RELATED PROJECT
South and Central Asia
As part of its global mapping of faith-inspired organizations in development work sponsored by the Luce/SFS Program on Religion and International Affairs, the Berkley Center and the World Faiths Development Dialogue held a consultation and developed publications and web resources focused on...
read more >>
RELATED PROJECT
Practitioners and Faith-Inspired Development
"What is the role of faith in your work?" This series of more than 200 interviews, made possible through the support of the Henry R. Luce Foundation, asks this fundamental question of leaders in the development field. The assembled in-depth conversations with activists and policy specialists...
read more >>
AT THE CENTER
ALL INTERVIEWEES
> Abdikadir Hussein Mohamed> Mohammed Abu-Nimer
> Agnes Abuom
> Swami Agnivesh
> Diane Aker
> Milton Amayun
> Wisdom Shelter Ameku
> Husnul Amin
> Hady Amr
> Joan Anderson
> Agnes Appiah
> R. Scott Appleby
> Luis Arancibia
> Mona Atia
> Moulana Abul Kalam Azad
> Oscar Azmitia
> Roksana Bahramitash
> Douglas Balfour
> Kingsley Bangwell
> Fayyaz Baqir
> Marguerite Barankitse
> Douglas Bassett
> David Beckmann
> Noureddine Benmalek
> Ela Bhatt
> Alejandro Bilbao
> Andrea Blanch
> Welmoet Boender
> Maha Sangharajah Thipati Bour Kry
> Virginia M. Bouvier
> Phil Bowden
> Barrett Brenton
> Patrice Brodeur
> Nhek Buntha
> Gideon Byamugisha
> Omer Caha
> George Carey
> Stephen Carr
> Keshab Chaulagain
> Tariq Cheema
> Sarah Chhin
> Agatha Chikelue
> Joan Chittister
> Amadou Boubacar Cissé
> Jose Luis Clemente
> Denise Coghlan
> Mvume Dandala
> Agneta Dau Valler
> Sylvia Dávila
> Etienne De Jonghe
> Patricia DeBoer
> Robin Denney
> Marie Dennis
> Visaka Dharmadasa
> Frank Dimmock
> Jacques Dinan
> Phramaha Boonchuay Doojai
> Deborah Dortzbach
> Joyce Dubensky
> Haidy Ear-Dupuy
> Aicha Ech-Channa
> Hany El-Banna
> Scilla Elworthy
> Ashley Evans
> Father Enrique Figaredo
> Emily Fintel
> Mari Fitzduff
> Kpakilé Félémou
> Rajmohan Gandhi
> Thomas Getman
> Ulrike Gilbert-Nandra
> Mario Giro
> Marc Gopin
> Peter Grant
> Audu Grema
> Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda
> Olcott Gunasekera
> Peter Gyallay-Pap
> Francis Halder
> Michiel Hardon
> Muhammed Haron
> Susan Hayward
> Heng Cheng
> Qamar-ul Huda
> Samia Huq
> Adam Hutchinson
> Barbara Ibrahim
> Dekha Ibrahim
> Saad Eddin Ibrahim
> Gabriel Byong Young Je
> Ari Johnson
> Thomas Laird Jones
> Ayse Kadayifci-Orellana
> Musimbi Kanyoro
> Kim Hourn Kao
> Azza Karam
> Ted Karpf
> Ashima Kaul
> Suhrob Khaitov
> Rob Kilpatrick
> Tatiana Kotova
> Kathleen Kuehnast
> Carol Lancaster
> Nigussu Legesse
> Jørn Lemvik
> Pakorn Lertsatienchai
> Emma Leslie
> John Lewis
> Bernhard Liese
> Maryann Cusimano Love
> Gerlinda Lucas
> Lyn Lusi
> Richard Marsh
> Valeria Martano
> Maguid A. Maruhom
> Rabia Mathai
> Theodore McCarrick
> Patrick McDonald
> Marilyn McMorrow
> Dena Merriam
> Ruth Messinger
> Heng Monychenda
> Abdul Mukti
> Andrew Natsios
> Zilda Arns Neumann
> William O'Keefe
> Thoraya Ahmed Obaid
> Olusegun Obasanjo
> Filiz Odabas-Geldiay
> Jacqueline Moturi Ogega
> Ted Olbrich
> Dele Olowu
> Manal Omar
> Robert Paarlberg
> John Padwick
> Prom Pauv
> Dominique Peccoud
> Ana Victoria Peláez Ponce
> Marie Juul Petersen
> Kathryn Poethig
> James Pond
> Cedric Prakash
> Alvaro Ramazzini
> Mamphela Ramphele
> Amina Rasul-Bernardo
> William Recant
> Patrick Reese
> Gene Reeves
> Albeiro Rodas
> Elana Rozenman
> Sam Ruteikara
> Mohamed Sahnoun
> Trihadi Saptoadi
> Muhammad Amjad Saqib
> Shanti Sattler
> Theary Seng
> Bedreldin Shutta
> Wihane Sibounheuang
> Juan Silva
> Emmy Simmons
> Baba Iqbal Singh
> Sulak Sivaraksa
> David Smock
> Farina So
> Jeffrey Solomon
> Cornelio Sommaruga
> Hoeurn Somnieng
> Loun Sovath
> Gunnar Stalsett
> David Steinberg
> Helen Sworn
> Afeefa Syeed
> Elías Szczytnicki
> Homa Sabet Tavangar
> Lim Teck Ghee
> Schuyler Thorup
> Karen Torjesen
> Wendy Tyndale
> Farida Vahedi
> Rosalina Tuyuc Velásquez
> Corina Villacorta
> Robert Vitillo
> Kim Vuth
> Mark Webster
> Stephen Weir
> Fadlullah Wilmot
> Carolyn Woo
> James Wuye
> C.M. Yogi
> Yos Hut Khemacaro
> Hasan Ali Yurtsever
> Hajiya Bilkisu Yusuf
> Batir Zalimov
> Paul Zintl
> Gerrie ter Haar
> Lisette van der Wel
Swami Agnivesh
Swami Agnivesh is an Indian social activist and leader. He was born into an orthodox Hindu family in 1939 and, in 1968, he joined the Arya Samaj, a Hindu reformist movement, and became a sanyasi, renouncing worldly possessions, as Swami Agnivesh. He co-founded a political party, the Arya Sabha, to work for political change, founded on Arya Samaj principles, spelt out in a book published in 1974, Vaidik Samajvad (Vedic Socialism). Rejection of the materialism of both capitalism and communism in favor of "social spirituality" is at the core of his beliefs and work. He has long focused on the issue of bonded labor, founding the Bandhua Mukti Morcha (BMM, the Bonded Labour Liberation Front) in 1981. BMM is an advocacy organization that directly supports children and adults trapped in bondage. Agnivesh was Chairperson of the UN Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery and has won international prizes for his work. Other causes he supports are an end to female infanticide, action against gender discrimination, fighting corruption, supporting work to address HIV/AIDS, and interfaith understanding.
INTERVIEWS
A Discussion with Swami Agnivesh (South and Central Asia)
February 24, 2011
Background: This discussion preceded the January 2011 consultation on faith and development in South and Central Asia in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The interview supplements a conversation in December 2008; it was by video conference between Katherine Marshall and Michael Bodakowski, and Swami Agnivesh...
A Discussion with Swami Agnivesh, Social Activist, Arya Samaj
December 20, 2008
Background: In this discussion, which took place on December 20, 2008 as part of the Berkley Center's series on Practitioners and Faith-Inspired Development, Swami Agnivesh shares how his background and personal struggles have influenced his leadership in India. His participation in the Arya...