Dissident Project

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We are a speakers bureau connecting immigrants who have fled tyrannical regimes with Americans through speeches, TV, and online media.

09/11/2026

25 years later. We still remember. We will never forget. 🇺🇸

09/09/2026

The story feels different when you’ve lived through it yourself.

Our Cuban Dissident Project speaker Gaby Blanco shares her reaction to the newly released Seeds of Doubt film.

Watch the full episodes on Seeds of Doubt Films YouTube channel.

09/01/2026

Fear is the first weapon of the system and Oswaldo Payá spent his life proving that courage can break it.

His story shows how ordinary citizens can confront authoritarian power with nothing more than conviction and a demand for basic rights.

As a Cuban pro‑democracy activist and founder of the Christian Liberation Movement, Payá led the Varela Project — a landmark petition calling for free elections and civil liberties under Cuba’s one‑party rule.

His work remains one of the most influential nonviolent challenges to repression in modern Cuban history — and a reminder that defending freedom matters everywhere, including here at home. 🇺🇸

08/24/2026

From prisoner to president.

Václav Havel rose from a jail cell in communist Czechoslovakia to lead his country into freedom — not for personal gain, but because he refused to stop telling the truth.

His stand against authoritarian rule helped end communist control and proved that moral courage can reshape an entire nation.

08/17/2026

Freedom of expression isn’t just a right — it’s the foundation of every other one.

Liu Xiaobo’s story underscores why speaking freely matters — and why those who risk everything to defend it deserve to be heard.

As a Chinese writer, democracy advocate, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, he spent years imprisoned for fighting for the basic right to speak without fear — a testament to the courage required to resist authoritarian power.

His legacy reminds us that protecting open debate and independent thought matters everywhere — including here at home. 🇺🇸

08/14/2026

Meet the New Speaker Class!

They escaped socialism, theocracy, censorship, and political persecution — and now they’re taking the case for freedom across America. 🇺🇸

We’re excited to welcome six new dissidents from Iran, Cuba, Egypt, and Venezuela.

Each brings a story you won’t find in any textbook — real accounts of what happens when freedom is lost.

This fall, they’ll train in New York City before heading nationwide to speak with students and remind the next generation what’s at stake.

Learn more about the new class on our website.

08/11/2026

Freedom of expression shouldn’t carry a prison sentence.

Artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara — founder of Cuba’s San Isidro Movement — spent five years in prison for standing up for civil liberties. Now, he faces forced exile after completing his sentence.

Authoritarian regimes depend on silence and fear to maintain control.

Dissidents like Otero remind us how vital it is to recognize and challenge those patterns wherever they appear.

As reported in The New York Times.

08/07/2026

Authoritarianism begins where free thought ends.

Andrei Sakharov knew that moral clarity depends on the freedom to think.

As a Soviet dissident and human‑rights advocate, he spent years punished and silenced for defending independent thought.

His words of wisdom remind us why we must continue fighting for our freedom — and protecting the space for independent thought — here in America. 🇺🇸

07/23/2026

Nine people. One boat. A race against the night.

In 2023, two North Korean brothers led their families — including young children and a pregnant woman — on a nighttime escape across the world’s most heavily guarded maritime border. They slipped past North Korean patrol boats before South Korea’s navy brought them safely ashore.

“That night, we crossed from a sea of darkness to a sea of freedom.” 🌊

Their escape is a testament to a simple truth: freedom is worth fighting for.

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https://www.dissidentproject.org/

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