The highest honor that the European Union bestows each year is an award to an individual or group from anywhere for defending “freedom of thought.” Picking a winner often entails quiet and collegial deliberation between parties on the left and right in the European Parliament. This year, the nominees ranged from Elon Musk to a jailed climate activist in Azerbaijan.
During the prize selection, a respect for each other’s thought process usually helps form a parliamentary consensus, reinforcing the fact that freedom of thought is not just an ideal. It is practical.
This year’s winners of the Sakharov Prize – named after Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov – are models for the mental freedom that includes seeing the inherent dignity in others. They are Venezuela’s María Corina Machado and exiled presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, leaders of a big-tent opposition coalition known as the Democratic Unitary Platform.
By most accounts, Mr. González won a rigged presidential election in July that should have ousted socialist Nicolás Maduro, South America’s longest-ruling authoritarian leader. Mr. González has since fled to Spain.
The European Parliament’s award was specific in citing the two opposition leaders – who reflect different parts of the political spectrum – for representing all Venezuelans who are “fighting for the restoration of freedom and democracy.” Mr. González is a centrist and former diplomat, while Ms. Machado is a conservative former lawmaker from a wealthy family.
During his campaign, Mr. González set a high tone. “It’s time for the big Venezuelan family to come together once more,” he told CNN en Español. “It’s time that the adversary is respected as such, and not seen as an enemy.”
Ms. Machado described the campaign as a “spiritual fight,” or one in which people dig deep into their conscience. “Even people that are not religious or don’t believe in God were praying together,” she told The Times in September.
“I’m reaching out not only to democratic governments around the globe but also to freedom-loving people who understand that what’s going on in Venezuela is a vanguard for the fight for freedom in the western hemisphere and involves all of us.”
The unity of the Democratic Unitary Platform coalition relies on the free expression of opinions and a listening to opposing arguments. By treating each other as moral equals, they hope to find the best path for Venezuela’s return to democracy. “Today our struggle continues,” Ms. Machado said, “because truth persists until it prevails.”