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Amnesty UK Alienates Kurdish Protesters
During Rally
13.2.2012
Kurdish Rights
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February 13, 2012
LONDON,— Amnesty UK organised an Arab
spring solidarity rally on Saturday the 11 of
February. As stated on their website, they are a
campaigning organisation for justice, fairness and
freedom but, unfortunately as the event unfolded
Kurdish people were alienated, marginalised and
intimidated by protesters. The rally, although it
was supposed to be for Arab and African uprisings
did not have diverse speakers from post-revolution
countries such as Yemen.
Kurdish activists and organizations were not invited
to speak. Amnesty UK rally failed to highlight the
plight of Kurdish Syrians who have suffered racism
and state sanctioned discrimination by the Syrian
regime. Despite this, the Kurdish Syrians who were
among the audience wanted the Kurdish flag on the
stage, alongside the Syrian flag to highlight
Syria’s diverse multi-cultural society, but were
prohibited. One Kurdish protester spoke to the
managing campaigner, complaining that they were not
represented and that it was ‘racist’. Kristyan
Benedict from Amnesty International responded by
calling security to which the Kurdish protesters
responded with “There is no difference between the
Saddam Hussein regime, Assad regime, and this
organisation which censors Kurdish people from
highlighting their grievances” as Benedict walked
away.
Kurdish protesters left the rally early because they
felt alienated and intimidated by the lack of
acceptance within the Syrian community in Diaspora.
In a short interview with Fazel Hawramy, the founder
of Kurdish Blogger, he said, “Kurds are an important
part of the Syrian society and the future of a
peaceful Syria depends on their participation.
Sidelining the Kurds won’t work and it is wrong.
Amnesty International has been an important voice in
defending the rights of the Kurds for many decades.
The organization should make sure that the Kurds are
represented in events such as this.”
Among those who attended the rally was Maryam Al
Khawaja, Head of the Foreign Relations Office
Bahrain Center for Human Rights, she was heckled
during her speech and forced to digress when some
Syrian protesters chanted “No to Iran, No to
Hezbollah”. She told me, “The regime governments
want people to think the uprising in Bahrain is Shia
against Sunni,www.ekurd.net
and the Syrian uprising is Sunni against Shia. This
is the regime narrative, and we should not accept
it”. She clarified that many of her friends were
Syrians, who supported the Bahrain uprising, and
that she had no ill feelings towards the Syrian
protesters because of the actions of some hecklers.
In response to the allegations that Iran is funding
Bahraini protesters, she simply said, “The
government conducted a report, which they paid for,
and found out that the Bahraini revolution has
nothing to do with Iran. The Bahraini people don’t
want any foreign intervention. The people in Bahrain
are calling it a non-religious uprising”. Maryam
explained the Bahraini government has consistently
failed to provide evidence linking the protesters to
Iran, and therefore the verbal assault by Syrian
protesters at Trafalgar Square was misguided.
Amnesty UK did not just deprive Kurdish activists
from having a platform at Trafalgar Square, but
there were no Yemeni representatives present. In a
short interview with Maryam Al-Kathiri, a student at
SOAS said, “The event was misleading in its title
because it only highlighted the injustices in Syria
and Egypt” and she felt that Amnesty UK neglected
the Yemeni uprising.
We hope future events organised by Amnesty UK, which
is an internationally acknowledged organisation
represents all ethnic groups without bias or
prejudice.
By Ruwayda Mustafah Rabar
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