Introductory note and acknowledgements

Roseli Fischmann

This special number of the journal “Notandum - Libro 9 -, brings the dossier regarding Herbert C. Kelman's nomination and awarded Honorable Mention of the UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the promotion of tolerance and non-violence 2006.
Therefore, this volume seeks to honor that achievement, at same time celebrating Professor Kelman's 80th anniversary, due March 18th 2007.
It aims to be a testimony of Kelman's nomination process, and is composed by the following documents: Address of the Director General of UNESCO in the occasion of the Award Ceremony; UNESCO's official form of nomination; leading letters of nomination, Jorge Domínguez's and mine; the "addendum-justification" presented complementing my letter and the explanatory list of annexes (which were presented as hard copies, in a  separate folders and box, and can be found in the Internet, libraries and bookstores, referring to whom it may be of interest to get in touch with their contents); letters of support, sent from different parts of the world for scholars and political leaders whose collaboration is part of Herb Kelman achievements in different moments; interview with the Secretary of the Prize until 2006; UNESCO documents regarding the Prize.
Herb Kelman's nomination process had a collective accent, proper to his profile and life history. For that reason I would like to present my deep gratitude to all those who collaborated in that process, making possible to have it done and well succeeded, bringing here particularly some names. Jorge Domínguez's help was essential since the academic year 2004-2005, when I was Visiting Scholar at Harvard; then the very first idea of honoring Herb Kelman through a nomination to a UNESCO Prize came up to me and I shared that with Jorge, then the Director of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard and he said he would be ready to give me support to that. In the beginning of 2006, when the occasion came for I received the Call for Nomination - 2006, as former President of the International Jury of the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education, Jorge immediately assumed to help me in the process, firmly saying that it was the moment and that we had to do it, that we had to attend UNESCO's invitation. In despite of working on distance Dr. Domínguez was permanent interlocutor and partner in that endeavor during all phases of the process, always offering me attention and being patient with the many demands for suggestions I presented to him during the process. Jorge offered me his wisdom, finding ways of keeping his word, regarding to support my activities in the process. Particularly I owe him the careful reading of the many versions of the documents I wrote on Herb Kelman's life and work; I am aware that that was an additional load to his agenda, since he was in a moment of transition for when we were finishing Herb's nomination, Jorge was at the point of assuming as Harvard Vice-Provost for International Relations. Besides his more than thirty-year experience working together in daily basis with our candidate, Jorge also showed me how much he admires Herb's work and deeply respects him, and that was additional source of testimony to me.
The nomination was enriched for the devoted collaboration of Donna Hicks, Lenore Martin e Sara Roy, Herbert Kelman's collaborators at Harvard for two decades or so. They helped me to identify, to choose and to get in touch with those people whose names would be proper to compose the Kelman's roster of supporters, asking to each one of them to send a letter. It was hard mission to them, since many would be the past and present collaborators and friends who would be glad to support Herb's candidature to the UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize. It was hard and sensitive to define that roster, as jointly we decided to get in touch with those who most likely would fast reply to us, even considering the busy agendas of all and whose letters could be representative of the different countries and regions Dr. Kelman has been in touch, and contributions he has offered; also we had in mind to keep the letters under a reasonable number, once we believe that Herb's life and work self-demonstrate their worth. Without them, it had not be possible to gather such a wonderful group of distinguished supporters and at same time to have the present "Herb's team" sharing the process of nomination.
By their side, those who accepted to send letters in support to Kelman's nomination, were extremely ready to attend our invitation, in despite of their busy calendar. With discipline they also assumed the limits established by our improvised "committee". The supporters also had the kind gesture of sending a personal message to me along with the letter of support, or an e-mail to confirm they had already sent their support. Or yet, they made the effort to get the quickest mail service to attend the deadline, because it was a long way to send from different corners of the world to Sao Paulo, to gather all the materials and letters to compose the dossier and then send it all to Paris; we even had some remarkable records from those supporters, for example to get to deliver one letter from Cairo to São Paulo in less than 24 hours. All of them had same feeling, expressed in sum in a personal message sent by Dr. Kurt R. Spilmann: "I am sorry I had to be so short: the merits of Herb Kelman are hard to grasp on so little space. I hope to be able to contribute a little to his being awarded this prize." Indeed it was a learning process bringing other visions about Herb and, in each one, renewed gratitude.
