How to Mobilise Change - Conversations with 2021 Right Livelihood Laureates

What inspires change and drives activism? Can anyone become a change-maker?

These were questions we asked back in December, when 2021 Laureates Marthe Wandou, Vladimir Slivyak, Freda Huson and Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment came to Stockholm to be presented with the Right Livelihood Award. All four Laureates have succeeded in mobilising grassroots action and community-based models for change, so in an effort to learn more, we invited US journalist Dara Lind to sit down with them individually and take a deep dive into their stories.

We are now happy to present "How to Mobilise Change", a series of in-depth conversations in which we not only get to know the Laureates better and learn about what prompted them to take action but can also learn about how sustainable change can be achieved - based on their strategies and methods of action.

Throughout the spring, we are releasing the recordings one by one. The series starts this week with the release of Cameroonian Laureate Marthe Wandou's interview and a week of action to support children's rights.

War in Ukraine

With Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, we continue to monitor and share Laureates' voices on this horrendous attack and its global implications. Stay tuned by visiting our collection of Laureates' reflections. 

Vladimir Slivyak warns of “high risk” of a Chernobyl-style nuclear accident in Ukraine

During a press conference organised by Right Livelihood on March 3, Russian environmentalist and 2021 Laureate Vladimir Slivyak warned of the high risk of a serious accident due to fighting around nuclear power plants in Ukraine.

Slivyak noted that environmental groups were very concerned about the safety of the 15 nuclear reactors operating in Ukraine. A strike on an operating nuclear power plant, a nuclear waste storage unit or even the still highly-contaminated area of Chernobyl could lead to a nuclear accident “even bigger than Chernobyl.”

“Willing or not, they send everyone considered necessary”

Soldiers from all over Russia are being sent against their will to fight in Ukraine, said Valentina Melnikova, who works with the Union of Committees of Soldiers’ Mothers of Russia.

The mothers represented by the organisation are horrified by Russia’s actions in Ukraine, while also fearing for the lives of their children taken as soldiers. According to Melnikova, the mothers and other family members often have to rely on Ukrainian sources to receive information about Russian soldiers.

Melnikova serves as the responsible secretary of the Union of Committees of Soldiers’ Mothers of Russia, which received the Right Livelihood Award in 1996. The organisation has advocated for stopping Russian military actions for decades, pleading for soldiers’ return from military service.

In an interview, Right Livelihood asked Melnikova about their perspective on the current situation in Ukraine. 

Russia, crackdown on civil society and Western Sahara highlighted at UN Human Rights Council

Russia’s human rights record, disturbing global trends threatening civil society and the issue of Western Sahara were among the issues Right Livelihood and Laureates drew attention to during the 49th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva over the past month.

Read a summary of the statements we made together with Laureates.

Sahrawi activist Aminatou Haidar targeted with Pegasus spyware

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