Voltaire-Prizewinners of 2024: Gerawork Teferra Gizaw und Olga Shparaga
On 17 January 2024, the University of Potsdam awarded the "Voltaire Prize for Tolerance, International Understanding and Respect for Difference" for the eighth time as part of its New Year's Reception. The prize, which is sponsored by the Friede Springer Foundation, has been awarded since 2017 to a scholar who has made a special contribution to the freedom of research and teaching as well as the right to freedom of expression. The prize was awarded for the first time to two nominees for the Voltaire Prize, Gerawork Teferra Gizaw from Ethiopia and Olga Shparaga from Belarus.
Voltaire-Prizewinner 2024: Gerawork Teferra Gizaw (Kenya)
Mr Gizaw manages the balancing act between living in a refugee camp and a dedicated focus on academically exploring life in a temporary camp and promoting discussion on what it means to create sustainable peace in a community by valuing diverse cultural heritage. Gerawork Teferra Gizaw holds a Master's degree in Development Economics, a BSc in Soil and Water Conservation, as well as diplomas in Law and Information Systems. He recently completed the Global History Lab and the History Dialogue Project at Princeton University. He currently works as an academic tutor, counsellor and learning facilitator at Jesuit Worldwide Learning (JWL). JWL provides a networked learning programme for undergraduate students at tertiary level. Gerawork conducts research in areas such as history, refugee life, education and hospitality.
Laudation for the prizewinner by Professor C. Marcia Schenck, Professor of Global History
Acceptance Speech Gerawork Teferra Gizaw
Voltaire-Prizewinner 2024: Dr. Olga Shparaga (Belarus)
Dr. Olga Shparaga is a Belarusian philosoper and political activist who is hailed as pioneer in the mass protests in Belarus during the late summer of 2020. At the European College of Liberal Arts in Minsk (ECLAB) where she was a co-founder in 2024, Dr. Shparaga taught philosphy until 2021. During the 2020 mass protests she was part of founding the coordination council's Fem-Group centered around Belarusian opposition politician Swetlana Tichanowskaja. In October 2020 Dr. Shparaga was arrested for her membership. To escape the impending criminal trial, she fled to Vilnius. Her book "Die Revolution hat ein weibliches Gesicht. Der Fall Belarus" ("The Face of the Revolution is Female. The Case Belarus") was published in German in 2021 by Suhrkamp, the Russian translation appeared in Vilnius in the same year and recieved the Ales Adamovich Literary Prize from the Belarusian PEN-Center in 2022. The Lithuanian translation was published with one additional chapter in December 2022. Dr. Shparaga is currently a Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna.
Laudation for the prizewinner by Professorin Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger, Historian and Rector of Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin
Acceptance Speech by Dr. Olga Shparaga
