Cuban democracy activist Rosa María Payá to address San Francisco Freedom Forum 2016

Oslo Freedom Forum experience arrives in the Bay Area on September 29, 2016

Tonight the San Francisco Freedom Forum commenced with an opening reception at 7:30pm sponsored by Humanity United. Tomorrow, September 29, 2016 will feature a full day of presentations beginning at 9:30am and the agenda is available online.

Rosa María Payá to address San Francisco Freedom Forum

Cuban pro-democracy activist Rosa María Payá will be speaking during the first session at 9:45am. Below is the description of the young activist prepared by the Oslo Freedom Forum:

Rosa María Payá, daughter of the deceased democracy activist Oswaldo Payá, is one of Cuba’s most vocal political dissidents. Payá serves as the president of the Latin American Network of Youth for Democracy, and is a member of the Cuba Decides campaign. In April 2014, Payá was detained in Panama before the Summit of the Americas in what has been criticized as a move of political intimidation. Since her father’s passing in a mysterious car accident in 2012, Payá has repeatedly called for a formal investigation into his death. She speaks around the world on his behalf and addressed a public letter to President Obama after the 2014 U.S. policy shift toward Cuba. 

In May of 2016 she spoke at the Oslo Freedom Forum about her martyred father Cuban democracy leader Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas who died under suspicious circumstances on July 22, 2012.  

For more information about the Oslo Freedom Forum, please visit their website or watch a selection of talks from their speakers. Follow them on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ for updates.

For more information or to purchase your tickets using PayPal or Bitcoin, please contact them at info@oslofreedomforum.com or +1 (212) 246-8486.

San Francisco Freedom Forum: “Many Paths, One Goal”

In her first trip to the United States in more than 20 years, Burmese opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will travel to San Francisco on September 28, to accept the Václav Havel Award for Creative Dissent and join a range of leaders from advocacy, business, media, policy, and technology at the first U.S. Freedom Forum. The event will begin at 12:00pm PDT.

Watch live streaming video from sfff at livestream.com

Those speaking alongside her include: Russian democracy activist Garry Kasparov; Saudi women’s rights pioneer Manal al-Sharif; Pussy Riot spokesman Pyotr Verzilov; Egyptian-American journalist Mona Eltahawy; Slate editor William J. Dobson; Ghanaian economist George Ayittey; drug policy reformer Ethan Nadelmann; anti-genocide artist Naomi Natale; conflict psychologist Justine Hardy; Iranian author and former prisoner of conscience Marina Nemat; and Venezuelan journalist Marcel Granier.