Selmyya* … Peacefully
Joint Statement
considering the Egyptian Revolution
2 March 2011
On
25 Feb 2011, the leaders of the European Bureau for Conscientious
Objection (EBCO) and the No for Compulsory Military Service Movement
(Egypt) met in El-Tahrir square in Cairo, and stated the following:
1- The
European Bureau for Conscientious Objection congratulates the No for
Compulsory Military Service Movement in Egypt for its impressive
non-violent struggle to establish freedom and democracy.
2- The
European Bureau for Conscientious Objection declares solidarity with
the Egyptian revolution and the demands of the Egyptian people for
freedom and democracy.
3- We
salute the non-violent nature of the Egyptian revolution, and we hope
that non-violence becomes the tool of solving conflicts in Middle East.
Winning of the Egyptian revolution is a winning of the non-violent tools
used in this revolution.
4- We
mourn Egyptian demonstrators who lost their lives during the campaigns
calling for freedom in their country. We are sending our condolences to all of their families and friends.
5- We
condemn all violent actions by Egyptian police and military (including
killing, shooting, illegal arrest of activists, torturing … etc.) and we
call for immediate investigations about those incidents and punishment
of corrupted officers who participated in those actions.
6- We are still concerned about the continuity of the Egyptian revolution until founding a free democracy in Egypt.
7- We
are standing with activists demanding for the still unsolved demands of
the revolution (including a Civil State, abolishing of the State
Security Department and ending of the Emergency Status).
8- We
call for an immediate return of the military to their barracks, to
leave political life to civilians, and to stop standing against the
demands of the Egyptian people.
9- The
No for compulsory Military Service Movement is grateful to everyone all
over the world who acted in solidarity with the Egyptian Revolution; we
consider all of them participants in our revolution. But we want them
to know that our revolution hasn’t ended yet, and we still need your
actions (demonstrating and writing) until the demands of the Egyptian
people are achieved, and a true democracy is established in Egypt.
10- EBCO is concerned about
the safety of pacifist activists in Egypt, after the military arrested
twice, beat and sexually harassed Egyptian conscientious objector Maikel
Nabil Sanad. Egyptian authorities should guarantee that such actions
are not repeated and that those responsible are held accountable.
11- EBCO
supports closer cooperation between pacifists and conscientious
objectors in the Middle East leading to a youth exchange between its
countries for a better mutual understanding in order to contribute to a
peace process based on non-violence to abolish militarization in the
region.
12- We
declare solidarity with all the non-violent revolutions in Middle East.
We are standing with demonstrators in Libya, Tunisia, Bahrain, Yemen,
Iran, Algeria, Oman and Syria. We declare also special solidarity with
Libyan soldiers who refused to kill civilians. We call for the full
respect of the rights of conscientious objectors and refugees who flee
to other countries or internally displaced people who move to other
areas within their own country.
Maikel Nabil Sanad, Leader of the No for Compulsory Military Service Movement (Egypt), www.maikelnabil.com
Gerd Greune, President of the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO), www.ebco-beoc.eu
*
Selmyya is an Arabic word means “peacefully”. Egyptian demonstrators
were yelling with this word every day during the revolution.
