Kristof: These women confront dictators. Why can't we?
Feb. 19, 2021
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Women like Tawakkol Karman, center, a Yemeni woman who won the Nobel Peace Prize for her leadership during the Arab Spring, has charted a course the U.S. should follow.John McConnico /AP
Goons with clubs and machetes had established a makeshift checkpoint outside Tahrir Square in Cairo to beat pro-democracy protesters, and my heart sank when I saw the thugs intercept two frail women and menace them.
But the women, sisters named Minna and Amal, stood their ground that day during the Arab Spring a decade ago. I stepped forward to interview the women and also the thugs, who were holding straight razors and clubs with nails embedded; with violence oddly on pause for a joint interview, I asked Minna and Amal why they risked so much to seek political rights.