Backstage: Sakharov Prize
111 views · Published 10 October 2012 · 3:29 · Indexed 21 October 2026
Channel: European Parliament · 2012 · News & Politics
Hello! Welcome to Backstage. Speak out about what you think inside, choose to have a religion or not. Vote for the guy or girl who's in tune with you, the ones who lead us, wot! No stress, no jail time. Got a problem with that? OK, rap's not my specialty. Let's move on... Democracy. Know what it is? 24h freedom. Awesome isn't it? We tend to forget that. However, in some countries freedom comes at a price. I'll show you. In Cuba, Fidel Castro's opponents are jailed Guillermo Fariñas is fighting against this dictatorship. Hunger strike is his weapon. His aim is to free all political prisoners in his country. The European Parliament paid tribute to him. 2010 Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought goes to Mr Guillermo Fariñas. Guillermo is 48, a journalist and psychologist. He has done 23 hunger strikes. Last time he didn't eat for 135 days, until the government released 52 political prisoners. His message via phone: My fight is to achieve a representative democracy for Cuba, where even those currently in power will have their place, and this should be achieved through a peaceful transition, with no bloodshed. I want to dedicate the prize to all Cubans who devoted their lives to achieve democracy in Cuba. The Sakharov Prize is twenty years old, it rewards human rights activists in Cuba, China and Israel. Every year, the Parliament highlights the actions of people fighting for freedom. When looking at how many countries in the world where human rights defenders are killed or imprisoned, where there are stonings and upholding the struggle is terrible. Other places in the world should be spotlighted. Freedom is under threat all over the world, even online. In Iran, students broadcast videos online to decry the authoritarian government. If they're caught online they're jailed for sure. For the Sakharov Prize 2010 some MEPs wanted to reward ACCESS, a global human rights movement human rights activists stay safe online. ACCESS helped the Iranian dissidents. We see bloggers and young people tortured and imprisoned, for the blogs they write and for their email address passwords. ACCESS helps these human rights defenders defend themselves online. Freedom is fragile. Protecting it is a fight for us all. Bye! EuroparlTV video ID: bc23774c-d820-4144-9c1e-9e3e009a13b2
