'Freedom Through Non-Violence,' talk by Sulak Sivaraksa was delivered at a function organised by Friends of Tibet (INDIA) in Bombay on August 25, 2000. Sulak is Thailand's most prominent social activist and the winner of 1995 Right Livelihood Award. Sulak also presented the Bernardo Bertolucci masterpiece film 'Little Buddha' to the packed audience.

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Sulak Sivaraksa: This global activist is Thailand's most prominent social critic and activist, and one of the major contemporary exponents of socially engaged Buddhism. For the last 30 years he has combined provocative intellectual work with continual grassroots organizing in Thailand. Founder of rural development projects as well as many NGOs dedicated to exploring, in Thailand and internationally, alternative models of sustainable, traditionally-rooted and ethically- and spiritually-based development, Sulak also runs an organisation called 'Spirit in Education Movement'.

Periodically, Sulak has been persecuted by various dictatorships that have mostly ruled Thailand since 1932. In 1976, following a coup and the deaths of hundreds of students, he was forced to stay in exile for two years. In 1984, he was arrested by the government for lese-majeste (defamation of the monarchy), but after an international campaign on his behalf, he was released. In September 1991, he was again charged with lese-majeste and also with defamation of the Army Commander, General Suchinda Kraprayoon, for a speech given in Bangkok on 'The Regression of Democracy in Siam'; Sulak went immediately into exile. In December 1992, he returned to face trial. In the meantime, Sulak was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in both 1993 and 1994, thereafter he won the 'Right Livelihood Award' in 1995.

Sulak is a lawyer, teacher, scholar, publisher and a founder of many organisations and an author of more than sixty publications.

From the film Little Buddha

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'Freedom Through Non-Violence' talk by Sulak Sivaraksa and the screening of 'Little Buddha' were held at Kirtan Kendra, Juhu, Bombay on August 25, 2000.