"Alternative Nobels" honour peace, human rights work
(September 28, 2012) A British anti-arms trade campaign and promoters of peace, human
rights and the environment from the United States, Afghanistan and Turkey have been
named as winners of this year's Right Livelihood Awards, also known as the ``alternative
Nobels.'' Gene Sharp, an American developer and promoter of nonviolent revolution
techniques, will share the Euro 150,000 cash prize with Afghan doctor and human rights
defender Sima Samar and the Britain-based Campaign Against Arms Trade. Turkish environmentalist
Hayrettin Karaca, who co-founded the TEMA foundation that has grown into an international
movement that combats soil erosion and protects natural habitats, will receive an
honorary prize for ``a lifetime of tireless advocacy and support for the protection
and stewardship of our natural world,'' the jury said. The awards were founded in
1980 by Swedish-German philanthropist Jakob von Uexkull to recognize work he felt
was being ignored by the Nobel Prizes. The prize jury said that Sharp, whose research
into peaceful protests has inspired thousands and influenced social movements in Iran,
Myanmar and Egypt, was cited for developing ``strategies of nonviolent resistance
and supporting their practical implementation in conflict areas.'' He has written
widely on the subject, and has advised governments and social movements on how to
end oppression without using violence. Described by the jury as ``a doctor of
the poor,'' Afghanistan's Samar was honored for her ``longstanding and courageous
dedication'' to human rights in her homeland. She has helped establish hundreds of
schools and dozens of health-care clinics aimed at helping the poor, especially women
and children, through the Shuhada Organization and the Shuhada Clinic, founded in
1989. Samar also helped establish Afghanistan's first Ministry of Women's Affairs.
Since 2004 she has chaired the country's Independent Human Rights Commission. The
Campaign Against Arms Trade, or CAAT, was cited for increasing public awareness of
the global arms trade. Through its campaigning, the jury said, CAAT has exposed ``the
corruption, hypocrisy and lethal consequences around this trade and has been instrumental
in holding the U.K. government and arms companies to account for the same.'' The prizes
will be presented to the winners at a ceremony in the Swedish Parliament on Dec. 7,
three days before this year's Nobel Prizes are handed out.