Gleitsman Foundation to Present ``2001 International Activist Award'' to Indian Human Rights Activist Martin Macwan and Cambodian Rebuilder Bernard Krisher.

Business Editors

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 17, 2001

Recognizing a leader of the effort to demolish the tradition of "hidden apartheid," and another seeking to build opportunity through education and technology, The Gleitsman Foundation will presents its 2001 International Activist Award to Martin Macwan and Bernard Krisher, whose work in India and Cambodia, respectively, offers hope to those nations' poorest and most powerless citizens.

The award will be given to Macwan in Surat, India on April 18 (a ceremony expected to draw roughly 500 people from across the region), and to Krisher (at the rural school he created) in Robib, Cambodia on April 22. Each will receive a sculpture designed by Maya Lin, the creator of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C., and will share a $100,000 prize, which in the past has been shared by such world figures as then-African National Congress president Nelson Mandela, Chinese democracy advocate Wei Jingsheng and future Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Jose Ramos-Horta.

Macwan, born among the one hundred and sixty million Dalits (formerly "Untouchables") who form the lowest caste in India, has dedicated his life to improving their fate. By the conversion of his grandfather to Christianity, he had the advantage of being educated in Jesuit schools and earned a law degree. Two decades ago he founded The Navsarjan Trust to use his legal knowledge, and that of other fearless attorneys and social workers, to fight for the human rights of the Dalits, who continue to suffer the "hidden apartheid" of discrimination, poverty and even violence at the hands of their fellow citizens. Today, in more than two thousand villages, the organization helps supply potable water and provide legal aid. As the Convener of the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights, Macwan is attempting to present his case before the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in South Africa, taking place from August 31 to September 7, 2001.

Krisher, having fled to the U.S. with his family to escape Nazi atrocities, dedicated himself decades later to those surviving the terror of the Khymer Rouge. Former Tokyo bureau chief for Newsweek (1962-80) and Fortune (1980-83), he was especially moved by the economic and social devastation of Cambodia. Under the auspices of his non-profit organizations, American Assistance for Cambodia and Japan Relief for Cambodia, he has rallied support from the U.S., Japan, Hong Kong and the World Bank to build schools in two hundred remote, impoverished Cambodian villages, including Robib, installing solar panels and satellites to provide power and link students to the world through the Internet. Providing needed medical assistance (through a "telemedicine" project in conjunction with Massachusetts General Hospital), the Internet project has also rejuvenated local economies by helping villagers sell traditional wares, such as woven silk scarves.

Of the choice of the International Activist Award winners, Foundation president Alan L. Gleitsman stated, "Both Martin and Bernard are beacons of hope for those too poor or disenfranchised to better their own lives. By recognizing their extraordinary work, we wish to inspire others who hopefully will follow in their footsteps."

Established by former business executive Alan L. Gleitsman in 1989, The Gleitsman Foundation is a non-profit organization that recognizes and promotes social activism worldwide. The Foundation sponsors two main awards, international and domestic, while also encouraging myriad grassroots organizations.

The International Activist Award is designed to honor activist achievement throughout the world, excluding the U.S., and is presented in alternating years with the Citizen Activist Award. Those serving on Board of Judges are former United Nations Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar, physicist and human rights activist Fang Lizhi, and Nobel Peace Prize winners Shimon Peres, Mairead Maguire, Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu and Adolfo Perez Esquivel. In 1999 the award was given to ten peace activists in the Middle East, following its 1997 presentation to Argentinian founder of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo Maria Adela Antokoletz and Bangladeshi lender to the poor Muhammad Yunus.