My co-commentary in @trtworld's @The_Newsmakers yesterday: Will South Yemen secessionists succeed in Yemen?
Showing posts with label War in Yemen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label War in Yemen. Show all posts
Friday, 2 February 2018
Will South Yemen secessionists succeed in Yemen?
My co-commentary in @trtworld's @The_Newsmakers yesterday: Will South Yemen secessionists succeed in Yemen?
Thursday, 1 February 2018
Ten People to Follow in Aden
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| (c) Amr Gamal, Aden. |
Aden has been witnessing dramatic events over the past few days with the situation changing by the hour. Yemen has always been a complicated story. For me, Yemen is only a complicated story because to a large extent media outlets, regionally and internationally, exert no effort to include reliable and relevant Yemeni voices in their reports. Social media is to be thanked for opening a new channel and for providing the space for Yemeni voices to narrate what's happening on the ground from their own local perspective.
A few years ago, I developed a list of Top 20 people to follow in Yemen. Things have since changed. Tweeps come and go. Some deactivate. Some change careers. Some remain active and constantly improve. But as all eyes are on Aden these days, we need a new special list on Aden coverage. The following accounts will bring Aden closer to you, as they have done for me.
There is no specific standard for coming up with this list - except that the people behind these accounts reside in Aden at the moment, bringing a meaningful take on events there.
So, here we go!
While working as an accountant, he blogs and tweets regularly during his free time. He only writes in Arabic and sometimes curses, which adds some color to his tweets.
His political stance is pro-Hirak but he's never that extremist or aggressive in expressing his political opinions.
Fathi's political affiliation has not been clear or consistent over the years but that's totally understood given the great pressure and control he works under in Aden, as press freedom is almost zero. Fathi has received death threats several times, according to him unapologetically writing about them on twitter and facebook.
Ever since I've been following Nisma's tweets that I find to be insightful and speak loads about the human side of political developments.
Her blog also reveals aspects of Aden that we don't usually hear about in the mainstream media. Nisma blogs and tweets in English but, sadly, she's not as active as one would like her to be. But we can also find her on Facebook.
Saleh is a photojournalist working with different media outlets. I have never conversed with him, so my comments here are only based on my observations. I've been following Saleh for a couple of years and I admire his passion for documenting how the Hirak's protests and events in Aden are developing.
His tweets and facebook posts are mainly visual; videos and photos - but it's clear he's deeply involved with the Hirak movement. He has been on the front lines of the battlefield taking telling photos which earned him serious injuries last year. After being hospitalized both in Aden and then in UAE, he recovered well and continues to work with his camera.
Huda is a hard-core human rights defender. I admire Huda so much that I wrote a long feature on her work, which you can read here on Middle East Eye. Huda tweets in Arabic and she focuses mainly on human rights issues in the city.
I admire her impartiality, despite the very polarized environment she works in. You can find her on Facebook here.
Working as Radio Monte Carlo's Yemen correspondent, Nashwan's tweets are mainly about Aden news. His timeline shows reliable updates on developments on the ground. He often publishes posts on Facebook, reflecting on major events.
7. Amr Gamal @_AmrGamal
Playwright and photographer, Amr Gamal could tweet about anything outside of politics. Despite how Aden is saturated by politics, Amr has managed to keep himself focused on the Arts, Theater, Cinema and Photography.
His work archive has few plays written and directed by him for both local and international audiences in Yemen and Germany. I am lucky to call him a friend. Make sure to check his Facebook updates too.
An engineering student who finds photography a hobby and a means of expressing his political opinions. Ahmed's camera is always with him as he participates in every protest and political event for the Hirak movement in Aden.
He captures beautiful photos and I've always used his photos on my blog ever since I discovered him through Amr Gamal's suggestions to me. He's not super active on Twitter but he is definitely so on Facebook.
Mazen vlogs from Aden. Yes, that's right. He vlogs on social and cultural topics. His videos are interesting, funny and super local - meaning he's so chilled and not changing his Yemeni accent so "the other" could understand him.
Mazen vlogs from Aden. Yes, that's right. He vlogs on social and cultural topics. His videos are interesting, funny and super local - meaning he's so chilled and not changing his Yemeni accent so "the other" could understand him.
I love his simplicity and non-pretentious writing. His channel is in Arabic and you can find it here.
Ahmed is a poet, I assume, but he's definitely a photographer capturing moments in Aden that your TV or newspaper won't show you. He has a unique style and his photos are about small details in Aden. Sadly, he's not active on Facebook or Twitter but he is active on Instagram.
Thursday, 18 January 2018
Despite Yemen War Devastation Toll for Children, a Yemeni Man Organises First Ever TED Talk for Kids
This piece was published on Aug. 2017 on my HuffPost blog. And as I received an email today that HuffPost blogs seem to shut down soon, I am reposting the article here on my blog to archive it.
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| Ahmed Sayaghi, leader of coming TedxKids@Sanaa, “I hope we can learn from our children speakers’ stories the lust for life and resilience.” |
It is not like I am ignoring the devastation of the war but it’s exactly because of the war we had to organise Yemen’s first ever TEDxKids@Sanaa conference. It’s important to amplify children’s stories and reflect on children’s innocence in the intense political polarisation in Yemen. In light of the war, I think children have a magical influence on grown-ups who are often with rigid points of views, boxing others in. These kids will voice out stronger messages for peace.
The idea came to my mind last year and I applied to get the license from TED Global and we had it. Then, I was so lucky to find a team of young men and ladies - who are as young as just newly-graduated from high school or just recently entered university - who are helping in organising the event. This team is doing marvellous work, despite all the hardships.
We are in the process of preparation and organisation. Against all the odds, we aim to officially conduct the event in the Universal Children’s Day coming November. At the beginning, it was not easy to find sponsorship. We were covering expenses from our own pockets until we eventually found sponsors who believed in our cause and were willing to support us. However, I would say that the main challenge we faced was the widening political polarisation I mentioned earlier. Given the failed state we are in, any activist is at risk in doing his/her activism. We are often harassed and interrogated: who is funding you? What is your agenda? We are told, “this is time of war and not time for you to invade our kids’ minds with western values. Kids should learn Jihad and not to speak at Ted talks.” The team has gone through lots of intimidation because we don’t have any political and influential party to rely on, as we aim to be nonpartisan. Still, we are determined to hold the event.
This is not my first participation in co-organising a Ted Talk in Yemen. I was also part of the team which organised TEDXSanaa in 2012, 2013 and 2014, as a volunteer or/and in charge of the fundraising and selection of speakers. Even though I work as a pharmacist, I’ve developed a great interest in social activism right after Yemen’s 2011 uprising. I was attracted to Ted Talks in Yemen because I wanted to establish events in Yemen with international standards.
