Right Livelihood Newsletter Spring 2008

	'Alternative Nobel' Laureates call for renewable energy to the poor and equal dialogue between Christians and Muslims The Recipients of this year's Right Livelihood Awards (often referred to as the 'Alternative Nobel Prizes') were speaking at a press conference in the Foreign Office Press Room in Stockholm on Thursday morning 6 December 9:30 CET. Christopher Weeramantry (Sri Lanka), a world-renowned legal scholar and former judge at the International Court of Justice, said: "We need to resolve the mutual lack of understanding between the worlds of Islam and Christianity. There is a total unawareness on each side of the richness and inspirational value of the other and in fact a tendency, born of ignorance, to deride the other." Dekha Ibrahim Abdi (Kenya), who has engaged in effective peace work and conflict resolution between Muslims and Christians, said: "The participation in a peace process is not about the mathematics of numbers and percentages in relation to who is in majority or minority. It is about plurality, diversity, participation and ownership of all affected by the conflict ..." Percy Schmeiser (Canada), who together with his wife Louise fights against Monsanto's abusive marketing practices, said: "It is our opinion that the full ramifications of allowing patents on plants and other life forms have not been fully examined. But governments from around the world have bowed to the pressure of big multinational corporations who have requested patents on life forms."   Dipal Barua, Managing Director of Grameen Shakti (Bangladesh), which has installed more than 120,000 solar home systems in rural Bangladesh, said: "It is a fact that the future belongs to Renewable Energy Technologies. But unless this technology can reach the millions of rural people who suffer most from the energy crisis, it will not reach its full potential, and neither will the economic and social problems of the world be solved." More information on the 2007 Laureates can be found at: http://www.rightlivelihood.org Newsletter Spring 2008 When we said goodbye to our 2007 Right Livelihood Award Laureates in December last year, no one could know that, for one Recipient, there would soon be no more reason to celebrate. The post-electoral violence that erupted in Kenya shocked us all. "Heartbreaking" is what Dekha Ibrahim Abdi called the situation in her country, when she had to watch it falling into a state of violence and chaos. But she would not be that extraordinary person she is, if she had not taken action from the very beginning. But Dekha is not the only Laureate, whose life has taken another turn since December ...   Update from the 2007 Laureates Dekha Ibrahim Abdi On January 1, 2008, Dekha and four other core members founded the Concerned Citizens for Peace Initiative to give a voice to Kenyan citizens to engage and contribute in the creation of peace and hope. Already in the first week of its existence, the group was able to accomplish some major achievements, like to have text messages sent to all subscribers of one of Kenya's leading mobile phone companies, calling on them to shun hatred and tribalism to  convince media houses to refuse to air any political adverts with hate messages from any political party. This also included media blackouts for politicians perpetuating hate. Learn more on our website Percy & Louise Schmeiser In an out of court settlement, the Schmeisers have settled their latest lawsuit with Monsanto. Monsanto has agreed to pay all the clean-up costs of genetically modified canola that contaminated the Schmeisers' fields. "This is a great victory for farmers all over the world," Percy said. "Now they have at least an opportunity to have some recourse on a corporation when they are contaminated." Learn more on our website Dipal Barua When we announced the Right Livelihood Award to Grameen Shakti in October last year, they had installed 110,000 solar home systems in the rural areas of Bangladesh. Now, as of April 2008, they have installed over 140,000. In addition, Grameen Shakti has installed over 3000 biogas systems and around 7000 improved cookstoves. This rapid growth shows the scalability of Grameen Shakti's energy solutions. Their work has become a very significant role-model and Managing Director Dipal Barua is getting requests from all around the world to share his knowledge. Right now he is in Stockholm to meet the Centre Party group in the Swedish Parliament and to speak at the Globe Forum.   Christopher Weeramantry Christopher Weeramantry has almost completed his new book called 'Tread lightly on the Earth - Religion, the Environment, and the Human Future'. In the book, Weeramantry explores what major world religions say about the environment and rights of future generations. He concludes: "Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, Christian and Islamic teachings all emphasise the avoidance of waste, the trusteeship of earth resources and the interests of generations yet unborn." The study is part of the 'future justice' work of the World Future Council, of which Weeramantry is a member.   News about former Laureates Take a look at the News Section on our website and find out about the fights and successes of our Laureates during the last months. For example: Our Indonesian Laureate Munir was poisoned on a flight to Amsterdam in 2004. Now the ex-boss of the airline Garuda has been jailed over murder. The European Parliament has adopted a declaration calling for justice. Maude Barlow & Tony Clarke: Find out about the water crisis already under way and what Canada has to do with it. News from Cary Fowler, Wangari Maathai, First People of the Kalahari ... and much more. The Right Livelihood Award Foundation mourns the death of Baba Amte, India, who died at the age of 94.   New tool: World Map Find your closest Right Livelihood Award Laureate: We are proud to present a new online tool on our website: A world map with all our Laureates to browse for.   Thank you very much for your interest and support! Kind regards, Ole von Uexkull Executive Director RIGHT LIVELIHOOD AWARD FOUNDATION PO Box 15072, 104 65 Stockholm, Sweden Phone: +46 8 70 20 339, Fax: +46 8 70 20 338

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