Tawakkol Karman

Tawakkol Abdel-Salam Karman (توكل عبد السلام خالد كرمان‎‎) is a human rights activist, politician, journalist, Nobel Peace Prize Winner, and the co-founder and leader of the group Women Journalists Without Chains. She quickly became known as the “Iron Woman” and “Mother of Yemen’s Revolution” after becoming the public face of the 2011 Yemeni uprising, which was a part of the Arab Spring uprisings. Later that year, at age 32, she received the Nobel Peace Prize alongside Leymah Gbowee and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. She is the first Yemeni, the second Muslim woman, and the first Arabic woman to receive the award. She was only the thirteenth woman to receive a Nobel Prize in the prior 110 years.

Armed with an undergrad in commerce, a graduate in political science, and an Honorary Doctorate in International Law, Karman continues to bring attention to issues like immigration, malnutrition, child marriage, government corruption, and sexism. She stopped wearing a niqab in 2004 in favour of a hijab to make the point that the full body covering is cultural and not dictated by the Islamic religion. She was also a vocal supporter of the Egyptian protests in 2012 and 2013 as well as an opponent of the Shia insurgency in Yemen and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, calling the two “threats to Yemen’s national sovereignty”.

After starting a news service in Yemen that was denied a license, she led protests and sit-ins for freedom of the press. These weekly protests which started in 2007 and continued through 2011 took place in Sana’a, the capital of Yemen. They focused not only on the freedom of press but also on the systematic repression and corruption of the government. These protests followed her all the way to New York in 2011 when she spoke with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and organized rallies at the UN headquarters in New York.

Karman has been imprisoned several times because of her bold protests. After being arrested in the middle of the night by plain clothed police officers during the 2011 Yemeni protests, The Guardian quoted Karman as saying: “After a week of protests I was detained by the security forces in the middle of the night. This was to become a defining moment in the Yemeni revolution: media outlets reported my detention and demonstrations erupted in most provinces of the country; they were organized by students, civil society activists and politicians. The pressure on the government was intense, and I was released after 36 hours in a women's prison, where I was kept in chains.” She was arrested again in March of the same year during more ongoing protests. According to Khaled al-Ansi, the general executive of the National Organization for Defending Rights and Freedoms who was once arrested at Karman's protest, Karman was arrested because she was “trying to transfer the Tunisian message to the Yemeni youth”.

Since winning the Peace prize, Tawakkol Karman continues to strive towards equality, travel around the world giving speeches, and give a voice to the Peace Movement. She has inspired countless women to pay attention and play a part in politics. She demonstrates nonviolent action in pursuit of justice and leads Women Journalists Without Chains.

“I am a citizen of the world. The Earth is my country, and humanity is my nation.” Tawakkol Karman, 2011

Gaby Faulkner is a first generation immigrant, photographer, activist, and proud founder of Nevertheless, We Persist.