The festivities are over, and the 2008 Right Livelihood Award Laureates have returned to their home countries. We could fill several pages telling you about the impressions and inspirations they left behind, instead we would like to invite you to find out yourself:
Browse our website, and see some pictures from the Award Ceremony. Or even better: Watch the film of the ceremony, or listen to the Laureates' speeches in full length!
Monika Hauser's speech
Asha Hagi's speech
Amy Goodman's speech
Krishnammal Jagannathan's speech
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After the Prize: What's next? |  |
When 82-year old Krishnammal Jagannathan left Stockholm in the early morning hours of Wednesday, Dec 10th, she looked surprisingly fresh considering the fact that she had had some very busy days in Stockholm and that it was 4:45 am. “But I have to be fresh!” she said smiling and raised an arm high up into the air. “I want to build 5000 new houses!”
Krishnammal and her husband are planning to use the prize money of SEK 500,000 for a housing project to improve the lives of the poorest of the poor in their region, the so-called untouchables, who are below the caste system. Monika Hauser, co-Laureate from Germany, will use half of the prize money for a project in DR Congo where women are under immense threat right now, the other half for the organisation Medica Zenica in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which she started during the Bosnian war.
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News about the Recipients | |
One of our main concerns over the last couple of weeks was the arrest of our Laureate and Thai scholar Sulak Sivaraksa on charges of royal insult.
But there were good news as well: Irene Fernandez was finally - after a 13 years long court battle - acquitted, and Maude Barlow was named the UN's first senior adviser on water issues. When we congratulated Maude on her appointment, she said: "The Right Livelihood Award Foundation took a chance on me and helped in this journey. I won't forget that."
All this and more at www.rightlivelihood.org/news_about_the_recipients.html
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Losing Hassan Fathy's heritage | |
In November, our jury member and photographer Ursula Schulz-Dornburg visited the village where Hassan Fathy, the Egyptian “Architect of the Poor” and Right Livelihood Award Recipient of 1980, had worked. Fathy, who died in 1989, had developed an architecture which is based on ancient adobe construction techniques and which is adapted to the needs of the poor.
Ursula still found Fathy's buildings in the village of Gourna, but also witnessed the forced resettlement of a large number of residents from their traditional houses.
On our website, you can find pictures of Ursula's visit to Gourna at: http://www.rightlivelihood.org/fathy_pictures.html
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The Right Livelihood College | |
At the Award Ceremony, Jakob von Uexkull announced our plans for a global educational initiative called the Right Livelihood College. The College will organise lectures and seminars given by our Recipients at a number of partner universities, and will provide scholarships to talented students and researchers to study the work of our Laureates.
This initiative is made possible thanks to a cooperation with the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) in Penang, which has generously offered to host the secretariat of the Right Livelihood College. The Director of the College will be our Jury Member and 1982 Award Recipient Anwar Fazal from Malaysia.
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Thank You! | |
The end of the year 2009 is close, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in our Laureates and in our Foundation's work.
As a charitable Foundation we depend on individual gifts to sustain the Awards and their impact. If you could consider supporting us, please visit our donation pages (http://www.rightlivelihood.org/donations.html) or contact us!
Thank you very much and Season's Greetings!
The Right Livelihood Award Foundation
