Cat Stevens gets peace prize
 

Cat Stevens gets peace prize
Last Updated Wed, 10 Nov 2004 14:17:39 EST
ROME - Cat Stevens, the singer known for hits like Peace Train, has been honoured with a peace prize from former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

Gorbachev gave Stevens – who has gone by the name Yusuf Islam since he became a Muslim in the late 1970s – the Man for Peace award in Rome Thursday ahead of a gathering of Nobel Peace Prize laureates.


Cat Stevens in Rome Thursday (AP photo)
Gorbachev praised Stevens for his charity work and "for having condemned terrorism."

In September, the British musician was barred from flying into the United States after his name appeared on the Bush administration's no-fly list of people with suspected terrorist ties.

Steven strongly denies any such links.

"Perhaps it's part of the irony that sometimes you have to go through a test in order to achieve a prize," he said, a reference to being forced to leave the States after his London-to-Washington flight was diverted to Maine to remove him.

"So maybe that's a symbol. Today I'm receiving a prize for peace, which is actually, I would say, a bit more descriptive of my ideas and my aims in life."

Stevens says the incident was the result of "an unjust and arbitrary system," and that his lawyers are trying to resolve the matter with U.S. authorities.

"The destiny of this man is not simple," Gorbachev said in making the presentation. "Any person who makes a stand to better the world is bound to live a life of hardship."

Stevens is the chairman of Small Kindness, a charity devoted to raising money for children and families affected by poverty and war in places like the Middle East. The organization has also given money to those affected by the Sept. 11 attacks.

Stevens had hits with light-rock tunes like Peace Train, Morning has Broken and Moonshadow before converting to Islam in 1977.

The meeting of Nobel winners is an annual event organized by Gorbachev's foundation.

Gorbachev is the former communist who presided over the final day of the Soviet Union. Other attendees include Solidarity founder Lech Walesa and Kim Dae-jung, the former president of South Korea.


Written by CBC News Online staff

http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/nationa...ens041110.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

As stated last month, Stevens was considered suspect of having terrorist ties and barred from the U.S.

How does this sit with Americans, especially those critical of supposed sweeping measures regarding personal rights infringements in the name of preventing terror by the Bush administration?

Even though this is one person of notoriety, does it make the Bush administration seem overly zealous now since Stevens wins a peace award? Or is this racial/religious profiling at it's finest?

Will Gorbachev ever be allowed in the U.S again for purportedly covorting with and honouring a person with suspected terrorist ties?

LMFMAO. Further proof that our system is fucked.

Didn't Arafat win a Nobel Peace Prize?

Didn't Moore win a 'Best Documentary' Oscar?

Point being, this proves nothing.

I'm sure the system is fucked, but I think its doing better than before, those in charge are trying to stop people from flying planes into buildings, and it doesn't bother me that much that the peace train got delayed.

By the way, I'm not ready to call America names because a former lead communist gave an award to a muslim extremist (backed death penalty for Rushdie for writing a book (now claims he was misquoted, but didn't speak out on the issue for years)) in a formerly fascist country.

I think the point might be more like "Ustwo's opinion is not necessarily the same as the opinion of those in a position to make important decisions."

It's a point. Not sure its the point, but I'm with Ustwo on these decisions. Although I doubt its a very important decision to make, those who voted for Moore for best documentary were crazy. It probably is important who gets the nobel peace prize and those that voted for Arafat are absolutely crazy.

I am also with Ustwo on this one.

It really means nothing.

Such prizes and their awarding is frequently political in nature, meant to send "a message".

Does anyone SERIOUSLY think he would have won if he hadn't been yanked off that plane?

Is the implication here that because Mr. Islam (hehehe, love that) won some meaningless award from some irrelevant former politcian that he's not really a terroist sympathizer anymore? As far as I'm concerned, he's still a slimeball Hamas fundraiser, and I hope they never let MarkerHead back into the US either.

(Personal Dilemna: Does it make me a bad person if I still like The Cat's music? Is this a philosophical conflict of interest? )
:confused: :confused:

By saying it means nothing, does that mean that all peace awards mean nothing? Or does it mean nothing because of the recipient?

Although political in nature, who was this supposed to send "a message" to? The U.S.? This may be news to some, but their are people in the world who don't give a shit what the U.S thinks and don't cater their responses or accolades for acceptance or denial regarding such. And if it were directed as such, good for them. Not that the U.S would notice or give a shit either.

I don't know if being yanked off a plane won him the award or not. I would think this would be a commiteed evaluation taking several candidates and their causes into consideration over an extended period of time. But I don't know for sure. I wasn't asked to sit on the commitee.

I think the argument would be that the peace awards lost credibility at some point. Perhaps when Arafat won one. From then on, they meant nothing, even if they were given to people truly deserving of them.

Or perhaps when Kissinger won. Your point taken though.