One September, 30 organizations in Sweden have assembled to arrange a peaceful demonstration in protest against American administration policies. I participated in the demo representing The Yemeni Salon. I spoke on the policy of drones warfare, that de-humanize and de-individualize people. You can find the speech below in English and in Swedish.
In English:
“I was sitting with my friends there, and we were going to play football, when suddenly we were shaken by the sound of a violent explosion. I looked in front of me and saw a car burning. A missile had struck it. Shrapnel hit me in my foot, but I did not feel any pain, and I ran towards the house with blood flowing from my injury. I saw the car burning beside me and one of my friends lost consciousness. Someone came with a car and took us to the hospital.”*
This is a terrifying story by a 13 years-old boy from Yemen called Amin Ali Hassan Al-Wisabi,
Ali is one child of many other hundreds children that were targeted by American missile strikes.
Today we are here to say that our improvised country –Yemen is not the terrorism capital of the world. we are here to say that the only terrorism we see right now is the multiple US drones flying over innocents civilians,
Obama administration is running an assassination program. American war machine and he drones warfare is a blind machine that kills without any proof or fair trials.That kills and violates state sovereignty.
Everyone knows that Al-Qaeda was an American made enemy and now they are making their own enemy again. The America administration policy gives reasons for civilians to be radicalized and to be terrorists.
They don’t understand the simple equation: drones doesn't make anyone safer, and “when a U.S. drone missile kills a child in Yemen, the father will go to war with US and this has nothing to do with Al Qaeda,”
Dear Friends, As we gather here under to protest against the violations of US administration. We condemn mass murder in Yemen,
Pakistan, Somalia and Afghanistan. We hold the U.S administration and our dictator governments accountable for the loss of the civilian lives.
Dear brothers and sisters, we would like to remind you by Martin Luther King words "In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." we Yemenis are concerned that Sweden will also contribute to the development of the drone, which is a growing industry. We urge to be vigilant and examine your own government, we urge you to be watchdogs and to keep eyes on your representatives and to questions the talks and agreements behind closed doors… that are signed by your names”
På Svenska
Jag satt där med mina vänner. Vi skulle just spela fotboll. Då, plötsligt, kastades vi omkull av en våldsam explosion. Jag tittade upp och såg en bil som brann framför mig. En missil hade träffat den. Splitter hade träffat mig i foten, men jag kände ingen smärta. Jag sprang mot huset medan blodet forsade från mitt sår. En av mina vänner förlorade medvetandet. Någon kom med en bil och tog oss till sjukhuset.
Det ni just hörde var ett vittnesmål från en trettonårig pojke i Jemen som heter Ali Hassan Al-Wisabi.Ali är ett av många hundra barn som drabbats av amerianska drönarattacker. Idag har vi samlats här för att säga att ett litet fattigt land som heter Jemen inte är något centrum för terrorism. Vi har samlats här för att säga att terrorismens centrum ligger i Washington. Att den terrorism som vi ser nu är de amerikanska drönare som flyger över oskyldiga civila. Att den terrosism som vi ser utgörs av den amerikanska krigsmaskin som dödar bybor, gravida kvinnor, barn, och en och annan milisman som de påstår är med i Al Qaida.
Obamas administration leder ett mördarprogram. De amerikanska drönarna är en del i detta mördarprogram som dödar utan bevis eller rättegång. Det är ett mördarprogram som släcker människoliv och kränker staters suvernitet.
Alla vet att Al Qaida tidigare sponsrades av USA. Nu har amerikanernas gamla vän blivit deras värsta fiende. Samtidigt skapar Obamaadministrationen nya fiender. USA:s dödande av oskyldiga civila göder radikalism och terrorism. USA vägrar förstå att drönare inte gör någon säkrare, och att varje gång dessa drönare dödar ett barn i Jemen så kommer en jeminitisk pappa att ta till vapen mot USA. Men det har ingenting med Al Qaida att göra!
När vi nu samlas här under den svenska himlen så gör vi det utan amerikanska drönare ovanför våra huvuden. Vi fördömer massmorden i Jemen, Pakistan, Somalia och Afghanistan. Vi håller den amerikanska administrationen ansvarig för dödandet av civila.
