AT THE OSLO FREEDOM FORUM, AN EVENT ORGANIZED BY RUSSIAN DISSIDENT GARRY KASPAROV AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION,
The prize bearing the name of anti-Communist dissident Václav Havel, the first democratic president of the Czech Republic after the Velvet Revolution of 1989, is awarded to those remarkable individuals who, through courage, dignity and ingenuity, work to unmask authoritarian regimes worldwide. The awarding of the Václav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent constitutes an appeal to an acknowledgement of the need to fight against authoritarian regimes that fail to respect the rights, freedoms and integrity of the individual, and who abuse the power at their disposal – even if this fight is to be waged on their own territory.
Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, one of this year’s laureates, protested against the war in Ukraine on a live newscast of state-run television station Channel 1. Following her protest, she was detained for 24 hours for questioning, without the right of attorney, and subsequently fined 30.000 roubles. The Kremlin denounced her protest as an act of “hooliganism”, and given the Russian legislation regarding disinformation on the war in Ukraine, Marina Ovsyannikova could face a 15-year prison sentence for her actions. Since then, she has fled the Russian Federation.
”I supported Ms. Ovsianikova’s bid through the judge panel debates precisely because I know how hard it really is to speak the truth when facing an oppressive regime. During the Romanian Revolution of 1989, the first detainees released were the imprisoned journalists, sentenced to rot for having protested against the Ceausescu dictatorship. And to those that might still be asking themselves: “What did Marina ultimately change through her symbolic gesture live on Russian State television in Moscow?”, I will answer in Vaclav Havel’s own words: “Hope is not the conviction that things will take a turn for the better, but rather the conviction that what you are doing makes sense regardless of the turn things take, for better or worse””, president Constantinescu stated during the ceremony.
Each year, the Oslo Freedom Forum, founded by the great Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov, a well-known dissident against Vladimir Putin’s regime, brings together heads of state that decisively contributed to the installation of democracy in their respective countries, leaders of organizations and movements acting in defence of democracy and human rights, and representatives of the academic milieu. The event features not only the testimonies of those that fought against authoritarian regimes and suffered their oppression first-hand, but also artistic moments brimming of emotion.
The list of participants to this year’s event, held between May 22nd and 25th, features such keynote speakers as Garry Kasparov (Chairman of the Human Rights Foundation), Anne Applebaum (historian of Eastern Europe, laureate of the Pulitzer Prize), Svetlana Tikhanovskaya (the leader of the democratic opposition in Belarus), Dmytro Kuleba (Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine). President Emil Constantinescu is a keynote speaker on the panel “Building an Alliance for Freedom”.
OSLO FREEDOM FORUM. IN MEMORIAM VACLAV HAVEL
President Emil Constantinescu's address upon awarding the Vaclav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent to journalist Marina Ovsyannikova
This welcome resumption of the Oslo Freedom Forum, previously made impossible by the COVID-19 pandemic, coincides with the anniversary of 33 years since the fall of Communist dictatorships in Central and Eastern Europe, and 31 years from the collapse of the USSR. At the time, 24 countries re-entered the democratic space, with 11 of them previously incorporated in the former Soviet Union.
The Cold War that had lasted for 45 years was at an end, finally offering Peace a chance. Now, we are faced with a new Cold War, while in Ukraine the Russian Federation is waging an altogether hot conflagration, thereby returning the horrors of the Second World War to the contemporary limelight.
Affirming our solidarity with those that are fighting in Ukraine for their own country’s freedom, as well as our resolve in standing with those suffering from this unwarranted invasion, today’s award of the “Vaclav Havel” Prize is a welcome opportunity to commemorate those that stood up against repression during a long and bloody Soviet dictatorship, fighting for liberty and democracy at the price of their own lives, and of their own freedom.
As one who has spent 50 years under a dictatorship, as one who was directly involved in the overthrow of the totalitarian regime in Romania, I am here today to offer you all a testimony of an emblematic personality who inspired us in our own struggle for freedom and democracy: Vaclav Havel.
I met President Havel 31 years ago in Prague, when he was already President of the Czech Republic, and when I was adapting his ideas to the civic movement I led in Romania.
As Rector of the University of Bucharest, I had the pleasure of awarding President Havel the title of Doctor Honoris Causa in 1995. We were close collaborators as Presidents of our respective countries, and a strong friendship continued to tie us long after, until his untimely demise.
Havel was an informal leader of the family of first democratic presidents from Central and Eastern Europe who hailed from the academic and cultural milieu of their respective countries. Today, his ideas are, perhaps, more applicable than ever before – both those regarding „the power of the powerless” and his belief that „Truth and Love will vanquish Lies and Hate”.
If it was possible to peacefully dismantle the most criminal regime in the history of mankind – the Soviet Empire, responsible for tens of millions of deaths – through a nonviolent movement called the „Velvet Revolution” three decades ago, why would the same feat be impossible today?
Those who will make such a victory of the Good a reality will be people much alike those present here, tonight, in the Oslo Concert House, or those I met during previous reunions of the Oslo Freedom Forum: creative and courageous individuals that can mobilize those around them in the struggle against oppressive regimes.
This fight against Evil will not end anytime soon. In years to come, other generations will come to understand just how much they owe those who had the wisdom and bravery to fight in their stead.
Now, towards my later years, after a life lived during the Second World War as a refugee, then under a criminal dictatorship that succumbed to a popular revolution, followed by a difficult economic transition that bore high social costs, I wish to confess to the depth of the appreciation and respect I feel for you.
I am certain that my dear and old friend, Vaclav Havel, would also have been proud of you today, as would the others in that family of early democratic presidents of Europe that are no longer among us; and I would like to take the opportunity to thank Thor and Garry that, three years later, we could be together again.
15 years ago, in Washington, a new Statue of Liberty was unveiled – a bronze replica of that built out of paper by Chinese students in Tiananmen Square. I attended that dedication as the survivor among the Eastern European Presidents that founded the Memorial to the Victims of Communism.
I am glad to be able to offer this symbol as a sign of the Havel Prize for Creative Dissidence to Ms Marina Ovsianikova.
I supported Ms. Ovsianikova’s bid through the judge panel debates precisely because I know how hard it really is to speak the truth when facing an oppressive regime. During the Romanian Revolution of 1989, the first detainees released were the imprisoned journalists, sentenced to rot for having protested against the Ceausescu dictatorship.
And to those that might still be asking themselves: “What did Marina ultimately change through her symbolic gesture live on Russian State television in Moscow?”, I will answer in Vaclav Havel’s own words:
“Hope is not the conviction that things will take a turn for the better, but rather the conviction that what you are doing makes sense regardless of the turn things take, for better or worse”.
