Gandhi Mandela Award: On Thursday, July 18, 2024, on Nelson Mandela International Day, Guatemalan human rights activist, feminist, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu Tum was honored with the Gandhi Mandela Award 2020. The award was given in Mexico City in the presence of Advocate Nandan Kumar Jha, founder and secretary general of the Gandhi Mandela Foundation. Rigoberta was given this honor for her constant pursuit of justice and equality.
Example of Rigoberta Gandhi-Mandela
Rigoberta’s life is a living embodiment of the principles of Gandhi-Mandela. This honor reflects her continuous work towards the society that even in today’s era people have kept the dreams of Gandhi and Mandela alive. For the first time this honor was given to Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama in the year 2019, in which the Dalai Lama was honored by Himachal Pradesh Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar during a ceremony organized in McLeodganj. Rigoberta Menchu Tum is the second person to receive this honor after the Dalai Lama.
Who gets this honor
This award is given to a person who takes forward the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela and does remarkable work in the fields of peace, social work, culture, environment, education, health, etc. which benefits the society and gives a new direction to the society.
Rigoberta’s life is an inspiration for today
Rigoberta Menchú Tum is a Guatemalan political and human rights activist who comes from the K’iche’ ethnic group. She was born on 9 January 1959 in a poor Indian peasant family. Rigoberta fought hard to defend the rights of Guatemalan indigenous feminists and promote indigenous rights in the country during and after the civil war 1960-1996.
At the beginning of the civil war in Guatemala, many members of her family – her brother and father – fell victim to military repression, and her mother was killed in a clash during this period. After seeing all this, Rigoberta joined the Committee of the Farmers’ Union (CUC) in 1979 and fought for improving the conditions of agricultural laborers and educating the Indian peasant population.
As a result of Rigoberta’s struggle, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 and the Prince of Asturias Award in 1998. An autobiography of Rigoberta, titled Rigoberta Menchu, was published in 1983, which depicted the struggles of her life. This book was highly appreciated internationally.
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