Glimpses from the flashmob by Hanna Leghammar, divestment flashmob organiser in Stockholm
Glimpses from the award ceremony by Andreas Jonsson, divestment campaigner in Uppsala
THE UMBRELLA FLASHMOB
carried white umbrellas – whilst dancing they fluttered round & round, up & down, back & forward like a clear waterfall in the dark. In a gentle pose, the dancers at last stopped and together joined in a body of white light. From all sides the crowd closed in upon the dancers with black umbrellas, closed in around them like a dark sea. Until there was no white light left to be seen… Until the white umbrellas dove out from below and aimed their spotlights toward our demand: DIVESTERA!
And so the speeches begun: Juhán Niila Stålka, Olivia Linander and Bill McKnibben. Speaking of environmental awareness, global warming, climate change and fossil industry. The call-out was for the City of Stockholm to divest.– Hanna
THE AWARD CEREMONY
With “…for mobilising growing popular support in the USA and around the world for strong action to counter the threat of global climate change” as the motivation, Bill McKibben and 350.org received the Right Livelihood Award on the 2 of December 2014.
I was lucky enough to be invited as one of Bill McKibben’s guests to the ceremony, along with Johline Lindholm from PUSH Sweden as well as Olivia Linander and Tim Ratcliffe from 350.org. For me, being at this award ceremony was so inspiring and hearing these people speak, who have done so much for people around the world, gave me the chills.
The award ceremony was opened with a speech by the chairman of SÄRLA, Eva-Lena Jansson and the first female archbishop of Sweden, Antje Jackelén. During the first half of the ceremony the five recipients were introduced along with the jury’s motivation under standing ovations. All of the recipients can be found on the webpage http://www.rightlivelihood.org/laureates.html?&no_cache=1. This was followed by a refreshment break were the guests and the laureates had the chance to mingle with each other over some mull wine (glögg).
The second half was dedicated to the acceptance speeches by the laureates. They were once again presented by members of different political parties in Sweden that also are members of the Association for the Right Livelihood Award in the Swedish Parliament. The speeches were really inspiring and Bill McKibben’s speech was interrupted after almost each paragraph by applause and chanting. The award ceremony ended with a very nice buffet dinner where all the guests once again had the chance to mingle with the laureates.
On the Right Livelihood Award website you can find the whole ceremony if you want to watch it and also be inspired by the speeches.
– Andreas