Obama as the first American president since 1928 visited Cuba. With the free concert, the Rolling Stones wanted to help the Cuban people once again become part of the world community. Peace Prize winner Barack Obama has also expressed joy over the Rolling Stones' music and peace work, and not least the song, Gimme Shelter, which he considers his favorite.
In its almost 60-year career, the Rolling Stones have played concerts on all continents. Their music unites audiences in countries as diverse as the United Arab Emirates and Israel in the Middle East to China and Japan in Asia. They did not play in South Africa during apartheid but held their first concert there in 1995.
Songs with anti-war themesIn a 1995 interview with Rolling Stone, Mick Jagger was asked what the impact is on songs such as Midnight Rambler, Love in Vain and You Can't Always Get What You Want. Street Fighting Man says he is directly affected by the large demonstrations, especially in Paris, against the Vietnam War. Mick Jagger himself says in the interview with Rolling Stone:
Yeah, that was a direct inspiration, because by contrast, London was very quiet ... It was a very strange time in France. But not only in France but also in America, because of the Vietnam war and these endless disruptions ... I thought it was a very good thing at the time. There was all this violence going on. I mean, they almost toppled the government in France; de Gaulle went into this complete funk, as he had in the past, and he went and sort of locked himself in his house in the country. And so, the government was almost inactive. And the French riot police were amazing.
Gimme Shelther is just as relevant today with refugee crises on all continents. Mick Jagger characterizes it as "a kind of end-of-the-world song, really". It is about women and children who have to seek refuge from war and disasters and the background here is also the war in Vietnam.
Conclusion - The Rolling Stones' strong candidacy for the Nobel Peace Prize 2021Throughout their extraordinarily long career, with a myriad of songs, albums and concerts around the world, the Rolling Stones have actively demonstrated that their music has a brotherly effect across many cultural and political contradictions. This was demonstrated by the Rolling Stones by giving a free concert in Havana in 2016 as a contribution to the reconciliation between Cuba and the United States.
One of The Rolling Stones' strongest peace-calling songs is, Gimme Shelter, and it has been played all over the world at concerts since the 60's. This long peace-building activity has so far not been sufficiently noticed and appreciated by the whole world, and therefore it is natural to propose The Rolling Stones for the Nobel Peace Prize 2021.
It will be difficult for the Nobel Committee to find a more internationally popular Peace Prize winner than the Rolling Stones.
We therefore strongly believe that The Rolling Stones are a very worthy candidate for the 2021 Peace Prize.
Suggested by
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Bjørn Oscar Hoftvedt Thor Rieber-Mohn
former special advisor international issues business development consultant
bhoftved@online.no trieber@online.no+47 911 42 433 + 47 922 58 888
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2020-11-29 20:35 by bv.