Eat your heart out, Falwell - ‘Muhammad’ wins Nobel - AGAIN

Bangladesh's Muhammad Yunus, 66, the inventor of micro-credit and founder of Grameen Bank (Villages’ Bank in Bangla), has been awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.

Not to be confused with other popular 'Nobel' prizes (sponsored by BANKS) - Nobel Peace Prize is the REAL McCoy.

Of course, he's no prophet, but his name is Muhammad. That makes two years in a row that a man by the name of 'Muhammad' wins the PEACE prize.

Islam must be doing something right - its followers keep getting recognized for promoting PEACE.

Poor Falwell! There goes your bigoted thesis - down the drain, with global accolades.

PIME missionaries operating for years in the country explain that the choice of Yunus is doubly significant. On the one hand, there are the positive financial and economic aspects to his ‘invention’; on the other, there are the moral and human components closely linked to Yunus himself, “a man of upstanding character, source of hope for all those who are honest.”

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In its citation, the Norwegian Nobel Committee noted that the economist and his micro-credit bank were awarded the prestigious recognition “for their efforts to create economic and social development from below.”

The statement goes on to say that “[a]cross cultures and civilizations, Yunus and Grameen Bank have shown that even the poorest of the poor can work to bring about their own development.” And “[l]asting peace can not be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty.”

Micro-credit is based on small loans without collateral given to the poor to help them finance their small-scale activities. Founded in 1983, the Grameen Bank now has more than a thousand branches with 12,500 employees. It has 2.1 million clients in 37,000 villages; 94 per cent are women.

Of course, micro-credit has its drawbacks - where ever there are loans to be made, the money masters are not far behind.

“Micro-credit has become big business. For some it has departed from its original goals and adopted a more capitalist outlook.”

In many cases, it has been very strict in enforcing its rules. “Very poor people turn to micro-credit and when they cannot payback their loans to Grameen Bank they look for other sources of credit and end up poorer than before. Either one finds a benefactor or one loses everything. This is a widespread problem even though it is not a direct consequence of the micro-credit system.”

But, at least it's a start and a glimmer of hope for those who think that only big banks can manage money.

It's also an important reminder that there can be no Peace without Prosperity.

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UPDATE:

Muhammad Yunis just proved how much he deserves the prize:

[Muhammad] Yunus said on Friday he would donate all his 1.4-million-dollar prize money to good causes.

Yunus said he would use the money to fund a project to produce low-cost, nutritious food for the poor, an eye hospital, a drinking water project and a health care scheme.

“I will donate all my money to these enterprises. These will be purely social business enterprises, ie not-for-profit organisations,” he said.

“I will use the money to finance our joint venture food company with Danoneso that the poor can eat high nutrition food at an affordable price,” he added.

“The company will go into operation very soon,” he told reporters, giving no further details.

Good for him!

Truth be told - ALL industries that provide products that human beings NEED to live in good health and in peace, with their dignity intact should be NON-PROFIT - as opposed to the rampant exploitation that's currently in place.