| September 20th, 2004 03:54 PM |
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| Sue |
Bianca Jagger chosen for "alternative Nobels"
The Associated Press
Posted September 20, 2004
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HYDERABAD, INDIA -- Celebrity activist Bianca Jagger, along with two Indian religious scholars, an Argentinian scientist and a Russian human rights group, won the 2004 Right Livelihood Awards, known as the "alternative Nobels," organizers announced Monday.
The five winners will share a 2 million kroner (US$268,100; euro 219,000) prize.
Jagger -- a former model and ex-wife of rock legend Mick Jagger -- was given the award for showing how a celebrity can help the exploited and disadvantaged, the Stockholm-based Right Livelihood Award Foundation said in a statement.
After years as one of New York's glitterati, Jagger has devoted herself to various causes ranging from protecting the environment to scrapping the death penalty in the United States.
Two Indians -- social reformer and theologian Swami Agnivesh and academic Asghar Ali Engineer -- were awarded the prize for promoting "the value of coexistence, tolerance and understanding in India and between the countries of South Asia," said Jakob von Uexkull, the foundation's chairman.
Agnivesh has spent decades trying to free bonded laborers, end the exploitation of lower-caste Indians known as "untouchables," and halt the violence against minorities by Hindu fundamentalists, the foundation said.
Engineer has written extensively on Hindu-Muslim relations and social reforms among Muslims. India, with its 1.03 billion people, is home to the world's second-largest Muslim population after Indonesia.
Memorials, a group working in Russia and surrounding countries to document human rights abuses and protect civil liberties, was also chosen for the award.
Argentinian scientist Raul Montenegro was selected for his work with local communities and indigenous groups to protect the environment and conserve natural resources in Latin America.
Judges for the prize met in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad to announce this year's winners. The awards will be presented at a ceremony in the Swedish Parliament on Dec. 9.
The Right Livelihood Award was founded in 1980 by Jakob von Uexkull, a former member of the European Parliament and a stamp dealer who sold his collection to fund a program to recognize work that he believed was ignored by the prestigious Nobel Prizes.
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| September 20th, 2004 08:07 PM |
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| Soldatti |
I saw it on the news too. |
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