On December 17, 2010, ten years ago today, Mohamed Bouazizi, a fruit seller, caught fire and was cremated as a sign of discontent over repression and abuse of authority in Tunisia (North Africa).
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In response, thousands of people in this country called for corruption and the authoritarian regime of Zin el Abidin Ben Ali, then president.
Months after the wave of protests, the president resigned. To this indignation was added that of protesters from Egypt, Bahrain, Libya, Syria, Yemen and other countries in the Middle East, who are demanding profound changes in their territories.
In this social stalemate, which we know as the ‘Arab Spring’, the role of women was decisive for it to become a historic event.. Without them in the streets, taking advantage of the voice and demanding radical transformations in their countries – whose tradition demanding silence and sum – it would not have been possible for the revolution to have such an echo and magnitude.
One of these voices was that of Tawakkol Karman, a Yemeni activist and journalist, who in 2011 made history by being the first Arab woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize. She was recognized for her peaceful struggle for the security and rights of women, whom she defends as peacekeepers.
The winner of the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize, Tawakkul Karman.
Carlos Ortega / EL TIEMPO
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Her voice, which has resonated around the world for her activism and for being one of the leaders of the Arab Spring, is just one of the miles that star in this movement; a social outbreak that began a decade ago, in the small town of Sidi Bouzid (Tunisia)
Besides the resignation of Zin the Abidín Horseradish tree Ali in Tunisia, was added time later the one of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt; and Muammar Gaddafi, after more than four decades in power, he was overthrown and killed by protesters.
In Yemen, where Tawakkol Karman is from, after 33 years in office, Ali Abdallah Saleh was also forced to resign after months of intense protests, which began in April 2011, inspired by the this December 17th. There, women were the protagonists of the street shootings.
Karman, who is also a journalist, is one of the founders of ‘Mujeres Periodistas sin Cadenas’ (WJWC), whose purpose is to defend freedom of the press and expression, and this was the which he did in the calls. Like her, hundreds of women were on the front lines of the demonstrations every day, leading spaces and disseminating information.. A fact, also historical, considering the traditions of their countries, which silences them and adds them up.
Tawakkol Karman has publicly defended that women were the key subjects of this revolution
Today, this country is in a humanitarian crisis listed by the United Nations as one of the worst in the world. For women the situation is even worse, in one of the countries where the female population is most marginalized. Most cannot access education or participate in public settings.
The picture was not so critical in February 2011, when I was also starting the rebellion. Thousands took to the streets in hopes that, after years of repression, things would change in Yemen. The women protested in the squares with pink ribbons and handkerchiefs, as a stick symbol.
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In Tunisia, the situation is different. In April 2011, women’s and feminist organizations got the government to pass a law requiring full parity on the lists in the Constituent Assembly, which was voted on in October this year. After the start of spring, it is the only protesting country that has managed to transition to a democratic government.
And in 2018, Tunisian women made history again by holding about half of the positions of local councils. Besides, Suad Abderrahim was elected the first woman mayor of the country’s capital. These achievements were made possible by one of the most advanced gender equity laws in the world: in 2016, an electoral reform was approved that, in addition to demanding parity, included that at least one in six places on the lists was taken care of by a minor of 35 years and that these, as well, would have to be alternated between men and women.
They were the main beneficiaries of the change, and will ensure that they are making changes every day
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Tawakkol Karman has publicly defended that women were the key subjects of this revolution. Their voices resonating in the streets, denouncing the corruption and dictatorships of their countries, were the force for the Arab Spring out of a phenomenon of global impact. “We have been gone for a long time, he told the press at the time, and now it is time to take action, without waiting for us to accept or allow us to do so.”.
For Karman, what motivated them to go out and manifest was the years of oppression they have had to live through. “They were the main beneficiaries of the change, and they make sure that they will continue to make changes every day,” he wrote to the United Nations about the demonstrations that followed on December 17. The leaders, accustomed to relegating women to private spaces, were surprised to see their massive participation, said the journalist.
But his struggle brought him, in addition to the Nobel, exile. Other women remained in their countries when the outcry of the rebellion subsided and, like Karman, they had to face the attacks of the counter-revolution, but in their own territories. It has cost them their rights and integrity, says the activist, who insists that this was the price they paid to be leaders and not be silent at a historic moment for humanity.
IT’S NOT TIME TO SILENCE