Thirty-five years ago, the Peaceful Revolution in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) brought down the Berlin Wall and overthrew the dictatorship of the ruling party SED. Those involved in the Peaceful Revolution protested non-violently for democracy and called for freedom, political participation and respect for human rights. For forty years, the SED regime held power by restricting these rights.
What was achieved in East Germany and throughout communist-dominated parts of Europe in 1989/90 became a symbol and role model for the fight for freedom across the globe. Today, there are non-violent protest movements calling for democratic participation and basic human rights in dictatorships and autocratic regimes from Latin America to Asia.
The largely non-violent end of communist dictatorships in Europe demonstrates that authoritarian regimes, too, can be overcome – a goal for which dissidents across the globe are peacefully fighting.
Kulturprojekte Berlin and the Axel Springer Freedom Foundation invited dissidents and activists across the globe to send their own personal message for freedom, democracy and human rights to Berlin: on posters and via video statements.
These messages are now featured as part of the installation and the exhibition on Niederkirchnerstraße on 8 and 9 November 2024.
Here we present some video statements from freedom fighters across the globe, along with their backgrounds:
In the Videos below you can find out more about the commitment and messages of freedom fighters worldwide:
Zhou Fengsuo
Chinese human rights activist
In 1988, while studying physics at university in Beijing, Zhou Fengsuo organised the only free election of a student parliament in China to date. Driven by a desire to democratise the country, he was the founder and leader of the so-called Voice of the Students during the Tian’anmen protests that were bloodily suppressed in June 1989 and ended in a massacre involving 2,600 deaths. He was forced to leave China in the 1990s and is today one of the most prominent Chinese advocates for democracy and freedom.
Faisal Saeed Al Mutar
Iraqi-American human rights activist
While still living in Bagdad, Faisal Saeed Al Mutar experienced first-hand what extremism and authoritarian regimes are capable of: the Iraqi civil war, the murder of his brother and several attempted kidnappings. In 2013, he was able to flee to the U.S. and has been campaigning there against extremism and disinformation, especially in the Middle East, ever since. He has received numerous international awards in acknowledgement of his efforts to encourage people across the globe to come to common understandings and live their lives in freedom and dignity.
Félix Maradiaga
Nicaraguan human rights activist and politician
Even as a child, Félix Maradiaga experienced civil war in Nicaragua and life on the run. His work on behalf of peace, disarmament and democracy – as founder of a non-profit education centre for democratic transformation and as the voice of the opposition, among others – made him an enemy of the authoritarian Ortega regime. Félix Maradiaga survived two assassination attempts and extensive prison sentences before being expatriated from Nicaragua in 2023. Today, he is a prominent voice in the World Liberty Congress.
Leopoldo López
Venezuelan opposition leader, General Secretary World Liberty Congress
The long-time mayor of Municipio Chacao in Venezuela’s capital of Caracas was arrested in 2014 for being the leader of peaceful protests for freedom and human rights. Leopoldo López was the founder of the Venezuela party Voluntad Popular and was a political prisoner of the regime of dictator Nicolás Maduro for five years before managing to escape to Spain in 2020. After arriving in Spain, he continued to campaign for democratic change, including as co-founder of the World Liberty Congress in 2022.
Haiyuer Kuerban
Director of the World Uyghur Congress Berlin Office
The dedicated human rights activist Haiyuer Kuerban, who has a background in IT and accounting, has been fighting for the freedom of the Uyghurs in German exile for 18 years. While his family and friends in China face repression, he advocates for public awareness of the rights of Uyghurs in Germany and beyond as the head of the Berlin office of the World Uyghur Congress.
Masih Alinejad
Iranian-American women’s rights activist, President World Liberty Congress
Masih Alinejad was born in northern Iran and still a teenager when she was first arrested. As a journalist in Tehran, she fought for women’s rights and provoked the wrath of Iran’s theocratic regime. In 2014, her campaign against the compulsory wearing of the hijab – a sexist law that forces women to cover themselves in public – became the largest civil disobedience movement in the country’s history. She has been President of the World Liberty Congress since 2023.
Mozn Hassan
Egyptian women’s rights activist
Mozn Hassan is an Egyptian feminist who took part in several campaigns focusing on gender-based inequality and injustice, especially in relation to human rights activists and victims of sexual violence. In 2007, she founded the organisation known as Nazra for Feminist Studies. In 2016, her work was honoured with the Right Livelihood Award, otherwise known as the Alternative Nobel Prize, »for asserting the equality and rights of women in circumstances where they are subject to ongoing violence, abuse and discrimination«.
Maksim Kurnikov
Russian journalist
Maksim Kurnikov is a Russian journalist who worked for Echo Moscow, considered by many to be Russia’s last independent radio station. After the Russian invasion of the entire country of Ukraine in 2022, the Putin regime put a de facto end to independent journalism, even imprisoning people simply for calling the war a war. Maksim Kurnikov fled to Germany, where he founded a Berlin-based media office that supplies people in Russia with news. He now hosts a Russian-language news format at BILD.
Rosa María Payá
Cuban human rights activist
Rosa María Payá is a physicist who campaigns for freedom and democracy in Cuba, home of one of the longest-lasting dictatorships in the world. In carrying out her work, she builds on the legacy of her father, Sakharov Prize winner Oswaldo Payá, who was murdered in 2012. She leads her fight for democratic change with the help of Cuba Decide, a platform that has been bringing opposition and civil-society organisations in that Caribbean state together since 2015. In 2019, she was awarded the Morris B. Abram Prize for Human Rights.
Zhala Bayramova
Azerbaijani human rights lawyer
Zhala Bayramova is a Sweden-based human rights lawyer specialising in LGBTQIA+ rights, which are not respected in almost all authoritarian and dictatorial regimes. She campaigns regularly against the ongoing oppression of the people of Azerbaijan and for the release of political prisoners, including her own father Gubad Ibadoghlu. She has appeared before the European Court of Human Rights in cases involving violations of electoral law, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, among others.
Tenzyn Zöchbauer
Executive Director of Tibet Initiative Deutschland e.V.
China’s oppression of Tibet has been ongoing for decades. Many Tibetans live in exile, including the mother of Tenzyn Zöchbauer. When she was 15 years old, the connection she felt to her mother’s homeland prompted her to found a Tibetan youth association in Vienna. In 2020, she took over management of the Tibet Initiative Germany, an organisation that fights for more public awareness about Tibet and for solutions to a conflict that has produced generations of trauma in Tibet as a result of the Chinese occupation of that country.
