Now that the Republican Party’s field of presidential candidates finally looks complete, I guess it’s about time for me to begin analysing these hopefuls’ chances of winning their party nomination and going up against President Obama in next year’s general election.
But before I begin discussing presidential matters, I want to use this column to discuss the most recent Nobel Peace Prize recipients. Fresh on the heels of my previous columns on the un-liberal democracies I am worried might emerge in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, I want to acknowledge the Nobel Peace Prize that was just jointly awarded to three women: Tawakul Karman, a democracy and human rights activist who has been at the forefront of the Arab Spring protests in Yemen; Leymah Gbowee, a peace activist who organised women to help bring an end to war in Liberia; and the President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first democratically elected woman president of an African nation.
Given the fact that, prior to this year, 85 men but only 12 women had ever been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, I thought it was more than appropriate that three more women were recognised for their courageous work on behalf of peace, democracy and women’s rights by the Nobel committee.
While I do not dispute the worthiness of any of the men previously awarded this honour, I firmly believe that women should have been recognised more often.
I am somewhat familiar with Gbowee’s work organising women from different ethnic and religious backgrounds to bring an end to Liberia’s civil war, as well as President Sirleaf’s contributions to democratic governance in Liberia. But as a fellow journalist I am much more familiar with Tawakul Karman.
As a young mother of three children, Karman first began advocating for women’s rights and journalistic freedom back in 2003. She went on to found Women Journalists Without Chains in 2005 as part of her efforts to obtain greater freedom of expression in Yemen and other countries on the Arabian Peninsula.
I actually had the privilege of meeting with Karman several years ago in her capacity as the head of Women Journalists Without Chains, and discussing the aims of her organisation with her. I must say I was also extremely impressed by her willingness to risk her life in her ongoing efforts to obtain press freedom and greater civil rights for women in Yemen.
Please note that long before this year’s Arab Spring uprisings began, Karman was organising and leading demonstrations by journalists against censorship as well as protests on behalf of women’s rights and freedoms at the Girl’s College of Sana’a University.
Recently I’ve expressed my concerns about the true intentions of many Islamic political parties, and my fear that if they gain power they will impose a ‘tyranny of the majority’ on minority ethnic and religious groups. A hopeful counterpoint to my concerns is the fact that while Karman is also a member of Yemen’s Islamic Islah Party, she has never hesitated to criticise Islamic religious extremists.
Furthermore, even though Karman is a socially conservative Muslim woman, she removed her veil at a human rights conference in 2004 and no longer wears one because it was getting in the way of what she wanted to accomplish. Still, she does not advocate that other Muslim women should also remove their veils – only that they should do so if they want to.
Based on what I know about this Nobel Peace Prize recipient, if Islamic political parties decide to embrace the values of women like Tawakul Karman, then maybe my fears about a ‘tyranny of the majority’ taking hold in Arab democracies will prove to be unfounded.
Charles Laffiteau is a US Republican from Dallas, Texas who is pursuing a PhD in International Relations and lectures on Contemporary US Business & Society at DCU.
