Nobel Prize Winner Imagines Way Forward for Yemen

In the video below, Yemeni activist Tawakkul Karman, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for her role in the Arab Spring, says the international community needs to increase its involvement in Syria to prevent civil war and save lives.

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Marco Werman: Of course before Yemen got a peaceful transition there was the Arab spring or as many in Yemen called it, the Jasmine Revolution. Tawakul Karman helped lead the protest against President Saleh. The journalist, activist and mother of three is now a Nobel peace prize winner and she travels the globe to speak about where Yemen is headed now. Tawakul Karman visited our studios. I asked her if Yemen’s new President is up to the job of facing the country’s many challenges, from a separatist movement to Al-Qaeda terrorism.

Tawakul Karman: Not just the new President. It’s all Yemeni people who create this revolution and now who are working to create a new country. All of us one hand and we want to make a national dialogue that we will discuss all the problems in Yemen, the problem with the economy and the new constitution that must be, guarantee the equality and freedom and democracy and accountability and the rule of law. So all Yemeni people they are working for this moment. It isn’t just the responsibility of Abdrabo Mansour Hadi. We help him in doing his job. And also he now works with us for achieving all the goals.

Werman: But Yemen is divided. You agree with that? It’s fractured.

Karman: No I don’t accept that. Yes it was divided before the revolution. After the revolution the revolution make every Yemeni people unified. Now there is one umbrella that they are working under it. It’s the revolution against the bad regime, the dictatorial regime, the corruption regime and also now building the country. Yemen now is more unification than before. Yes there is problems, there is challenges. Also Yemen has many powers like tribes, like Southern movement, like parties, like hosies , like also now youth so there is many powers and all I think this is an advantage to make this country strong. But now all these movements, all these powers are now thinking about how to create a new country.

Werman: I’m curious to hear your thoughts on the increased use of drones by the United States in Yemen. On one hand it seems that a number of dangerous Al-Qaeda leaders have been eliminated but so have many innocent villagers in the process too.

Karman: Of course, the drones might kill the innocent people and we told America: stop that. It’s very important to stop that because it isn’t attack Al-Qaeda people. Al-Qaeda people if we want to fight Al-Qaeda its Yemeni people who can fight it. So the solution is not with the drones. The solution is with supporting Yemeni people to fight Al-Qaeda by good alliance with the new president and with good alliance with people inside these governments and also by fighting. So it’s, that’s the most important thing. The thoughts of violence; it’s the strategy and the philosophy of Al-Qaeda. When we make our great peaceful revolution we convinced people that the only way to take your rights is peace and look, we could step down the dictator with peaceful way. Don’t just speak about Al-Qaeda. If we just speak about Al-Qaeda that means that the dictator succeeded when he convinced the West that Yemen equals Al-Qaeda. No, Yemen now equals peace. Yemen now equals dreams on dignity and democracy so stop talking about Al-Qaeda, Al-Qaeda, Al-Qaeda. There is people now, they are suffering from something most important than Al-Qaeda they are suffering from poverty they are suffering from disease. Now we are working in building our country and we need all the international community to work with us for building this country. That’s it.

Werman: Tawakul Karman, the co-winner of the two thousand and eleven Nobel Peace Prize, thank you very much indeed.

Karman: Thank you dear.

Werman: You can see and hear Tawakul Karman speaking in our studios about the situation in Syria. The video is at The World dot org.

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