The 2023 Freedom Lecture to be held on November 17, 2023

The featured speaker Mr. Rasto Kuzel, Executive Director of Memo98, will discuss the importance of free and fair elections for democracy in the aftermath of the recent elections in Slovakia and Poland and ahead of the US elections in 2024.

The Czech and Slovak Freedom Lecture was established in 2000. Intended to commemorate the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, the lecture is scheduled annually close to November 17. Conceived as a joint activity of the Czech and Slovak Embassies, together with American Friends of the Czech Republic and Friends of Slovakia, the choice of speaker and topic alternates each year between the Czech and Slovak groups.  Please visit the Friends of Slovakia website for the recordings of the previous lectures.

EVENT DETAILS:

Date/Time: November 17, 2023, from noon-1 pm

To register for the event, please access the event’s website.

Rasto Kuzel is a media and election expert with over 20 years of international experience. Since 1998, he has been the Executive Director of MEMO 98, a prominent non-profit with extensive experience in media monitoring on behalf of international institutions and technical assistance to various stakeholders. Rasťo has worked as a media and election analyst, consultant, and trainer, participating in tens of OSCE/ODIHR election observation missions. He has also worked on nearly 200 election and media-related projects and missions within the UN, OSCE, Council of Europe, IFES, NED, NDI, DRI, and IMS, among others. For the past few years, Rasťo has focused on propaganda and disinformation, including as part of the Digital Disinformation Forum at Stanford University.