Cuban Artist Tania Bruguera Will Participate at the Freedom Forum in Miami

The Cuban activists and ’artivista’, Tania Bruguera. (Twitter)

14ymedio biggerEFE, via 14ymedio, Miami, 16 September 2021 — Cuban artist and activist Tania Bruguera will speak at the next Oslo Freedom Forum, which will be held in October in Miami with the Venezuelan opponent Leopoldo López and the Nicaraguan journalist and human rights activist Berta Valle, among other participants.

The organizing entity, Human Right Foundation (HRF), announced this Wednesday that Bruguera, one of the leaders of the 27N movement, made up of young artists who on November 27, 2020 gathered in front of the Cuban Ministry of Culture to ask for freedom of expression, joined the list of speakers.

Bruguera, a multidisciplinary artist who has shone through her performances and participated in events at the Tate Modern in London and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, was in Cuba when peaceful protests broke out on July 11.

The activist could not participate because, like many other artists, the Police did not allow her to leave her home on those days, but in August she signed a petition from more than 150 intellectuals to the Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, in favor of a change of political course and the end of the repression of “a people disgusted by the lack of freedoms.”

The Oslo Freedom Forum, which was not held last year due to the covid-19 pandemic, will take place in Miami on October 4-5.

In addition to Bruguera Leopoldo López will also take part. López was first a prisoner and then a refugee in the Spanish embassy in Caracas before fleeing to the European country. Also taking part will be Nerta Valle, activist, wife of Nicaraguan opposition politician Félix Maradiaga and on exile in the United States since 2019.

According to the Human Right Foundation, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalni, who is in prison in his country after surviving a serious poisoning, will participate with a speech read by a representative.

The forum’s theme this year is “Truth Ignited.”

“This year we are amplifying the voices of those who tell the truth to power and awaken movements that seek justice and challenge authoritarian regimes,” said HRF when announcing this meeting in Miami.

Other confirmed participants are former Belarusian presidential candidate and opposition leader Svetlana Tijanóvskaya, Uighur Chinese minority activist Akida Pulat, Iraqi political cartoonist Ahmed Albasheer and Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard.

Also Burmese activist Wai Hnin Pwint Thon, psychiatrist and co-founder of refugee aid organization Humanity Crew Essam Daod, Eritrean activist Filmon Debru, Hong Kong activist Glacier Kwong, and Steve Jurvetson, co-founder of the venture capital fund Future Ventures.

The list is completed by Obianuju Catherine Udeh, aka DJ Switch, a Nigerian activist who is a DJ and musician, and Arthur Holland Michel, a Peruvian-born writer and researcher specializing in the military applications of artificial intelligence.

According to HRF, a human rights organization headquartered in Montreal, Canada, the forum’s program in Miami will include colloquia and lectures by activists, academic experts and politicians from around the world, as well as art installations and live musical performances.

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