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Freedom House
From SourceWatch
Freedom House, Inc. is a non-profit organization that relies upon tax-deductible grants and donations under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code.[1] Corporate researcher Holly Sklar (1989) described it as a "conservative research, publishing, networking, and selective human rights organization." Freedom House's work is linked to the "democracy promotion" efforts of the National Endowment for Democracy.
Helps coordinate the UN Democracy Caucus.
- Jennifer L. Windsor - Executive Director
- Sklar, "Washington Wants to Buy Nicaragua's Elections Again: A Guide to US Operatives and Nicaraguan Parties," Z Magazine, December 1989.
Contents |
Background
Freedom House describes itself as non-partisan and broad-based, "a clear voice for democracy and freedom around the world." It was founded "nearly sixty years ago by Eleanor Roosevelt, Wendell Willkie, and other Americans concerned with the mounting threats to peace and democracy, Freedom House has been a vigorous proponent of democratic values and a steadfast opponent of dictatorships of the far left and the far right."[2]
Freedom House sees itself "at the center of the struggle for freedom ... It was an outspoken advocate of the Marshall Plan and NATO in the 1940s, of the U.S. civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s, of the Vietnam boat people in the 1970s, of Poland's Solidarity movement and the Filipino democratic opposition in the 1980s, and of the many democracies that have emerged around the world in the 1990s ... Freedom House has vigorously opposed dictatorships in Central America and Chile, apartheid in South Africa, the suppression of the Prague Spring, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, genocide in Bosnia and Rwanda, and the brutal violation of human rights in Cuba, Burma, China, and Iraq ... It has championed the rights of democratic activists, religious believers, trade unionists, journalists, and proponents of free markets. In 1997, a consolidation took place whereby the international democratization training programs of the National Forum Foundation were incorporated into Freedom House."[3]
Board of Trustees
The Freedom House Board of Trustees is self-described as "composed of leading Democrats, Republicans, and independents; business and labor leaders; former senior government officials; scholars; writers; and journalists."[4]
Writing in 2007, Diana Barahona had an alternative (more accurate) description of their board of trustees, which she said was "a Who's Who of neoconservatives from government, business, academia, labor, and the press." [5]
2006 Board of Trustees
- Peter Ackerman, Chairman
- Stuart Eizenstat, Vice-Chairman
- Mark Palmer, Vice-Chairman
- Ned W. Bandler, Secretary, Governance and Ethics Officer
- Walter J. Schloss, Treasurer
- Max M. Kampelman, Chairman Emeritus
- Bette Bao Lord, Chairman Emeritus
- Jacqueline Adams
- Kenneth L. Adelman
- Bernard Aronson
- Alan P. Dye
- Thomas S. Foley
- Malcolm S. Forbes, Jr. (otherwise known as Steve Forbes)
- Theodore Forstmann
- Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
- Sidney Harman
- Robert Hormats
- Samuel Huntington
- John T. Joyce
- Kathryn Dickey Karol
- Farooq Kathwari
- Jeane J. Kirkpatrick
- Anthony Lake
- Nancy L. Lane
- Mara Liasson
- Jay Mazur
- Michael McFaul
- John Norton Moore
- Azar Nafisi
- David Nastro
- Andrew Nathan
- Diana Villiers Negroponte
- P. J. O'Rourke
- Nina Rosenwald
- David M. Rubenstein
- Arthur Waldron
- Ruth Wedgwood
- Wendell L. Willkie II
Previous Board of Trustees
Funding
- Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation
- Byrne Foundation
- Carthage Foundation
- Scaife Foundations
- Eurasia Foundation
- Ford Foundation
- The Freedom Forum
- Grace Foundation, Inc.
- Lilly Endowment, Inc.
- LWH Family Foundation
- National Endowment for Democracy
- Pew Charitable Trusts
- Sarah Scaife Foundation (Scaife Foundations)
- Schloss Family Foundation
- Smith Richardson Foundation, Inc.
- Soros Foundations
- Tinker Foundation
- Unilever United States Foundation, Inc.
- US Agency for International Development
- US Information Agency
Freedom house collected $23.5M in revenue during 2005. [6]
Related Organizations
- American Committee for Peace in Chechnya
- Freedom of Expression Project
- Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
- Jamestown Foundation
- Gozaar
NB: These organizations often co-host events, there is personnel overlap, and at some point have shared offices.
Contact
New York Office:
120 Wall Street, Floor 26
New York, NY 10005
Phone: 212-514-8040
Fax: 212-514-8055
Email: info AT freedomhouse.org
Web: http://www.freedomhouse.org
Washington D.C. Office:
1301 Connecticut Ave. NW, Floor 6
Washington, D.C. 20036
Phone: 202-296-5101
Fax: 202-293-2840
External links
- Freedom House Archives 1936-1999, Princeton Univ., Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library.
- Bill Berkowitz, "Freedom House Receiving US Government Money "for Clandestine Activities inside Iran"", Media Transparency, April 4, 2006.
- Diana Barahona, "The Freedom House Files", Monthly Review, January 3, 2007. (see 990 forms)
- Galina Stolyarova, "Flap Over Russian Freedom Report Goes On: The uproar over a pro-democracy group's negative, though essentially unchanged, rating of Russia has been linked to sloppy journalism or an anti-U.S. campaign," Business Week, March 2, 2007.
