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2009-06-24 Landless Workers Freed in Brazil After Torture and Over a Month in Jail. Brazzil Magazine, USA.
Two members of the Landless Movement (MST) in the northeastern Brazilian state of Paraíba were freed on June 4, after 34 days in prison, CPT reports. They had been evicted violently by the private militia of the property owner and by the military police.
Raúl Montenegro (Argentina, RLA 2004)
2009-06-22 South America: Anti-Nuclear Activists to Form Common Front. IPS.
After an increase of lobbying activity in Chile on behalf of nuclear energy, environmental organisations in South America plan to rebuild the anti-nuclear movement in the region.
Ken Saro-Wiwa/MOSOP (Nigeria, RLA 1994)
2009-06-10 Shell to Pay $15.5 Million to Settle Nigerian Case. New York Times, USA.
Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to settle a lawsuit over the 1995 murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Nigerian activists.
Shell will pay 15.5 million USD to the plaintiffs, including Ken Saro-Wiwa's family. Around $5 million will go into a trust fund intended to benefit the Ogoni people.
2009-06-04 30th Anniversary of Right Livelihood Award to take place in Bonn - Germany's Federal Cross of Merit to Jakob von Uexküll.
On the occasion of the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Right Livelihood Award Foundation, all Award Laureates will convene in Bonn, Germany, in autumn 2010.
The announcement was made on June 4th, the same day when Jakob von Uexkull received Germany's Federal Cross of Merit, First Class.
2009-05 "New" Nuclear Reactors, Same Old Story. RMI, USA, 2009.
Do you hear a lot of people talking about a renaissance of nuclear energy, new reactor types, etc?
Then, for scientific insights, check out Amory Lovins' article!
Raul Montenegro (Argentina, RLA 2004)
2009-05-17 Supreme Court is analyzing illegality of Australian nuclear waste import. Funam, Argentina.
The Supreme Court of Justice of Argentina is considering the illegality of exhausted nuclear fuel import from Australian OPAL's reactor.
2009-05 SEKEM's 13-villages-project
Thousands of people have benefited from the services and products of one of SEKEM's biggest development projects ever. The project included:
Medical assistance, basic education for children, midwifery training, a literacy programme for 600 women, more than 120 graduates in vocational training, a mobile waste removal system and micro-financing for small-scale businesses.
José Antonio Abreu (Venezuela, RLA 2001) & Hermann Scheer (Germany, RLA 1999)
2009-05 Prestigious Awards to Right Livelihood Award Laureates
José Antonio Abreu was named one of the two winners of the 2009 Polar Music Prize. He will receive the prize from His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden at a gala ceremony in Stockholm. Read more
Earlier this month, Hermann Scheer received the Karl Böer Solar Medal of Merit at the University of Delaware. Read more
Ken Saro-Wiwa (Nigeria, RLA 1994)
2009-05-05 Late Nigerian activist's son to see Shell in court. AP.
Before Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed, he predicted that Shell would be brought to trial one day.
His son has fought for more than 13 years to make this prediction come true. The trial against Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. and the former managing director of its Nigerian subsidary starts May 26 in the U.S. District Court in New York.
The accusation: complicity in decisions by Nigeria's then-military government to hang oil industry opponents.
2009-04 IBFAN's One Million Campaign.
For three decades, the International Baby Food Action Network has campaigned in support of breastfeeding. Now they have launched a One Million Campaign to stop the push by companies towards feeding babies with milk formula, and to demand support for breastfeeding.
Everyone can sign the petition and raise a voice to support this call!
Maude Barlow (Canada, RLA 2005)
2009-04-22 Remarks to the United Nations General Assembly.
Maude Barlow made her first address to the United Nations General Assembly on the morning of April 22 to support the Bolivian call for an annual “International Mother Earth Day” celebration. Her speech was a call to action to implement the human right to water.
Irene Fernandez (Malaysia, RLA 2005)
2009-04-11 HR activists terms it human trafficking. The Daily Star, Bangladesh.
In Malaysia especially workers from Bangladesh suffer from a system that outsourced the recruitment of workers. Being interested in fast cash only, these companies brought workers in surplus numbers to Malaysia, no matter whether there was a job or not.
Melaku Worede (Ethiopia, RLA 1989)
2009-04 Interview with Melaku Worede. Grain, Spain.
In this interview, Melaku Worede stresses the need for on-farm diversity to safeguard tomorrow's food supply, and emphasizes that it is the farmers who play a vital role in any conservation efforts.
Wangari Maathai (Kenya, RLA 1984) & Sulak Sivaraksa (Thailand, RLA 1995)
2009-04 New books by Wangari Maathai and Sulak Sivaraksa.
Wangari Maathai's new book "The challenge for Africa" was just launched. Amy Goodman spoke with her about it. Learn more ...
Sulak Sivaraksa's new book is titled: "The Wisdom of Sustainability: Buddhist Economics for the 21st Century" Learn more ...
2009-04-06 RMI and Empire State Building Unveil Global Template for Energy Efficient Building Retrofits. The Rocky Mountain Institute, USA.
The Rocky Mountain Institute, together with other partners, developed a model for helping increase the Empire State Building's energy efficiency.
