Source: Ibn-Rushd.org
The Ibn Rushd Fund for Freedom of Thought is delighted to declare the journalist Sihem Bensedrine the winner of the 13th Ibn Rushd Award.
Since 1998, the Ibn Rushd Fund has honored people or organizations that have rendered outstanding services to Freedom of Thought in the Arabic World. The award will be presented on November 25, 2011 in the Museum for Islamic Art, Berlin Germany.
While the revolutions and continuing turmoil in many Arab nations surprised observers both inside and outside the countries, there have in fact been tireless and courageous individuals who have worked to bring about this change. Sihem Bensedrine is one of these brave individuals. Now 61, Ms. Bensedrine is a journalist and a human rights activist who began advocating freedom of speech and democracy in her home country of Tunisia while still studying philosophy in Paris. During her career as a journalist, she worked for numerous newspapers, some of which were subsequently closed by the government for being too critical of the regime. She was co-founder of the magazine ‘Kalima’ (the word). The Tunisian state would not issue the paper a license, so it was published as an online journal. Despite being banned and having the site blocked by the government, the internet site ‘http://www.kalima-tunisie.info’ had some 40,000 readers per month, who had learned to circumvent the blockades in such a way that it was impossible for the authorities to identify them. “The internet”, says Sihem Bensedrine, “is the virtual space that is most likely to provide a secure place for resistance. The relatively free communication in the World Wide Web has proven to be a key to the democratization of society.” A radio station of the same name, ‘Radio Kalima’, went into service shortly after the paper began publishing and was also denied a license by the government.