Urban Sustainability & Social Religious Conflict
Shabana Azmi
- Actress, social activist
Javed Akhtar
- Scriptwriter, lyricist
We are delighted to announce that two of India's most respected film personalities and social activists, Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar, will visit the ASU campus to present a talk and lead a discussion on "Urban Sustainability & Social Religious Conflict." Both are well-known for their activism on social issues such as the condition of slum dwellers in urban India and the direction of the development process in India, gender roles, class and caste conflicts, ostracizing of HIV/AIDS victims, and religious conflicts.
Shabana Azmi this fall became the first Indian to receive the prestigious International Gandhi Peace Prize at the House of Lords in London. At the bicentennial celebrations of International Human Rights in Paris, President Mitterrand of
France honored Azmi along with Mother Theresa and Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu. She has also received the Martin Luther King Award by the State of Michigan and an award at Davos World Economic Forum.
Scriptwriter and lyricist Javed Akhtar was chosen for the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration for 2005. Congress president Sonia Gandhi presented the award on the 22nd death anniversary of Indira Gandhi.