For me, TedxKids is a continuation of the previous Ted Talks we had, but with a greater dose of resilience. The event goes with a theme and hashtag #صغار_كبار (Young but Mature) and we have three subcategories of the speakers’ presentations. A) Kids’ educational aspirations; like how they aspire to become pilots, doctors, etc. B) Kids’ untold talents; like singers, dancers, painters, etc, C) Kids’ stories of survival after being under the rubble - and this is the most heartbreaking but moving talks. The team is also keen to have inclusiveness in the type of children speakers. So; for instance, you will hear in TedxKids from kids from the internally displaced community in Yemen and from Yemen’s marginalized society (Muhamashin) too.
For me, TedxKids is a continuation of the previous Ted Talks we had, but with a greater dose of resilience. The event goes with a theme and hashtag #صغار_كبار (Young but Mature) and we have three subcategories of the speakers’ presentations. A) Kids’ educational aspirations; like how they aspire to become pilots, doctors, etc. B) Kids’ untold talents; like singers, dancers, painters, etc, C) Kids’ stories of survival after being under the rubble - and this is the most heartbreaking but moving talks. The team is also keen to have inclusiveness in the type of children speakers. So; for instance, you will hear in TedxKids from kids from the internally displaced community in Yemen and from Yemen’s marginalized society (Muhamashin) too.
Until the official event happens, last month, we had our inaugural event titled, “The Ambassadors” in which we wanted the attending children to understand how they were the ambassadors of Yemen’s future. It was the phase when our team met with more than 500 applicants children and we are in the process of selecting the final list of speakers. We were fascinated to have about 1,700 audience attending that day. I’ve been pondering on, given the despair, suffering and pain we are going through in Yemen, I hope we can learn from our children speakers’ stories the lust for life and resilience.
Wednesday, 17 January 2018
Hisham is free, but Yemen's 'disappeared' crisis continues
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| A Yemeni protester calls for the release of detainees held in a Sanaa prison [AFP]. |
The words of Martin Luther King, "Free, at last," come into their own, as one Yemen's top social media activists, Hisham al-Omeisy, 38, walks free from a Houthi jail in Sanaa, after five month's detention.
The Houthis did not officially charge him, or allow him access to a lawyer or to his family. His arrest, however, was likely linked to his job at the US embassy in Sanaa. Hisham's case was so sensitive, that we - his friends - couldn't and still can't reveal much of our conversations with his family in Sanaa, without risking their safety.
Hisham doesn't need an introduction.
If you are on Twitter and following news on Yemen, you almost certainly follow Hisham.
Hisham's case attracted widespread attention from human rights groups, and local and international media, because of the significance of his online activism. He has been one of the few top English-speaking commentators inside the country providing almost daily updates on events in Sanaa for his followers and the #Yemen Twitter audience.
As war-torn Yemen faces a dearth of happy news, the Yemen Twitter community celebrated photos this week of Hisham hugging his children for the first time since his detention in August.
— Ahmad Algohbary (@AhmadAlgohbary) January 15, 2018
But as we celebrate Hisham's release, it must also serve as a reminder of Yemen's "disappeared crisis"; the thousands of forcibly disappeared young men across the country, who don't enjoy Hisham's high media profile, and whose names and faces we don't hear about.
With some 12,000 arrests and more than 3,000 men forcibly disappeared, mothers, sisters and daughters of these abducted men began showing up in front of the central prison or police stations across major Yemeni cities, searching for their kidnapped sons, fathers, brothers and other male relatives. They started to organise and formed a collective named, "Mothers of Abductees Association".
The Association works as a pressure-group, raising awareness of the missing men, and advocating for their release.
The collective's spokesperson told me in a phone interview that many young men are forcibly disappeared for their political activities, and some for no reason at all.
In many cases, the mothers have no information or access to their imprisoned relatives - only if they are lucky they might receive some information. The imprisoned young men are held in terrible conditions and exposed to severe torture.
Dozens have been killed under torture, or have to endure a lasting disability from their wounds. Some parents even risk assault if they question Houthi authorities. In this incident, a young forcibly disappeared man's father was assaulted and beaten to death in front of the prison when he went searching for his son.
Journalists face disappearance because of their work, as affirmed by the recently freed Yousef Al-Ajlan who was released from a Houthis prison in Sanaa after a year-long detention.
The Committee to Protect Journalists notes that, "if the Houthis were considered a governing authority, Yemen would have the fifth highest number of journalists in jail in the world".
As the Houthis took over the capital, Sanaa in September 2014, and started a crackdown the press, Yousef wanted to avoid trouble, so he quit journalism and took a taxi driver job instead.
Still, in October 2016, armed men kidnapped Yousef as he was in his taxi in front of his house. During his detention, he was severely tortured and threatened with rape, and barred from seeing his family for months.
During this time, Yousef was transferred to several prisons and saw dozens of other detained journalists, accused of the same charges; "working for the enemy (Saudi Arabia) as a journalist". After a year, Yousef was finally freed in November, thanks to a prisoners of war exchange deal between Houthi and anti-Houthi tribes.
The death of Ali Abdullah Saleh and the semi-collapse of his political party, the General Public Congress (GPC) have allowed the Houthis to target many of Saleh's supporters.
My family and friends in Sanaa told me of men being dragged out of cars or public transport at checkpoints, and being interrogated about links to the GPC. Later, they are detained and then vanish. The local press reports Houthi executions and the assassination of Saleh's loyalists.
In Aden, the disappearances crisis is no different from in Sanaa. Mothers and daughters of kidnapped men regularly hold sit-in demonstrations calling for information about their relatives' whereabouts and release.
Hisham's case typifies Yemen's disappearance crisis.
But amid the unspeakable human suffering in Yemen, the disappearances crisis lacks attention, let alone an effective investigation. Locally, the climate of fear is on the rise and international human rights groups lack constant and full access to Yemen.
Nonetheless, increased pressure and domestic and international condemnation are needed until all of Yemen's disappeared people are found, and freed.
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*This article was originally written for and published in The New Arab, today.
Monday, 15 January 2018
My Turned Down Article by a Major American Newspaper, On Yemen's Civil Society
Days after my attendance at the Committee to Protect Journalists' Awards Ceremony in November, I received an email from a major American newspaper -whose name I prefer not to reveal-, asking me to write a column in which I would reflect on receiving my award, my trip and meetings in the US. I gladly accepted their request. So, we discussed the theme of the column in an email or two; then, we agreed to it. So, I would begin writing and I would finish and send the article to them right away. I waited for few days with no reply. So, I sent a reminder email. Then, I was told very politely that my piece wouldn't be published.
I was very disappointed. I wanted to know why, but I was so busy in that week and the following weeks as I was in a transition, locating myself from Sweden to Egypt, and I never asked them why. Now that my days seem less hectic, I thought about the article last night and how it'd be useless to ask the newspaper for the reasons of why my article was turned down. However, I thought, "I could publish the article as it was, on my blog, anyhow, right?"
So, voila!
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My award acceptance speech in November at the International Free Press Award ceremony in New York was one of the most difficult writings I have ever done. I didn’t know how it was even possible to summarize the massive atrocities committed in my country, Yemen, in a three-minute-long speech.
