The Jasmine Revolution
An Open Letter from Global Intellectuals
The Jasmine revolution in Tunisia has offered much hope across the Arab world. We have seen young and hopeful demonstrators in Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, calling for much needed reform and democracy in their own countries.

We, the undersigned, offer our support in heart and mind to those courageous young demonstrators. Your aspirations and hopes are legitimate, and the Jasmine revolution has shown that it may be possible to achieve them. While we condemn the crackdown and violent repression of those demonstrations, we ask Western governments, especially EU members and the United States to respect the Arab world’s desire for change, and to halt their financial and military assistance to autocratic regimes in the region.

Signatories

Adam Michnik, former Polish dissident, Editor in Chief of Gazeta Wyborcza
David Held, Professor of Political Science at LSE
Ferenc Miszlivetz, Jean Monnet Professor, Corvinus University of Budapest
Gerardo Caetano, Professor of the University of the Republic, Uruguay
Hamid Dabashi, Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University
Inderjeet Parmar, Professor of Government at Manchester University
Jameson W. Doig, Professor Emeritus of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University
John Esposito, Professor of Religion and International Affairs at Georgetown University
John Sidel, Sir Patrick Gillam Professor of International and Comparative Politics at LSE
Kevin Morgan, Professor of Politics and Contemporary History at University of Manchester
Mary Kaldor, Professor of Global Governance at LSE
Noam Chomsky, Professor (Emeritus) of Linguistics at MIT
Rainer Baubock, Professor of Social and Political Theory, European University Institute
Richard Caplan, Professor of International Relations, Oxford University