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1993 Democracy Award The Endowment was honored by the participation of the President Bill Clinton at the the 1993 Democracy Awards Ceremony. The President's presence and his eloquent remarks in support of democratic freedoms were a demonstration of the United State's commitment to democracy worldwide, and also represented a splendid vote of confidence in the Endowment and its work.

The 1993 Democracy Awards were presented to: Han Dongfang, leader of the Beijing Workers Autonomous Federation; Vesna Pesic, director of the Center for Anti-War Action in Belgrade; and Gitobu Imanyaram, human rights lawyer and editor of the Nairobi Weekly in Kenya.
Han Dongfang Han Dongfang

Han Dongfang, a 29-year old railway worker, is the leading dissident labor activist in China. Sometimes called China's Lech Walesa, he was a founder of the suppressed Beijing Workers Autonomous Federation (BWAF), the first independent labor organization since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. In that capacity, he led the workers' organization in Tiananmen Square during the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations.

The BWAF was declared a "counter-revolutionary" organization by the authorities following the adoption on May 28, 1989, of its "Provisional Outline," a declaration stating its intention to operate openly and in full conformity with the laws and constitution of the PRC. In the early hours of June 4, 1989, the BWAF headquarters, in two small tents in the northwest corner of Tiananmen Square, was the first target of the People's Liberation Army.

One of China's "most wanted" activists, Han was jailed later that month, though his arrest was never made public because the government feared an outbreak of organized industrial unrest.

Unwilling to admit any "mistakes," Han was moved to "isolation" and later, as punishment, placed in a cell with prisoners who had infectious diseases. While there he contracted tuberculosis.

In March 1990, Han was formally charged with "counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement" and moved to the infamous Banbuqiao Prison K Block, which had earlier housed prominent political prisoners such as Wei Jingsheng. There he was tortured. He was subsequently moved to Qincheng Prison, China's top-secret facility for political prisoners, where his tuberculosis fully erupted. Denying him treatment for two months, the authorities, fearful that he might die in custody, eventually released him in April 1991. He had been held for 22 months without trial.

Though in poor health and subject to re-arrest at any time (the charges against him were not dropped after his release), Han continued his efforts to draw attention to the plight of Chinese workers. In April 1992 he formally applied to hold a demonstration, the first since the events at Tiananmen Square. His request was denied, and he was briefly detained on the eve of the third anniversary of the June 4 crackdown.

After intense efforts by the AFL-CIO and other labor and human rights organizations, as well as the U.S. Government and Congress, Han was allowed to leave China to receive medical treatment. In a Hong Kong press conference following his departure, he predicted that the PRC would eventually be forced to recognize free trade unions as a way of defusing mounting worker unrest and discontent fueled by the economic reforms. He and his wife, Chen Jingyu, pregnant with their first child, arrived in the United States on September 17.

(The Endowment wishes to acknowledge the assistance of the AFLCIO and Asia Watch in preparing this tribute.)
Vesna Pesic Vesna Pesic

At a time when people throughout the world associate Serbia with the abhorrent policy of ethnic cleansing, Vesna Pesic represents "another Serbia" -- one composed of those who believe that democracy is incompatible with exclusive nationalism and are fighting every day for peace and human rights.

Long before she emerged as the leading critic of the militant policies of ex-Yugoslavia's ultra-nationalist leaders, she was an active human rights and pro-democracy dissident who in 1982 was jailed for her activism. She was a founder in 1985 of the Belgrade Helsinki Committee and in 1989 of the Yugoslav Democratic Initiative, the first independent political organization since World War II, which called for the democratic transformation of the former Yugoslav Federation on the principle of equal rights for all individuals. She constantly fostered dialogue among different ethnic groups, organizing three public discussions between Serbs and Kosovo Albanians in 1990.

When the war broke out in 1991, she founded the Center for AntiWar Action, which initiated a legislative proposal for an amnesty. Such proposals included: "The Peace Walk" in front of the Federal Parliament; a "Meeting of Solidarity with Dubrovnik"; "Peaceful Bosnia," a rock concert in Belgrade's largest public square; "Yellow Ribbon," a march protesting discrimination against non-Serb citizens of Serbia; daily protest discussions against the war called "Belgrade Anti-War Marathon"; and a peace demonstration on the anniversary of the Bosnian war at which aid for Sarajevo was collected and the war victims remembered.

In addition to her efforts within Serbia, Dr. Pesic has also initiated a number of international conferences, including a roundtable on violations of humanitarian law in San Remo, Italy.

Dr. Pesic has also initiated many projects aimed at the promotion of the culture of peace and human rights. These include the S.O.S. Hotline for victims of discrimination, an analysis of war propaganda and extreme nationalism in school textbooks; a project called "Hello, Neighbor!" in which psychologists help refugee children and their parents recover from war-related traumas and prepare for a life in peace, and a Committee for Human Rights which monitors public hate speech and human rights violations and publishes the bulletin The Voice for Peace and Human Rights.

Through these and other activities, Vesna Pesic has sought to counter the hatred and violence that is consuming her country and to defend human rights and values of tolerance, which are the foundation of democracy.
Gitobu Imanyara Gitobu Imanyara

Gitobu Imanyara, a young lawyer and journalist, has been in the forefront of the democratic struggle in Kenya ever since the Moi government abolished multi-party democracy in 1982. Repeatedly arrested and harassed, he has unceasingly protested against the erosion of rights guaranteed in the Kenyan constitution, a document modeled on the U.S. constitution and drafted with the help of the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

In 1987, after spending more than two years in Maximum Security Prison on trumped-up charges associated with his work as a human rights lawyer, he founded the Nairobi Law Monthly described in the recently published Democracy Reader as "one of the boldest publications in Africa in the late twentieth century." A forum for public debate on the crisis facing constitutional rights in Kenya, the publication quickly earned the wrath of the Moi government which detained Imanyara on charges of not properly registering the magazine.

In 1990, following the revolution in Eastern Europe, Imanyara confronted the Kenyan government with a special issue entitled "The Historic Debate: Law, Democracy, and Multi-Party Politics in Kenya." He was arrested twice that summer, at one point held incommunicado in a prison psychiatric ward. Undaunted, he republished the "historic debate" issue upon his release and was subsequently assaulted and arrested again on sedition charges following publication of another issue of the magazine reporting on the proposed founding of a new opposition political party. While in prison, he was named International Editor of the Year by the World Press Review, which called him "the boldest voice for a free press in a country whose intolerant government does not hesitate to shut down publications and where most journalists practice self censorship."

Imanyara is currently the Secretary General of the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy - Kenya. He continues to serve as editor of the Nairobi Law Monthly, and with Endowment support, he has also started the Nairobi Weekly, to continue human rights advocacy and to nurture a civil society in his country.

Imanyara is not alone in Kenya, or indeed in Africa, in defending democratic values and human rights. He has written "It is possible to crush a human body, for it is frail and finite.... But no one, however powerful, can crush an ideal."

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