HIGHLIGHTS
Dissident Antúnez accepts 2009 Democracy Award by phone
Watch and listen as Jorge Luis García Pérez (Antúnez) accepts NED’s annual Democracy Award for himself and 4 other dissidents by phone from Cuba. [watch video]
President Obama Sends Message of Support to Cuban Winners of 2009 Democracy Award
“I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and commend the National Endowment for Democracy's 2009 Democracy Award recipients Jorge Luis Garcia Perez, Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, Librado Linares, Ivan Hernandez Carrillo, and Iris Tamara Perez Aguilera and all the brave men and women who are standing up for the right of the Cuban people to freely determine their country's future. Like too many of their fellow citizens, four of these individuals have been unjustly jailed for defending the basic freedoms we all hold dear in the Americas. It is my sincere hope that all political prisoners who remain jailed, including three of today’s award recipients, will be unconditionally released and allowed to fully participate in a democratic future in Cuba.” [read more]
 Commemorating the Unforgettable: Tiananmen 20 Years On
The legacy of the events of June 4, 1989, when peaceful demonstrations by Chinese students urging political reform were crushed by military force, was the topic of a half-day conference jointly organized by NED and the Laogai Research Foundation on June 2. Two panels examined the impact of Tiananmen on the Chinese media, and the prospects of democratic reform today. [read more]
2009 Democracy Award Honorees Announced
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) will honor the courage and determination of five Cuban democracy activists with the presentation of its annual Democracy Award at a Capitol Hill ceremony and reception on Wednesday, June 24, 2009. [read more]
 Prospects for Advancing Democracy in Zimbabwe
Testimony of NED President Carl Gershman before the House Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health. [read more]
Event - Windows of Opportunity in Zimbabwe? The Government of National Unity, Rural Developments, Labor and Civil Society
After nearly a year, Zimbabwe is still reeling from the outcome of the March 2008 elections. Despite many challenges, the elections have nevertheless opened a small window of opportunity. On April 27, NED and Freedom House cosponsored a discussion of the current situation in Zimbabwe featuring remarks by Tendai Biti, Finance Minister of the new unity government and a key leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), as well as experts on civil society in Zimbabwe. [read more/view the event]
Civil Society Under Pressure in Russia
Russia’s democracy and civil society groups are operating in a “very hostile environment," NED program officers reported upon returning from a recent field trip. Government critics have been murdered and NGOs are routinely harassed. [read more]
 SOVA Center Combats Hate Crimes and Extremism in Russia
Hate crimes and hate speech are on the rise in Russia. According to statistics compiled by the Information and Analytical Center "SOVA," 87 people were killed in Russia as a result of hate motivated violence in 2008. In the past few years, SOVA has become the leading source of expertise on the issues on the issues of nationalism and xenophobia in Russian society. [read more]
 The April 2009 issue of the Journal of Democracy includes ten articles in a special section on the Russian political system, Reading Russia. Free articles online include The Siloviki in Charge by Andrei Illarionov and The Rules of Survival by Ivan Krastev. [See the full table of contents]
The Western Balkans: Challenges for U.S. and European Engagement
On April 2, regional experts testified before the U.S. Helsinki Commission urging the U.S. to renew its commitment to aid the countries of the Western Balkans along the road to European integration. Ivana Howard, NED Program Officer for Central and Eastern Europe, detailed recent democratic setbacks. [read more / read the hearing transcript]
Global Signature Campaign  Supports Cuban Democracy Activists
The World Movement for Democracy recently cosponsored a signature campaign to support the democracy movement in Cuba. NED and the Cuban Democratic Directorate issued a letter expressing solidarity with human rights activist and political dissident Jorge Luis García Pérez, better known as Antúnez, and fellow activists who have been threatened by police and state security officers. Over 50 international activists have pledged their support. Antúnez began his hunger strike on February 17 to protest the human rights situation in Cuba. Since March 17, police and state security officers have surrounded his house, threatening him and all who joined him in his hunger strike. [read more]
Democracy Promotion in Obama's Reign
NED Chairman Richard Gephardt and Vice Chairman Vin Weber wrote in the March 26 edition of Politico about the future of democracy promotion as a foreign policy priority in the new administration. Gephardt and Weber contend that "the question is not whether but how to promote democracy abroad." [read more]
 Richard A.
Gephardt
is new NED Chairman
On January 16, the NED Board of Directors elected former Democratic Leader Richard A. Gephardt to serve as Chairman. [read more]
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