Fwd: Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005,

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

 

San Francisco Chronicle

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

 

London -- When organizers set out to find nominees for a project

called " 1,000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005, " they hit pay

dirt in the Bay Area. Fourteen of the nominees -- a third of all the

American women selected for the international project -- call the

Bay Area home.

 

The names of all 1,000 nominees for the project, which seeks to

recognize the work of women as peacemakers, are to be announced this

morning at press conferences in San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Hong Kong,

Kabul, New Delhi, Boston and other locations across the globe. They

have already been submitted to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in

Oslo, which will announce the Peace Prize winner this fall.

 

Though the local nominees were chosen collectively for the Peace

Prize, they are a pretty diverse group, reflecting what organizers

conceded was " a broad definition of peace.''

 

Ellen Barry, for instance, is a prison rights activist and lawyer

who speaks out for women in U.S. jails and prisons. Candi Smucker co-

founded fair- trade stores to help workers of the world earn a

living wage. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, was the only member of

either house of Congress to vote against the post-Sept. 11

resolution giving military force powers to President Bush.

 

" It's an honor to be included with all these women who have done so

much to promote peace in our planet, " said Lee, who was selected not

only for that vote, but for her work on AIDS, housing and

homelessness, ending genocide, education, health care and other

issues.

 

The idea behind the project, organizers said, was to find 1,000

exemplary women to collectively receive the Nobel Peace Prize,

representing the millions of nameless women all over the world who

work for justice, education, political rights and security.

 

The project originated in Switzerland in March 2003, when Ruth-Gaby

Vermot-Mangold, a member of the Swiss Parliament and the Council of

Europe, visited refugee camps in Bosnia, Chechnya and other war-torn

countries.

 

" Everywhere I meet courageous and resolute women who perform

reconstruction and peace work in extremely dangerous circumstances, "

she said. " Yet their work leaves scarcely any trace. I wanted to

render visible the work of these women. "

 

Since the Nobel Peace Prize was first awarded in 1901, all but 12 of

the recipients have been men.

 

During 2004, the Swiss team and 20 international coordinators --

influential women from all continents -- searched the globe and

collected thousands of candidates, from whom they selected the 1,000

nominees. They are farmers, teachers, activists, artists and

politicians. They come from more than 150 countries and work at all

levels of society.

 

" We chose women working in armed conflict zones, but also those

doing work in health, family planning, sexual orientation advocacy,

environmental activism and sustainable economic development,'' said

international coordinator Margo Okazawa-Rey, former director of the

Women's Leadership Institute at Mills College in Oakland, who was

responsible for finding nominees in North America, Japan and Korea.

 

" It is our conviction that there is no peace without justice, so we

included nominees in many aspects of the justice work, " she

said. " We also tended to highlight women who have been at it for a

while, who have a distinguished track record, who broke new ground,

who inspired others, who showed courage, vision and integrity. "

 

The $3.8 million project is funded through foundations, institutes

and individuals, mainly in Switzerland.

 

From across the United States, 114 candidates were proposed, and 40

women made the final cut, including 14 from the Bay Area.

 

" We tried very hard to get candidates from most regions of the U.S.,

but none were as active as in the Bay Area -- typical of activism

and the kind of women living here, " Okazawa-Rey said.

 

The Bay Area nominees are a multiracial group of philanthropists,

artists, grass-roots activists, academics and political figures.

 

Barry has worked for 28 years with female prisoners, their children

and families.

 

" In working toward a world that does not look to imprisonment and

torture as the first response to keeping the 'have nots' in their

place, we are working toward peace, " Barry said. " Without a system

of justice that all of the population can believe in and accept as

equitable and fair, the U.S. will never be able to achieve peace

within its borders and will never be able to defend a position of

peace around the world.''

 

Smucker is the co-owner of Baksheesh fair-trade stores in Sonoma and

Healdsburg.

 

" In my work growing fair-trade retailing in the U.S., I have found

that the greatest change happens from the ground up, " Smucker

said. " When I have the opportunity to visit artisans whose goods we

sell and ask them what difference our purchases make in their lives,

I know that every drop of purchasing we can do contributes to an

ocean of change. "

 

The project's team is putting together a book about the lives,

strategies and visions of all the nominees and a 1,000 postcards

exhibition, with photos, short biographies and testimonies.

 

" This is one of the most inspiring projects I have been involved

in, " said Okazawa-Rey. " Both my students and I are often overwhelmed

by the dire conditions facing the world. This project demonstrated

that thousands, millions of women -- as well as men -- in the world

are out there, struggling against great odds, under threat, to make

it a better place for us all.''

 

For more information call Chloe Drew at 510-663-1207.

" It's an honor to be included with all these women who have done

so much to promote peace on our planet. " Barbara Lee, Member of

Congress

 

 

 

 

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