Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent

Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent is an award established in 2012 by the New York City-based Human Rights Foundation (HRF). According to HRF President Thor Halvorssen, the prize recognizes individuals "who engage in creative dissent, exhibiting courage and creativity to challenge injustice and live in truth".[1]

Named in honor of Czech dissident playwright and politician Václav Havel, who had died the previous December, the award was founded with the help of his widow, Dagmar Havlová.[2] Google co-founder Sergei Brin and Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel provided part of the prize's funding.[3]

Recipients

Year Laureates Notes
2012 Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei, Burmese democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi, and Saudi Arabian women's rights activist Manal al-Sharif[3] Presented on 9 May in Oslo, Norway by the Oslo Freedom Forum.[4] After al-Sharif's speech was viewed hundreds of thousands of times on YouTube, she lost her job as an Internet security consultant at Saudi Aramco, the national oil company of Saudi Arabia.[5] Presenter Garry Kasparov stated that the three awardees had "shown not only courage, but passion and humor, that exposes the inhumanity of dictatorship."[4]
2013 Syrian cartoonist Ali Farzat, North Korean democracy activist Park Sang Hak, and Cuban civil society group the Ladies in White Pesented on 15 May by the Oslo Freedom Forum.[6] Berta Soler, leader of the Ladies in White, received the award on her first journey outside of her native Cuba, while also receiving the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.[7]
2014 Turkish protester and performance artist Erdem Gunduz, Russian punk rock protest group Pussy Riot, and Tibetan documentary filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen[8]
2015 Sudanese nonviolent resistance movement Girifna, Indonesian stand-up comedian Sakdiyah Ma'ruf, and Cuban graffiti artist and activist El Sexto.[8]
2016 Iranian cartoonist Atena Farghadani, Russian performance artist Petr Pavlensky and Uzbek photojournalist Umida Akhmedova.[9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent". Human Rights Foundation. 11 April 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  2. ↑ "Inaugural Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent awarded to Ai Weiwei, Manal al-Sharif, and Aung San Suu Kyi". HavelPrize.org. 2 May 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  3. 1 2 "A Prize for Creative Dissent". The Wall Street Journal. 13 May 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  4. 1 2 "Ceremony: Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent". Oslo Freedom Forum. 9 May 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  5. ↑ Paul Aarts & Carolien Roelants, Saudi Arabia: A Kingdom in Peril (Oxford University Press, 2015), p. 76.
  6. ↑ "Recipients". The Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent. Retrieved June 20, 2013.
  7. ↑ Tamaya, Juan. "Dissidents say they are returning to Cuba reenergized". The Miami Herald. Retrieved June 20, 2013.
  8. 1 2 "Václav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent". Human Rights Foundation: The Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent. Retrieved June 8, 2015.
  9. ↑ Foundation, Human Rights. "2016 Havel Prize Awarded to Atena Farghadani, Petr Pavlensky, and Umida Akhmedova | News | Human Rights Foundation". Human Rights Foundation. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
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