December, 05 2011, 03:44am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
RIGHT LIVELIHOOD AWARD FOUNDATION
Kajsa Övergaard, Foundation Manager;
Birgit Jaeckel, Communications Consultant
Phone: +46 8 70 20 340, Fax: +46 8 70 20 338
info[at]rightlivelihood.org
For UK media:
UK Press Office
Deepa Vyas
Phone: +44 207 378 1234
info[at]kinrossrender.com
For German, Austrian and Swiss media:
Holger Michel
Phone: +49 30 23 63 48 83
info[at]holger-michel.eu
Â
2011 Right Livelihood Awards to Be Presented in Stockholm
In the lead-up to tonight's Award Ceremony, the Recipients of the 2011 Right Livelihood Awards (often referred to as the "Alternative Nobel Prizes") presented themselves at a press conference in Stockholm.
Huang Ming (China):
INTERNATIONAL
In the lead-up to tonight's Award Ceremony, the Recipients of the 2011 Right Livelihood Awards (often referred to as the "Alternative Nobel Prizes") presented themselves at a press conference in Stockholm.
Huang Ming (China):
"When I had my baby daughter, I realized that in a couple of decades, when the oil runs out, I will leave this world, but my daughter will have to face a world of cold homes and a polluted environment. Will she then, one day, point at my gravestone and say 'It is all because you used up the oil'?
I was afraid the next generation would put the blame on us, and that is why in 1995 I turned to engaging in the solar energy business, and established the Himin Solar Energy company. Ever since then our vision and effort has been to bring about a world with blue skies and white clouds for our children and grandchildren, through the global transition to renewable energy."
Jacqueline Moudeina (Chad):
"In Africa, impunity is a cancer eating away at our continent and preventing us from expressing our true potential. I will continue my struggle for human rights until the cry of those suffering from injustice is heard by their leaders and by the international community. We would have liked to see the former Chadian dictator Habre charged on African soil, but after more than twenty years, we cannot wait anymore. It is time that Senegal extradite Habre to Belgium for his trial."
Renee Vellve, representing GRAIN:
"GRAIN calls for an immediate end to the current wave of land grabbing. The flow of money from pension funds, investors and agribusiness to buy up or lease farmland in developing countries must stop now. All the affected lands must be immediately returned to the farmers and local communities."
"We will not solve the global food crisis until people stop trying to replace small-scale family farming systems with large-scale corporate-controlled industrial approaches. We need a food system that feeds people, not markets."
Ina May Gaskin (USA):
"I accept the Right Livelihood Award in the name of the midwives, physicians, doulas, and birth activists who affirm childbirth as a creative act, best performed by the mother in the setting of her choice, without unnecessary medical interference being imposed upon her.
Home birth midwives are being persecuted in every country, even in The Netherlands, where home birth services have a long and honorable tradition. Right now, the situation in Hungary greatly disturbs me. Dr. Agnes Gereb has spent more than 20 years trying to defend the fundamental rights of mother and child. For this, she has been imprisoned, recently received a further 2 year prison sentence and has been held under house arrest for the past year. I now ask the Hungarian government to intervene to stop the abuse and unjust treatment of this internationally respected homebirth expert!"
Award Ceremony
It is the Right Livelihood Award Foundation's 32th Prize Presentation. There are now 145 Laureates from 61 countries.
Huang Ming receives an Honorary Award, the other three Award Recipients share the EUR150,000 cash award, receiving EUR50,000 each.
The Right Livelihood Awards will be presented in the Second Chamber of the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm tonight, 5 December. The Award Ceremony starts at 6 pm.
Further information & Media material
The award acceptance speeches will be made available today at 6 pm at our website's Press Room
There will be a live web-stream from the ceremony accessible via our website.
For more information about the Award Ceremony and press accreditation please see our last press release
Further information and material supporting this press release can be accessed via www.rightlivelihood.org
For videos and high-resolution pictures, please also refer to https://download.rightlivelihood.org
Please note that we are going to upload video and pictures from the ceremony to our ftp-server as soon as possible, so please check back.
The Right Livelihood Award was established in 1980 to "honour and support courageous people solving global problems". It has become widely known as the 'Alternative Nobel Prize' and there are now 182 Laureates from 72 countries.
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