Understanding the gravity of these atrocities, the New York-based organization, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in fact decided to choose Yemen of all the countries in the turbulent Arab region this year to put a spotlight on the forgotten war in the country and the risks Yemeni journalists bear while reporting. Because three-minute-long speech was obviously not enough, CPJ arranged for me a two-week advocacy tour, one week in D.C. and another week in New York.
As I had meetings with policy advisor Christine Lawson at the Department of State, Senator Chris Murphy, other Senate staff, media and human rights organizations, I was thinking of how the Travel Ban (which I managed to defeat after being rejected for the US visa entry twice) could have barred me from actualizing this opportunity. If it wasn’t for the relentless support I had from CPJ, I would not have been able to have one-on-one meetings with these influential people and discuss the U.S. disastrous foreign policies in Yemen.
During our meeting, going beyond the Saudi-Iran-proxy-war-in-Yemen questions, Sen. Murphy’s first question to me was, “how is life like for your family in Yemen, Afrah?” For a moment I forgot that I was in the presence of a politician, but rather a friend. “Every time I call my mother in Sana’a, she’s busy going to a funeral or coming back from a funeral of relatives and friends,” I replied, “in fact, yesterday, she messaged me, ‘all entries to Yemen are closed. We will die, we will die.’”
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| Nov. - 2017 - Meeting Sen. Murphy at his office in DC, with CPJ's team. |
I woke up, reading a message from my family in Sana'a, "All entries to Yemen are closed. We will die, we will die." #OpenAccessToYemen #افتحوا_منافذ_اليمن— Afrah Nasser (@Afrahnasser) November 6, 2017
A couple of days before I met Sen. Murphy, the Saudi-led coalition announced closing all entry points to Yemen, in retaliation to a Houthi-fired missile hitting close to Riyadh airport –what Riyadh claims to be an Iranian-made missile and; thus, with the total blockade it aimed to stop arms transfers from Iran to the Houthis. Not long after my meeting with Sen. Murphy, I found out that he had made a strong testimony, condemning the Saudi-led coalition’s total blockade. I hope that my meeting with him and the Yemen suffering he heard about had something to do with his testimony.
Even though I am an independent Yemeni voice, I consider myself part of the collective Yemeni civil society that emerged in the wake of Yemen’s 2011 uprising – not the traditional organizationed civil society, but rather the space in which young people met, interacted, and voiced their grievances and demands. We are perhaps an extension of Yemen’s historic civil society, but we are certainly an untitled Yemeni political component which was tired of an old, undemocratic and corrupt regime whose energy sparked an uprising against the 30-year old rule of Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2011.
As heartbreaking photos of skeletal malnutritioned Yemeni kids and child soldiers fill news media outlets, it’s a reminder that about half of Yemen’s 28 million population are children, teenagers and young adults. That also means that 2011’s protesters who impressed the world with their peaceful movement and who first had taken to the streets, (including myself,) from Sana’a, to Taiz, to Hudaydah and other cities were mostly of young men and women.
While my generation was trying to make the impossible possible, the U.S. administration, along with the United Nations and Gulf Cooperation Council rushed to contain the youth uprising and disrupted what was naturally occurring on the ground replacing it with a power transfer deal. The U.S., in particular, failed to recognize Yemeni youth’s political aspirations and became trapped in what regional powers dictated and wanted to see in Yemen. During the ensuing years, the U.S. continued to approach Yemen through the eyes of Saudi-Iran rivalry geopolitics and dismissed the potential in the emerging alternative Yemeni civil society leadership.
Nonetheless, Yemen’s civil society of individuals and groups continued to be engaged. While I have always been passionate about documenting Yemeni stories, my fellows at Sana’a Center care about policy-analysis, Resonate Yemen focuses on youth’s civic empowerment, the Mwatana organization sets issues of human rights and justice as its priority, Basement organization promotes cultural empowerment and the list goes on.
Even though CPJ chose me as a face representing the struggle facing independent Yemeni journalists, I believe I am one drop in the ocean of the many stories of my Yemeni generation’s struggle and thirst for democracy, social justice and freedom of expression –which in many ways echo American values.
The value of Yemen’s civil society affirms itself as it was one of the key spaces in which people organized and mobilised each other to express Yemen’s 2011 uprising. Had I not joined this platform in 2011 and taken the action which I couldn’t find in Yemen’s political and tribal system, I wouldn’t have had the guts to find my voice. While I appreciate CPJ’s recognition, it’s crucial the U.S. recognizes the political agency among Yemen’s civil society and the constructive role they can play, importantly, in any potential peace process and post-war Yemen.
Current policies; such as, imposing a Travel Ban preventing voices from addressing the American political leadership and offering a blank cheque to the Saudi-led coalition in its war in Yemen would not get us anywhere except towards more destruction and instability in the region, which derails the war on terror. Yemen’s vibrant civil society, still persisting against all the odds. It’s never too late for the U.S. to support the rainbow in the midst of a storm, the Yemeni civil society.
Tuesday, 8 November 2016
Sweden Has A Role In Yemenis’ Suffering And Must Suspend Its Weapon Sales To Saudi
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| Swedish Prime Minister, Stefan Löfven met Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Nizar bin Obaid Madani in Riyadh, Saudi. October 2016. Photo courtesy: Aftonbladet. |
*Swedish media tends to criticize the Swedish-Saudi relation denouncing Sweden’s desire to be an ally to Saudi and pointing out that it is a dictatorship that lacks any free political life and a country that commits massive human rights violations. But it is time to update that perspective: Saudis’ record in human rights violations have exceeded its borders.
Swedes must also condemn Saudi’s war crimes record in Yemen; this most importantly entails Swedes questioning Sweden-made weapon sold to Saudi used in possible war crimes.
Top Swedish arms dealer Marcus Wallenberg "accompanies" Swedish PM Löfven to Saudi this weekend despite revelations that Saudi armed ISIS.— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) October 21, 2016
In parallel, calls for countries to stop selling weapons to Saudi are raised. The calls include Sweden who had little or nothing to state in condemning the atrocities in Yemen. I became well-aware of Sweden’s indifference when Sana’a funeral attack happened in which 140 people were killed and over 500 were injured by a double-tap airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition earlier this month. Sweden’s foreign minister, Margot Wallström showed no condemnation statement, whatsoever, while she usually rushes to condemn terrorist attacks elsewhere. Seemingly, Sweden’s silence over the Saudis’ war in Yemen is relevant to Sweden’s arms sales to the kingdom.
Last year, Sweden had a strong stance against Saudi over its terrible human rights violations record, then why the silence today? What has changed now? Why the silence over Saudi’s role in the suffering in Yemen? Sweden’s revival of the Saudi-Swedish ties comes as a step into Swedish preparation for its seat on the UN Security Council in the beginning of next year and with that Sweden seems to be willing to compromise & ally itself with the Saudis. Sweden had to re-establish its good relation to the Saudis and gain Saudis’ support in the council.
