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World Freedom Day: 9 November 2012

Photograph: Year 8 pupils at Hillcrest Grammar School, Stockport, celebrate World Freedom Day 2009

I have often asked myself why human beings have any rights at all. I always come to the conclusion that human rights, human freedoms, and human dignity have their deepest roots somewhere outside the perceptible world. These values are as powerful as they are because, under certain circumstances, people accept them without compulsion and are willing to die for them.
--Vaclav Havel

Let us remember that this victory came without bloodshed, without marching armies, without loss of life, without nuclear fallout. Unprecedented in modern times, victor and vanquished together have acclaimed the end of the Cold War. Everybody won. Celebrating November 9 each year would be a warning to future tyrants that tyranny has no future.
-- Arnold Beichman

The anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989 is celebrated as World Freedom Day. The Transatlantic Institute is coordinating and supporting the worldwide commemoration of this historic date. Together with other organisations around the world, we are establishing World Freedom Day on the international calendar.

Our aim is to have organisations around the world celebrate World Freedom Day by releasing white balloons, and to commemorate the historical importance of this day by holding conferences or colloquia, or private discussions. This year we welcomed Hillcrest Grammar School, Stockport, to our celebrations: their press release gives more details.

We released white balloons in public commemorations in central London on

9 November 2004 -- the fifteenth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall
9 November 2005
9 November 2006
9 November 2007

Several NGOs around the world have held their own ceremonies using our balloons (the celebration in Baku, Azerbaijan attracted 400 people). Special WFD balloons and wristbands are available for use for your future WFD celebration, please contact us at the email address below or for easy ordering use our Online Shop. We encourage you to pass these details to any organisation that may be interested.

World Freedom Day silicon wristbands Georgia 2008

To draw attention to the current situation in Georgia, we have designed limited-edition commemorative wristbands incorporating the Georgian flag and the wording Georgia 2008.

Organise your own event

For details, see our World Freedom Day flyers:

in English (PDF: 272K)
in Russian (PDF: 92K)
in Russian as a webpage
in Azeri (PDF: 300K)

More information

If you are interested in further details of our celebration of World Freedom Day 2012, or would like to participate, please get in touch using the form on our main contacts page.

The World Freedom Day Project is a project of the Transatlantic Institute.

Transatlantic & Caucasus Studies Institute is a working name of The Transatlantic Institute.