Sulak Sivaraksa

Sulak ( Thai สุ ลักษณ์ ศิว รักษ์, pronunciation: [ Sulak sìwárák ]; * March 27, 1933 in Bangkok ) is a Thai sociology professor, author, organizer, consultant and founder and director of various NGOs, institutions and movements. As Ajahn ( master, teacher ) Sulak 1995 Right Livelihood Award ( " Alternative Nobel Prize " ) awarded, he was perceived increasingly in the West and in the German language area. He is also a council member of the World Future Council, which, as the Right Livelihood Award, was founded by Jakob von Uexküll.

Life and work

Sulak studied in Wales and England and graduated in London with the exam as a lawyer from. He first worked for the BBC, as a teacher and as a translator. A short time after his return home, he worked as editor of a magazine for intellectuals ("Social Science Review " ) known in the educated circles of the country. He increasingly turned to humanitarian, social and ecological projects to develop sustainable models for a changing society. The military coup of 1976 forced him into exile for two years. During this time he lectured widely in Europe, Canada and the United States. He used the time for a postgraduate degree at the Social Science Research Council in New York City. The contacts of that time proved to be important as him international protest in 1984 came to the rescue and his stay in Thai arrest shortened, which was imposed on him for alleged insult of the King '. 1991 again driven into exile, eventually succeeded Sulak 1995, after a longer path through the courts to again be a free man in his own country. Shortly before the " coronation " on 5 May 2007, a further process was stopped because of imputed lese majeste, which dated from the reign of Thaksin Shinawatra, whom he publicly attacked very direct. On the evening of November 6, 2008 Sulak was arrested again for lese majeste. These charges, which do not come from the king, but are determined by the police and charged by the prosecutor, are the repeated attempt to intimidate the uncomfortable thinkers and to hinder his freedom of speech.

Sulak is among the intellectuals of his country and in international fora moral authority, but because of his hard-hitting and sometimes uncompromising logic conclusions also an enfant terrible of Thai politics. He was instrumental in the founding of several Thai and international NGOs, associations, foundations and initiatives and is available in several Asian countries as well as in Europe and in the U.S. a welcome consultant and speaker at conferences and universities, where he also temporarily visiting professorships held ( including Berkeley and Harvard ). Under which he had founded, co-founded, led, or as patron supervised social, ecological and spiritual movements and organizations include: the Thai NGO " Sathirakoses - Nagapradeepa Foundation ", the Alternative College SEM (Spirit in Education Movement) in Thailand, the PBI ( Peace Brigades International), the World Future Council and in particular the well-known in the West INEB ( International Network of Engaged Buddhists ). The latter was in 1989 by him, has been launched, along with other leading figures of the Buddhist, the 14th Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh and Maha Ghosananda to life and has featured in more than 20 countries spread across the globe.

As a practicing Buddhist Sulak applies as an outstanding representative of a world facing and engaged Buddhism. In its consistent interpretation of Buddhist insights to concrete political, social, educational, economic and environmental issues, he shows the relevance of this theory to the solution even today's conflicts. He seeks the root of human suffering, of maladministration and injustice, drawing attention to the simplest principles of Buddhist doctrine and brings outstanding issues pragmatically to the point. His criticism of the prevailing structures and their responsible representatives is fundamental, his proposals are simple and both conservative values ​​and utopian. Thus, it is obvious that he is using, for example, for human rights, ethnic minorities, peace education and for Bhikkhuni ordination and inter-religious dialogue and very pointedly expressed against corruption, abuse of power, oppression, globalization, consumerism, World Bank, IMF and large corporations or participated as an activist to sit-ins against rainforest destroying gas pipelines. He also advocates for Asian artists and - as a friend of the Dalai Lama - for topics to Tibet. He fulfills his role as a tireless Mahner also by cultivates the memory of democratic models of the recent history of Thailand or keeps the memory of important monks awake. To these topics he has published several books in Thai and in English, either as author or as editor.

In addition to the Swedish ' Right Livelihood Award' Sulak was awarded the Indian ' Millennium Gandhi Award' 1998, with the price of UNPO ( the organization not represented in the United Nations peoples ) and 2001. Since March 2009 he is also committed to the newly formed Russell Tribunal on Palestine question.

Works

  • Seeds of Peace - Vision of a Buddhist society. Freiburg im Breisgau 1995, ISBN 3-591-08357-7.
  • In the face of power, Pridi Banomyong, the rise and fall of democracy in Siam (Thailand). Bangkok 2005, ISBN 974-93403-4-5.
  • Buddhist Perception for Desirable Societies in the Future. ( Papers prepared for the United Nations University ). 1993
  • A Buddhist Vision for Renewing Society ( Collected articles by a Concerned Thai intellectual ). Thai Watana Panich Co. Ltd.. , Bangkok 1981, ISBN 974-07-5095-8.
  • Loyalty Demands Dissent ( Autobiography of a Socially Engaged Buddhist ). ISBN 1-888375-10-8.
  • Religion and Development. 1987
  • Seeds of Peace "(A Buddhist Vision for Renewing Society)., 1991, ISBN 0-938077-78-3.
  • Siam in crisis. (A Collection of Articles by Sulak ). Second edition 1990.
  • A Socially Engaged Buddhism. Sathirakoses - Nagapradipa Foundation, Bangkok 1999, ISBN 974-260-154-2
  • Global Healing ( essays and interviews on structural violence, social development and spiritual transformation ). Thai Inter - Religious Commision for Development, Bangkok 1999
  • Powers That Be: Pridi Banomyong through the rise and fall of Thai democracy. 1999
  • Conflict, Culture, Change. Engaged Buddhism in a Globalizing World. 2005, ISBN 0-86171-498-9
  • The Wisdom of Sustainability: Buddhist Economics for the 21st Century. , 2010. ISBN 0982165617
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