2020 Desmond Tutu Reconciliation Award Winners

Women’s police stations, uncomfortable conversations, and gender-inclusive reconciliation. Three brave and inspiring women conferred the prestigious 2020 Desmond Tutu Reconciliation Fellowship.

Global Reconciliation is pleased to announce the award of the 2020 Desmond Tutu Reconciliation Fellowships for work in the field of gender reconciliation. Three awardees have been selected from an impressive range of global nominations from both men and women. The award has been made to Romina Caldera (Argentina), Safiya Ibn Garba (Nigeria/Jordan), and Tambudzai Glenda Muzenda (South Africa).

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Victoria Baldwin
Western Australian Police Force Shows Permanent Respect To Aboriginal People

Aboriginal flags will be flown permanently at all West Australian police stations as part of the force's Reconciliation Action Plan to improve relations with indigenous people. Commissioner Chris Dawson said it was an important move to show "we mean what we say".

"I want them to see respect, I want them to know that we're dinkum, that we're serious about it," Commissioner Dawson told ABC radio.

Commissioner Dawson's announcement comes almost 11 months after the Aboriginal flag was raised permanently outside the Western Australian Police headquarters in East Perth as he apologised to Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders on behalf of the force.

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Manny
Walking Together - Remembering William Cooper, Recommitting To His Legacy

7 DEC 2018 — From the team at Walking Together: Petition closes Monday 10 December.

In reflection of his participation in the Civil Rights March from Selma to Montgomery in 1965, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel noted that, “Legs are not lips and walking is not kneeling. And yet our legs uttered songs. Even without words, our march was worship. I felt my legs were praying.”

That was certainly our experience as almost 600 "Walked Together" through the streets of Melbourne last night.Collectively we called upon our elected leaders to work together to establish a just Treaty that recognises and acknowledges our First Nation's and ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander people have a lasting voice in our national Parliament.

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Victoria Baldwin
REGISTERED, PERSECUTED, ANNIHILATED: The legacy of the Nazi persecution of people with disabilities

Panellists will examine the specific effects of the Holocaust in creating and perpetuating physical and psychological disability. The panel will also consider challenges experienced by those who have come to Australia from other war-torn countries. It will raise the possibility that the marginalisation and erosion of personhood of persons with disability in our own society and how the continuing acceptance of cruel treatments—of indigenous people, asylum seekers, the aged, people with dementia and members of LGBTIQ communities—draws on insidious precedents established during the Holocaust.

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Victoria Baldwin
Zeremariam Fre: After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are more hills to climb (extract)

Dr Zeremariam Fre's acceptance speech at the 2018 Desmond Tutu Reconciliation Fellowship award was tremendously inspiring. Dr Berhan Ahmed, 2009 Victorian Australian of the Year, lovingly presented the award to Dr Fre for his extraordinary work in significantly advancing both the need for ecological care and the practices associated with it. Dr Fre has provided practical leadership in caring for, protecting and restoring the natural environment, and helped to develop innovative responses to contemporary environmental challenges.

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Manny
Paul Komesaroff: We sought an individual who is courageous and effective, and stands as an inspiration to others

The 2018 Desmond Tutu Reconciliation Fellowship (DTRF) award was seeking to honour a person who has provided practical leadership in the ethical reworking of our relationship to nature. We were seeking a person(s) who contributed significantly to advancing both the awareness of the need for environmental care and the practices associated with it. Someone who through his or her own work has helped develop innovative responses to contemporary environmental challenges.

Professor Paul Komesaroff, Founder and Executive Director of Global Reconciliation, opened the award ceremony by firstly congratulating Dr Zeremariam Fre for his gracious acceptance of the 2018 DTRF award.

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Manny
Elliston recognises Aboriginal massacre and leads reconciliation in Australia

For over a year the small fishing community of Elliston on South Australia's west coast was divided over the use of the term 'massacre' on a monument commemorating the murder of up to 200 Wirangu people in 1849 by colonial settlers.

"Now we have four Aboriginal boys playing for Elliston this year, winning the premiership! That's what it has done for the community."

Wirangu people have fought for many years for a memorial, but it came to fruition when the Elliston council opted to build a coastal walking trail along the same cliffs where the Wirangu were murdered.

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Manny
Indigenous Social Justice Commissioner June Oscar declared racism in Australia is 'alive and it's kicking'

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner June Oscar has declared that racism in Australia is "alive and it's kicking" in response to comments by the nation's newly appointed race discrimination commissioner that Australia is not a racist country.

"I'm hearing from women and girls across the country … that racism is one of the key emerging issues," she said.

“I know from my own personal experiences that racism is alive and it's kicking”.

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Manny
Environmental advocate acclaimed with 2018 Desmond Tutu Reconciliation Award

Environmental advocate for nomadic pastoral communities across the Horn of Africa, Dr Zeremariam Fre, has been awarded the 2018 Desmond Tutu Reconciliation Fellowship.

The Fellowship, which this year focuses on environmental care, promotes reconciliation by bringing global support to individuals engaged in local projects.  It recognises Dr Fre’s lifetime work supporting pastoral peoples, advocating for their rights to land and care of the natural resources that support them.

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