Mirrar elder wins international prize

By Rebecca Meckelburg

Yvonne Margarula, Mirrar elder and traditional owner of the land the Jabiluka mine is being built on, has been awarded a $10,000 anti-nuclear prize.

According to Jacqui Katona, Margarula's spokesperson, she is the first person to win the nuclear-free award, which will presented in Salzburg, Austria, in November. Katona said Margarula had been selected by a panel including physician Dr Till Bastian, author Isabelle Allende, and African-American civil rights activist Angela Davis.

Margarula fought to protect her people's traditional lands in the Australian courts, explaining that her father was coerced into agreeing to the mine's construction in 1982. She explained the irreparable environmental damage the mine would cause and how its disturbance of sacred sites would be ``tantamount to a living death for the Mirrar''. Margarula still faces charges, to be heard in September, of trespassing.

Katona said the award came hot on the heels of a decision by the World Heritage Bureau to visit Australia in October to investigate the threats to the Kakadu World Heritage area from uranium mining and follows the European Parliament resolution condemning the Howard government for permitting Jabiluka to proceed.

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