The Right Livelihood Award
Notes from an Israeli peace activist's turn of the year
In December 2008, Uri Avnery (RLA 2001) wrote a Memo to Obama on Israel.
On December 31, an article in the Guardian notes that Israeli media coverage of the Gaza onslaught has largely ignored the protests by peace activists - like Uri Avnery and his organisation Gush Shalom.
In his first article of 2009, Uri Avnery writes: "Those who decided to close the crossings (...) knew that there is no real cease-fire under these conditions."
He then tells about Israel's role in the rise of Hamas, and links the ongoing war to the upcoming Israeli elections in February.
Finally he warns: "Israel is missing the historic chance of making peace with secular Arab nationalism. Tomorrow, It may be faced with a uniformly fundamentalist Arab world, Hamas multiplied by a thousand."
On January 3, Avnery's organisation Gush Shalom along with several others organised a peace rally - attended by thousands.
Malaysia's leading University, Universiti Sains Malaysia, has been selected to host the Right Livelihood College.
"There are now 133 Laureates from 57 countries - 133 experts and leaders whose pioneering knowledge can help change the world for the better. This educational initiative will offer programmes that will support our Laureates in passing their knowledge and skills to a new generation", Jakob von Uexkull announced.
With everyone being concerned about stock markets and world trade, here is something else to think about:
Soil.
Food.
"Soil (...) is as nonrenewable as (and far more valuable than) oil", writes Wes Jackson (RLA 2000) in the New York Times. "Unlike oil, it has no technological substitute — and no powerful friends in the halls of government."
"We have let ourselves believe that as long as we have money we will have food. That is a mistake. If we continue our offenses against the land and the labor by which we are fed, the food supply will decline, and we will have a problem far more complex than the failure of our paper economy."
The 2008 Right Livelihood Award of SEK 2 million is shared between four recipients:
Krishnammal and Sankaralingam Jagannathan, and their organisation LAFTI (Land for the Tillers' Freedom) (India), who receive an Award "for two long lifetimes of work dedicated to realising in practice the Gandhian vision of social justice and sustainable human development, for which they have been referred to as 'India's soul'."
Picture: Michael Kee
Amy Goodman (USA), founder and award-winning host of Democracy Now!, a daily grassroots, global tv/radio news hour, is honoured "for developing an innovative model of truly independent political journalism that brings to millions of people the alternative voices that are often excluded by the mainstream media."
Asha Hagi (Somalia) The Jury honours Asha Hagi "for continuing to lead at great personal risk the female participation in the peace and reconciliation process in her war-ravaged country."
© medica mondiale
Monika Hauser (Germany), gynaecologist and founder of medica mondiale, receives an Award "for her tireless commitment to working with women who have experienced the most horrific sexualised violence in some of the most dangerous countries in the world, and campaigning for them to receive social recognition and compensation."
