2017
Pierre Claver Mbonimpa
Introduction by Andrew Gilmour
The message I want to share with you tonight is that for many people there is currently a frightening backlash against human rights, civil liberties, and dignity. This is what makes the Civil Courage Prize more important now than it has ever been before…
What we are seeing around the world today is an antagonistic nationalism, and a cheap populism. And this trend is usually anti-foreigner and anti-minorities, seeking out victims from what are already the most vulnerable groups of society. And harking back to some mythical idyllic age when women, when minorities (whether sexual, or racial, or religious minorities) “knew their place,” whether it was the kitchen, the closet, the ghetto or simply abroad. And where rights and liberties were reserved for the very privileged few.