Tawakkol Karman Quotes

76 Sourced Quotes

I do not represent the Al-Islah party, and I am not tied to its positions. My position is determined by my beliefs, and I do not ask anyone's permission.

Tawakkol Karman
... I have spent days and nights camped out in tents with fellow protesters; I have led demonstrations in the streets facing the threat of mortars, missiles and gunfire; I have struggled to build a movement for democratic change — all while caring for my three young children.

Tawakkol Karman
We need the nation of equal citizenship. We need a nation that fights corruption, a nation, a state where law rules, a nation where those who abuse their authority are questioned. We want to retrieve our nation, and we want to become citizens in a new world.

Tawakkol Karman
Unfortunately, it is impossible for me to stand in person with the protesters outside Rabaa al-Adaweya square to echo their legitimate demands... Egypt's current regime has ousted the first elected president in the country's history... There are limited options for those of us who care about Egypt's future: We can either side with civil values and democracy, or with military rule, tyranny, and coercion

Tawakkol Karman
The least we desire from the institutions of the free world, and especially the US and the countries of the European Union, is that they appreciate our struggle for freedom. We want them to discharge their responsibilities towards vulnerable people and support them in the face of the cruelty of rulers who continue to kill.

Tawakkol Karman
To begin, I am a citizen of the world. The Earth is my country, and humanity is my nation. This is my motto: What everyone has longed for and will be achieved when all of the people shall also celebrate this prize that every Yemeni, and every Arab, and every human being and every woman has also won beside me

Tawakkol Karman
My aim for now is to lead a peaceful revolution to remove this regime. I think if I can be in the street with the people I can achieve more than if I am the president.

Tawakkol Karman
I came from Yemen, the country of civilization, the Yemen that was led by two women, and it was one of the greatest countries in the world. We were led by a dictatorship regime, a corrupted regime. This regime was founded in killing others... My country has a lot of poverty, from a lot of diseases, from ignorance. And these are some of the reasons that led us to lead this revolution.

Tawakkol Karman
Democracy can't thrive under military rule — history is quite clear on this point... The police state is back, and it is even worse than Hosni Mubarak's. What is happening in Egypt today is very scary: The coup could lead society to lose its faith in democracy, which will give terrorist groups a chance to breathe again... By blocking peaceful change and weakening the Islamist groups that participate in the political process, the coup leaders support this stance and do the terrorists a favor.

Tawakkol Karman
I call on the United States and the European Union to tell Saleh that he must leave now... They should end all support for his regime, especially that which is used to crush peaceful opposition... They should freeze the Saleh family's assets and those of Saleh's henchmen and return them to the people.

Tawakkol Karman
I do not believe that my brother Tariq accused me of this, and you will not drag me into talking about him or responding [to this claim]. [That said,] I do have close strategic ties with American organizations involved in protecting human rights, with American ambassadors and with officials in the U.S. State Department. [I also have ties with activists in] most of the E.U. and Arab countries. But they are ties among equals; [I am not] their subordinate.

Tawakkol Karman
It has now become obvious that most of the state institutions, including the judiciary, the army, the security apparatus and most of the government departments, stood against him [Morsi]. They acted in a co-ordinated manner to foment a crisis aimed at impeding the president and forcing failure on him.

Tawakkol Karman
If the US and Europe genuinely support the people, as they say, they must not betray our peaceful revolution. It is the expression of the democratic will of the overwhelming majority of the people of Yemen.

Tawakkol Karman
The panel put targets, for example, on nutrition, education, ending preventable child deaths, encouraging birth registration, putting an end to violence against girls, and child marriage—all of which, if enacted, will improve the lives of billions of children throughout the world.

Tawakkol Karman
We are confident that our revolution has already succeeded and that the regime of Saleh has in effect, already collapsed.

Tawakkol Karman
In response to a question about drone strikes:
I'm sure that the new Yemen, the civilized Yemen and the democratic Yemen, it will be a Yemen without terrorism, without extremism. And we know that we're going to be the deepest path for democracy and for peace and international security.

