The Yemeni journalist, politician, activist, feminist fighter and 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Tawakkol Karman, moved her arms, opened them, pushed her body forward, made sure that her words were communicated with emphasis, that they were understood and backed by his momentum.
43-year-old Karman, called “the mother of the revolution” in Yemen, one of the countries in the south of the Arabian peninsula – a territory with a millennial legacy and a past of prosperity, but now one of the poorest in Middle East—, visited our country for the first time to take part in the first day of activities of the Hay Festival Querétaro 2022 in a conversation with the activist Alexandra Haas, current director of Oxfam Mexico. She and she packed the City Theater of the Queretaro capital.
Voice of an Arab revolution
Throughout an hour, which was notoriously insufficient according to the young voices that rejected the cessation of the conversation this Thursday night, Tawakkol Karman detailed how her training since she was a child, the influence of her parents, her disagreement with authoritarian acts of Yemeni governments since the transition to the 21st century, and her unwavering personality made her a revolutionary leader by force of reason.
Karman became a fundamental figure of the Arab Spring for being one of the first women leaders to oppose dictatorships not only in her country, headed by Ali Abdullah Saleh, but also in the Arab countries that oppressed the female population and that have restricted freedom of expression.
“I decided to use my right to express myself. I decided to do it from the trench of journalism. I started as a journalist and wrote many articles against the dictator and that was extremely strange given that she was a woman. People began to say: ‘Who is this woman who started shooting at the top of the state?’ I had the right to summon people for free association and it was from this trench that I began my battle for freedom. The constitution gave me that right and I began to exercise it. I wrote articles against the dictator and the corruption of him, I revealed all the crimes he had committed, especially in the war and the support of terrorism inside Yemen”, she recounted.
Between 2004 and 2005 several journalists were repressed by the Saleh administration. “Many were arrested by the government, newspapers were also shut down and websites were blocked. So I thought: ‘as a journalist, what can I do now?’, because writing against the dictator was not enough. So I created an organization called Women Journalists Without Borders, with which I wanted to convene women inside and outside of Yemen so that we all start speaking honestly and create a single voice against injustice. So they decided to revoke the license of this organization and, well, I decided to create a new one called Women Journalists without Chains.
“People call me ‘the mother of the revolution’ because in this period I encouraged the people of Yemen to say no to injustices, to raise their voices and to use peaceful movements.”
Better than dying for nothing
The fight against Ali Abdullah Saleh’s administration lasted until 2011. In 2010, during a protest, a woman tried to stab her with a jambiya, that is, an Arab dagger characterized by its curved blade. But her followers managed to stop the attack.
“From 2005 to date they did not threaten me once but several times. But I feel protected by people, because I assume myself on the right side of history. And I think that’s the biggest protection I can have.”
Since winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011, the activist shares, she has not wanted to change the tone of her speech despite being asked to moderate the tone now that she is a spokesperson for peace.
“But I have answered that no, that is not me. It is I who the dictators consider their enemy, because they are the enemies of justice and freedom and I am a symbol of equality and democracy, so I will never lower my voice (…) my greatest fear is not it is dying, it is not being able to convince countries to stop supporting dictators. If I am to die for a noble cause, it is better than dying for nothing.”
“Don’t let them forget” the 43
Tawakkol Karman expressed his position against the governments of the West. “This voice that speaks against dictators in my region is the same voice that speaks against the US and British administrations and against countries that claim to be democrats but support dictatorships in my region. They are selling them weapons.”
In a conversation with the audience that packed the People’s Theater, he was asked for advice on how to act from civil society in the face of cases in our country such as the disappearance and murder already recognized by the government of the 43 students from Ayotzinapa and dozens of cases similar in which there seem to be State crimes.
Karman responded: “I have heard a little about what happened and what I can say is that civil society cannot stop investigating this crime or any other. Civil society and also the media have a great responsibility to uncover the truth. Do not give up, if it is not clear who committed this crime, you should not wait. You must make yourself in ways so that this case and others stay alive. Don’t let them forget, don’t let the truth disappear. That is their obligation as a civil society.”
ricardo.quiroga@eleconomista.mx
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