United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
-based voluntary organisation which seeks to further the work of
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...
through a variety of educational events and activities.
Aims and activities
As part of its mission, the Gandhi Foundation focuses on promoting nonviolence as a remedy for war and aggression and egalitarian economics that emphasize self-reliance, cooperation, and trusteeship. The principal activities of the foundation are a quarterly newsletter and three annual events: a Multifaith Service, a Summer School, and an Annual Lecture. The newsletter is entitled "The Gandhi Way".
In 2008 the Gandhi Foundation helped to organise The Festival of Non-violence. As part of the festival the
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...
unveiled a new travelling exhibition "The Life of Gandhi", with six 'panels' focusing on the following aspects of Gandhi's life and work: Non-violence and the influence of
Jainism
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion whose three main pillars are nonviolence (), asceticism (), and a rejection of all simplistic and one-sided views of truth and reality (). Jainism traces its s ...
, Gandhi's work in South Africa, Gandhi's Philosophy, the Non-Cooperation and Quit India movements, and the independence of India.
Gandhi International Peace Award
Recipients have included:
* 2001:
Jubilee 2000
Jubilee 2000 was an international coalition movement in over 40 countries that called for cancellation of third world debt by the year 2000. This movement coincided with the Great Jubilee, the celebration of the year 2000 in the Catholic Church. ...
founders
Martin Dent
Martin Dent (8 February 1979 in Woking, UK) is an English-born Australian Olympian marathon runner, who ran at the 2012 Summer Olympics. He made his season best time of 2 hours, 16 minutes and 29 seconds in the marathon in 28th place.
Dent ...
Denis Halliday
Denis J. Halliday (born c.1941) is an Irish diplomat. He was the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq from 1 September 1997 until 1998, and earlier the Deputy Resident Representative to Singapore of the United Nations Development Progra ...
, former UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator in Iraq. In his acceptance speech, he described Gandhi as one of his formative influences.
* 2004: Helen Steven and Ellen Moxley received the award in 2004 for their non-violent campaigning against weapons of mass destruction.
* 2007:
Media Lens
Media Lens is a British media analysis website established in 2001 by David Cromwell and David Edwards. Cromwell and Edwards are the site's editors and only regular contributors. Their aim is to scrutinise and question the mainstream media's ...
David Cromwell
David Cromwell (born 1962) is a British media campaigner and oceanographer. With David Edwards, he is a co-editor of the Media Lens website.
Cromwell was born in Glasgow. His mother was a practicing Catholic. He spent his formative years in Bar ...
. Media Lens is a British media analysis website established in 2001 which criticises what the editors view as bias and omissions in the British media. In his acceptance speech, Cromwell cited Gandhi's maxim that "
non-violence
Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...
is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind".
* 2009:
Coram Children's Legal Centre
Coram Children's Legal Centre (CCLC) is a UK charity founded in 1981 that works to promote children's rights both in the UK and abroad. The CCLC is funded by grants from central government, UNICEF, and charitable trusts, and donations. Coram Chi ...
(CLC)
* 2010:
The Parents Circle-Families Forum
The Parents Circle-Families Forum (PCFF; ; ) is a grassroots organization of Palestinian and Israeli families who have lost immediate family members due to the conflict. The PCFF operates under the principle that a process of reconciliation is a ...
(PC-FF)
* 2011:
Binayak Sen
Binayak Sen (, ) is a pediatrics, paediatrician, and public health specialist. He is the national Vice-President of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL). He is the recipient of several awards including the Global Health Council, Jonatha ...
and Bulu Imam for their humanitarian work with India's
Adivasis
The Adivasi (also transliterated as Adibasi) are heterogeneous tribal groups across the Indian subcontinent. The term is a recent invention from the 20th century and is now widely used as a self-designation by groups classified as Scheduled Tr ...
. The award was presented by Lord
Bhikhu Parekh
Bhikhu Chhotalal Parekh (Baron Parekh; born 4 January 1935) is a British political theorist, academic, and life peer. He is a Labour Party member of the House of Lords. He was Professor of Political Theory at the University of Hull from 1982 t ...
Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...
, for his "consistent efforts over a 30 year Parliamentary career to uphold the Gandhian values of social justice and non‐violence."
* 2014: Godric Bader and the Scott Bader Commonwealth, for "the alternative business model created by him and his family."
* 2015:
Bike for Peace
A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist.
Bi ...
founders
Tore Nærland Tore may refer to:
Places
* Tõre, Estonia, a village
* Tore, Scotland, a village
* Töre, Sweden, a locality
* Töre River, Sweden
* Tore (volcano), Papua New Guinea
People
* Tore (given name), a Scandinavian given name
* Elihan Tore (1885–1976 ...
