Thursday, April 16, 2015

Girifna movement awarded the highest recognition

The unique non-violence resistance methods adopted and performed in the streets of Khartoum made this youth movement known worldwide. 

CONGRATULATIONS...!

2015 Havel Prize Awarded to Girifna, Sakdiyah Ma’ruf, and El Sexto

NEW YORK (April 15, 2015) – The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) today announces the recipients of the 2015 Václav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent. The 2015 laureates are the Sudanese nonviolent resistance movement Girifna, Indonesian stand-up comedian Sakdiyah Ma’ruf, and Cuban graffiti artist and activist El Sexto. They will be honored in a ceremony during the 2015 Oslo Freedom Forum on Wednesday, May 27 at 16:00 CET.
Girifna, Arabic for “we are fed up,” is a nonviolent resistance movement founded in 2010 by pro-democracy youth activists. Thousands of Girifna members work together to monitor state crackdowns on protests and defend dissidents. Girifna members are a constant target of Omar al-Bashir’s decades-long dictatorship, and continue to play an important role in Sudan.
“While the international press focuses its attention on Sudan’s history of armed conflict, Girifna has challenged the al-Bashir regime in novel ways—from producing humorous commercials to teaching citizens the art of nonviolent protest—and the Havel Prize recognizes their oft-overlooked struggle,” said prize committee Chairman Thor Halvorssen.