Bassel Khartabil Fellowship

$50,000 fellowship for open culture under adverse circumstances

Organized by Fabricatorz Foundation with partners including Mozilla and Creative Commons. The fellowship supports individuals and teams advancing free culture — one memorial program among many carrying Bassel's vision forward.

This unique and life-changing fellowship promotes the values important to Bassel's work and life: open culture, radical sharing, free knowledge, remix, collaboration, courage, optimism, and humanity.

The fellow is expected to lead projects or initiatives that will catalyze free culture, particularly in societies vulnerable to attacks on freedom of expression and free access to knowledge. Special consideration will be given to applicants operating within closed societies, under adverse circumstances, and in developing economies where other forms of support are scarce.

What are the Fellowship Benefits?

The fellowship is based on a one-year term, which is eligible for renewal.

A stipend of $50,000 USD, paid in 10 monthly installments.
A one-time health insurance supplement for Fellows and their families, ranging from $2,000 for single Fellows to $4,000 for a couple with two or more children.
An allowance of up to $1,500 towards the purchase of laptop computer, digital cameras, recorders and computer software; fees for continuing studies or other courses, research fees or payments, to the extent such purchases and fees are related to the fellowship.
Coverage in full for all approved fellowship trips, including domestic and international travel.
Mentorship, skill development, project promotion, and additional fundraising support from the partner network, including travel to various partner offices or conferences.

The Fellowship is intended to allow participants to independently locate wherever they can deliver the most impact for their initiative.

Who Should Apply?

The Fellowship is open to individuals and small teams worldwide, who:

Propose a viable new initiative to advance free culture values,
Demonstrate a history of activism in the Open Source, Open Access, Free Culture or Sharing communities, and
Are prepared to focus on the fellowship as their primary work.

Successful projects will aim to:

Meaningfully increase free public access to human knowledge, art, or culture,
Further the cause of social justice/social change, and
Develop both a local and global community to support its cause.

About Bassel Khartabil

Bassel Khartabil was a relentless advocate for free speech, free culture, and democracy. He was the cofounder of Syria's first hackerspace, Aiki Lab, Creative Commons' Syrian project lead, and a prolific open source contributor, from Firefox to Wikipedia. Bassel's final project, relaunched as #NEWPALMYRA, entailed building free and open 3D models of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra. In his work as a computer engineer, educator, artist, musician, cultural heritage researcher, and thought leader, Bassel modeled a more open world, impacting lives globally.

Bassel was taken from the streets in March of 2012 in a military arrest and interrogated and tortured in secret in a facility controlled by Syria's General Intelligence Directorate. After a worldwide campaign by international human rights groups, together with Bassel's many colleagues in the open internet and free culture communities, he was moved to Adra's civilian prison, where he was able to communicate with his family and friends. His detention was ruled unlawful by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and condemned by international organizations such as Creative Commons, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the Jimmy Wales Foundation.

Despite the international outrage at his treatment and calls for his release, in October of 2015 he was moved to an undisclosed location and executed shortly thereafter — a fact that was kept secret by the Syrian regime for nearly two years.

Requirements for Fellows

Fellows will be required to submit a report detailing the impact and outcomes of their projects at the conclusion of the fellowship.
Fellows must be willing to sign a grant agreement and to provide requested information relating to processing funds.
Fellows must be willing to be identified and promoted in conjunction with their projects by partner organizations.
Fellows must agree to publish all related works and output related to the funded project or initiative as free, openly licensed and/or open-source.
Fellows will be solely responsible for related tax collection or reporting for any received funds.
Fellows must be able to receive funds from the organizing partners. Funds will not be provided if OFAC or other laws or regulations restrict it.

Questions or comments? Please contact fellowship@basselkhartabil.org

Apply for the Fellowship

Applications are accepted on this site. Include a vision statement, bio, resume, and preliminary budget. You may also email materials to fellowship@basselkhartabil.org.