Cultural activist in Nobel peace list

A cultural and social justice campaigner from The University of Queensland has been named in a group of 1000 women around the globe who have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Dr Zohl dé Ishtar, a researcher with UQ’s Australian Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, is one of six Australian women included in 1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005.

The list was started by a group of women in Switzerland to increase the visibility of women working in social justice and human security.

Dr dé Ishtar said she was a proud Irish-Australian lesbian who had spent more than 20 years working on cross-cultural projects with Indigenous Australian and Pacific women.

The 51-year-old from West End has campaigned against nuclear weapons and militarism, colonialism, cultural ignorance and discrimination of all kinds, including on the basis of sexuality.

“As an Irish-Australian I am a descendant of a still colonised peoples and know the legacy that comes from the loss of land, life and language. As a lesbian I know what discrimination feels like,” Dr dé Ishtar said.

She has written two pioneering books about the Pacific’s fight for sovereignty and against nuclear weapons testing, including Daughters of the Pacific.

Her third book, which critiques white culture, is based on her two years spent living with Aboriginal women elders in Western Australia’s Great Sandy Desert, is due out in September.

Dr dé Ishtar has been involved in the Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific movement since 1983.

She founded the Lesbian Cancer Foundation in 1993 and helped create Sydney’s Lesbian Community Cultural Centre in 1996.

In England in the 1980s she was jailed nine times for peaceful protests against nuclear weapons during her involvement with the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp.

While living at Greenham Common, Dr dé Ishtar founded the British network Women for a Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific.

The Nobel Peace Prize has honoured 80 men, 20 organisations and 12 women.

The 2005 prize is due to be announced in October.

Media: Dr dé Ishtar (0409 838 228, z.deishtar@uq.edu.au) or Miguel Holland at UQ Communications (3365 2619)