A press conference with the Recipients of this year's Right Livelihood Awards will take place in Stockholm on Monday, Dec 8th. The Award Ceremony will be held the same day at 6 pm in the 2nd Chamber of the Swedish Parliament.
Four women will come to Stockholm to receive the Awards:
Krishnammal Jagannathan (India), who receives the Award together with her husband Sankaralingam Jagannathan and their organisation LAFTI (Land for the Tillers' Freedom) "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'."
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."
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."
Founded in 1980, the Right Livelihood Awards are presented annually in the Swedish Parliament 'to honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today'.
Press conference with Laureates and Jakob von Uexkull, Founder and Chairman of the Award:
9.30-11.30 am, Monday 8 December
International Press Centre at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Fredsgatan 6, Stockholm
Only for journalists - please bring your press card!
The Right Livelihood Awards will be presented in the Swedish Parliament on Monday, 8 December, at 6 pm. A number of seats will be available for the press.
Please note that the Swedish Parliament requires special press accreditation. Journalists who do not have this accreditation need to contact the Right Livelihood Award Foundation latest on Monday morning (info @ rightlivelihood.org, or +46 8 70 20 340).
If you bring filming equipment, please contact us. Please note that we ask film teams to arrive at the Parliament building by 5 pm.
The programme for the Ceremony looks as follows:
- Opening words by Liselott Hagberg, Deputy Speaker of Parliament
- Sven Bergström, M.P., Head of the Society for the Right Livelihood Award in Parliament, SÄRLA, welcome
- Jakob von Uexküll, Founder and Chair of the Right Livelihood Award Foundation, speech & presentation of the 2008 Awards
- 18.45 (rough estimate): Break, photos of the Recipients can be taken at this time
- Laureates' speeches. Each Laureate will be introduced by a board member of the Support Group for the Right Livelihood Award in Parliament (SÄRLA).
For streaming and broadcast-standard video supporting this press release, please visit www.thenewsmarket.com/rightlivelihood. Further videos with interviews and shots from the press conference will be uploaded during Monday (Dec 8) afternoon, a video from the first part of the Award Ceremony will be uploaded later that day. If you are a first-time user, please take a moment to register. In case you have any questions, please email journalisthelp @ thenewsmarket.com.
During the Award Ceremony, a live signal from the Parliament is expected to be offered via the Eurovision network.
Amy Goodman is going to broadcast her show Democracy Now! from Stockholm on Dec 8 and 9, 14.00-15.00 GMT+1. Journalists are welcome to attend. The show will be sent from ABC Newsfeeds studio i Vasastan, Surbrunnsgatan 32, www.abcnewsfeed.se.
For information on the Laureates' programme, please see http://www.rightlivelihood.org/programme_2008.html.
Right Livelihood Award Foundation
PO Box 15072, 104 65 Stockholm, Sweden
Phone: +46-8-702 03 40
Fax: +46-8-702 03 38
E-mail: press @ rightlivelihood.org, info @ rightlivelihood.org
