Pro-democracy activists argued Wednesday that young people must assume a leading role in the fight for democratic reforms to some of the world’s most repressive regimes as older generations are coerced into silence.
Young activists from Pakistan, Russia, Zimbabwe, and Cuba spoke about their efforts to promote free enterprise, fair elections, transparency, and women’s rights at a National Endowment for Democracy event. The four activists, recipients of the endowment’s 2013 Democracy Awards, have all been incarcerated or had their lives threatened numerous times by government officials.
Gulalai Ismail, founder and chairwoman of Aware Girls, a leadership development organization for young Pakistani women, said more and more of her peers are willing to risk their safety to advocate for human rights and greater freedoms.
"We have to speak up even if it takes our lives, because it is not just about us as a person," she said. "It’s about our country."
Young Pakistani women have rallied around the cause of 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai, a girls’ education activist who was shot in the head and neck by Taliban militants last year, she said. Ismail recently led a team of about 100 women to monitor often-fraudulent elections from 7 a.m. to midnight.
Another honoree, 22-year-old Vera Kichanova, is attempting to reform Russia’s politics from the inside. Kichanova was elected in March 2012 as a municipal deputy of Moscow’s Yuzhnoye Tushino district.
She acknowledged the danger of speaking out against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his ruling party, noting the conviction of lawyer and prominent anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny on embezzlement charges that many observers view as fabricated.
Still, young activists must persevere and demonstrate to Russians that they can improve their lives with practical political reforms.
"We are not only against the situation as it is, but we want to show that we know how to change it," Kichanova said.
Zimbabwe also faces crucial elections at the end of this month, said Glanis Changachirere, founding director of the Institute for Young Women Development in the country.
Changachirere, who urges young women from rural communities to participate in politics and defied her own parents’ wishes by attending a university, said past elections have been riddled with violence and attempts to deter women from registering to vote.
"We are prepared to go underground and are really looking forward to encouraging people to vote and vote wisely," she said.
Rosa Paya accepted the final award on behalf of Harold Cepero, the late leader of Cuba’s Christian Liberation Movement who died in a car crash last year after his car was allegedly rammed by a vehicle bearing government license plates.
Paya said youth can help lead a movement for change in Cuba where wealthier segments of the population are reticent to vocally oppose the Cuban government in fear that they will lose new economic privileges.
"Fighting for democracy is not a matter of how old you are," she said. "The lack of democracy affects everybody."