May 21, 2021 marks the 100th birthday of Nobel Laureate Andrei Sakharov, one of the twentieth century’s most ardent and unrelenting champions for human rights and freedom. With the publication of his essay in the New York Times in July 1968 advocating for human rights and open, democratic societies, the Soviet Union’s most famous physicist became its most well-known dissident.

As his centennial approaches, the United States and Russia are very different countries than they once were, but official relations are once again hostile, and Russian authorities continue to try to isolate and suppress civil society. Despite the high personal cost, activists, journalists, lawyers, and ordinary citizens continue to work courageously to realize Sakharov’s vision of peace and human rights. The ideas Sakharov stood for – that, despite ideological differences, the Soviet Union and the United States could eventually converge around universal principles of human rights, accountability to their citizens, and the urgent need to repair the problems of our world – remain as vital and relevant today as they were in his lifetime.

In this panel discussion, Natan Sharansky, Irwin Cotler, Vladimir Kara-Murza, Ambassador Daniel Fried, Stephen Biegun, and Miriam Lanskoy will reflect on their memories of the great man and the enduring significance of Sakharov’s message of peaceful coexistence linked by shared democratic values amidst the turmoil of the day.

This event is co-sponsored by the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights.

Learn more about this event and our speakers at ned.org: [ Ссылка ]

The National Endowment for Democracy is a private, nonprofit foundation dedicated to the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world. Each year, NED makes more than 2,000 grants to support the projects of non-governmental groups abroad who are working for democratic goals in more than 100 countries. Learn more at [ Ссылка ]

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