Arquivo da tag: Arab Spring

Interview with Syrian Poet Maram al-Massri

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“The president’s family really took Syria like a big chicken, and they eat it alone.”

[Olivia Stransky, Sampsonia Way, June 2, 2011] On Jan. 26, 2011 a man from the Syrian city of Ali-Hasakah, Hasan Ali Akleh, covered himself in gasoline and lit himself on fire in protest of the Syrian government—an act mimicking the self-immolation of a Tunisian man that sparked the “Arab Spring.” A week later, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told The Wall Street Journal that Syria was immune to the kind of social and political upheaval coursing through the Arab world.  But Syrian human rights groups have estimated that, in recent months, security forces have killed 1,200 citizens who oppose Assad’s regime and the emergency rule that, prior to the unrest, had limited civil liberties since 1962.

Poet Maram al-Massri was born in the same year that emergency rule began. She left the country in 1982 after studying at the University of Damascus, and she has published six collections of poetry—two of them, Red Cherry on a White Tile Floor and I Look at You , have been translated into English in the UK and also the US. Though Massri has been living in Paris for the past 28 years, she has been staying in contact with writers in Syria during the unrest, which has devolved into violent clashes between protestors and government forces. Continue lendo →

‘The future of Egyptian women is in danger’ – Samira Ibrahim speaks out

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Activist Samira Ibrahim reacts after the verdict of a military court, in Cairo, Egypt, 11 March 2012. She now vows to take her case to the international courts Photograph: Str/EPA

The verdict over ‘virginity tests’ was a blow to the feminist struggle in Egypt. Here, the woman who sacrificed everything to bring the case to court, warns that women’s rights are now under threat from two sides – the military and the Islamists.

[Abdel-Rahman Hussein, The Guardian, March 13, 2012] Cairo - Samira Ibrahim is talking tough, but her face looks fraught. The decision by a military court on Sunday to exonerate a former military doctor from conducting “virginity tests” on female protestors in March last year is a setback and a big blow to her personally.

For Ibrahim was the first to speak out about being subjected to this violation along with six other women at a military prison where they were kept overnight, having been arrested in Tahrir Square. It has been a difficult year for Ibrahim, but she is adamant she will not back down. Continue lendo →

Eastern Christians and the Arab Spring ~ Alain Juppé

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The Eastern Christians are worried. Worried about their survival in a region they have lived in for 2,000 years. Worried about their rights being respected at a time of major upheaval. Worried about heightened religious tensions. I want to tell them that I understand them, that I understand their fears.

For centuries, France has had a special mission with respect to the Eastern Christians. It will not shy from it. That is why in January 2011, President Sarkozy established the framework of our policy, emphasizing that “well beyond the East,” the fate of the Eastern Christians symbolizes “the challenges of the globalized world we have irrevocably entered.” Our vision is clear: There can be no true democratic revolution without the protection of minorities. The Eastern Christians are destined to remain in their region. They are destined to help build their future, as they have always done in the past.

This is not a new issue. It has existed for centuries. But it has become more and more dramatic in recent years. Continue lendo →