The Right Livelihood Award
In 1969, the Sunday Times Magazine shocked the world when it published Norman Lewis’s article ‘Genocide’. Lewis had travelled to Brazil where he exposed the extinction of hundreds of Amazonian tribes and catalogued atrocities and torture wreaked on those Indians who had managed to survive.
His report ultimately led to the founding of Survival International.
This year, Survival International marks 40 years of helping tribal peoples defend their lives, protect their lands and determine their own futures. Since 1989, when the organisation received the Right Livelihood Award, it has grown in size and strength and has helped tribal peoples win many victories in the fight for their rights.
"Without Survival, we'd all be dead", a Yanomami shaman recently said.
- MST demonstration
Landless Workers Freed in Brazil
Two members of the Landless Movement (RLA 1991) in the northeastern Brazilian state of Paraíba were freed on June 4, after 34 days in prison, CPT (shared Award with MST) reports. The farmers had been evicted violently by the private militia of the property owner and by the military police.
It is said that the two imprisoned workers showed visible signs of torture. A local MST representative called the case an attempt to destroy the social movements in the rural areas.
- Ken Saro-Wiwa
Shell pays $ 15.5 million to settle Ken Saro-Wiwa's case
Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to settle a lawsuit over the 1995 murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa (RLA 1994) and eight other Nigerian activists.
Shell will pay 15.5 million USD to the plaintiffs, including Ken Saro-Wiwa's family, for their loss and for legal fees. Around $5 million will go into a trust fund intended to benefit the Ogoni people.
The $15.5 million are a striking sum given that the company has denied any wrongdoing, as the New York Times states.
The Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and the Right Livelihood College (RLC) are pleased to announce the launch of the “Alternative Nobel Prize” Fellowships for 2009.
The Fellowships are intended for Masters and Doctoral programmes at the University Sains Malaysia in Penang, and are eligible to students coming from a Right Livelihood Award Laureate country.
The closing date for applications is July 31st.