Peter Tatchell
Peter Gary Tatchell (born 25 January 1952) is an Australian-born British human rights campaigner, best known for his work with LGBT social movements.
Tatchell was selected as the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party's Parliament of the United Kingdo ...
for his "consistent dedication over many decades in promoting human and gay rights".
* 2017:
Ramzi Aburedwan
Ramzi Aburedwan (Arabic:, born 1979) is a Palestinian composer, arranger, educator; and viola and buzuq player. He is the founder of Ensemble Dal’Ouna and the Palestine National Ensemble of Arabic Music. He founded the al Kamandjâti music cen ...
and his organisation, Al Kamandjâti, which teaches music skills to children in the
Occupied Palestinian territories
The occupied Palestinian territories, also referred to as the Palestinian territories, consist of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip—two regions of the former British Mandate for Palestine that have been occupi ...
and south
Lebanon
Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...
.
* 2018:
Victoria Tauli-Corpuz
Victoria Tauli-Corpuz is a Filipino development consultant and an international indigenous activist of Kankana-ey Igorot ethnicity.Roger Moody of Mines and Communities.
* 2022: Esther Trienekins of Action Village India.
Annual Lecture
Lecturers, together with the title (or theme) of their lecture, are as follows:
* 1985:
Johan Galtung
Johan Vincent Galtung (24 October 1930 – 17 February 2024) was a Norwegian sociologist and the principal founder of the discipline of peace and conflict studies. He was the main founder of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) in 1959 an ...
. "Gandhi today".Annual Report 2011-2012, The Gandhi Foundation, Annual Lecturers 1985-2009, and lecture titles.
* 1986:
Jonathon Porritt
Sir Jonathon Espie Porritt, 2nd Baronet, Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 6 July 1950) is a British environmentalist and writer.
He is known for his advocacy of the Green Party of England and Wales.
Porritt frequently contributes to ma ...
. "Gandhi and the Green Movement".
* 1987:
Martin Ennals
Martin Ennals (27 July 19275 October 1991) was a British human rights activist.
Ennals served as the secretary-general of Amnesty International from 1968 to 1980. He went on to help found the British human rights organisation ARTICLE 19 in 19 ...
. "The international concept of human rights".
* 1988: Paul Blau,
Austrian Green Party
The Greens – The Green Alternative (, ) is a green political party in Austria. The Greens currently sit in opposition. Formerly, they were part of the Schallenberg government, the Second Kurz government, and the Nehammer government. It won ...
. "The beginning of an epoch: time for the Great Peace Treaty".
* 1990:
David Ennals
David Hedley Ennals, Baron Ennals, (19 August 1922 – 17 June 1995) was a British Labour Party politician and campaigner for human rights. He served as Secretary of State for Social Services from 1976 to 1979.
Early life and military career
B ...
. "Non-violence in international relations".
* 1991:
Laxmi Mall Singhvi
Laxmi Mall Singhvi (9 November 1931 – 6 October 2007) was an Indian jurist, parliamentarian, scholar, writer and diplomat. He was, after V. K. Krishna Menon, the second-longest-serving High Commissioner for India in the United Kingdom (1991 ...
. "Gandhi today".
* 1992:
Desmond Tutu
Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 193126 December 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop ...
. "Gandhi in South Africa".
* 1993:
The Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama (, ; ) is the head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The term is part of the full title "Holiness Knowing Everything Vajradhara Dalai Lama" (圣 识一切 瓦齐尔达喇 达赖 喇嘛) given by Altan Khan, the first Shu ...
. "Compassion: the basis of non-violence".
* 1996:
Donald Soper
Donald Oliver Soper, Baron Soper (31 January 1903 – 22 December 1998) was a British Methodist minister, socialist and pacifist. He served as President of the Methodist Conference in 1953–54. After May 1965 he was a peer in the House of Lo ...
. "The total repudiation of mass violence as the only way to peace".
* 1997:
Madhu Dandavate
Madhu Dandavate (21 January 1924 – 12 November 2005) was an Indian physicist and socialist politician, who served as Minister of Railways in the Morarji Desai ministry, and as Minister of Finance in the V P Singh ministry.
Born in Ahmedn ...
. "Gandhi's human touch".
* 1998:
Mairead Maguire
Mairead MaguireFairmichael, p. 28: "Mairead Corrigan, now Mairead Maguire, married her former brother-in-law, Jackie Maguire, and they have two children of their own as well as three by Jackie's previous marriage to Ann Maguire." (born 27 Januar ...
. "Building a culture of non-violence".
* 1999:
Bruce Kent
Bruce Kent (22 June 1929 – 8 June 2022) was an English Catholic former priest who became a political activist in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), holding various leadership positions in the organisation.
Early life
Born on 22 Ju ...
