Text of Introduction to Alexei Simonov During WPFC Award Ceremony
This week, the World Press Freedom Committee awarded its second Dana Bullen Press Freedom Advocacy Prize to Alexei Simonov of the Glasnost Defense Foundation of Moscow, at the National Press Club of Washington, USA.
(WPFC photo)
The prize to Simonov, who accepted it via a recorded video, was presented by WPFC's European Representative Ronald Koven (above), who read the following introduction:
(WPFC photo)
The prize to Simonov, who accepted it via a recorded video, was presented by WPFC's European Representative Ronald Koven (above), who read the following introduction:
Every time I go to Moscow, I try to take with me some representation of a turtle to contribute to the vast and growing collection of turtle models assembled by my friend Alexei Simonov, the President of the . The turtle is the symbol of the GDF, I suppose because it is slow but sure and, in Aesop's Fable, in the end it wins its race against the fast but dissolute hare.
That is what Alexei and his Glasnost Defense Foundation have been trying to do since the GDF was created the Glasnost Defense Foundation in 1991 by the late Yegor Yakovlev and other Russian press freedom champions. It has never been easy for them to stay in the race to maintain free speech and press freedom in a Russia that hasn't really made up its mind which way to go and which certainly hasn't been moving in a single direction. But Alexei Simonov and the Glasnost Defense Foundation have known from the start exactly where they wanted to go, and they have stayed the course.
From the beginning of the Soviet and then the Russian Federation transition to democracy, Alexei and the GDF have been the World Press Freedom Committee's informed and reliable guide to maneuvering through the thickets that stand in the way of press freedom in Russia.
It is a cause that the WPFC has tried to help from the first day in a variety of ways and to which we intend to continue to contribute. So we are especially proud to give the second annual award for press freedom advocacy in honor of the late and sorely missed Dana Bullen, the World Press Freedom Committee's first Executive Director, to Alexei Simonov in recognition of all his often frustrating but determined work to keep the promise of press freedom alive in Russia.
The award is accompanied by a check for $1,000 as a small token of our appreciation.
We are also honored to have with us Joyce Bullen, Dana's widow, to share in this commemoration.
And now, we will see a brief video message from Alexei Simonov, before which I would like to remind you of the ever hopeful verse from the Song of Solomon:
The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.
That is what Alexei and his Glasnost Defense Foundation have been trying to do since the GDF was created the Glasnost Defense Foundation in 1991 by the late Yegor Yakovlev and other Russian press freedom champions. It has never been easy for them to stay in the race to maintain free speech and press freedom in a Russia that hasn't really made up its mind which way to go and which certainly hasn't been moving in a single direction. But Alexei Simonov and the Glasnost Defense Foundation have known from the start exactly where they wanted to go, and they have stayed the course.
From the beginning of the Soviet and then the Russian Federation transition to democracy, Alexei and the GDF have been the World Press Freedom Committee's informed and reliable guide to maneuvering through the thickets that stand in the way of press freedom in Russia.
It is a cause that the WPFC has tried to help from the first day in a variety of ways and to which we intend to continue to contribute. So we are especially proud to give the second annual award for press freedom advocacy in honor of the late and sorely missed Dana Bullen, the World Press Freedom Committee's first Executive Director, to Alexei Simonov in recognition of all his often frustrating but determined work to keep the promise of press freedom alive in Russia.
The award is accompanied by a check for $1,000 as a small token of our appreciation.
We are also honored to have with us Joyce Bullen, Dana's widow, to share in this commemoration.
And now, we will see a brief video message from Alexei Simonov, before which I would like to remind you of the ever hopeful verse from the Song of Solomon:
The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.
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