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In a November 18 address, Yemeni Nobel peace prize laureate Tawakkol Karman said that the terror attacks in Paris and elsewhere represent those who finance and run them: "despotic regimes and clandestine regional and global players." Speaking at the Council of Europe's World Forum for Democracy in Strasbourg, Karman further said: "Against the backdrop of the daily influx [of refugees], we hold the international community responsible for its failed intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan" and "for refraining from intervention in Syria."
Following are excerpts:
Tawakkol Karman: "First, I would like to extend condolences to France, on behalf of our nation and the peaceful and fighting Arab youth. I would like to emphasize that these crimes do not represent Islam, and do not represent the Islamic nation. They represent only the people who are behind them, the people who finance and run them - despotic regimes and clandestine regional and global players, who benefit from such crimes. I call upon you to study thoroughly what is happening in the Middle East. When you discuss issues such as terrorism, you must link terrorism to tyranny. Ask yourselves how ISIS developed, how it flourished within one year, and became capable of striking in Paris and elsewhere. Search who stands to gain from [ISIS], whose interests it serves, and who suffers the most from it. The certain answer is that those who benefit are the despots, and their tyrannical regimes. It is the Arab Spring youth and revolutions that have been harmed the most, I would like to stress, from this pulpit of the Council of Europe, that Islam has nothing to do with all this terrorism. Islam is a religion of peace and coexistence, like all religions, and the Islamic nation is a nation of love and compassion, like all nations. Terrorism has no religion and no nation.
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"ISIS is the outcome of the conspiracy against the revolutions of the Arab Spring.
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"Let me remind you of 2011, when the Arab Spring youth in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Syria, and Libya decided to topple the regimes of tyranny and corruption through peaceful struggle alone. In a period of two years... Be honest... Cast your mind back to 2011-2012. Was there a single terror attack then? Did you hear of Al-Qaeda, ISIS, or other organizations then? The movements of extremism and terrorism were completely silent then, because the voice of peace was speaking louder.
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"Against the backdrop of this daily influx [of refugees], we hold the international community responsible for its failed intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan. This intervention failed to build democracy, peace, and sustainable development. It intervened only by dropping bombs, without providing sufficient programs for the building of peace, democracy, and sustainable development. On the other hand, the international community bears responsibility for refraining from intervention in Syria. It watched from the sidelines the aggression of Bashar Al-Assad and his regime, as well as the terrorism of ISIS and its sister organizations.
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"I would like to stress that the influx of refugees cannot be stopped by the closing of borders. The influx of refugees cannot be stopped with barbed wires between countries. The influx of refugees cannot be stopped by attacking them with guard dogs, as is the case in some countries. This is not beneficial, and it runs counter to our human values, and to the values upon which the EU countries were founded.
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Keep the borders open. The people must not be punished three times: first, by a despotic regime that wishes to rule them with oppression, fear, corruption, and failure, the by terrorist organizations, which also wish to rule them with oppression, subjugation, and racism, and [finally], by countries that shut their gates in their faces, saying to them: Die under the boots of the tyrants or the boots of the terrorists."
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