Tawakkol Karman
We are not to call for tyranny and bans on freedom. It is obvious that we cannot stop publication of what we view as indecent in our sacred faith... failing to make use of Western freedom of press and other technologies to show the West the values of Islam is intellectual failure and a guilt that should not be linked to Islam.

Tawakkol Karman
The Egyptian officers informed me that I would be denied entry, and I was soon deported back to Yemen on the same plane on which I had arrived. The authorities gave me no clear answer why: They said that I knew the reason for my deportation better than them, and that my name had been blacklisted based on the request of a security body.

Tawakkol Karman
Students' role doesn't end in the classroom. Student-led movements have always been a part in changing history and fulfilling peoples' dreams of achieving freedom and dignity.

Tawakkol Karman
... we tell Saudi Arabia that they should stand with the Yemeni people. And anyone who doesn't stand with our people, they are the losers. We know what it means to be free, and we will achieve it. And the interests of countries, it's with the people and not with the regimes, because these regimes will be gone.

Tawakkol Karman
Women should stop being or feeling that they are part of the problem and become part of the solution. We have been marginalized for a long time, and now is the time for women to stand up and become active without needing to ask for permission or acceptance. This is the only way we will give back to our society and allow for Yemen to reach the great potentials it has.

Tawakkol Karman
The repercussions of the coup on nascent democracies in the Arab world will be destructive. People may soon lose faith in the democratic process, paving the way for the revival of extremist groups... The coup serves to strengthen the radicals, interrupting the course of peaceful change.

Tawakkol Karman
So what happens when the regime falls, as it must? We are in the first stage of change in our country, and the feeling among the revolutionaries is that the people of Yemen will find solutions for our problems once the regime has gone, because the regime itself is the cause of most of them. A new Yemen awaits us, with a better future for all.

Tawakkol Karman
... The result of burning embassies and treading on flags is the self-same objective these drawings wanted to highlight. It was their intention to say that Muslims are terrorists and their religion is a peril to Western civilization.

Tawakkol Karman
The United States and Saudi Arabia... have instead used their influence to ensure that members of the old regime remain in power and the status quo is maintained. American counterterrorism agencies and the Saudi government have a firm grip on Yemen at the moment. It is they... that control the country.

Tawakkol Karman
... we chose to march in the streets demanding the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, an end to his corrupt and failed regime and the establishment of a modern democratic state... Yemen is now facing a complete vacuum of authority; we are without a president or parliament. Mr. Saleh may be gone, but authority has not yet been transferred to a transitional presidential council endorsed by the people.

Tawakkol Karman
All the ousted regimes, as well as the oppressive regimes that have hung on during the Arab Spring, have now blessed Egypt's coup... a blossoming democracy in Cairo can easily spread throughout the Arab world... Those who support freedom and democracy in the Middle East, however, should resist the new tyranny in Cairo with all their might.

Tawakkol Karman
Speaking of the report, I want to say that there are three key innovations of this report compared to the Millennium Development Goals. First, the call for civil and political rights combined with transparent and accountable public institutions as intrinsic to development. Second, the importance of ensuring peace and inclusive sustainable growth. And third, a need for urgent action to enhance the ability of women and youth, like you, to take part in the transformation of their societies.

Tawakkol Karman
The popular rallies at Rabaa al-Adawiya and other squares across Egypt will defeat despotism and terrorism in the long run. But in the meantime, any solution that fails to restore the public's confidence in the ballot box and falls short of alleviating the sense of victimhood in the Morsi camp will be doomed to failure.

Tawakkol Karman
African youth, just like other youth around the world can, for example, engage in the fight against corruption and hold officials accountable... Youth can also play an important role in engaging and educating their fellow and global citizens about the post-2015 global development agenda and ways to achieve our goals so that we can achieve the developments this time around to the greatest extent possible.

Tawakkol Karman