{"id":646263,"date":"2022-05-10T09:36:03","date_gmt":"2022-05-10T09:36:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/humanrightsdefenders.blog\/?p=23131"},"modified":"2022-05-10T09:36:03","modified_gmt":"2022-05-10T09:36:03","slug":"2022-vaclav-havel-international-prize-for-creative-dissent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/05\/10\/2022-vaclav-havel-international-prize-for-creative-dissent\/","title":{"rendered":"2022\u00a0V\u00e1clav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On 3 May 2022 the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) announced the three recipients of the 2022 V\u00e1clav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2022 laureates are: professional basketball player and human rights advocate Enes Kanter Freedom<\/strong>, Iranian artist project PaykanArtCar<\/strong>, and Ukrainian-born Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova<\/strong>. This year\u2019s laureates will receive their awards on Wednesday, May 25, during the 2022 Oslo Freedom Forum<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Enes Kanter Freedom<\/strong>\u00a0is a professional basketball player and vocal advocate for human rights. Since the start of the 2021 NBA season, he has used his global platform to consistently raise awareness of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)\u2019s human rights abuses. Using his basketball shoes as the canvas for his messages, he wore multiple artistic designs highlighting issues such as the Uyghur genocide, the occupation of Tibet, slave labor at the Nike shoe factories, and the intolerance of China\u2019s dictator. As a result of his creative dissent, he is now banned from China and was dropped by both the Boston Celtics and the Houston Rockets, despite being only 29 years old and in the prime of his career. Freedom\u2019s perseverance has captured the attention of international media and informed millions of sports fans about the global struggle for individual rights in places like Tibet and the Uyghur region. At a time when professional athletes display incessant hypocrisy, unlimited greed, and double standards, Freedom emerges as the moral conscience of professional basketball. Freedom first came to international attention as an outspoken critic of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan, making him a target of Turkey\u2019s government\u00a0\u2014 he was deemed a \u201cterrorist\u201d by the regime, stripped of his passport, and was publicly disowned by his family. In late 2021, he changed his name and added \u201cFreedom\u201d as his official last name. See: https:\/\/www.trueheroesfilms.org\/thedigest\/laureates\/525e5018-7f56-4009-85b8-3f3cce9a8810<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The PaykanArtCar<\/strong> unites the talents of contemporary Iranian artists in the diaspora with a beloved symbol of Iranian national pride \u2014 the Paykan automobile \u2014 to advocate for human rights in Iran. The car used was once gifted by Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi of Iran to the Romanian dictator, Nicolae Ceau\u0219escu, and was purchased at an auction to serve as the canvas for artwork by Iranian artists in exile. Each year, PaykanArtCar commissions an exceptional Iranian artist-in-exile to use the car to capture the Iranian struggle for human dignity and basic freedoms. The inaugural PaykanArtCar was designed by Alireza Shojaian and features a historic Persian design with a provocative message about the brutality and ruthlessness faced by the marginalized and oppressed LGBTQ+ community inside Iran. The PaykanArtCar represents brave, creative dissent against the human rights abuses of Iran\u2019s theocratic dictatorial regime. The PaykanArtCar will travel to Norway to be present at the Oslo Freedom Forum as part of Human Rights Foundation\u2019s Art in Protest exhibit and will be parked at the event venue. The second edition of PaykanArtCar will be painted by a female Iranian artist and will advocate for women\u2019s rights in Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Marina Ovsyannikova<\/strong> is a Ukrainian-born Russian journalist and activist, who staged a live protest against the war in Ukraine during a news broadcast of Russian state TV. Ovsyannikova was a longtime editor at Russia\u2019s Channel One, where her job was to assist those engaged in disinformation to be distributed to the Russian people. After thinking through ways in which she could protest, she chose to interrupt a live broadcast, holding a sign calling for \u201cno war.\u201d Following her demonstration on live TV and a subsequent anti-war video, Ovsyannikova was held overnight in a police station, denied access to a lawyer, and ultimately fined 30,000 roubles \u2014 she disappeared without contact for more than 12 hours. The Kremlin denounced her protest as \u201chooliganism,\u201d and Ovsyannikova faces up to 15 years in prison under Russia\u2019s disinformation laws. In a recent article<\/a>, she expressed profound regret for her years as a participant in \u201cthe Russian propaganda machine\u201d where her job was to create \u201caggressive Kremlin propaganda \u2013 propaganda that constantly sought to deflect attention from the truth, and to blur all moral standards,\u201d she says: \u201cI cannot undo what I have done. I can only do everything I possibly can to help destroy this machine and end this war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more on the V\u00e1clav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent and its laureates, see: https:\/\/www.trueheroesfilms.org\/thedigest\/awards\/438F3F5D-2CC8-914C-E104-CE20A25F0726<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
HRF Announces the 2022 Havel Prize Laureates<\/a><\/blockquote>