[WATCH] Maria Ressa’s Nobel speech: ‘Now it’s time to build’

Maria Ressa made history on Friday, December 10, as she became the first Filipino to receive a Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to fight for press freedom and democracy.

Ressa has been the target of attacks for leading Rappler in its critical coverage of the Duterte government, and for being a leader in the global fight against disinformation.

In her speech, delivered in Oslo, Ressa emphasized that she only represented journalists all over the world who were facing persecution from their governments. She also called for a massive global reform of the information ecosystem, which allowed lies and hate to spread faster than facts.

“Without facts, you can’t have truth. Without truth, you can’t have trust. Without trust, we have no shared reality, no democracy, and it becomes impossible to deal with our world’s existential problems: climate, coronavirus, the battle for truth,” said in her speech.

In her speech, she challenged everyone with a question.

“Democracy has become a woman-to-woman, man-to-man defense of our values. We’re at a sliding door moment, where we can continue down the path we’re on and descend further into fascism, or we can each choose to fight for a better world. To do that, you have to ask yourself: what are you willing to sacrifice for the truth?” Ressa said.

“The destruction has happened,” she added. “Now it’s time to build – to create the world we want.”

Watch the full speech above. – Rappler.com