I would like to present my special gratitude to Elizabeth Lawler, Assistant to Professor Herbert Kelman; patiently and with so much attention she helped me to gather, among with the enormous documentation Herb had from a life, the material I needed to compose the dossier, particularly but not exclusively when I was in Cambridge in May 2006 for that purpose. I am also in a debt of gratitude to Kathleen Hoover, Executive Assistant to Professor & Vice Provost Jorge Dominguez, always ready to facilitate even the littlest details, many times as improvised as needed, always with effectiveness along with good will and excellent mood, helping to make stronger the "bridge" between Cambridge and São Paulo. Elizabeth and Kathleen - both of them gave me in many and various ways all the support I needed to make that journey easier and well succeeded.
I would like to thank Shelly Cox for her editing my texts, to make more correct my English, always very kind and with solidarity, in personal terms, and finding ways to solve my grammar and vocabulary doubts and to attend my urgencies, even working on distance. I am sure she would find many ways to get this text better, but this time it is just my own way, to get to be a surprise to her.
Now I would like to mention some important people to make this publication. I address my special gratitude to the co-editor Professor Luiz Jean Lauand, who considered as worth that process and the achievement of the Honorable Mention by Dr. Kelman, that offered the possibility of this special number Notandum-Libro 9. I also would like to address my thanks to Dr. Sylvio Roque Guimarães Horta, co-editor and responsible for the electronic edition, to which he dedicates his best. Also my recognition goes to the Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação da Universidade de São Paulo, particularly to the Presidency and to the areas "Philosophy and Education" and “"Culture, Organization, Education", for their support to make possible this publication thanks to a grant from CAPES-PROEX quota to our Program. Personaly I would like to thank to professors  Denice Barbara Catani, Romualdo Portela, Marcos Barbosa de Oliveira e Afrânio Mendes Catani, who facilitate that possibility and to the colleagues Cláudio Ávila e Luana Robles, as well, particularly for their support referring the PROEX process.
All of us committed to Dr Kelman's candidature would like to thank the International Jury of the UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the promotion of tolerance and non-violence, in the person of the Jury's President, Mister Andrés Pastrana,  former President of the Republic of Colombia, neighbor country and brother to our Brazil. In this occasion, I would like to thank to the Universidade de São Paulo in its Pró-Reitoria de Pós-Graduação, Pró-Reitoria de Pesquisa and Pró-Reitoria de Cultura e Extensão, which generous support allowed me to go to Paris to accept the prize in Dr. Kelman's behalf, once he had health problems which were impeditive to his presence.
I also would like to present my gratitude to the people of UNESCO Secretariat who had been involved in the support and in the process of analysis of the candidatures, particularly from the Social and Human Sciences Sector (SHS), led by Mister Pierre Sané, particularly in the person of Dr. Serguei Lazarev, then Secretary of that Prize and responsible for the theme of tolerance at UNESCO since 1993. Particularly I would like to thank the precious and kind support from Ms Alice Saint-Luce, generous Caboverdean who helped so much particularly from the decision of awarding Herb with the honorable mention on, having the additional asset of sharing the Lusophone identity with us, Brazilians.
A special word of recognition and deep gratitude to the Ambassador Madanjeet Singh, whose initiative, so proper to a diplomat and to a Sikh Religion adept, promoting tolerance and peace, allowed the creation of that Prize, specially relevant for bringing along with the theme of tolerance, the memory of (his compatriot) Mahatma Gandhi.
Last but not least, we all thank to UNESCO - in the persons of its Director-General Koïshiro Matsuura and its Deputy Director General Marcio Nogueira Barbosa (which presence in there honors all of us Brazilians) -, which establishing Prizes and Honorable Mentions allows that people of remarkable human value, as Professor Kelman, could receive internationally recognition and, then, serve once more as example for all.