Ukrainian Journalist Mustafa Nayyem to Receive 2014 Ion Ratiu Award


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Ukrainian Journalist Mustafa Nayyem to Receive 2014 Ion Ratiu Award

WASHINGTON – The Wilson Center is pleased to announce that Mustafa Nayyem, one of the most respected and popular Ukrainian journalists and bloggers, will receive the 2014 Ion Ratiu Democracy Award.
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Mustafa Nayyem has been working at 'Ukrainska Pravda' ('Ukrainian Truth') since 2006, directing online media. In April 2013, along with several colleagues, he founded Ukraine’s first independent Internet TV Channel: Hromadske.tv. This unique platform is funded by independent donations, and was created in response to censorship and media monopolization. Mr. Nayyem and Hromadske.tv played a crucial role in the “Euromaidan” protests. His Facebook post in which he issued a call to go to Independence Square (Maidan) in Kyiv, to protest the Ukrainian government’s decision to stop Ukraine’s process of integration into the European Union, was shared over one thousand times in a matter of hours. These protests precipitated the fall of President Yanukovych’s government and are evidence of the Ukrainian people’s struggle for freedom and democratic values, and Mustafa Nayyem’s actions around that time have placed him as an important leader of the protests.
 
'I was extremely moved by the memorials in the Maidan when I visited Kiev as an election observer in May,” said Jane Harman, Director, President, and CEO of the Wilson Center. “Ukraine has a tough road ahead, and journalists like Mustafa Nayyem play a vital role in building a competent, transparent, and pluralist government.' Mustafa Nayyem’s dedication to these values makes him a worthy recipient of this year’s Ion Ratiu Democracy Award.” 
 
'As the tenth recipient of the Ion Ratiu Democracy Award, Mustafa Nayyem embodies Ion Ratiu’s aspirations for democratic change in Europe and beyond,' said Dr. Christian F. Ostermann, Director of the Global Europe Program and Chair of the Ion Ratiu Democracy Award at the Wilson Center. 'We look forward to having Mustafa join us at the Center later this year.'
 
The purpose of the Ion Ratiu Democracy Award is to bring visibility and international recognition to the ideas and accomplishments of individuals around the world who are working on behalf of democracy. The award expresses the deep commitment to democracy of the late Ion Ratiu through his contributions as a Romanian politician as well as his interest in democratic change worldwide.
 
In 2014, the Ion Ratiu Democracy Award Workshop celebrates its tenth anniversary. The series was began at Georgetown University in 2005, and has been held at the Wilson Center in 2006. Past awardees include Sergio Aguayo (Mexico, 2005), Saad El-Din Ibrahim (Egypt, 2006), Anatoli Mikhailov (Belarus, 2007), Eleonora Cercavschi (Moldova, 2008), Adam Michnik (Poland, 2009), Oleg Kozlovsky (Russia, 2010), Nabeel Rajab (Bahrain, 2011), Aung Saan Suu Kyi (Burma, 2012), and Angela Kocze (Hungary, 2013). 

Since 2010, the Ion Ratiu Democracy Award has offered a month-long scholarship at the Wilson Center that allows the awardee to take advantage of the Woodrow Wilson Center's and Washington's unique resources. Awardees will have an opportunity to immerse themselves in the scholarly, policymaking, and NGO communities in Washington, D.C. The Awardees present the results of this experience at a workshop at the Woodrow Wilson Center.
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Ion Ratiu (1917–2000) was the most outspoken and consistent voice of opposition to Nicolae Ceausescu, whose regime he opposed for years from London as the democratically elected leader of the World Union of Free Romanians. Journalist, broadcaster and author, he was also a successful businessman in shipping and property, while simultaneously operating as a kind of Scarlet Pimpernel, assisting in the rescue of many who fled from Ceausescu’s dictatorship. After fifty years in exile he returned to his homeland in 1990 to contest the presidency. Although he won a seat in Parliament, and was to serve his country for his last ten years, his failure to win the presidency was a disappointment to many. Even nowadays, on Romanian streets, Ion Ratiu is remembered fondly, often referred to as “the best president Romania never had”.
 
The Wilson Center provides a strictly nonpartisan space for the worlds of policymaking and scholarship to interact. By conducting relevant and timely research and promoting dialogue from all perspectives, it works to address the critical current and emerging challenges confronting the United States and the world.
 
The Ion Ratiu Democracy Award is funded by the Ratiu Family Foundation. 
Fore more details please click HERE.




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