The people of Yemen will protect the values they have sacrificed for, and there is no way to return to dictatorship," said Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights activist Tawakkol Karman, stressing that what is happening in the Middle East today is a counter-revolution against anti-dictatorship peoples. 

This came in a speech at the 3-day conference “Thinking in 21st Century”, hosted by la Universidad Autónoma del Caribe in Barranquilla, northern Colombia. 

In the context of her talk about the role of women in the popular uprising in Yemen, stated that it was strange for many people to find woman leading protest demonstrations. 

She explained that the Yemeni youth were among leaders of the popular revolution in Yemen, which overthrew the rule of Ali Abdullah Saleh, pointing out that thousands of young people of the revolution are currently in prisons.

On the results of the Arab Spring, Mrs. Karman emphasized that it is too early to judge the outcome of the revolution. 

In response to a question about the number of years people need to end a dictatorship, Karman said, "By wanting to change governments, history is going on."

Karman noted that Bashar al-Assad is still in power because the international community was not serious enough to stop the war.

"All over the world we must unite to support each other against dictators," she concluded.