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“Forced evictions are a brutal practice and an outright abuse of power. It is impossible to understand the suffering of those who lose their homes or even a beloved partner or child to physical violence. This is why every time I meet women and men who tell me about how lives and dignity are taken - as if it was the natural course of life - I feel the urge to make their cause my cause. This is why I supported, for example, a group of landless peasants in Guatemala and organised letter campaigns in Europe. What made their prolonged land dispute much more complex was the fact that the landowner was part of the powerful president‘s family. My signature, along those of many others from all over the world, encouraged the peasants. At the same time the government of Guatemala, having received all these letters, felt the international scrutiny of those keeping a close eye on them. Eventually, the state gave in to the pressure. By now the peasant families are proud landowners and farmers. None of us can raise the dead, but every one of us can amplify the dignity and the strength of others who fight for what is their right.”