In that seat, Sweden actually is becoming increasingly relevant to peace in Yemen - it must honor the international laws and exert efforts to ensure peace; which both Saudi is violating in the war in Yemen. However, Sweden’s indifference over the potential use of its weapons in causing the suffering in Yemen undermines Sweden’s future role in ensuring peace. If Sweden doesn’t condemn Saudi war crimes now, then when will it do so?
It is time to refresh our view on the problem with Sweden allying Saudi considering Saudi’s war crimes record in Yemen war and therefore call upon that Sweden suspend any of its arms sales to Saudi- unless, Sweden would like to be on the wrong side of history.
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*This piece was originally published in Swedish in Swedish magazine, Omvarlden on the 1st of November, 2016.
Friday, 21 October 2016
Cinema in Yemen: 'Nothing is impossible'
*In a historic Oscars entry, movie by Yemeni director Khadija al-Salami will vie for best foreign language film award.
*My latest piece published in Aljazeera English.
For the first time in the country's history, Yemen has entered a film into the Academy Awards competition in the category of best foreign language film.
It was announced last week that the dramatic feature film, I Am Nojoom: Age 10 And Divorced, would be among 85 entries vying for the Oscar.
"I was happy to hear the news, even though I have no expectations whatsoever," director Khadija al-Salami told Al Jazeera over the phone from Canada, where she was promoting the film.
"It is a tough competition, but let's hope this news at least gives war-torn Yemen some positivity and encourages young Yemeni filmmakers to dream big."
"My belief in the importance of empowering our women and enforcing a law that criminalises this practice is what drove me to do this film," said Salami, whose movie has so far earned 18 international awards.
"But mainly, it was important for me to tell a story based on a mix of my own story, Nujood's story and many other girls' stories suffering from this practice. And as I am touring around the world releasing the movie, my initial understanding of how child marriage is a global problem is increasingly being confirmed."
The latest official statistics suggest that more than 50 percent of Yemeni girls are married before the age of 18. There is no law in the country banning the practice - a problem that reaches far beyond Yemen's borders: "Globally, there are around 15 million female children being married every year," Salami noted. "The film speaks to many girls across the world."
Ironically, I Am Nojoom is making global headlines at a time when Yemen's cinema scene has largely faded.
The country once boasted a vibrant cinematic culture, having gone through many phases since the early 1900s. In 1910, moviegoers in Yemen flocked to mobile cinema shows in Aden, and in the ensuing years, Bollywood films were widely exhibited in the city's cinema halls.
During the 1970s, the film scene gained strength, with around 50 cinema halls emerging in Aden, including Radio Cinema, Popular Cinema and Cinema Hurricane. In Sanaa, severalcinema halls showcased both Arab and Western films.
"In the mid '70s, north Yemen's late president, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, had a vision for the art scene to develop - part of his nation-building strategy," Yemeni art critic Ahlam Mohammed told Al Jazeera.
*My latest piece published in Aljazeera English.
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| Yemeni film director, Khadija al-Salami. Photo courtesy: L'Express. |
For the first time in the country's history, Yemen has entered a film into the Academy Awards competition in the category of best foreign language film.
It was announced last week that the dramatic feature film, I Am Nojoom: Age 10 And Divorced, would be among 85 entries vying for the Oscar.
"I was happy to hear the news, even though I have no expectations whatsoever," director Khadija al-Salami told Al Jazeera over the phone from Canada, where she was promoting the film.
"It is a tough competition, but let's hope this news at least gives war-torn Yemen some positivity and encourages young Yemeni filmmakers to dream big."
Shot in 2013, prior to the ongoing war in Yemen, and released in 2014, I Am Nojoom is Salami's debut drama feature film. She has previously made 25 documentaries about Yemen, with a heavy focus on women's issues.
Salami both wrote and directed the film, inspired by her own personal experience of being forced into an arranged marriage at the age of 11 - which led her to attempt suicide, and ended in divorce - and by the story of Yemen's youngest divorcee, Nujood Ali.
Salami both wrote and directed the film, inspired by her own personal experience of being forced into an arranged marriage at the age of 11 - which led her to attempt suicide, and ended in divorce - and by the story of Yemen's youngest divorcee, Nujood Ali.
'I Am Nojoom' film trailer.
"My belief in the importance of empowering our women and enforcing a law that criminalises this practice is what drove me to do this film," said Salami, whose movie has so far earned 18 international awards.
"But mainly, it was important for me to tell a story based on a mix of my own story, Nujood's story and many other girls' stories suffering from this practice. And as I am touring around the world releasing the movie, my initial understanding of how child marriage is a global problem is increasingly being confirmed."
The latest official statistics suggest that more than 50 percent of Yemeni girls are married before the age of 18. There is no law in the country banning the practice - a problem that reaches far beyond Yemen's borders: "Globally, there are around 15 million female children being married every year," Salami noted. "The film speaks to many girls across the world."
Ironically, I Am Nojoom is making global headlines at a time when Yemen's cinema scene has largely faded.
The country once boasted a vibrant cinematic culture, having gone through many phases since the early 1900s. In 1910, moviegoers in Yemen flocked to mobile cinema shows in Aden, and in the ensuing years, Bollywood films were widely exhibited in the city's cinema halls.
During the 1970s, the film scene gained strength, with around 50 cinema halls emerging in Aden, including Radio Cinema, Popular Cinema and Cinema Hurricane. In Sanaa, severalcinema halls showcased both Arab and Western films.
"In the mid '70s, north Yemen's late president, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, had a vision for the art scene to develop - part of his nation-building strategy," Yemeni art critic Ahlam Mohammed told Al Jazeera.
Yemen's cinematic scene peaked after the reunification of northern and southern Yemen in 1990. In the years that followed, several cinema halls opened in major cities, showing foreign and locally made films.
"Despite the early '90s being marked by several conflicts, the unification contributed [to] the film culture of both north and south Yemen in the coming years," Mohammed said, noting that Yemen's culture ministry provided support to local Yemeni filmmakers - particularly to those working on films with an "anti-terrorism" message.
But the growth did not last long. Economic problems bumped the film industry to the bottom of the government's priority list, while the rise of conservative forces further curbed cinematic growth.
"When we, the actors and filmmakers, sought the state's support, government officials used to state clearly that it was not the right time to support films, as they had more important issues to deal with," actor Adnan Alkhadher, a cast member in I Am Nojoom, told Al Jazeera. "We had terrible support in funding cinema, whether in the north or the south."
Amid this backdrop, the outbreak of Yemen's 2011 uprising offered a sign of hope for filmmakers.
"Despite the early '90s being marked by several conflicts, the unification contributed [to] the film culture of both north and south Yemen in the coming years," Mohammed said, noting that Yemen's culture ministry provided support to local Yemeni filmmakers - particularly to those working on films with an "anti-terrorism" message.
But the growth did not last long. Economic problems bumped the film industry to the bottom of the government's priority list, while the rise of conservative forces further curbed cinematic growth.
