Oslo Freedom Forum
This past week I had the privilege, and indeed the great honor, to be in the presence of several brave and noble people. I was invited to participate in the first Oslo Freedom Forum, an event produced by the Human Rights Foundation. The conference brought together people from all over the world who use their voice, their will and their life force to fight for human rights.
I have been to many conferences over the years, and for me this conference had an ingredient I highly value and rarely find outside of the events our foundation, the World Ethical Foundations Consortium, puts on. Some participants had endured possibly the very worst acts of human oppression and violence, while others, like my self perhaps, had been affected more superficially. Whatever the case, the conference was made up of remarkable people. Each person, from our host, HRF’s President, Thor Halvorssen and our Patron Sarah Duchess of York to every speaker and even spectator present, seemed to hold inside them a strong, genuine and heartfelt commitment to justice and humanity. I felt affirmed; I had found a group of like-minded people who shared with me a common vision of a more humane world.
I learned so much in my few days in Oslo, from the conference and its participants as well as from the various protests taking place in the square outside my window every day. There were many countries and peoples whose struggle I was unaware of: Chechnya, Lithuania, North Korea, Bolivia, the Kurds in Turkey, the Uyghurs in China. There were also many I knew of: Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, Burma, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and many African countries. More so than those I did not know, those I did know of but ignored intrigued me. How had I come to ignore them? How had I become so indifferent? It’s as if these struggles were part of the landscape, or furniture, blended into the background of my life, tucked away from consciousness or care.
I was amazed how easy it is to forget the countless atrocities happening in the world every day while tucked up in the quilted comfort of my life, consumed with the petty concerns of my technologically cushioned existence. How apathetic I am, disconnected from the millions of people who barely survive each day. How can I overcome this in myself? How can we, humanity, overcome it? What will it take for us to care? At what point will we feel every act of human oppression, no matter how distant from us, as an act against ourselves?
In my forthcoming blogs, amongst other things, I will highlight the men and women I encountered at the Oslo Freedom Forum, their stories, their plights and their tireless efforts to bring peace and dignity to our world. For me it is a way to stay connected and informed, to support my fellow humanitarians and to promote, in the words of the Oslo Freedom Forum, “The nobility of the human spirit” and “the power of freedom.”
