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I believe in the fundamental Truth of all great religions of the world. I believe they are all God given and I believe they were necessary for the people to whom these religions were revealed. And I believe that if only we could all of us read the scriptures of the different faiths from the standpoint of the followers of these faiths, we should find that they were at the bottom all one and were all helpful to one another.
- M K Gandhi
The 2007 Gandhi Foundation International Peace Award was presented to Media Lens.

Media Lens is an online, UK-based media watch project, set up in 2001, providing detailed and documented criticism of bias and omissions in the British media. 
David Edwards and David Cromwell co-founders, gave a short speech on the activities of Media Lens. 
View Media Lens' acceptance speech here.

 

David Edwards is co-founder and co-editor of Media Lens along with David Cromwell. Media Lens is an online, UK-based media watch project, set up in 2001, providing detailed and documented criticism of bias and omissions in the British media. Through their free email Media Alerts, they provide detailed analysis of news reporting in the UK media, concentrating on the 'quality' liberal print and broadcast media. Their aim is to expose bias, inconsistencies, inaccuracies, omissions and untruths. They challenge journalists and editors by email and invite their response.
Media Lens has been praised by outstanding individuals in the field of media analysis and journalism such as Noam Chomsky, Edward S. Herman and John Pilger.
  • Noam Chomsky writes: “Regular critical analysis of the media, filling crucial gaps and correcting the distortions of ideological prisms, has never been more important. Media Lens has performed a major public service by carrying out this task with energy, insight, and care.”
  • Edward S. Herman writes: “Media Lens is doing an outstanding job of pressing the mainstream media to at least follow their own stated principles and meet their public service obligations.”
  • John Pilger writes: “Without Media Lens during the attack on and occupation of Iraq, the full gravity of that debacle might have been consigned to oblivion, and to bad history.”
Media Lens is motivated by the ideal of compassion, inspired by Buddha’s teachings. David Edwards has written “We encourage people to seek confidence and rationality in compassion, rather than in anger, say, or conformity. We emphasise peaceful challenges to authority. We reject not only violence, but also anger.”

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Peace Award 2006
The Award went to Shabana Azmi from India ­ film actress, social activist and UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) Goodwill Ambassador.  Known for her excellent performances on stage and film, the award was not given for her acting abilities but for her tireless work over many decades in helping the poor slum dwellers of Bombay (Mumbai) through the organisation Nivara Haak, her activism in championing women's rights and her passionate opposition to religious fundamentalism that periodically grips India.
The Award Ceremony took place at the House of Lords, in October, chaired by Lord Bhikhu Parekh, and with Vanessa Redgrave, a friend of Ms Azmi.  Television broadcast and print media covered this event and the Gandhi Foundation received a great deal of publicity, especially in India.

If you would like to nominate a recipient for this Award, please contact Omar Hayat:  0207 286 4468 omarhayat@chemecol.net

The Gandhi Foundation's 2005 Peace Award was presented to the human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith on Sunday 2 October 2005.

 

Clive Stafford Smith ­ recipient of the Gandhi Peace Award 2005

Clive is a renowned British human rights lawyer who has worked on death penalty cases in the USA for the past 21 years. He was director of the Louisiana Crisis Assistance Center for 11 years, representing clients on death row in the USA, after 9 years with the Southern Center for Human Rights. He now works with Reprieve, a London-based human rights charity. Reprieve was launched by Stafford Smith in 1999 and has assisted numerous volunteers to attend the Southern United States to work on death penalty cases, as well as providing legal assistance to prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. He has represented 300 challenging death penalty cases.


He represented the British Guantanamo Bay victims and was instrumental in bringing them back to the UK. With more than 500 prisoners still held in Guantanamo, he is now helping to lead a coalition to secure them legal rights, as well as representing 20 of the prisoners directly. He is also engaged in developing advocacy strategies required to counter the growing use of sending prisoners to international 'law free zones' around the world where currently over 10,000 'ghost detainees' are held and subjected to various forms of torture. He has also made television documentaries on state torture.

Clive Stafford Smith with Omar Hayat

The recipients of the Gandhi Peace Award for 2004 were Helen Steven and Ellen Moxley.

 
                                                           
 
Helen and Ellen were chosen from a shortlist of 5 names sent by the Friends of the
GF.  Both have been campaigning against weapons of mass destruction and the
arms industry in general for the past 30 years.  Both have been involved
with peace work and set up and ran The Scottish Centre for Nonviolence.
They have participated in nonviolent direct action, particularly at the UK
nuclear submarine base at Faslane and have been to prison several times for
their commitment.  
 
Ellen was one of 3 women involved in a test case in
Scotland regarding the use of International law as a defence in protest
against nuclear weapons. The Sheriff directed the jury to acquit the 3 after
hearing expert witnesses in international law.  Unfortunately, the
Government took the case for review and 3 Law Lords in Edinburgh advised
that the use of international law in these cases was inappropriate.
However, the acquittal still stands.
 
I would encourage Friends to send in their own nominations for the 2006
award to me, Omar Hayat, Trustee coordinator of the Award at the address
below. Please also include a short biography of the nominated person and
your reasons for choosing that person. All the nominations will be assessed
by the Awards committee and a short list prepared for final selection by all
the Trustees.
 
I sincerely do hope that this year we will receive a number of nominations
from Friends and remember that the Award can be given to either sex, any age
or nationality. These people will generally be 'unsung' heroes who have done
extraordinary work. The only restriction being that they must be willing to
travel to the Awards ceremony and give a short speech about their work.  If
they live outside the UK then we would like them to contribute to their
travel costs but lodgings in London will be provided.
 
The recipient will receive a statue of Gandhi with their name engraved on
and they keep the statue for 1 year.
 
Omar Hayat, 28 Bronwen Court, Grove End Road, London NW8 9HH or by email on
<omar@chemecol.net>
 
Gandhi Peace Award acceptance speech by Denis Halliday 30th January 2003