Alternative Nobel Prize Winners Celebrated in Stockholm

With the Alfred Nobel Awards Prize ceremony taking place in Stockholm on Sunday, the spotlight in Sweden this week has been very much centered on the Laureates themselves who are hosting a number of seminars and lectures in the capital before picking up their prize.

However, there's another group of worthy winners who have arrived in Stockholm, picking up an award known called the Right Livelihood award – otherwise known as the Alternative Nobel prize.

Now in it's 26th year, the Right Livelihood prize is awarded for outstanding vision and work on behalf of the planet and its people. Past winners have included Bianca Jagger and Astrid Lindgren.

It's usually shared between four recipients. One of this year’s winners, Daniel Ellsberg , leaked secret Pentagon documents during the Vietnam war while employed at the US state department. Ellsberg made a headlines at a news conference in Stockholm this week, when he said he believed the United States would attack Iran before 2008 and urged Washington insiders to make new disclosures to prevent a new war.

"I believe there is a real chance - and for the public in Europe in particular to avert and American attack on Iran and I think there is a bigger hope of doing that from abroad than from at home. In America, I am pressing officials who know that this attack is planned and would be catastrophic. Now we know that there are such officials because they have leaked to Seymor Hirsh and others. And I am urging them to go beyond these fragmentary and anonymous leaks and put our voluminous documents that would illustrate that the White House actually intends what they say - to attack Iran with possibly the use of nuclear weapons. Without such inside information I can't see much pressure developing in the U.S. because, the leaks to Seymor Hirsch should have alerted everyone - but they haven't."

At the press conference for the winners, Ellenberg stressed that these leaks needed to happened before a potential war starts.

"I am asking them to leak. To give unauthorized disclosure of documents on the scale of the pentagon pages - that means thousands of pages. But do it unlike me before the war before the bombs have fallen, before there is a nuclear attack. Afterwards its very hard to stop a juggernaut, to stop a war machine that is in process. But I think there is a much better chance of stopping an Iran war before it gets started."

The 75-year-old who has been honored worldwide for his efforts to expose government deception, also said European allies and government should put pressure on the Bush administration by pledging to withdraw from NATO if the United States or Israel uses nuclear weapons against Iran.

"I'm urging and I am happy to have this opportunity because of the prize to urge the public in Europe to understand that a first use of nuclear weapons would be a catastrophe for humanity. That they should urge their governments to have their governments say this to the United States in advance of the war. Rather than think of resigning after the attack , or of doing anything after the attack - I would rather see before the attack that European governments express to the U.S that any threats against Iran are illegitimate, wrongful and dangerous, but carrying out such threats would lead to the dissolution of NATO."

Ellsberg shared the two million kronor (220,000 euro) award with Indian women's rights activist Ruth Manorama and a poetry festival in Columbia.

Anti-corruption campaigner Chico Whitaker Ferreira of Brazil, won the honorary award for a lifetime's dedicated work for social justice that has strengthened democracy in Brazil and helped give birth to the World Social Forum.

"The first idea is to say that another world is possible,“ Ferreira said. “That is to say that what we see in the world - the wars the hunger and conflicts - are not necessary. We could have another world and we are convinced that we must change things - because if not from the ecological point of view the world can finish - simply."

Ruth Manorama said that she hoped the award would shed more light on the plight of the Dalit women, and the injustices caused by the Indian Caste system.

"The oppression is triple. They face triple alienation on the basis of class, caste and gender. They are the poorest of the poor and as women they face violence from the dominant caste people as well as men from their own community. Being outcast women – the Dalit are really the outcasts, they face very severe violence. So class, caste and gender compound in their life and make their situation much worse. By any standard they are the most poor, most illiterate, bonded laborers in the community. Women are pushed into prostitution in the name of religion. So many types of violence. This award is given to me on account of the building of organizations to counter the caste discrimination and cast atrocities. It would be good if we could see the caste system end, like the apartheid system in South Africa - its possible. Because its not divine, its man's actions so that they can appropriate wealth and they can appropriate power – they can appropriate socioeconomic status. I think by focusing on this and giving me this award, many women in this community can be given support."

All four received their awards in the Swedish parliament.

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