November 2019
Just as I planned my visit, another round of protests sparked in the Middle East: Anti-government protests resurfaced in Algeria. Critical voices by Egypt’s youth against the government were suffocated in September in a fierce clampdown with thousands detained. In October, young people in Iraq and Lebanon took to the streets calling for political reforms and an end of corruption.
We in Europe have learned a lot from the EU: intercultural understanding, respect and freedom. It is precisely these values that make our peace and that we should carry into the world. Far too often, however, we export arms or military equipment.
In Egypt there are mass detentions of protesters. European spy software is probably involved. Yet there is no ban on exports. In Iraq, demonstrators are being shot at with live ammunition. Looking ahead to further protests in Lebanon and Algeria, it is evident that we are facing an Arab Spring 2.0. And the next few months will be decisive as to whether the protests will lead to more freedom and democracy this time. So far, EU member states and the international community have been alarmingly quiet about the demonstrations. In Parliament, however, we have fought for clear resolutions - sometimes with success. This also applies to a resolution which strongly denounces the Turkish invasion of Syria and calls for clear sanctions.
When I was in eighth grade, my German teacher asked me to choose a poem that meant a lot to me. After giving it much thought, I picked out this one sentence by Andreas Tenzer. It was 1999, exactly 10 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Today, 20 years later, we are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the fall of the wall.
A day before I arrived in Iraq, the Lebanese Prime Minster had resigned following weeks of protests. While people in Lebanon were celebrating in the streets, Iraqi security forces continued to kill people in the streets of Baghdad and elsewhere. Over the past month more than 250 of the largely peaceful protesters have died. Here is one of the few English articles about the protest.
