Right Livelihood College Opens New Campus

Jay OwenGlobal Citizen

Right Livelihood College Opens New Campus

The Right Livelihood Award Foundation is pleased to announce the opening of its eighth Right Livelihood College (RLC) campus at the National University of Cordoba in Argentina.

The Universidad Nacional de Córdoba was founded 19 June 1613, making it the oldest institution of higher education in Argentina. This new campus will serve as a hub for exchange between academics and activists on questions of human rights, environmental protection, and social justice. Its activities will be lead by 2004 Right Livelihood Award Laureate Raúl Montenegro, who has been a Professor of Evolutionary Biology at the University since 1985.

The campus was officially opened on 19 April, followed by a public seminar on multilateral education and criminalization of social protest in Latin America on the 20th by Dr. Monika Griefahn, Chair of the Board of the Right Livelihood Award Foundation. 2002 Laureate Martín Almada and other representatives from the Foundation and College were also in attendance.

For more information about the new RLC campus in Cordoba, check out our campus profiles.

 

 

MST Shares Plight of Landless Workers in Sweden Seminars

In the month of April, representatives of 1991 Laureate organisation MST (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais sem Terra) visited Sweden to engage in a series of educational seminars and activities. Together with the Latinamerikagrupperna Uppsala and Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, the Right Livelihood Award Foundation held seminars on the Landless Rural Workers Movement.

These engagements were especially timely in light of the recent killings of activists in Brazil, which is now considered one of the most dangerous countries for social action. Miguel Carter, editor of ‘Challenging Social Inequality: The Landless Rural Workers Movement and Agrarian Reform in Brazil’, presented his book in Stockholm and Uppsala. He was accompanied by Ana Terra Reis, an MST activist, who provided information on the movement. The representatives also spoke with Latin American groups WeEffect, FIAN and others about agro-ecology and its effects on the work, rights, and agency of small farmers.

Dr. Mukwege Stepping Up Advocacy Activities in Geneva

2013 Laureate Dr. Denis Mukwege, a Congolese gynecologist and women’s rights activist, visited Geneva in March 2016 to take part in the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH). While in Switzerland, Dr. Mukwege presented the film “The Man Who Mends Women,” together with its director, Michel Thierry.

On 20 April, the Right Livelihood Award Foundation was pleased to launch a podcast of this presentation on the occasion of Dr. Mukwege’s participation in the Geneva Health Forum (GHF), where he spoke about rape as a weapon of war and the fight against female genital mutilation in Africa.

Click here to listen to the podcast (in French).

Alla Yaroshinskaya Reflects on 30th Anniversary of Chernobyl

1992 Laureate Alla Yaroshinskaya was born in the Zhitomir region of Ukraine, just 140 km from Chernobyl, where she worked as an investigative ??journalist. After the 1986 ?nuclear reactor meltdown, she discovered that people from highly contaminated villages were being resettled close by; their health problems were serious but officially denied and ignored; their new accommodation was grossly inadequate; and they could not survive without eating radioactive local foods.

In commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the Right Livelihood Award Foundation was pleased to present the reflections of Ms. Yaroshinskaya on her efforts to bring to light these crimes against the peoples of the former Soviet Union. Read the full article here.

Raji Sourani Tours United States

Last month 2013 Laureate Raji Sourani of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights undertook a two-week tour in the United States that provided a unique opportunity for American audiences to receive a first-hand account of the situation on the ground in occupied Palestinian territories. Mr. Sourani presented in detail the caustic effects of Israeli occupation on the lives of Palestinians, in both Gaza and the West Bank:

“We are here with a simple message: Israel’s criminal, belligerent occupation, including and most urgently the nine-year siege of Gaza, must end”.

Due to challenges arising from US imposed travel restrictions and the nine-year closure of Gaza, more than a year of planning was required to make the trip possible. Mr. Sourani spoke at eight public events in New York, Boston, and Washington, D.C. at law schools, think tanks and public fora. He also held a press conference at the UN and spent some time on Capitol Hill, notably meeting with Representative John Lewis.

Looking Ahead: This Month’s Events

2005 Laureate Maude Barlow to Discuss Free Trade Agreements in Zurich

On May 12, Maude Barlow will hold a prominent lecture on global water privatization projects in the context of the free trade agreements CETA, TISA and TTIP at the University of Zurich. 

2014 Laureate Alan Rusbridger in Vienna for Earth Talks

Right Livelihood Award Laureate Alan Rusbridger will participate in the 2016 Earth Talks in Vienna on the environment, civil society, and development.

Right Livelihood Award Laureates Join OEWG on Nuclear Disarmament in Geneva

Several Laureates, including Alyn Ware (2009), will lend their voices to the Open Ended Working Group on issues surrounding nuclear weaponry taking place in Geneva this month.