"When we, the actors and filmmakers, sought the state's support, government officials used to state clearly that it was not the right time to support films, as they had more important issues to deal with," actor Adnan Alkhadher, a cast member in I Am Nojoom, told Al Jazeera. "We had terrible support in funding cinema, whether in the north or the south."
Amid this backdrop, the outbreak of Yemen's 2011 uprising offered a sign of hope for filmmakers.
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| Yemeni filmmaker, Sara Ishaq. Photo courtesy: Oscars. |
"The uprising represented a moment of courage for many Yemeni filmmakers and a time when their voices were validated, as Yemen received great attention during the Arab Spring," said Yemeni filmmaker Sara Ishaq. "I was and still am impressed by the rise of art and film in Yemen in the wake of the uprising."
Ishaq directed the first Yemeni film to be nominated for an Oscar, the documentary Karama Has No Walls (2012), which was set during the uprising.
Salami, meanwhile, says that she has made efforts to ensure that residents of war-torn Yemen would be able to see her film, arranging screenings in local forums and community centres.
I Am Nojoom has faced some criticism for portraying stereotypes about Yemen and "exploiting" the issue of child marriages in an effort to please a Western audience - accusations that Salami vehemently rejects.
"This debate is not only another reminder of why, until today, Yemen has no law against child marriage - but it also reflects the status of women's rights in Yemeni society," she said.
As she begins thinking about her next project - a love story that she hopes to shoot inside Yemen once the war comes to an end - Salami says that she is optimistic about the future.
"Nothing is impossible," she said. "If you put your heart into something, the sky is your limit."
Ishaq directed the first Yemeni film to be nominated for an Oscar, the documentary Karama Has No Walls (2012), which was set during the uprising.
Salami, meanwhile, says that she has made efforts to ensure that residents of war-torn Yemen would be able to see her film, arranging screenings in local forums and community centres.
I Am Nojoom has faced some criticism for portraying stereotypes about Yemen and "exploiting" the issue of child marriages in an effort to please a Western audience - accusations that Salami vehemently rejects.
"This debate is not only another reminder of why, until today, Yemen has no law against child marriage - but it also reflects the status of women's rights in Yemeni society," she said.
As she begins thinking about her next project - a love story that she hopes to shoot inside Yemen once the war comes to an end - Salami says that she is optimistic about the future.
"Nothing is impossible," she said. "If you put your heart into something, the sky is your limit."
Thursday, 20 October 2016
No Place Like Home: Yemen's Moualleds in Times of War
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| Photo courtesy: laweekly.com |
*Who is a “Moualled”? In Yemeni society, the term is used to designate a person who has a non-Yemeni parent. It can also refer, in the most extreme cases of Yemeni xenophobia, to someone who has any non-Yemeni ethnic roots, even if it was a great grandfather. They would be designated according to those other roots, for instance, an Egyptian Moualled, or an Ethiopian Moualled and so forth. As an Ethiopian Moualled who is well aware of the complexity of such a dual identity, I can't but think of other Moualleds in these times of war in Yemen.
Two years have passed since the war began in Yemen. The vast majority of people are living under a suffocating siege while bombs rain down on them from the sky and an unending armed conflict threatens them from the ground.
Today, Yemen is under siege from the air, land, and sea. As a result, the country is witnessing one of the largest movements of displacement in the world reaching more than 3 million displaced. Yemenis have nowhere to escape to, however. For Moualleds, even if the chance of escaping presents itself, it is extremely difficult and complicated as they are living with a dual identity both culturally and on paper.
Before the war
To understand this complexity, a brief description of a Moualled's life before the war might help. There are no exact statistics about the numbers of Moualleds in Yemen because of the absence of state institutions responsible for this category of people. Furthermore, Moualleds themselves do not usually want to expose their other ethnic roots. This might be related to the complexity of civil laws in the two countries when it comes to carriers of dual passports.
From my personal experience in dealing with Ethiopian-Yemeni Moualleds in particular, I have found that large numbers have tried to hide their dual identity as a way to deal with the racist atmosphere in the country. In Yemen, many having dual citizenship might often lead to discrimination and ridicule.
Yemeni society is generally homogeneous and people tend to prefer a homogeneity. Large parts of society are suspicious of ethnic and cultural plurality and diversity. Moualleds, therefore, find themselves facing one of two hard choices: To expose their other identity and face the racist consequences or to hide it and struggle to prove that they are 100% Yemeni, including using only one passport.
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| Photo courtesy: Raseef22.com |
The war begins
Moualleds who decided to only have Yemeni citizenship and hide any other roots fell into a legal trap during the war. Many of them have regretted their choice, especially when several embassies announced that they were repatriating their citizens living in Yemen. Ethiopians quickly headed to their embassy including Ethiopian-Yemeni Moualleds despite the fact that many of them did not have the Ethiopian nationality. They were hoping that their Ethiopian roots would be recognized and that the embassy will repatriate them as well. But the lack of documentation meant that no help was provided.
A large number of Ethiopian-Yemeni Moualleds were unable to go to Addis Ababa despite being of Ethiopian origins. And this was the reason for regretting their choice of hiding their Ethiopian roots. Since they could not prove it with an ID or a passport. In fact the real dilemma lies in that the Yemeni civil law allows citizens to hold multiple passports, however, the Ethiopian does not.
Citizens or refugees?
Zaynab* is a Yemeni who carries both a Yemeni and an Ethiopian passport. She tells us how she moved to Ethiopia at the beginning of the war. Unlike most, Zaynab brandishes her Ethiopian roots with pride, challenging all the racist taboos. Ethiopia is her mother’s country but her Yemeni accent clearly shows that she is an Ethiopian-Yemeni Moualled. As a way to reconcile with her plural identity, she worked on getting an Ethiopian identity card long before the war started. Later she received her Ethiopian passport hiding the fact that she has another passport from the Ethiopian authorities. With the eruption of the war in 2015, she left to Addis Ababa like dozens of Moualleds who tricked the system and were holding an Ethiopian passport. Soon after, she arrived at her second country as a Moualled refugee. She was confused whether to present herself as a refugee or as a local.
Hassan* is another Ethiopian-Yemeni Moualled, but he did not mange to get to Ethiopia with his parents. As opposed to his parents who have dual citizenship, he did not want to have two passports. He only had a Yemeni one, and therefore, the embassy did not allow him to travel. Hassan tells us how it was hard for him to accept his Ethiopian origin because of the discrimination he faced as a child in Yemen. He wanted to be 100% Yemeni and be considered a first class citizen. Today, he regrets not getting his Ethiopian papers before the war.
Zaynab* is a Yemeni who carries both a Yemeni and an Ethiopian passport. She tells us how she moved to Ethiopia at the beginning of the war. Unlike most, Zaynab brandishes her Ethiopian roots with pride, challenging all the racist taboos. Ethiopia is her mother’s country but her Yemeni accent clearly shows that she is an Ethiopian-Yemeni Moualled. As a way to reconcile with her plural identity, she worked on getting an Ethiopian identity card long before the war started. Later she received her Ethiopian passport hiding the fact that she has another passport from the Ethiopian authorities. With the eruption of the war in 2015, she left to Addis Ababa like dozens of Moualleds who tricked the system and were holding an Ethiopian passport. Soon after, she arrived at her second country as a Moualled refugee. She was confused whether to present herself as a refugee or as a local.
