On Wednesday October 18, Il Grande Colibrì, with Coordinamento Arcobaleno, took to the streets to denounce the Egyptian authorities’ policies of persecution against sexual minorities and the sales of Italian arms to the North African country. Speakers included Mauro Pirovano and Leonardo Meda from Coordinamento, Ileana Minoia from Agedo, our volunteer Amani Zreba and our president Pier Cesare Notaro, whose speech is reported here below.
In an appeal by Egyptian activists [Facebook], the word “us” means both those persecuted in Egypt and those of us who witness this persecution from abroad, apparently far away. It is with this idea of “us” that we are protesting today. Today we reclaim our minds and bodies that have been oppressed, tortured and destroyed in Egypt. It is with this awareness that today we demand accountability, launch our accusations and make our charges in person. We are here today in Milan and Rome, as well as in Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, the UK, South Korea, the United States and other places, to bring these three charges.
Egyptian Authorities
The first charge is against you, Mr. Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi, president of the Arab Republic of Egypt, against your government and against the gang of military officials and businesspeople around you. We condemn the arrest of at least 60 people suspected of being gay, trans, lesbian or bisexual in the latest wave of arrests triggered by the simple sighting of a rainbow flag – a symbol of the sexual liberation movement – during a concert.
We condemn the fact that, after being arrested, some of us went through episodes of violence in jail and were forced to undergo anal tests – painful and degrading procedures that medical organizations do not hesitate to call torture [Reuters]. We condemn the fact that some of us disappeared after our arrest and have not been heard from since.
We condemn the fact that just last Saturday four more of us were sentenced to three years imprisonment simply for being presumed to be gay [Egypt Independent].
We condemn the fact that we have been arrested, tortured and made to disappear even though homosexuality is not a crime in the Egyptian penal code. We condemn our skin being used to violate Egyptian laws, the Egyptian constitution and international conventions that Egypt has signed, in addition to the most basic of human rights, democratic principles and basic values of humanity, respect and freedom.
We condemn the fact that these arrests, torture and disappearances are just the latest in a series that is far too long. Since you have been in power, Mr. Al-Sisi, there have been at least 550 of us arrested [The Washington Post] for the suspicion of having a gender identity or sexual orientation of which you and your hypocritical and repressive regime do not approve.
We condemn your use of our bodies, which do not conform to your prejudice, and thus are marginalized and stigmatized, as weapons of mass distraction to cover up your grave abuses of human rights and democratic principles. You are using us to cover up your regime’s political and economic failures, as well as your complete abandonment of the poorest social classes, the urban proletariat and those in the Egyptian countryside.
We condemn how you use the excuse of terrorism to terrorize your own people; the excuse of fighting ignorance to promote ignorant and repressive policies; and the excuse of fighting so-called “illegal” migration to make your country a place people what to escape from, while at least 60,000 political prisoners languish in your prisons.
Egyptian Media
The second charge is against most of the Egyptian media, both public and private. We condemn the television broadcasters, radio stations, newspapers and so-called news websites that demonstrate embarrassing servility and become tools of ignorance, prejudice and lies, rather than purveyors of knowledge and truth.
We condemn your unconditional support of the persecution of sexual minorities in Egypt as a tool to divert public attention from the abuses you continue to help hide. We condemn how you not only lack the ability to resist powerful pressure and defend your own dignity and professionalism, as some of your colleagues have done, but you also do not have the decency to remain silent. We condemn how you race to show yourselves the most servile of servants to your masters and how not only do you not resist and not remain silent, but how you have stirred up public sentiment against us.
We condemn your ignoble TV shows and your indecent articles used to spout ignorance and hate against us, as you discuss whether you should define trans and gay people as perverts, Satan worshipers or spreaders of sexually transmitted diseases [Mada Masr]. We condemn the fact that you aim to reduce Egypt – a cradle of civilization for thousands of years, a land of high culture in the Mediterranean area and a beacon of progress in the Arab world – to nothing but a den of scared and ignorant masses.
We condemn your vile editorials in which you claim that the fight for the rights of lesbian, gay, trans and bisexual people, like the fight for the rights of women, is more dangerous than terrorism, more dangerous than the ideology and actions of Daesh [organization also known as ISIS].
And we denounce the fact that on this last point you are actually correct. It will not be terrorism that endangers your privilege and your masters’ power because terrorism is based on and prospers off the same hate, ignorance, prejudice and misery upon which you base yourselves and upon which you prosper. We say that the day will come when there will be bread and roses for all, the day will come when you will be defeated. We are a first sign of this, a promise of what is to come and that is why we scare you.
Italian Authorities
The third charge is against the Italian government, the Italian Parliament and the entire Italian financial, economic and political system. We condemn your disinterest amid increasingly grave violations of human rights, and even more so, your own invested silence.
We denounce the gratifying agreements in terms of foreign policy, military matters, migration and security that bring you to legitimize characters like Al-Sisi and even call them “great leaders”. We condemn the business dealings of companies controlled by the Italian government that bring riches and power to anti-democratic leaders and who invest in projects that only bring more oppression, exploitation, poverty and social and environmental devastation to the people.
We condemn the fact that you arm those who persecute us, those who want us physically, psychologically and morally destroyed. We condemn the fact that you continue to sell literally tons of arms and munitions to the Egyptian regime, despite various resolutions from the European Parliament and numerous reports by human rights organizations that have clarified how these arms and munitions are used for internal repression. We condemn that the sales of arms and weapons to Egypt has not stopped, and has actually increased, even during the presumed diplomatic crisis following the barbarous killing of Giulio Regeni [L’Espresso].
We condemn you as accomplices and business partners with those who oppress, persecute, torture, violate and kill us in Egypt and other places. We know that the weapons in their hands are yours and we know that your hands are now full of money tainted with our blood. For how much longer will you contribute to our arrest, humiliation and pain, to the abuse of our bodies and to our deaths in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and many other places, as you continue to ask for our votes in Italy?
These are the three charges we wage today against both Egypt and Italy. We bring them out in the streets today and we will continue to bring them forward from today onwards.
Pier
translation by Peter Luntz
©2017 Il Grande Colibrì
