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 Habré charged on African soil, but after more than twenty years, we cannot wait anymore. It is time that Senegal extradite Habré to Belgium for his trial.”