Video: From Three Cups of Tea to Protecting Uyghur Rights -- Testimonies from Activists Around the World

NEW YORK (July 17, 2009)— The Oslo Freedom Forum brought together some of the world’s leading minds to honor heroic survivors of political oppression and persecution this May 18-20 in Norway. The conference showcased the testimonies and noble purpose of these men and women who risked their lives for freedom.

Greg Mortenson, co-author of “Three Cups of Tea”: “I will close with a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who said, “Even if the world ends tomorrow, I will still plant my seed today.” And I think that real seed is the hope that can come through education. Fighting terrorism, or those who promote terrorism, that is based in fear. But promoting peace is based in hope. The real enemy, whether it is in Afghanistan, or Pakistan, or Norway, or the US, or Africa, the real enemy is ignorance and it is ignorance that breeds hatred.”

Elena Bonner, former Soviet dissident: “I hope that countries, their leaders, and people everywhere will recall and adopt Sakharov's ethical credo: In the end, the moral choice turns out to be also the most pragmatic choice.”

Emil Constantinescu, former President of Romania: “For a half century, citizens of the former communist countries were deprived of all their rights including the right to life... An ideology where human rights are almost nonexistent cannot last forever.”

Abdel Nasser Ould Ethmane, Mauritanian abolitionist: “On August 8, 2007 the Mauritanian parliament passed a law criminalizing the practice of slavery. This was the crowning achievement of our efforts, even though the magistrates are still reluctant to apply the new law because of their common interest with the slave masters, their peers.”

Vo Van Ai, Vietnamese rights activist: “As a little boy, I... felt the bitter humiliation of a people living under submission. So I joined the resistance movement for national independence... I was arrested, tortured, and only miraculously escaped execution. One of the torturers loved Vietnamese opera, and he forced a prisoner to sing as he tortured us. I will never forget, the sound of his song mingling with screams of pain. I was just thirteen years old.”

Arne Liljedahl Lynngård, Chairman of Norway’s Rafto Foundation: “Today there is a cultural genocide going on Xinjiang. The old tone of the historic city of Kashkar is being demolished. I therefore call on every government in the free world, also the Norwegian government, to receive Mrs. Rebiya Kadeer on a political level and listen to her story. It is time for the world to speak out for the Uyghurs.”

HRF is an international nonpartisan organization devoted to defending human rights in the Americas. It centers its work on the twin concepts of freedom of self-determination and freedom from tyranny. These ideals include the belief that all human beings have the rights to speak freely, to associate with those of like mind, and to leave and enter their countries. Individuals in a free society must be accorded equal treatment and due process under law, and must have the opportunity to participate in the governments of their countries; HRF’s ideals likewise find expression in the conviction that all human beings have the right to be free from arbitrary detainment or exile and from interference and coercion in matters of conscience. HRF does not support nor condone violence. HRF’s International Council includes former prisoners of conscience Vladimir Bukovsky, Palden Gyatso, Armando Valladares, Ramón J. Velásquez, Elie Wiesel, and Harry Wu.

Contact: Alex Gladstein, Human Rights Foundation, (212) 246.8486, info@thehrf.org