Kära vänner, jag skulle vilja påminna er om Martin Luther Kings ord:
"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
Kära vänner, vi jeminiter är oroliga att Sverige ska bidra till produktionen av drönare som är en växande industri. Vi uppmanar er att vara vaksamma och grannska er egen regering. Vi uppmanar er att agera vakthundar och hålla inte bara ett utan två ögon på era folkvalda representanter och att ifrågasätta de diskussioner och avtal som fattas bakom stängda dörrar.... I ert namn.
Tack!
Mai Yacoub Kaloti has been a reporter with Al–Quds newspaper
for almost a year. The 25-year-old Palestinian says she chose her
field “to open up minds and reveal the truth about what’s happeningâ€
in her part of the world. Kaloti chose the print journalism field
despite her father’s wish for her to be an accountant. Now she proudly
signs her “full name†to every story and says that he is just as
proud of her bylines. When people tell her women shouldn’t work in war
zones, she says it’s her job and that she intends to do it right.
“Women in the Middle East are just like all women on earth: they
deserve respect, love, and care. They work in different fields, defend
their country with pen and weapon, raise children with a sense of
responsibility and good manners.â€
30-year
old Mozn Hassan is the Founder and a member of the Board of Directors
for Nazra for Feminist Studies in Cairo, Egypt. While most of her time
is spent partnering with local and international organizations in
promoting women’s rights, she also answers “nonstop questions from
neighbors, colleagues and even the guard of [her] building†about why
she is unmarried, why she travels abroad alone, and why she chooses to
live in an apartment with her sister rather than her parents. “As an
Egyptian feminist I see customs and culture here which govern the
mentality of Egyptians. The hardest obstacle we face is that most
Egyptian men are occupied by patriarchal ideas.†Still, she fights on.
“I think this field is one of the most sensitive and important issues
that must be tackled openly and critically in my country. The issues of
women’s rights opens lots of discussion on all of society’s
problems, and in my opinion it is impossible to reform our society
without tackling gender issues.â€
Muna
Samawi is a 25-year-old Program Officer working for the Freedom House
organization in Amman, Jordan. After earning a Bachelor’s degree at 
Marianne
Nagui Hanna is a producer at a large news support corporation in Egypt.
The 29-year-old describes herself as a “news junkie†who works 14
hours a day in this field she loves. She says her work environment is
multicultural and multinational, but that managers tend to assign field
missions to men, and has been told “it wouldn’t be cost-effective
sending one woman with a team of men, being that she’d need a room to
herself instead of sharing.†She takes it in stride and says she
wishes the world knew that women in the Middle East “can actually
achieve things. We are not all backward housewives from the Middle Ages.
We do live in the Middle East in very tough circumstances, in a culture
that doesn’t hold much respect to women and considers them second-class
citizens, yet we are able to successfully work and gain respect. We
don’t ride camels, we don’t live in tents .. and for sure, the harem is
no more.†In her bit of spare time, Hanna maintains her blog 
22-year
Hana Al-Khamri is a Yemeni woman from Saudi Arabia living in Denmark to
study journalism. Her passion has pushed her to study in another
country, due to laws and social pressure. “It is illegal for women to
study journalism,†she says of her choice to leave Saudi Arabia.
“Second there is a huge social pressure to marry and quit working.
Third, I often faced hostility (writing for the ‘women’s section’
of the paper there), especially from older conservative men. I have been
refused entry to press conferences only because of my gender. Fourth, I
am dependent on men for transportation since I am not allowed to drive a
car. And finally, media in Saudi Arabia is under strict government
control and censorship, and when you are as open-minded and openmouthed
as I am, you are bound to get in trouble.†In her opinion, it is
tradition, not religion, that oppresses women in the Middle East, and
though her career choice is one not supported by her government, she
calls her path in line with God’s will. “My faith is a liberator,
not oppressor. I can change my community through my pen,†she says.
Shawna
Kenney is an author, freelance journalist and creative writing
instructor. Her essays appear in numerous anthologies while her articles
and photography have been featured in the Florida Review, Juxtapoz,
Swindle Magazine, Veg News, the Indy Star, Transworld Skateboarding, and
Alternative Press, among others. She also serves as the Language Editor
of