Hassan* is another Ethiopian-Yemeni Moualled, but he did not mange to get to Ethiopia with his parents. As opposed to his parents who have dual citizenship, he did not want to have two passports. He only had a Yemeni one, and therefore, the embassy did not allow him to travel. Hassan tells us how it was hard for him to accept his Ethiopian origin because of the discrimination he faced as a child in Yemen. He wanted to be 100% Yemeni and be considered a first class citizen. Today, he regrets not getting his Ethiopian papers before the war.
Across the Red Sea
Zaynab and Hassan’s parents found the experience of crossing the Red Sea to Ethiopia complicated. Having Ethiopian papers they were in their own country, but in reality, they were refugees. Rather than feeling safe in their second country, they simply felt lost. Most Ethiopian-Yemeni Moualleds rely mainly on their social ties, whether their relatives or friends living in Ethiopia to get used to their new environment. They do not look for support from any governmental institutions or international organizations. In fact, the geographical and cultural proximity between Yemen and the African Horn is apparent in the long history of migration and travel between the two sides.
Despite the difference in language, Ethiopian-Yemeni Moualleds consider that Ethiopia is culturally very similar to Yemen. This reduces the feelings of alienation and helps them to reconcile with their new identity. At least that is what one would imagine.
Zaynab and Hassan’s parents found the experience of crossing the Red Sea to Ethiopia complicated. Having Ethiopian papers they were in their own country, but in reality, they were refugees. Rather than feeling safe in their second country, they simply felt lost. Most Ethiopian-Yemeni Moualleds rely mainly on their social ties, whether their relatives or friends living in Ethiopia to get used to their new environment. They do not look for support from any governmental institutions or international organizations. In fact, the geographical and cultural proximity between Yemen and the African Horn is apparent in the long history of migration and travel between the two sides.
Despite the difference in language, Ethiopian-Yemeni Moualleds consider that Ethiopia is culturally very similar to Yemen. This reduces the feelings of alienation and helps them to reconcile with their new identity. At least that is what one would imagine.
No place like home
At the beginning of the war, around 200 thousand people fled Yemen,including 80 thousand Ethiopians. It is difficult to know the number of Moualleds among them because of the legal complexity, but it is likely that the numbers are very large. After a few months had passed many could not assimilate to their new identity and decided to return to Yemen. Today, around 1 million people have returned to Yemen.
Zaynab is one of those who returned. She did not like living in Ethiopia. It was not as beautiful as it used to be according to her. Her longing to Yemen was bigger than any other feeling, and after 4 months of trying to integrate, she packed her bags and went back home. She says: “No one dies before their time, I would prefer to die in my house in Sana'a than to live the rest of my life trying to get used to being a refugee, even if it was in my mother’s country.” Hassan’s father also came back after a few months to Aden. Hassan tells me that his father’s experience as a refugee was difficult. At the end, longing for Yemen was too strong. I spoke to Hassan’s father to understand the real reason behind his decision to come back. He told me with confidence: “One’s pride lies in one's country.”
_______________________________
At the beginning of the war, around 200 thousand people fled Yemen,including 80 thousand Ethiopians. It is difficult to know the number of Moualleds among them because of the legal complexity, but it is likely that the numbers are very large. After a few months had passed many could not assimilate to their new identity and decided to return to Yemen. Today, around 1 million people have returned to Yemen.
Zaynab is one of those who returned. She did not like living in Ethiopia. It was not as beautiful as it used to be according to her. Her longing to Yemen was bigger than any other feeling, and after 4 months of trying to integrate, she packed her bags and went back home. She says: “No one dies before their time, I would prefer to die in my house in Sana'a than to live the rest of my life trying to get used to being a refugee, even if it was in my mother’s country.” Hassan’s father also came back after a few months to Aden. Hassan tells me that his father’s experience as a refugee was difficult. At the end, longing for Yemen was too strong. I spoke to Hassan’s father to understand the real reason behind his decision to come back. He told me with confidence: “One’s pride lies in one's country.”
_______________________________
*This article was originally published on Raseef22.com on the 17th of October, 2016.
* The names of Zaynab and Hassan have been changed for their legal safety.
* The names of Zaynab and Hassan have been changed for their legal safety.
Yemen: The Arab World's overlooked proxy war
A week ago, I co-discussed Yemen war on France24 tv channel, in the wake of the funeral hall attack in Sana'a. Part 1 & 2 can be watched below.
Thursday, 6 October 2016
Save Yemen before the famine rages
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| One of Yemeni graffiti artist, Murad Subay's work in Sana'a street, reflecting on the humanitarian crisis. |
*The war in Yemen has been often described by media as the forgotten war and in my view, that’s an inaccurate description. It’s rather a lucrative war; lucrative to the West and the East. It has been nineteenth months since the Saudi-led coalition, backed by the US and Britain, began its airstrikes campaign. This came following an attempted coup d'etat against president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi by Yemen’s rebels group – the Houthis – in September 2014. Ever since, the West has been showing indifference to the tragedy in Yemen. As the US, UK and other Western countries have an interest in the arms sale with the Saudis, and a number of Arab countries are themselves members of the coalition, and the Houthi-Saleh coalition stands as deadly to thousands of Yemeni civilians, the international community is turning a blind eye to the atrocities in Yemen, mostly the silent death of thousands of Yemenis through starvation.
Towards the end of Yemen’s post-uprising transitional period in 2014, Yemen started to witness a counter-revolution movement, manifested in Houthis-Saleh alliance, each motivated by its own agenda. Houthis were discontent with the new political realignment preparing Yemen for a new ruling system (Federalism) and led by their political agenda in restoring a religious imamate and resuming their hierarchical supremacy. Saleh was led by resentment and aiming at crushing those who helped oust him in 2011. Over the coming months, the alliance began an aggressive military campaign against Saleh’s oppositional forces, which included president Hadi, after the Houthis descended to Sana’a and militarily took over the capital and stormed into Hadi’s presidential palace. Consequently, Hadi escaped to Saudi Arabia and sought support. In the name of restoring legitimacy in Yemen, Saudi Arabia formed a coalition consisting of 11 Arab states and launched its airstrikes campaign.
Midst this complex conflict, Yemeni people pay a heavy price as they are directly and indirectly affected. The human cost in Yemen war has reached a critical stage, causing the death of at least 10,000 people, the displacement of more than 3 million people and a worsening humanitarian situation for 80% of Yemen’s 27 million population. One of the devastating impacts of the war is hunger and the predicted famine unfolding itself in front of the world’s eyes and next to some of the world’s richest countries. Over half of Yemen’s population – 14.4 million Yemenis unable to meet their food needs and 19.4 million people lacking clean water and sanitation. As children are the most vulnerable, it is estimated that 320,000 children in Yemen face severe malnutrition. All these indicators are nothing but an early warning of a looming famine.
