Thor Halvorssen Mendoza

Thor Leonardo Halvorssen Mendoza (born 1976; , locally ) is a Venezuelan human rights advocate and film producer with contributions in the field of public policy, public interest advocacy, individual rights and civil liberties, and pro-democracy advocacy. Halvorssen has been described as a defender of the "underdog and the powerless" while possessing "a burning desire to right the countless injustices of this world" and "does not care if those injustices are being committed by the 'right-wing' or 'left-wing'."

Halvorssen is founder of the Oslo Freedom Forum, an annual global human rights conference described by ''The Economist'' as "on its way to becoming a human-rights equivalent of the Davos economic forum". Halvorssen is president of the Human Rights Foundation, an organization devoted to global human rights and freedom. He is the Patron of the Czech-based Children's Peace Movement, On Own Feet.

Halvorssen bought the traditionally leftist Norwegian news magazine ''Ny Tid'' in May 2010.

Halvorssen's opinions have appeared in ''The New York Times'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The Washington Post'', National Public Radio, ''Time'' magazine, ''The Nation'' and ''National Journal'', and he has appeared on television outlets such as al-Jazeera, BBC News, Fox News Channel’s ''The O'Reilly Factor'' and ''Hannity & Colmes'', MSNBC’s ''Hardball with Chris Matthews'', CNN, and HBO. Thor Halvorssen was a speaker at TEDx at the University of Pennsylvania in October 2010.

Background

Halvorssen was born in Venezuela to Hilda Mendoza, a descendant and a relative, respectively, of Venezuela's first president Cristóbal Mendoza and liberator Simón Bolívar. His father is Thor Halvorssen Hellum, who served as a Venezuelan Ambassador for anti-Narcotic Affairs in the administration of Carlos Andrés Pérez and as special overseas investigator of a Venezuelan Senate Commission. His family was prosperous and on his father's side he is the grandson of Øystein Halvorssen, who served as Norway's honorary consul-general in Caracas and who "built a family dynasty as the Venezuelan representative for corporations including Dunlop, Alfa Laval and Ericsson." Strausbaugh, John (August 19, 2007)
"A Maverick Mogul, Proudly Politically Incorrect"
''New York Times''. (Archived by WebCitebr>here.
His cousin is Leopoldo Lopez. a Venezuelan politician, activist, and a political prisoner after called for peaceful protests in February 2014.

Halvorssen attended the University of Pennsylvania and graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude, with concurrent undergraduate and graduate degrees in Political Science and History.

Father's imprisonment

Halvorssen’s father, also named Thor Halvorssen, was a wealthy businessman who was named the CEO of Venezuela's state TV CANTV. In 1989, then-President Carlos Andrés Pérez appointed Halvorssen Sr. as Venezuela’s “anti-drug ambassador.”

When Halvorssen was a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania, in 1993, his father was arrested while investigating the Medellín cartel for money laundering and bank fraud. His father was tortured, beaten, and in danger of being murdered. It was named the 'yuppie' terrorists plot because its planners were allegedly bankers and other gilded elite who hoped that the panic caused by the bombs would help them speculate on the stock market.". His father was beaten during his 74-day incarceration in a Caracas jail on charges of terrorism. Hilton, Isabel. "Presumed Guilty". '' Gentlemen's Quarterly (GQ)'' UK: July 1994.Fonzi, Gaeton. "The Troublemaker". '' The Pennsylvania Gazette'' (November 1994) Halvorssen led the campaign for his father’s release, garnering help from Amnesty International which issued protests along with other International organizations. Halvorssen was eventually found not guilty of all charges. After his release the International Society for Human Rights appointed him director of their Pan-American Committee.Venezuelan Anti-Drug Official Fights His Foes From a Prison Cell:
Evidence suggests Thor Halvorssen was framed by Colombian drug lords and their Caracas `friends'; ''Christian Science Monitor''. Boston, Mass.: Dec 20, 1993.

