Progressive Alliance Award for Michelle Bachelet, Santiago de Chile, 29 April 2018

The Progressive Alliance is proud that President Michelle Bachelet, is honouring us by accepting the Progressive Alliance Award 2018. The award is granted to Michelle Bachelet for her committed and successful struggle for freedom, justice and solidarity.

 

Michelle Bachelet

Throughout her political life and particularly during her two terms in office as Chile’s president, Michelle Bachelet has fought for the political implementation of the principles of our movement. She is a convinced democratic socialist, and in a country considered to be one of the most neoliberal and socially unfair countries of the world, she has not only promoted the debate on the value of public goods and social systems based on solidarity, but also initiated ground-breaking reforms to strengthen social cohesion. Examples of her progressive policies are a tax reform, pension reform, labour reform, electoral law reform, anti-corruption measures, among others.

Particularly outstanding is Michelle Bachelet’s struggle for gender justice which is a central pillar of our movement of socialists, social democrats and progressives. As the first president of UN Women she advocated women’s rights across the world and reached decisive successes in her own country as well. The establishment of a Ministry for Women’s Rights and Gender Justice for the first time in Chile is not only a symbolic achievement. Michelle Bachelet is strongly committed to feminist policies at all levels. As the first female president of her country, Michelle Bachelet is an important symbol for gender justice which encourages women all over the world.

In her early life, Michelle Bachelet, the daughter of an air force general who had been imprisoned and tortured under Pinochet, fled with her mother via Australia to the former GDR. She studied medicine, returned to Chile in 1979 and joined the Partido Socialista de Chile. In 2000, Michelle Bachelet was appointed Minister of Health. Two years later she was the first woman to lead the Ministry of Defence.

 

Award Ceremony for Michelle Bachelet

The award ceremony will take place on 29 April 2018, 11.00-13.00 o’clock, in Santiago de Chile.

 

About the Progressive Alliance Award
Last year, the Progressive Alliance granted the Progressive Alliance Award for the first time. After Etta P. Rosales, a leading human rights and political activist in the Philippines, Michelle Bachelet will be the second person to receive this award for her struggle for freedom, justice and solidarity.

People as well as organisations that are committed in an exemplary way for a more peaceful and fair world can be nominated for this award. A jury selects the award winner among the nominated candidates.

The jury would like to say thank you for the many proposals presented again this year. The list of names and projects is an impressive sign of the variety of distinguished personalities whose extraordinary political commitment and creativity constitute the fundament of our global movement of socialists, progressives and social democrats.

With kind regards, also on behalf of the jury,

Konstantin Woinoff