Midst this complex conflict, Yemeni people pay a heavy price as they are directly and indirectly affected. The human cost in Yemen war has reached a critical stage, causing the death of at least 10,000 people, the displacement of more than 3 million people and a worsening humanitarian situation for 80% of Yemen’s 27 million population. One of the devastating impacts of the war is hunger and the predicted famine unfolding itself in front of the world’s eyes and next to some of the world’s richest countries. Over half of Yemen’s population – 14.4 million Yemenis unable to meet their food needs and 19.4 million people lacking clean water and sanitation. As children are the most vulnerable, it is estimated that 320,000 children in Yemen face severe malnutrition. All these indicators are nothing but an early warning of a looming famine.
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| Photos courtesy: Oxfam. |
Hunger Causes
Prior to the ongoing conflict, several factors made Yemen not only one of the poorest countries in the world but also the poorest Arab country in the Arab region. In light of major domestic events, Yemenis have been suffering a life under overlapping deprivations. The foremost event was the return of about one million Yemeni guest workers from Gulf countries to Yemen in 1990 following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait contributed greatly to needs of jobs, schools, healthcare and other basic social services. Then, in light of Yemen’s unification and the country’s failure to manage the challenges of integrating the North and the South’s economic systems and resolving the implications of the post-civil war period; all these events and much more had a devastating impact on the developmental growth of the country.
Prior to the ongoing conflict, several factors made Yemen not only one of the poorest countries in the world but also the poorest Arab country in the Arab region. In light of major domestic events, Yemenis have been suffering a life under overlapping deprivations. The foremost event was the return of about one million Yemeni guest workers from Gulf countries to Yemen in 1990 following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait contributed greatly to needs of jobs, schools, healthcare and other basic social services. Then, in light of Yemen’s unification and the country’s failure to manage the challenges of integrating the North and the South’s economic systems and resolving the implications of the post-civil war period; all these events and much more had a devastating impact on the developmental growth of the country.
In 2009, nearly half of Yemen’s population were living under the poverty line. To be poor in Yemen meant to be food insecure, with no clean water, illiterate and unable to afford feeding your kids nutritious food. Thus, Yemen was repeatedly ranked at the bottom in the Human Development Index. Yemen even failed to achieve decreasing the hunger rate, which was one of the UN’s millennium goals. While all these figures were emerging, Yemen’s ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh was busy piling up his wealth in billions.
Midst of a milieu of ongoing instability, corruption and unequal distribution of national wealth, and out of social inequality and major economic grievances, Yemen’s 2011 uprising broke out leading the country into a vicious circle of one political crisis after another impacting the already fragile economy to decline further.
As Yemen has been rolling into an eco-political shock after another over years, the ongoing conflict has tremendously exacerbated the food safety. For a country that relies on the import of 90 percent of its food commodities, it’s extremely difficult to cope with the current dire humanitarian situation. The World Food Program explains, “fuel shortages and import restrictions have reduced the availability of essential food commodities in the country.” As Yemen was already crumbling by the ongoing conflict, the occurrence of a couple of natural disasters in the past few years; from flash floods to powerful cyclone have had an appalling effect on the situation.
Man-Made Famine
Although the war is a contributory factor, hunger in Yemen is largely a man-made catastrophe for which both the Saudis and the Houthis bear vast responsibility. They are both using food as a systematic and strategic weapon in the war. A blockade over Yemen’s main ports has been placed by the Saudi-led coalition since the beginning of the war, denying flights and shipments of fuel, food and medicine supplies. According to a UN reporter, the Saudis as well forbid aid agencies from delivering humanitarian aid to Houthi-controlled areas. Over the past few months, a number of bridges used to transport UN food aid have been bombed by the coalition. In parallel, the Houthi-Saleh coalition has systematically put people to death in battled areas by denying besieged people access to water and food; this is evident formerly in Aden and currently in Taiz. As a quick solution, a black market for goods is thriving in the country, where only those few who can afford the high prices in the market can buy. The World Bank today estimates that almost all Yemen’s population live under the poverty line.
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| Photo courtesy: Oxfam. |
Man-Made Famine
Although the war is a contributory factor, hunger in Yemen is largely a man-made catastrophe for which both the Saudis and the Houthis bear vast responsibility. They are both using food as a systematic and strategic weapon in the war. A blockade over Yemen’s main ports has been placed by the Saudi-led coalition since the beginning of the war, denying flights and shipments of fuel, food and medicine supplies. According to a UN reporter, the Saudis as well forbid aid agencies from delivering humanitarian aid to Houthi-controlled areas. Over the past few months, a number of bridges used to transport UN food aid have been bombed by the coalition. In parallel, the Houthi-Saleh coalition has systematically put people to death in battled areas by denying besieged people access to water and food; this is evident formerly in Aden and currently in Taiz. As a quick solution, a black market for goods is thriving in the country, where only those few who can afford the high prices in the market can buy. The World Bank today estimates that almost all Yemen’s population live under the poverty line.
Silence is a War Crime
Millions of Yemenis are not only poor today but they are also in despair and hungry for both peace and food. As more than 21 million of people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance inside Yemen, this catastrophe is more than anywhere else in the world, including Syria. As human rights issues blogger and activist, I am frustrated by the world’s apathy over the tragedy in Yemen. I always write and give talks about the situation in Yemen, and after describing the devastating current picture, I try to ask the world to imagine that Yemen was hit by an earthquake, hoping that this would encourage them to rally and help this impoverished nation. Instead Yemenis are met with worldwide indifference and left to die in silence. Not taking an action to save Yemen before the famine rages is a choice the the international community is making which unfortunately will be regarded as a disgrace to the international humanitarian system (22 September 2016).
Millions of Yemenis are not only poor today but they are also in despair and hungry for both peace and food. As more than 21 million of people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance inside Yemen, this catastrophe is more than anywhere else in the world, including Syria. As human rights issues blogger and activist, I am frustrated by the world’s apathy over the tragedy in Yemen. I always write and give talks about the situation in Yemen, and after describing the devastating current picture, I try to ask the world to imagine that Yemen was hit by an earthquake, hoping that this would encourage them to rally and help this impoverished nation. Instead Yemenis are met with worldwide indifference and left to die in silence. Not taking an action to save Yemen before the famine rages is a choice the the international community is making which unfortunately will be regarded as a disgrace to the international humanitarian system (22 September 2016).
ـــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ
*This essay was originally published in Vienna Institute for International Dialogue and Cooperation's website on September 29, 2016.
Thursday, 30 June 2016
Interview with Afrah Nasser, Yemeni Journalist and Blogger
I was interviewed by RT tv, a couple of weeks ago, following the withdrew of Saudi name from the UN blacklist report on the most children rights abusers.
