The first
satellite OFF event brought together a vibrant community of innovators and
activists for a one-day event in the Bay Area. Speakers explored various paths
to freedom, headlined by the iconic Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Other speakers included: Saudi women’s rights pioneer Manal al-Sharif;
conflict psychologist Justine Hardy; Iranian author and former prisoner of
conscience Marina Nemat; Slate editor and author William J. Dobson; drug policy
reformer Ethan Nadelmann; Chinese scholar and former political prisoner Yang Jianli; Ghanaian economist George Ayittey; Moroccan journalist Ahmed Benchemsi;
and Kazakhstani theater director Bolat Atabayev.
As part of
her first trip to the U.S. after more than 20 years under house arrest in Burma,
Suu Kyi accepted the 2012 Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent.