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Change Your Life! |
Four scientists and activists share 'alternative Nobels' |
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October 6, 2000
STOCKHOLM (AP) - An American plant geneticist, an Indonesian human rights activist, an Ethiopian scientist and a Turkish environmentalist were named Thursday as this year's winners of the Right Livelihood awards, known as the "alternative Nobels." The awards, each worth 500,000 kronor (dlrs 51,000), were founded in 1980 by Jakob von Uexkull, a stamp dealer who sold his collection to fund a program to recognize work that he believes is ignored by the prestigious Nobel prizes. Wes Jackson, co-founder of the private, nonprofit Land Institute in Salina, Kansas, was cited for his vision of a natural farming system based on perennial crops. "This is another agricultural revolution if it is possible and he is now finding evidence that it is," von Uexkull said after announcing the winners at a news conference. Indonesian human rights activist and lawyer Munir was honored for "his courage and dedication in fighting for human rights and the civilian control of the military in the world's fifth most populous country," according to the citation. Munir, who like many Indonesians only uses one name, has been active in many of the civil conflicts in the vast archipelago nation. As a member of the Investigative Commission for Human Rights Abuses in East Timor, he helped identify crimes committed by the military in the violence that followed a vote for secession in the former Portuguese colony. Ethiopia's chief environmental official Tewolde Gebre Egzhiaber won the award for his leadership in negotiations that led to an agreement earlier this year on a biosafety protocol to set rules governing trade in genetically engineered products. Turkish environmentalist Birsel Lemke was recognized for her fight to keep cyanide-based gold mining out of her country and for "her key role in the international campaign to ban this disastrous technology," the award's committee said. The awards will be presented in a ceremony at the Swedish Riksdag or parliament on Dec. 8, two days before the Nobel prizes are handed out. Last year's winners were Spanish lawyer Juan Garces, who initiated the legal case that led to the arrest in London of former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet; the Grupo de Agricultura Organica, which promotes organic farming in Cuba; and COAMA, a Colombian organization protecting tropical forests. Hermann Scheer, a member of the German Bundestag who founded the European Association for Solar Energy, won an honorary award.
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