Gandhi Peace Award

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The Gandhi Peace Award is an award and cash prize presented annually since 1960 by Promoting Enduring Peace to individuals for "contributions made in the promotion of international peace and good will." It is named in honor of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi,^[1] but has no personal connection to Mohandas Gandhi or his family.

Recent award winners include Tom B.K. Goldtooth (2015), Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Nonviolence (2015), Omar Barghouti (2017), Ralph Nader (2017), Jackson Browne (2018), Dr. Zaher Sahloul of MedGlobal, and Mayson Almisri, a leader of the Syrian White Helmets (2020), and Kali Akuno, co-founder of Cooperation Jackson in Jackson, Mississippi (2023).

Since 1960, when the first award was accepted by Eleanor Roosevelt, the award has been presented in person to "peace heroes" who have exemplified to the members of Promoting Enduring Peace the courage of nonviolent resistance to abusive power, to armed conflict, to violent oppression, and to environmental negligence. The award is also intended to recognize individuals for having made significant contributions, through cooperative and non-violent means in the spirit of Gandhi, to the struggle to achieve a sustainable world civilization founded on enduring international peace.

In the 21st century the award is especially intended by its presenters to honor those whose lives and works exemplify the principle that international peace, universal socioeconomic justice, and planetary environmental harmony are interdependent and inseparable, and all three are essential to the survival of civilization.

The award itself is symbolized by a heavy medallion and a certificate with an inscription summing up the recipient's work. The medallion, forged from Peace Bronze (a metal rendered from decommissioned nuclear missile command systems, evoking "swords into plowshares"), features Gandhi's profile and his words "Love Ever Suffers/Never Revenges Itself" cast in bronze. The award has been presented at a ceremony held typically once a year in New York or New Haven at which the recipient is invited to present a message of challenge and hope.