In recent days we have all seen the tremendous courage of Egyptian civil society, which inspired by the revolution in Tunisia has fought - and continues to fight - to be free of a dictatorship that as lasted more than 30 years.
We use the words of the Seville Women in Black to express our admiration and solidarity.
From civil society in Tunisa and Egypt, enormous waves - tenacious, strong, and decided in their will for social just and freedom - have made the Mediterranean the great lady of the revolution for human rights. a revoultion of active non-violent resistance that reveals the daily reality of life under regimes that have been maintained and supported by both the US authorities and the powers of the EU. Regimes that translate the forms of neo-colonialism, that perpetuate contempt for civil society in support of geostrategic and social economic interests. A double standard, which our western world uses as a characteristic of patriarcal power. So, Egyptian civil society, thanks to the Sadat regime, followed by the Mubarak regime, has been living for decades as a political prisoner under the control of the explicit interests of Zionism within a framework of western interests.
Then, all at once, our western universe discovers that in the mediterranean world "on the other shore", there are societies that are lively and full of aspirations. Almost always, the information we've been given has favoured an image of stagnation and reactionary traditionalism. The media have seized everthing that feeds islamophobia, fear of "terrorism" among our people, rarely mentioning rebellions that succeeded over the years and remaining silent about the systematic violation of human rights.
This veil that covered and protected the US and EU puppet regimes, with measures that went from outrageous levels of aid to sales of arms to be used for repression; a veil cast over the violations of human rights that is only lifted in a few countries, when their goverments come into conflict with the interests of western countries; countries that then the West does not hesitate to threaten and occupy, creating a disaster for the lives of millions of women and men (Iraq, Afghanistan), or instigating civil wars (Rwanda, Ivory Coast).
And while we recognise that such policies are part of the right wing in western politics - whose identification with the culture of death is implicit in their defence of the capitalist, neoliberal economy - we are scandalised by the fact that so-called progressive sectors have favoured, in one way or another, the maintenance of these corrupt, dictatorial regimes (one example among the many: the parties led by Mubarak and Ben Ali are even today part of the Socialist International). With the argument of the "lesser evil" and the fight against "radical Islam", they contribute to the creation of a "demon" which facilitates the miitarisation of the world and of our minds, reinforcing the structures of patriarcal power based on violence and exclusion.
From our position of absolute refusal of any regime that stands in the way of free development of popular sovereignty and of the rights of women, and because of our conviction that every form of violence - including obviously social and economic inequality and sexist, racist, cultural and religious exclusion - generates oppression and violence, in particular towards women, we demand that:
All EU governments must immediately
- Explicitly condemn these regimes and their violations of human rights
- Stop the export of arms
- Show their support for the civil society without interference and with full respect for their sovereignty.
We express our complete solidarity with:
The greater part of the civilian populations of Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Jordan.... and with the pacifist opposition in Israel who are mobilising to condemn their current political regimes.
Civilian populations, women and men, who will be able to take the road to the realisation of their demands for political, social and cultural freedom.
People who today in their uprising for human rights expose the many disturbing aspects of our democracies, calling upon us to reinforce the bonds of solidarity and banish from the Mediterranean those interests that are an obstacle to intercultural coexistence, and so to favour peace, social justice, and the emancipation of women and men from all types of oppression.
The greater part of the civilian populations of Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Jordan.... and with the pacifist opposition in Israel who are mobilising to condemn their current political regimes.
Civilian populations, women and men, who will be able to take the road to the realisation of their demands for political, social and cultural freedom.
People who today in their uprising for human rights expose the many disturbing aspects of our democracies, calling upon us to reinforce the bonds of solidarity and banish from the Mediterranean those interests that are an obstacle to intercultural coexistence, and so to favour peace, social justice, and the emancipation of women and men from all types of oppression.