. "Time to abolish war".
* 2000:
Adam Curle
Charles Thomas William Curle (4 July 1916 – 28 September 2006), better known as Adam Curle, was a British academic, known for his work in social psychology, pedagogy, development studies and peace studies. After holding posts at the University ...
. "Mahatma Gandhi: the master of truth".
* 2001:
Scilla Elworthy
Priscilla "Scilla" Elworthy (born 3 June 1943) is a peace builder, and the founder of the Oxford Research Group, a non-governmental organisation she set up in 1982 to develop effective dialogue between nuclear weapons policy-makers worldwide an ...
. "Gandhi's legacy: the vibrancy of non-violent conflict resolution in the 21st century".
* 2002:
John Hume
John Hume (18 January 19373 August 2020) was an Irish nationalist politician in Northern Ireland and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. A founder and leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, Hume served in the Parliament of Northern Irel ...
. "An eye for an eye".
* 2003:
Simon Hughes
Sir Simon Henry Ward Hughes (born 17 May 1951) is a British former politician. He is now the Chancellor of London South Bank University, and a strategic adviser to Talgo, a Spanish manufacturer of trains. Hughes was deputy leader of the Lib ...
. "India and Gandhi: their legacy to London".
* 2004: Helen Steven and Ellen Moxley, founders of The Scottish Centre for Nonviolence. "Our world at the crossroads: non-violence or non-existence".
* 2005:
Mark Tully
Sir William Mark Tully, KBE (born 24 October 1935) is a British journalist and the former Bureau Chief of BBC, New Delhi, a position he held for 20 years. He worked with the BBC for 30 years before resigning in July 1994. The recipient of sever ...
. "Was the Mahatma too great a soul? Pulling Gandhi off his pedestal".
* 2006:
Kamalesh Sharma
Kamalesh Sharma (born 30 September 1941) is an Indian diplomat who served as the fifth secretary-general of the Commonwealth of Nations from 2008 to 2016. Previously, he was the High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom from 2004 to 200 ...
. "Encounters with Gandhi".
* 2007:
Bhikhu Parekh
Bhikhu Chhotalal Parekh (Baron Parekh; born 4 January 1935) is a British political theorist, academic, and life peer. He is a Labour Party member of the House of Lords. He was Professor of Political Theory at the University of Hull from 1982 t ...
. "Why is Gandhi still relevant?".
* 2008: Harold Good. "The essentials of peaceful conflict resolution".
* 2009: Aftab Alam. "The role of the Indian Supreme Court in upholding secularism in India".
* 2011: Anthony Parel. "Pax Gandhiana: Is Gandhian non-violence compatible with the coercive state?".
* 2013:
Vince Cable
Sir John Vincent Cable (born 9 May 1943) is a British politician who was Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2017 to 2019. He was Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Twickenham (UK Parliament constituency), Twic ...
. "What would a Gandhian business model look like? and what steps would a LibDem Government take to get there".
* 2014: Navichandra Ramgoolam. "The rule of law and nation building''"''.
* 2016:
Rowan Williams
Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth (born 14 June 1950) is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian and poet, who served as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 to 2012. Previously the Bishop of Monmouth and Archbishop of W ...
. "Empathy, ethics and peacemaking: reflections on preserving our humanity".
* 2017:
Satish Kumar
Satish Kumar (born 9 August 1936) is an Indian British activist and speaker. He has been a Jainism, Jain monk, nuclear disarmament advocate and pacifist.'' ''Now living in England, Kumar is founder and Director of Programmes of the Schumacher ...
. "Gandhi for the 21st century".
* 2019:
Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Gopalkrishna Devadas Gandhi (born 22 April 1945) is a former administrator and diplomat who served as the 22nd Governor of West Bengal serving from 2004 to 2009. He is the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji). As a forme ...
. "Atonement in politics. Perspectives from Gandhi".
* 2020: Graeme Nuttall. "EO v3.0 – Employee ownership with added Gandhian purpose". (delivered online)
* 2022:
Alexandre Christoyannopoulos
Christian anarchism is a Christian movement in political theology that claims anarchism is inherent in Christianity and the Gospels. It is grounded in the belief that there is only one source of authority to which Christians are ultimately answ ...
. "Peacefully preventing and stopping war: Some challenges to conventional wisdom".
* 2023:
Paul Bazely
Paul Reginald Bazely (born 6 May 1968) is an English actor. He is known for portraying Troy in the ITV sitcom ''Benidorm''. His other TV credits include ''Making Out'', ''Emmerdale'', '' Heartbeat'', ''Doctors'', ''Holby City'', '' Vanity Fair'' ...
. "Becoming Gandhi".
In some years there has not been a lecture. In 1989 and 2010 there were panel discussions instead of a lecture.