Maria Ressa, 58, worked for CNN from 1987 to 2005 and was regarded as being the most prominent investigative journalist in Asia. This year, she was the Laureate of the Freedom of Speech Award at the 2020 Four Freedoms Awards in Middelburg, held at the De Nieuwe Kerk. The award was given out to Ressa for “her continuing dedication to tell people what is happening in the world and her commitment to address human rights abuses, no matter how tough circumstances are or how much opposition she meets”.
Dmitry Muratov, 59, was the founder and editor in chief of the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, regarded by the Committee to Protect Journalists as the only influential critical newspaper in Russia. In 2010, Muratov, on behalf of the newspaper was the Laureate of the Four Freedoms’ Freedom of Speech Award in Middelburg. The Novaya Gazeta was hailed by the Roosevelt Foundation, the organizer of the awards for being “an indispensable source of information for democrats, intellectuals, opinion leaders and other, more powerful groups, about what happens in Russia”.
UCR and the Four Freedoms
Developed by and under the supervision of Associate Professor in Socio-Cultural Anthropology and Development at University College Roosevelt Dr. John Friedman and alumna Claire Dépit, UCR students are currently engaged in an inspiring project with the Roosevelt Foundation in Middelburg. The project brings attention to the importance of youth activism regarding questions of peace and justice.
"Our students are already proving successful, as they continue to engage with inspiring youth activists from around the world, and bring their work to the attention of the Four Freedoms Awards Selection Committee"
This year, the Chairman of the Roosevelt Foundation and King’s commissioner in Zeeland, Han Polman, and the Dean of UCR, Prof. dr. Bert van den Brink, signed a plan of action which aims to explore and access the opportunity to increasingly recognize the work of young individuals in relation to the Four Freedoms principles. As part of a one year pilot program, the students will deliver a report on youth involvement in the awards and advise the Roosevelt Foundation on potential laureates under 21. In preparation for their recommendations, the students will interview their peers, both locally and globally, and thus create awareness among the youth of the challenges that still have to be met to realize a world founded upon the four essential freedoms articulated by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear. The students will also deliver an academic paper around the topic of youth activism at a Youth Activism Symposium at UCR, that possibly will be held in conjunction with the Four Freedoms Awards ceremony in Spring 2022.