[E-rundbrief] Info 744 - Ossietzky-Medaillen 2008

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief - Info 744 - International League for Human Rights (Berlin, 
D): Awarding of the 2008 Carl von Ossietzky Medal for Anarchists Against 
the Wall, from Israel, and Bil'in Popular Committee, Bil'in, Palestine.

Bad Ischl, 18.10.2008

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

www.begegnungszentrum.at

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International League for Human Rights

In the spirit of Carl von Ossietzky

  The Executive Board

Berlin, October 13 2008

Press Release

Awarding of the 2008 Carl von Ossietzky Medal


The awards ceremony for this year's Carl von Ossietzky Medal will be held

on December 7, 2008 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

in the "Haus der Kulturen der Welt" (the House of World Cultures), Berlin.

(The press conference will take place on December 6, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. 
in the House of World Cultures.)



The Board of Trustees of the International League for Human Rights 
honors two groups for their courageous dedication to human rights:



l      Anarchists Against the Wall from Israel

            http://www.awalls.org/about_aatw , http://www.awalls.org



l      Bil'in Popular Committee, Bil'in, Palestine

            http://www.bilin-village.org/english/discover-bilin/, 
http://www.bilin-village.org/index.htm.



Israeli journalist and peace activist Uri Avnery will speak as guest of 
honor at the awards ceremony. He will also speak at the press conference.



Sixty years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was 
proclaimed by the United Nations' General Assembly (on December 10, 
1948), the Carl von Ossietzky Medal for outstanding service in the 
realization of basic and human rights has special significance.



May 4, 2008 was the 70th anniversary of the death of Nobel Peace 
Prizewinner and pacifist Carl von Ossietzky, who, because of his staunch 
resistance to militarism, war and racism, was taken by force to the 
Sonnenburg concentration camp (located near the present-day Polish city 
of Slonsk), where he was cruelly tortured. With this in mind, the 
International League for Human Rights' Board of Trustees salutes two 
organizations that - with the courage of their convictions, in keeping 
with Carl von Ossietzky's spirit - struggle jointly for a common cause.



Anarchists Against the Wall and the Bil'in Popular Committee exemplify 
the nonviolent resistance to the Israeli-built "Separation Wall" on 
Palestinian land, as well as steadfastness in the diverse grass-root 
campaigns against the Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.



These groups incarnate a forward-looking culture free of exclusion and 
destruction, demonstrating thereby the possibility of living together in 
peace and freedom.



They also consistently represent their cause on the international stage: 
The Bil'in village, for example, sued two Canadian real estate companies 
in Quebec's Superior Court for their part in constructing the Israeli 
settlement of Modi'in - mostly on Bil'in's land.



The two groups were founded by young activists around the same time:



     *

       Anarchists Against the Wall was formed in 2003 to protest 
Israel's construction of the Wall.



     *

       The Bil'in Popular Committee was founded in December 2004 in 
reaction to Israel's planned - and in the meantime fully realized - 
"barrier fence" that separates the village of Bil'in from 60% of its 
fields and olive groves.



The two groups owe their effectiveness to their politically independent, 
self-determined, transparent and nonviolent practices. Friday 
demonstrations at the barrier fence in Bil'in have been organized by the 
village's popular committee every single week since 2005, leading to the 
formation of a broad international network of support and protection. 
The Israeli Border Police shoot tear gas, rubber- and steel-coated 
bullets, and - most recently - stink bombs at the demonstrators at close 
range, untroubled by causing the nonviolent protesters serious bodily 
injuries.



By honoring Anarchists Against the Wall and the Bil'in Popular 
Committee, the Board of Trustees of the International League for Human 
Rights highlights the organizations' common conviction that helps them 
surmount great obstacles and dangers in their mutual ideal of a worthy - 
and shared - future. Their exemplary activities are -- in the age of 
globalization - of great significance for the realization of the ideals 
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - well beyond Israel/Palestine.



With his comrade Rachel Avnery, Uri Avnery will take part in the awards 
ceremony where he will speak as the guest of honor. He will also speak 
at the press conference. In 2001 Uri Avnery received - along with Rachel 
and the Israeli peace group, Gush Shalom - the Stockholm Alternative 
Peace Prize. He was further honored by the City of Osnabrück with its 
Carl von Ossietzky Prize in 2002. Already in 1995, Uri Avnery had 
received Osnabrück's Erich-Maria Remarque Prize, and in 1997, the Aachen 
Peace Prize.

-- 

Internationale Liga f. Menschenrechte (ILMR) - FIDH/AEDH Deutschland
International League for Human Rights - FIDH/AEDH Germany
Haus der Demokratie und der Menschenrechte
Greifswalder Str. 4
Fon: ++49+30 396 2122
Fax:               2147
email: Vorstand at ilmr.de
www : ilmr.de

-- 

Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence
Wolfgangerstr. 26, A-4820 Bad Ischl, Austria,
fon: +43 6132 24590, Informationen/ informations,
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