Mother's shooting

While attending a peaceful protest of the Venezuelan recall referendum of 2004, Halvorssen's mother, Hilda Mendoza Denham, a British subject, was wounded by a gunshot. Images of government supporters firing upon the demonstrators were captured by a live television broadcast. Olivares, Francisco
Otra vez los pistoleros.
'' El Universal'' (5 September 2004). Retrieved on September 9, 2008. The gunmen were later apprehended, tried, had their sentences revoked, tried again, found guilty, and received 3-year sentences for murder and for bodily harm. They were released after serving six months in prison.

Activism

Halvorssen has a specialty on matters regarding dictatorships, human trafficking, slavery, and threats to democracy. He has lectured widely on the subject of human rights including at Harvard Law School, the New York City Junto, the United Nations Association in New York, and the American Enterprise Institute. Halvorssen has also spoken at the British parliament. Alongside Harvard Law School dean Martha Minow he testified to the U.S. Commission on Unalienable Rights of the U.S. State Departmen


Halvorssen testified to the U.S. Congress that he was the target of a smear campaign by Fusion GPS. Halvorssen provided testimony to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in July 2017.

Lucent Technologies

In 1999, Halvorssen spearheaded a campaign on the floor of the Lucent Technologies annual shareholder meeting appealing for the creation of an anti-slave labor policy whereby Lucent would require China to certify that Lucent's products were not fabricated using slave labor. China's Laogai camps allegedly imprison eight million men, women, and children in 1,100 factories, farms, and other facilities producing a wide range of consumer products.

Foundation for Individual Rights in Education

In 1999, Halvorssen became the first executive director and chief executive officer of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a U.S. civil liberties organization. As head of FIRE, Halvorssen formed coalitions that brought together the conservative and leftist advocacy organizations such as the Heritage Foundation, Feminists for Free Expression, the Eagle Forum. Halvorssen has a track record of defending individuals on the left of the political spectrum.

In 2001, Halvorssen stated that, "Liberty of opinion, speech, and expression is indispensable to a free and, in the deepest sense, progressive society. Deny it to one, and you deny it effectively to all. These truths long have been ignored and betrayed on our campuses, to the peril of a free society." In a 2003 moderated chat, he said, "History has taught us that a society that does not respect individual rights, freedom of conscience, and freedom of speech will not long survive as a free society in any form."

Human Rights Foundation

Halvorssen stepped down as head of FIRE in March 2004 to join its Board of Advisors and announced the creation of an international group that would "champion the definition of human rights that originally animated the human rights movement, centered on the twin concepts of freedom of self-determination and freedom from tyranny."Glabe, Scott L
New Organization Opens Fire on Chavez
, ''The Dartmouth Review'', November 22, 2005. Retrieved on September 9, 2008. HRF was incorporated in 2005, opening its headquarters in New York City in August 2006. Its International Council includes several well-known prisoners of conscience such as Elie Wiesel, Harry Wu, and Vladimir Bukovsky. It also includes democracy activists such as Mart Laar, and Garry Kasparov. Its chairman until his death in December 2011, was Václav Havel.

At the helm of HRF Halvorssen has repeatedly lobbied and advocated for the release of Chinese political prisoner Liu Xiaobo. In 2010 Halvorssen was special guest of Liu Xiaobo at the Nobel Prize ceremony awarding the prize to Liu Xiaobo in absentia. Halvorssen is identified as a supporter of Chinese Uyghur leader Rebiya Kadeer and has sharply criticized the Taiwanese Kuomintang government for its banning visits by Kadeer. Halvorssen has supported UN-level action to address the violations of Uyghur rights in China.

Halvorssen appears as a frequent critic of Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni and, in particular, the legislative efforts in Uganda to punish homosexuality with the death penalty.
Halvorssen is a critic of Hugo Chávez, and has written on Venezuela’s anti-Semitism and the assault on democracy and individual rights in Latin America.Halvorssen, Thor.
Hurricane Hugo.
''The Weekly Standard'', August 8, 2005, Volume 010, Issue 44. Also available a
LookSmart.
/ref> Halvorssen's criticisms have also been directed at U.S. Republicans such as Jack Kemp as well as Democrats including John Conyers and Jose Serrano. In a symposium published by the American conservative magazine ''National Review'', he condemned Augusto Pinochet for his human rights abuses. Halvorssen led a campaign to expose Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov’s human rights violations and ultimately created a firestorm for Hollywood actress Hilary Swank after she accepted a cash payment to celebrate Kadyrov’s birthday. In the same manner Halvorssen has exposed payments from dictators to Jennifer Lopez, Erykah Baduh, Mariah Carey, Nelly Furtado, and 50 Cent.

