Each year, the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) raises awareness about human rights, democracy, and liberty at South by Southwest (SXSW), the world’s largest creative conference, in Austin, Texas. HRF remains committed to promoting freedom where it’s most at risk, reaching new audiences, and bringing people together to join our common cause: defeating tyranny.
With your support, HRF will once again bring human rights to the world’s attention! This year, HRF has six sessions up for consideration, featuring prominent activists and experts who will focus on the intersection of creativity and advocacy, music as a form of resistance, human rights on the big screen, authoritarian regimes in the digital space, and public figures whitewashing dictatorships.
Read about HRF’s sessions below and create a Panel Picker account to vote for them today!
Community voting is open until Sunday, August 21, 2022.
As we speak, a genocide is being perpetrated by the Chinese government against the Uyghurs, with more than one million Uyghur Muslims and other Turkic and Muslim-majority people arbitrarily detained in concentration camps and forced labor facilities across China. Almost the entire apparel industry is tainted by such forced labor. How can we stop this?
This fireside chat will feature HRF Senior Strategy & Research Associate Jenny Wang and Worker Rights Consortium Forced Labor Project Coordinator Jewher Ilham.
Can music threaten dictatorships? As a powerful tool for exposing injustice, galvanizing protest movements, and uniting people around a common cause, music plays a critical role in human rights activism.
This panel discussion will feature HRF Program Officer Elle Ota and musicians and activists Mai Khoi, Ramy Essam, and Manasseh Mathiang.
Powerful films unite us in our humanity and shared responsibility in standing up for what is right. Movies such as The Story Won’t Die and The Dissident are bringing attention to human rights abuses, demonstrating how advocacy, awareness, and policy change can be achieved through the medium of film.
This panel discussion will feature HRF CEO Thor Halvorssen, filmmakers David Gerson and Odessa Rae, and the daughter of imprisoned Hotel Rwanda hero Paul Rusesabagina, Carine Kanimba.
The Internet, our devices, and social media are being used by authoritarian regimes to encroach upon civil liberties, but activists continue to use innovation to overcome dictatorships’ barriers. It’s time for the tech industry to unite to protect human rights globally.
This panel discussion will feature Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs Senior Fellow Arthur Holland Michel and #KeepItOn Campaign Manager Felicia Anthonio, along with other experts in digital activism and security.
When celebrities and social media influencers attend and perform in events and partnerships organized by authoritarian regimes, they legitimize dictatorships and their human rights abuses. With influence, comes moral responsibility; celebrity influence should be a force for good.
This panel discussion will feature the daughter of imprisoned Hotel Rwanda hero Paul Rusesabagina, Carine Kanimba, and additional experts to be announced soon!
France regularly devalues the CFA Franc currency at the expense of 183 million Africans who live under authoritarian regimes, and whose savings have been destroyed. Monetary colonialism is alive and well in 2022, but Bitcoin can be a tool to counter monetary oppression.
This panel discussion will feature HRF Chief Strategy Officer Alex Gladstein, Bitcoin Developers Academy Founder Fodé Diop, and Togolese Civil League’s Co-Founder Farida Nabourema.
With your support, HRF will continue to bring people together to discover and learn more about the struggle for freedom.