Asia’s Nobel Prize

August 1, 2007 9:02 AM

The Ramon Magsaysay Award for 2007 (list of previous winners)
posted by hadjiboy (6 comments total)

According to the citation accompanying the award, “Sainath’s authoritative reporting led Indian authorities to address certain discrete abuses and to enhance relief efforts.” It added: “Sainath discovered that the acute misery of India’s poorest districts was not caused by drought, as the government said. It was rooted in India’s enduring structural inequalities — in poverty, illiteracy, and caste discrimination — and exacerbated by recent economic reforms favouring foreign investment and privatisation.”
posted by hadjiboy at 9:05 AM on August 1, 2007

I'll take some recommendations from the previous literature winners if you'd care to make some.
posted by The Straightener at 9:46 AM on August 1, 2007

wow hadjiboy, never heard of these great awards, nor the recipients. Super education. and inspiring too. Great post.

Thanks so much!
posted by nickyskye at 2:33 PM on August 1, 2007

ps, Went through the list more carefully and see there are amazing people there, it's a collection of names of people I'd like to know more about.

A small handful I did know about: 1959 Dalai Lama - Tibet, 1967 Satyajit Ray - India, 1962 Mother Teresa - India, 1963 U.S. Peace Corps in Asia. Actually, pretty shocked how few I'd heard of. Glad that the East West gap is being diminished by the internet. Glad you as a MeFite are part of that here.
posted by nickyskye at 2:39 PM on August 1, 2007

The communication/arts list has some names with big world-wide reps: Kurosawa, Satyajit Ray, Ravi Shankar. And it's interesting to see the 1962 mention of Mother Teresa. That would have been well before she was famous.
posted by jfuller at 4:17 PM on August 1, 2007

I guess I should be more impressed, but I feel like a lot of the awards were given more for their symbolic value over the awardees' accomplishments.

I can't really speak for the awardees from other countries, but a brief rundown of the Filipino awardees just makes me go... meh. Corazon Aquino? Eggie Apostol? Miriam Santiago? One could make a case that their achievements were not very good examples of "integrity in government, courageous service to the people, and pragmatic idealism within a democratic society". (I for one lost all faith in Cory Aquino when she offered prayers in lieu of land reform for the farmworkers on her vast family holdings.)

The Magsaysay awards are well-intentioned... but apart from a few lucky guesses, have most of its awardees and their accomplishments stood the test of time?
posted by micketymoc at 6:07 PM on August 1, 2007