They Defend Our Freedoms
30 years / Sakharov Prize

Nikos Economopoulos, In The Balkans Political meeting. Yozgat, Turkey. 1990. © Nikos Economopoulos, Magnum Photos

Acclaimed French journalist Éric Fottorino delves into the history of human rights for Magnum and the European Parliament.

Awarded for the first time in 1988 to Nelson Mandela and Anatoli Marchenko, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought is the highest tribute paid to human rights work by the European Union. It gives recognition to individuals, groups and organizations that have made an outstanding contribution to protecting freedom of thought.

To mark 30 years of the Sakharov Prize, Magnum photographers Jérôme Sessini, Bieke Depoorter, Enri Canaj, and Newsha Tavakolian have worked with four remarkable individuals, all staunch defenders of human rights, to shine a light on their work. A commission for European Parliament, these stories are gathered in a new book and exhibition which will launch this month, and the work will be serialized on Magnum Photos over the coming weeks.

 

Alex Webb, Miskito children. Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua. 1992. © Alex Webb, Magnum Photos

Christopher Anderson, Soldiers on parade for Augusto Pinochet in front of the presidential palace. Santiago, Chile. 1995. © Christopher Anderson, Magnum Photos

“This book is about all those who – just as the laureates – fight for their rights and fairer societies while motivating others to do the same,” wrote Antonio Tajani, President of the European Parliament in the book’s introduction.

Magnum will be serializing the work over the coming weeks. In our first chapter, an extract from the essay They Defend Our Freedoms, by acclaimed French journalist Éric Fottorino, we explore the history of human rights and those who have fought for them, illustrated here with the extensive historic work of Magnum photographers, for documenting – and defending – those human rights abuses and issues is central to the agency’s work.

 

Stuart Franklin, Tiananmen Square. Beijing, China. 1989. © Stuart Franklin, Magnum Photos

Hiroji Kubota, Kim Chaek Ironworks, the largest ironworks in North Korea, with an estimated annual production capacity of 2.5 million tons. © Hiroji Kubota, Magnum Photos

They Defend Our Freedoms (extract):

Human rights. Two short words with a long history. Two short words which, armed only with the force of an ideal, do so much to prevent human beings from preying on one another. How many ideals and struggles are encapsulated in this term? How many tortured faces have been banished from the world of the living? How many charters and resolutions, protocols and pacts, conventions and petitions are there? How many hopes and battles against the arbitrary? How many places on this planet where the force of law has finally won out over laws imposed by force?

‘Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people.’

 

Thomas Dworzak, Girl with balloons. Destruction in the city center. Nothing has been rebuilt since the two wars. Grozny, Chechnya, Russia. March, 2002. © Thomas Dworzak, Magnum Photos

Winners of the Sakharov Prize include heroes who were previously anonymous and have now become the public face of a struggle: Denis Mukwege, who saved the lives of so many women in the Democratic Republic of Congo, had been appallingly mutilated; the young Pakistani woman Malala Yousafzaï; or the two young Yazidi women from Iraq, Nadia Murad and Lamiya Aji Bachar, who narrowly escaped the worst of the horrors perpetrated by Da’esh before leading the fight against the trafficking of women. Mothers, artists, anti-torture and pro-peace activists, representatives of ethnic minorities and the United Nations as an institution: from the start the Sakharov Prize has made bold and eclectic choices when choosing recipients who embody the struggle of the human face against the inhuman.

 

They Defend Our Freedoms – 30 Years of the Sakharov Prize
The European Parliament commission of Magnum Photos
Various engagements throughout Europe, 2017 – 2018
Visit the information page >

Dorothea Lange. Tales of Life and Work
Camera / Jul 19 – Oct 8, 2023
Dorothea Lange's photography, now nearly a hundred years later, continues to resound in its portrayal of a time and...
+
Momentum 12: Together As To Gather
Jun 10 – Oct 8, 2023
For the biennale, Tenthaus practices a gathering methodology. The intention is to begin from the practices of the artists...
+
Joel Sternfeld: American Prospects
Sep 28, 2023 – Jan 21, 2024
American Prospects has enjoyed a life of acclaim. Its pages are filled with unexpected excitement, despair, tenderness and hope....
+
REGENERATE
Jun 23 – Dec 10, 2023
With REGENERATE as its theme, the festival brings together works that explore the changes modern society must face, seeing...
+
The Unspoken Things
Photo Series
The Unspoken Things series is inspired by ethnographic texts that deal with the body as a cultural phenomenon, drawing...
+
ARTPIL / Prescription .142
White heat. A Green River.
A bridge, scorched yellow palms from the summer-sleeping house drowsing through August. Days I have held, days I have...
+
Rencontres d’Arles 2023
A State of Consciousness
Every year, Rencontres d’Arles captures our world’s state of consciousness. Its photographers, artists, and curators help us to see...
+
Edith Dekyndt / L’Origine des Choses
Feb 8 – Dec 12, 2023
Inspired by Bruno Latour’s “actants” Edith Dekyndt defines her compositions and her objects as “patient” because all these objects...
+
Dorothea Lange. Tales of Life and Work
Camera / Jul 19 – Oct 8, 2023
Dorothea Lange's photography, now nearly a hundred years later, continues to resound in its portrayal of a time and...
+
Momentum 12: Together As To Gather
Jun 10 – Oct 8, 2023
For the biennale, Tenthaus practices a gathering methodology. The intention is to begin from the practices of the artists...
+
Joel Sternfeld: American Prospects
Sep 28, 2023 – Jan 21, 2024
American Prospects has enjoyed a life of acclaim. Its pages are filled with unexpected excitement, despair, tenderness and hope. Its fears are expressed in beauty, its sadnesses in irony.
+
REGENERATE
Jun 23 – Dec 10, 2023
With REGENERATE as its theme, the festival brings together works that explore the changes modern society must face, seeing...
+
The Unspoken Things
Photo Series
The Unspoken Things series is inspired by ethnographic texts that deal with the body as a cultural phenomenon, drawing...
+
ARTPIL / Prescription .142
White heat. A Green River.
A bridge, scorched yellow palms from the summer-sleeping house drowsing through August. Days I have held, days I have lost, days that outgrow
+
Rencontres d’Arles 2023
A State of Consciousness
Every year, Rencontres d’Arles captures our world’s state of consciousness. Its photographers, artists, and curators help us to see...
+
Edith Dekyndt / L’Origine des Choses
Feb 8 – Dec 12, 2023
Inspired by Bruno Latour’s “actants” Edith Dekyndt defines her compositions and her objects as “patient” because all these objects...
+
  • Mai Ling: Not Your Ornament
    Sep 15 – Nov 12, 2023
    Secession
    Wien, Austria

    Founded in Vienna in 2019, Mai Ling is an artists’ collective and association dedicated to facilitating dialogues about experiences of racism, sexism, homophobia, and any kind of prejudgment, particularly against Asian FLINT* (women*, lesbian, inter*, non-binary, and trans*). Rooted in solidarity against patriarchal and racial discrimination, the group offers a protected space and growing network to give voice to the many individuals affected by such discrimination and foster new forms of collaboration. (more…)