The RMI estimates that they will achieve a $ 4.4 million in annual energy savings, while reducing energy consumption by close to 40 percent and cutting the building's overall carbon output.
2009-03 Interviews with Herman Daly and Vandana Shiva on Swedish Television (SVT).
Herman Daly speaks about economic growth and the current economy model's shortcomings.
Vandana Shiva's interview focuses on water issues and agriculture.
2009-03-23 Activist Smitu Kothari passed away.
Lokayan has lost one of its most important contributors and son of founder Rajni Kothari.
Smitu Kothari had represented Lokayan at the Right Livelihood Award Foundation's 15th Anniversary in Cologne.
Survival International (UK, RLA 1989)
2009-03-20 Campaigners cheer Amazon victory. AFP.
Brazil's Supreme Court has ruled that an Indian reservation should not be broken up after rice farmers wanted the reserve’s boundaries changed.
Leopold Kohr (Austria, RLA 1983)
2009 - 100 years Leopold Kohr
The famous Austrian philosopher Leopold Kohr (1909-1994) would have turned 100 this year.
To commemorate his anniversary, Salzburg and the Leopold-Kohr Academy have organised a diverse program. An exhibition at Salzburg Museum about "The Human Scale" will be open until October.
Maude Barlow (Canada, RLA 2005)
2009-02-18 Europe 'unaware' of its water footprint. Euractiv, Belgium.
Europeans may be proud of taking care of their water resources, but the water costs of European consumerism are often paid by people on other continents.
Maude Barlow strives to turn public attention to so-called "virtual water" - the water which is embedded in any commodity. Especially extensive agribusiness imports enlarge Europe's water footprint.
The Chipko Movement (India, RLA 1987)
2009-02-15 Sunderlal Bahuguna frets for Himalayas, bats for Western Ghats. Thaindian, Thailand.
Sunderlal Bahuguna, famous Ghandian leader of The Chipko Movement (RLA 1987) calls for the protection of a mountain range in south-west India.
“If India wants to fight global warming, the Western Ghats is the bastion it should fortify without delay,” Bahuguna said.
Katarina Kruhonja (Croatia, RLA 1998)
2009-02-13 Glavaš trial blighted by witness intimidation. B92, Serbia.
Katarina Kruhonja (Croatia, RLA 1998) reports that pressure is exerted on witnesses in the war crimes trial of Branimir Glavaš.
Hermann Scheer (Germany, RLA 1999)
2009-01-26 Launch of IRENA. Germany.
On January 26th, IRENA, the International Renewable Energy Agency, and long-term brainchild of Hermann Scheer was launched in Bonn.
"IRENA will provide advice and support for both industrialised and developing countries for a rapid introduction of renewable energy", Scheer explained. "IRENA will offer practical and concrete policy advice, accelerate technology transfer and facilitate access to effective financial mechanisms."
2009-01-18 Finalists named for Zayed Prize. UAE.
Leading solar cell researcher Martin Green from Australia (RLA 2002) and Dipal Barua, Managing Director of 2007 Award Laureate Grameen Shakti, Bangladesh, are the two finalists of the Zayed Future Energy Prize.
Krishnammal Jagannathan (India, RLA 2008)
2009-01-17 Krishnammal vows to launch movement to help Nagai. The Times of India.
Just when Krishnammal Jagannathan received the Award in December, people in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu, India, were hit by a cyclone.
"Every year, there is a natural calamity in districts leaving several people displaced and orphaned", she said, and announced that she would be camping in the city till the end of January to form at least 100 welfare groups.
2009-01-07 RLA Press Release: Global "Alternative Nobel Prize" Hub and Incubator established in Malaysia
Malaysia's leading University, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), has been selected to host the Right Livelihood College (RLC). The RLC's primary goal will be to harness and spread the knowledge and experience of the outstanding personalities, organisations and unique best practices of the Right Livelihood Award Laureates.
2009-01-05 A 50-Year Farm Bill. The New York Times, USA.
"Soil (...) is as nonrenewable as (and far more valuable than) oil", writes Wes Jackson. "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."
2009-01-03 Molten Lead. Uri Avnery on the war in Gaza.
"Those who decided to close the crossings (...) knew that there is no real cease-fire under these conditions."
In this article, Uri Avnery tells about Israel's role in the rise of Hamas, and links the ongoing war to the upcoming Israeli elections in February.
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."
2009-01 A former RLA intern's report from India.
In autumn 2008, Sarah Wohlfeld, former intern of the Foundation, travelled around India to conduct interviews with Laureates as well as other committed activists for her Master's Thesis in sociology with the topic "Involved or Apathetic? Motives and Conditions Leading to Civic Engagement in India".
Along the way Sarah sometimes found out more about India than she wanted to know, but in the end she discovered that she had fallen in love with this country full of contrasts.
Read Sarah's report from India
2008-12-31 Indonesia Official Acquitted in Killing. New York Times, USA.
An Indonesian court has acquitted a former spy of charges that he murdered human rights defender Munir Thalib in 2004.
The New York Times quotes Munir's widow, Suciwati, saying after the verdict: “I have not only lost a husband, but also an understanding of justice.”
Read older news stories and press releases.
