DE
DE
Anastasia Sechina
#FemaleForwardInternational
Martin Dimitrov

Meet Anastasia Sechina from Russia

Editor Anastasia Sechina speaks about the meaning and difficulties of being an independent journalist in Russia. Anastasia, a reporter and editor based in the city of Perm, shares how she has been fighting – and surviving – in the inhospitable Russian media tundra for almost 20 years now, and why she still does it. “Small, local media can become a focal point for civic activism on a particular topic, it can inspire and educate citizens to join together to change something,” she says.

Liza Simbirskaya
#FemaleForwardInternational
Martin Dimitrov

Meet Liza Simbirskaya from Russia

How to normalize being gay in Russia? Screenwriter Liza Simbirskaya talks about her approach of gently challenging homophobic narratives through art. “I am trying to live by the samurai wisdom, or maybe it's just a proverb, “do what you must and come what may,” says Russian screenwriter Liza Simbirskaya about her attitude towards life. In the past few years, the up-and-coming screenwriter has made her name in the non-mainstream art and cinema circles of Moscow with her ambitious, socially oriented takes on issues often ignored by the predominantly conservative society of Russia.
Tinatin Khidasheli
#FEMALEFORWARDINTERNATIONAL
Martin Dimitrov

Meet Tinatin Khidasheli from Georgia

I am not simply a conscious liberal,” says Tinatin Khidasheli, Georgian human rights lawyer, academic, politician, and an ex-Defence minister – the first female one her country and the Caucasus has seen. “I am an instinctive liberal – it is not just from reading books, it happened to me naturally.” Currently, she heads a Georgian think-thank, Civic IDEA, fighting the soviet legacy in Georgia, confronting Russian propaganda, and advocating for a sound defence and security policy for Georgia while also teaching in academia.

Zeynep Dereli
#FEMALEFORWARDINTERNATIONAL
Martin Dimitrov

Bringing Education to the Table

"The first word that comes to mind when you ask me how I feel about being back in my country is hopeful. How so? Because I feel that there is an increasing need in Turkey for female representation in politics and for justice in all walks of life.”

Svetla Kostadinova
#FEMALEFORWARDINTERNATIONAL
Mila Cherneva

Meet Svetla Kostadinova from Bulgaria

Svetla Kostadinova has been the executive director of one of the most influential economic think tanks in Bulgaria for 13 years. 
As a female leader who succeeded a man, Svetla does not really distinguish between genders when it comes to professional development or taking leadership positions. “In moments of crisis, the initiative passes to those who are best prepared no matter if woman or man”, the economist mentions as her recipe for empowerment.

Attack on capitol building
Attack on the Capitol
Claus Gramckow

Attack on the Capitol: In What Ways is the Media to Blame?

In an interview with rbb, the head of our Washington D.C. office discusses the role that the media played in the creation of the ‘Trump myth'. It was the media’s rationalization and normalization of Trump that made Trump so dangerous, as Claus Gramckow analyzes.

Markus Kaiser

Freedom Team Interview: Markus Kaiser in Focus

Markus joined the foundation in 2012 after spending six years as a political advisor in the parliamentary group of FDP, the German liberal party. Prior to this, he obtained a Master’s degree in Political Science at Bonn University. For the foundation he has been active in Brussels and Athens, fostering European integration and liberal cooperation wherever possible. He currently heads the unit for Europe in the foundation’s headquarters in Germany and thus closely cooperates with both FNF’s Central and Western European and the Eastern and Southeastern European offices.

Demonstranten
Racism
Saad Amer

"A candidate will never save us. In a democracy, we must save ourselves."

The killing of George Floyd by a police officer and the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, who was shot by two white men while jogging, show the grave racism problem in the United States. With Saad Amer, an environmentalist, activist and the CoFounder of Plus1Vote, we talked about racism in the U.S., the Presidency of Donald Trump and the importance of voting.

Aret Demirci

Freedom Team Interview: Aret Demirci in Focus

Meet Aret Demirci, our most recent addition to the #FreedomTeam as a Project Manager in the Regional Office for East and Southeast Europe. His favourite freedom quote is by Martin Luther King, "Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor. It must be demanded by the oppressed."Aret was born in an Armenian family in Turkey, but he grew up and socialised in Germany. So he feels close to three different cultures at the same time. Aret joined the Freedom Team in Turkey in March 2013, only a few weeks before the Gezi protests started. It is a coincidence, but it made more valuable for him to work for FNF while entire Turkey was struggling for more freedom.Find below the full Freedom Team Interview. 

Cellou Dalein Diallo
Guinea
freiheit.org

Guinea: The downfall of democracy?

In the midst of the Coronavirus crisis Guinea’s president Alpha Condé organized a double parliamentary and constitutional referendum vote. With presidential elections upcoming for the end of 2020 a change in the constitution seemed to offer the 82 year old president a solution to stay in power. In this political context FNF interviewed Cellou Dalein Diallo (CDD), Former Prime Minister, Vice President of Liberal International and President of the opposition party UFDG.

Subscribe to Interview