Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent
American award
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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]
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Named in honor of Czech dissident playwright and politician Václav Havel, who died in December 2011, 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 | Country/Ethnicity | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Ai Weiwei[3] | China | Dissident | 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] |
| Aung San Suu Kyi[3] | Myanmar | Democracy activist | ||
| Manal al-Sharif[3] | Saudi Arabia | Women's rights activist | ||
| 2013 | Ali Farzat | Syria | Cartoonist | Presented 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] |
| Park Sang-hak | North Korea | Democracy activist | ||
| Ladies in White | Cuba | Civil society group | ||
| 2014 | Erdem Gunduz[8] | Turkey | Protester and performance artist | |
| Pussy Riot | Russia | Punk rock protest group | ||
| Dhondup Wangchen | Tibet | Documentary filmmaker | ||
| 2015 | Girifna[8] | Sudan | nonviolent resistance movement | |
| Sakdiyah Ma'ruf[8] | Indonesia | Stand-up comedian | ||
| El Sexto[8] | Cuba | Graffiti artist and activist | ||
| 2016 | Atena Farghadani[9] | Iran | Cartoonist | Pavlensky's prize was withdrawn by the Human Rights Foundation after he announced his intention to dedicate the award and prize money to the "Primorsky Partisans," a group of six then-teenagers in the Russian Far East who in 2010 declared a "guerrilla war" on police to "protest corruption and lawlessness and were given lengthy prison sentences for the murder of three officers, robbery, and theft".[10] In a letter, the Foundation said that the revocation was "unfortunate and unprecedented" and that those who have "advocated the use of violence as a valid method to fight government oppression" are barred from receiving the award.[10] |
| Petr Pavlensky[9] | Russia | Performance artist | ||
| Umida Akhmedova[9] | Uzbekistan | Photojournalist | ||
| 2017 | Silvanos Mudzvova[11] | Zimbabwe | Artist and activist | Presented on 24 May by the Oslo Freedom Forum. |
| Ayat Al-Qurmezi [11] | Bahrain | Poet and activist | ||
| El Chigüire Bipolar[11] | Venezuela | Satirical website | ||
| 2018 | Emmanuel Jal | Canada | Activist | Presented on 30 May by the Oslo Freedom Forum. |
| Belarus Free Theatre | Belarus | Theater group | ||
| Mai Khôi | Vietnam | Musician | ||
| 2019 | Rap Against Dictatorship[12] | Thailand | Rappers | Presented on 29 May at the Oslo Freedom Forum. |
| Rayma Suprani[13] | Venezuela | Cartoonist | ||
| Ramy Essam[13] | Egypt | Musician | ||
| 2020 | Badiucao[14] | China | Artist | Presented online on 25 September during the Virtual Oslo Freedom Forum. |
| Omar Abdulaziz[14] | Saudi Arabia | Vlogger | ||
| Kizito Mihigo[14] | Rwanda | Gospel Singer | ||
| 2022 | Enes Kanter Freedom[15] | United States | Basketball player and human rights advocate | Enes Kanter Freedom received the prize for raising awareness of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s human rights abuses, PaykanArtCar for inspiring diaspora Iranian artists to advocate for human rights in Iran, and Marina Ovsyannikova for staging a protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine during a news broadcast of Russian state TV. Presented on 25 May by the Oslo Freedom Forum. |
| PaykanArtCar[15] | Iran | Artist project | ||
| Marina Ovsyannikova[15] | Ukrainian-born, Russia | Journalist | ||
| 2024 | Toomaj Salehi[16] | Iran | Rapper | Presented on 22 May by the Oslo Freedom Forum. |
| Tahir Hamut Izgil[16] | Uyghurs | Poet filmmaker and activist | ||
| Gabriela Montero[16] | Venezuela | Pianist | ||
| 2025 | Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara[17] | Cuba | Artist and pro-democracy activist | Presented at the 2025 Oslo Freedom Forum. |
| Azza Abo Rebieh[17] | Syria | Activist and artist | ||
| Alexandra Skochilenko.[17] | Russia | Artist, poet, and musician |