Oslo Freedom Forum

In 2009, Halvorssen founded a global gathering of human rights advocates called the Oslo Freedom Forum. It has taken place in Oslo annually since then. According to ''Wired Magazine'', "if the global human-rights movement were to create its own unified representative body, it would look something like this."

Norwegian newspaper ''Verdens Gang'' called it a "Gathering of Heroes". ''The Economist'' calls it the "Davos of Human Rights." Participants include Pussy Riot's Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Aliokhina, Sudan's Lubna al-Hussein, Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi, China's Ai Weiwei, Tahrir Square protest organizer Wael Ghonim, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, Iran's Marina Nemat, Peter Thiel, Julian Assange, Václav Havel, Garry Kasparov, Leopoldo López, Nobel laureate Lech Wałęsa, and Russian political prisoner Mikhail Khodorkovskii.

Children's Peace Movement

Since 2009, Halvorssen is listed as "Patron" of the Children's Peace Movement, On Own Feet. Known as the "Centipede Movement" it is a Czech-based group that facilitates bilateral relations between children and adolescents in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Canada, and Norway with children in war-torn countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq. The previous Patron was former Czech president Václav Havel.

Film

In 2006, Halvorssen executive produced '' Hammer & Tickle'', a film about the power of humor, ridicule, and satire as the language of truth under Soviet tyranny. This film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film won Best New Documentary Film at the Zurich Film Festival.

Halvorssen co-produced the film ''Freedom's Fury'' which was executive produced by Lucy Liu, Quentin Tarantino, and Andrew Vajna. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Retrieved on August 26, 2006. The film relates the story of the uprising against the government that occurred in Hungary in 1956.

Halvorssen is producer of the film ''The Singing Revolution'', a film about Estonia's peaceful struggle for political independence from Soviet occupation.The Singing Revolution.
Official website. Retrieved on September 9, 2008. The film premiered at the Black Nights Film Festival in December 2006 where it received a 15-minute standing ovation. Since then, it has become the most successful documentary film in Estonian box-office history.

Halvorssen produced ''The Dissident'' in 2020, a film about the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, directed by Bryan Fogel.

Filmography

Awards and recognition

University of Pennsylvania president Judith Rodin honored Halvorssen's achievements by awarding him the Sol Feinstone Award for protecting student speech.

In 2010 Romanian leader Emil Constantinescu presented Halvorssen with a presidential silver medal to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Romanian Revolution of 1989. "On behalf of those who fought and died for freedom, I present this medal to the Oslo Freedom Forum founder, and remind those here that even if Romanians live in democracy now, we cannot feel entirely free as long as other people – who live under dictatorial and repressive regimes anywhere in the world – are not also be free."

In 2018, Halvorssen was awarded the Millennium Candler Justice Prize, honoring leadership in effecting positive social change, presented at the Millennium Gate Museum. The prize was previously awarded to Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter and to Prince Jean of Orléans, Dauphin of France.

Publications

* Halvorssen, Thor L (1996)
''Simón Bolívar and the Enlightenment''
University of Pennsylvania.

Notes

: Halvorssen Mendoza is known commonly as Thor Halvorssen. Per Venezuelan naming conventions, his full legal name includes both his father's (Halvorssen) and mother's (Mendoza) surnames. His full, legal, Venezuelan name distinguishes him from his father, Thor Halvorssen Hellum. (Se
Thor Halvorssen - Presidente.
The Human Rights Foundation. Retrieved on July 21, 2007. Also se

Human Rights Foundation. Retrieved on July 21, 2007.)

References

External links

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''The Atlantic'' profile

''HuffPost'' profile
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Halvorssen Mendoza, Thor
1976 births
Living people
American democracy activists
American film producers
American human rights activists
HuffPost writers and columnists
Venezuelan human rights activists
Venezuelan people of Norwegian descent
Venezuelan expatriates in the United States