Raising a voice
I found how for me, the most important thing when getting involved in some specific activity, is to put in a bit of passion and to enjoy the process of helping others. It’s that inner drive to find things that can be fixed, and then try to fix them. A thing either you have it or not and from that point you can measure whether you belong there or simply, you don’t. Having said that , I’m happy having a position in this job when I have the right and liberty to encourage women to take control of their own life, push them to reach into their little inner voice of hope, consider better prospects because raising the voice is important. Unlike many other women activists or human rights defenders who even though having strong ambitions , motivations and thus concerned with change, they don’t have the tiniest possibility to talk , write or express their worries due to the attack of the concept of human rights, twisting it’s values.
The idea of the universality of human rights is promoted as equal treatment of all human beings and having those rights by the virtue of being human. But, the irony is that even though all of those conventions, declarations, treaties are adopted by the states, the people are being treated as animals. There is not much of humanity or dignity I suppose. I could hear about this with my own ears – people around the world striving to achieve what matters, reporting news without fear of reprisal but unfortunately, for the price of their own life.
At the Global Forum of Freedom of Expression this June dedicated for celebrating the freedom of expression I could hear many powerful stories about journalists being killed, forbidden to receive awards for their work, books and newspapers banned, radio stations closed … One of them I find really touching. A statement from the Ethiopian journalist Serkalem Fasil was read showing the political pressure of the state authorities . In 2005 she was writing articles critical of the Ethiopian government during the parliamentary elections and arrested afterwards for publishing them. If found guilty, she could be sentenced to death. At the same time when she was arrested she was already pregnant . Her partner was arrested as well, for writing articles in independent newspapers at the same time. Where she stayed during the pregnancy was described as dirty humid cell full with rats, cockroaches and fleas. Her health was seriously affected , but in June 2006 she gave birth into a police hospital to a baby boy. The baby was so weak, that needed immediate medical treatment in incubator . According to the irrational hospital procedures, a singed approval from a parent was needed for carrying the baby into an incubator. Since the other parent was jailed as well, there wasn’t any chance or possibility for helping the Serkalem’s baby boy, which means that the state condemned the baby to death . All of the sudden, as this statement was read, behind the speaker, on a wide screen a huge picture showed up – it was Serkalem smiling holding her boy, happy to have him alive.
Not everyone’s story has a happy ending. There are still lots of human rights defenders or activists that when gathering, transmitting disseminating and commenting information, suffer from the oppressive political regimes of those who have decision making power or power to make impact and pressure the media. They have mission to spread the opportunity of free speech without censorship, self-censorship or limitations, because they are not to serve as propaganda machines, but exist to make a change, because raising the voice is important.
