Civic Pride – celebrating activism.

With our civic pride campaign, we celebrate activism. Over the years, our campaign has taken different themes and forms, from ensuring no one was left behind during the pandemic to making Europe great for all.

But our core motivation remains the same: to celebrate inspiring activists and movements who stand up for democracy, solidarity and fundamental rights.

 

Civic Pride Week – Celebrating everyday human rights heroes.

 

This year, we mark 75 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To recognise #HumanRights75, we want to celebrate the everyday heroes of human rights: civil society organisations, movements and activists.

That’s why we’re launching Civic Pride Week – to amplify the stories of outstanding civic actors and initiatives. They are the driving force working to ensure basic human rights are respected!

As we celebrate this important anniversary, we want to make sure that they are recognised for their work. Every day this week, we will be sharing interviews with the winners of this year’s Civic Pride Awards – and you can join in! Use the #CivicPride hashtag on your social channels to spread the work and appear on our social media wall!

 

#CivicPride Awards Winners

TGEU

TGEU is an organisation which works to strengthen the rights and wellbeing of trans people in Europe & Central Asia!
 
Watch our interview with TGEU’s Miles Tanhira about the organisation & his work as an activist!
 
 

Listen to an extended podcast interview with Miles!

For the latest episode of our Civic Spaces podcast, we sat down with Miles to discuss trans rights, backlash and how to build a culture of care. Listen now on Spotify!

 

Hungarian Teachers’ Movement

The Hungarian Teachers’ Movement has been fighting for public education for several years. Their demands include better salaries, improvement in working conditions, autonomy in the national curriculum, open and constructive discourse in public education, the right to strike without limitations, and access to high-quality education for all.
 
Watch our interview with Anikó Talyigás from Pedagógus Egység!
 
 

Gribu palīdzēt bēgļiem (I want to help refugees)

Gribu palīdzēt bēgļiem (GPB), Latvia started its movement on Facebook in 2015, providing practical, immediate, and voluntary aid to refugees and asylum seekers to help them integrate into Latvian society by supporting them look for jobs, housing, and schools, assisting with administration, and by creating a website through which people can volunteer to help refugees and refugees can seek help.

Watch our interview with Linda Jākobsone-Gavala from Gribu palīdzēt bēgļiem!

The Saami Council and Sámi rights movement

The Saami Council was founded in 1956 by Sámi organisations in Sápmi, the traditional homeland of the Sámi People, spanning across parts of Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Russia, to represent and amplify the voices of the Sámi civil society, and work for Sámi rights, politics, language, culture, and to raise awareness of Arctic and environmental issues.

Watch our interview with Anja Márjá Nystø Keskitalo of the Saami Council!

 

Civic Pride Awards

Every year, the European Civic Forum presents Civic Pride Awards to outstanding activists, movements and civil society organisations across Europe.

This year’s winners represent a diverse range of issues and communities. Out of 123 applications for the European Civic Academy, the Selection Committee selected three outstanding stories to receive a Civic Pride Award: TGEU, Gribu palīdzēt bēgļiem (“I want to help refugees”) from Latvia, and the Saami Council and the Indigenous Sámi rights movement from Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Russia.

Additionally, a special commendation was given to the Hungarian Teachers’ Movement, fighting for public education.

The awards were presented at a ceremony in Brussels on 18 September 2023. 

Previous editions

Civic Pride Awards 2021

The Civic Pride Awards 2021 celebrated six outstanding civic initiatives from different EU countries: Civilizáció coalition from Hungary, Union des Sans-Papiers pour la régularisation from Belgium, Observatoires des pratiques policières from France,  Deystvie & Denitsa Lyubenova from Bulgaria, National Federation of NGOs (OFOP) & Shipyard Foundation from Poland, and Action Aid Denmark, Amnesty International Denmark & Nyt Europa from Denmark. Their stories are all collected in Activizenship #6: Stories of hope in dark times.  

Civic Pride Awards 2020

The Civic Pride Awards 2020 aimed at discovering and collecting inspiring stories of activists, associations, movements or groups of citizens who were organising and making policy proposals to ensure rights were at the centre of the response amid the COVID-19 crisis, in face of a restricted civic space. Seven winners were chosen: We Are Fair – Czech Republic, The Greek Forum of Refugees, Women on the Road Foundation – Poland, Citizen protests – Slovenia, SEDOAC, the Active Domestic Service Association – Spain, The Wheel – Ireland and #Unteilbar (Indivisible) – Germany. Their stories are all collected in Activizenship #5 – Stories from the lockdown.

Watch the Civic Pride 2020 videos!

Civic Pride Awards 2019

The 2019 Civic Pride Awards highlighted remarkable stories of resistance. This year’s winners were Mediterranea – Saving Humans, from Italy; Defender a Quien Defiende, from Spain; Comité justice et vérité pour Adama, from France; Kõigi Eesti, from Estonia; Linda Greta Zsiga, from Romania, and Krakow Smong Alert from Poland.

Their stories were collected in the fourth edition of Activizenship.