Thursday, 9 June 2016
Wednesday, 25 May 2016
The problem with Yemen war
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| Illustration by Sam Kalda |
The problem with Yemen war is this cross point between a global attitude that doesn't know where the hell Yemen is located on the map (let alone of recognizing Yemenis as human beings!), and foreign super powers; like Saudi, UK, US, & local super powers; like Saleh & Abdelmalik Al Houthi stretching their muscles as they can, and most genuinely, Yemenis' pride in saying: we rather die silently than sensationalizing our agony & plight so the world can pay attention to our pain. Yemenis are people of a complete integrity attributed to their agricultural-culture & tribal values. It's always on the back of our heads. I wish I can tell our integrity that, "if there is any humans' pain in the world today that deserves to get sensationalized at the media & governments' offices is yours. A mild earthquake was felt last night in many parts of Yemen. Earthquake during a war; what more tragedy you want? Ok, don't sensationalize anything. The facts would do enough. Just speak up louder!" ✊🏽
Wednesday, 13 April 2016
President Hadi’s Dubious Leadership
Headlines on the critical state of Yemen's current affairs highlight the catastrophic humanitarian situation, war atrocities and the precarious upcoming peace talks. But there is another calamity brewing in Yemen that is receiving little attention: the unreliable leadership of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.
Hadi's latest New York Times op-ed, and his cabinet reshuffle both demonstrate that his own survival comes first on his agenda, overlooking the importance of winning the hearts and minds of the Yemeni public.
The fact that he appears more concerned with speaking to the west, only pausing to address Yemeni politics for his own survival interest, is weakening his status domestically. Hadi needs to rethink his leadership style and expand his public diplomacy to include both domestic and international audiences.
Inevitably, after spending 17 years in office as the vice president of ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Hadi has learned about the politics of staying in office from Saleh who for the past 38 years has masterfully engineered his own survival.
For Hadi, though, the tactics he is employing are proving problematic. While Saleh used to preach that ruling Yemen was "like dancing on the heads of snakes", Hadi seems to have adopted the idea that ruling Yemen can be achieved through publishing op-eds in western media, for western audiences.
Public diplomacy starts at home
The two op-ed pieces were written by Hadi for The New York Times in April 2015 and March 2016 on the conflict in Yemen were meant to polish his image exclusively on the international stage. Clearly, these addresses were not intended to speak to the people of Yemen, where more than half the population is illiterate, let alone able to read English.
This is not to say that he does not address the Yemeni press. Hadi's texts in Arabic for local press have mostly been about his decrees; no intellectual messages are ever expressed to the hearts and minds of Yemeni citizens. In addition, Saleh's television appearances and public speeches addressing the Yemeni public outnumber Hadi's television appearances. The few interviews or televised speeches made by Hadi were done so through foreign media channels such as the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya.
Unsurprisingly, nearly all operating TV channels inside Yemen are affiliated to Saleh and/or the Houthis, as other media offices have been attacked and shut down.
Nonetheless, Hadi has made no effort to address the locals in Yemen with anything more creative than a few Facebook statements. In choosing to emphasise addresses to western audiences rather than Yemeni citizens, Hadi has missed the point: successful public diplomacy must start at home.
Turning the tables for survival
Hadi's time in office - which was only supposed to last two years but has now lasted four - has seen constant cabinet reshuffles. This, in addition to his most recent shake-up, demonstrates his wavering efforts as a leader to continually adapt to a changing situation.
Just one week before the scheduled ceasefire on April 10, Hadi sacked Khaled Bahah, a well-respected technocrat who had a relatively peaceful connection to the Houthis and who served as both vice president and prime minister. Hadi gave away the positions to two key figures who had formerly been key hardliner members in Saleh's circle: General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar and Ahmed bin Dagher.
This has been seen as a very problematic move in the context of efforts to hold peace talks, and US Secretary of State John Kerry has reportedly stated that President Hadi has significantly complicated efforts for peace negotiations.
Hadi's actions are simply serving to fuel the fire. Al-Ahmar, who used to be Saleh's right-hand man, not only turned the tables against Saleh in 2011 by joining the uprising, but he is also believed to have plotted the assassination attempt against Saleh in June 2011.
Reminiscent of Saleh's survival politics that saw him once again become an ally to his former enemies the Houthis, Hadi today is establishing his new allies and turning the tables against Saleh and his clan. Despite Hadi's attempts at survival, his popularity is heading for a dramatic downturn.
Reports on opposing groups reflect the growing discontent over his leadership. Even Bahah has questioned Hadi's decree stipulating his dismissal, explaining that Hadi was violating the constitution, the GCC peace initiative and the UN Security Council Resolution 2216.
Hadi's recent tactics embody his dubious leadership. In a tribal country such as Yemen, where a leader's power is extremely locally-based through a leverage-building process, Hadi is drifting dramatically from strengthening his domestic ties, towards focusing solely on building his links with the West, which is itself, slowly starting to express discontent over his leadership.
When Hadi took office in February 2012, Yemen was characterised as a country on the verge of collapse. It is of course unfair to expect , that he would have already resolved these problems. But Hadi has taken one negative step after another, serving only to exacerbate Yemen's already mounting issues. Any successor to Hadi will need to rethink the setbacks he has come up against, prioritising a discourse addressing the population inside Yemen and building trust domestically before internationally.
Hadi's latest New York Times op-ed, and his cabinet reshuffle both demonstrate that his own survival comes first on his agenda, overlooking the importance of winning the hearts and minds of the Yemeni public.
The fact that he appears more concerned with speaking to the west, only pausing to address Yemeni politics for his own survival interest, is weakening his status domestically. Hadi needs to rethink his leadership style and expand his public diplomacy to include both domestic and international audiences.
Inevitably, after spending 17 years in office as the vice president of ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Hadi has learned about the politics of staying in office from Saleh who for the past 38 years has masterfully engineered his own survival.
For Hadi, though, the tactics he is employing are proving problematic. While Saleh used to preach that ruling Yemen was "like dancing on the heads of snakes", Hadi seems to have adopted the idea that ruling Yemen can be achieved through publishing op-eds in western media, for western audiences.
Public diplomacy starts at home
The two op-ed pieces were written by Hadi for The New York Times in April 2015 and March 2016 on the conflict in Yemen were meant to polish his image exclusively on the international stage. Clearly, these addresses were not intended to speak to the people of Yemen, where more than half the population is illiterate, let alone able to read English.
This is not to say that he does not address the Yemeni press. Hadi's texts in Arabic for local press have mostly been about his decrees; no intellectual messages are ever expressed to the hearts and minds of Yemeni citizens. In addition, Saleh's television appearances and public speeches addressing the Yemeni public outnumber Hadi's television appearances. The few interviews or televised speeches made by Hadi were done so through foreign media channels such as the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya.
Unsurprisingly, nearly all operating TV channels inside Yemen are affiliated to Saleh and/or the Houthis, as other media offices have been attacked and shut down.
Nonetheless, Hadi has made no effort to address the locals in Yemen with anything more creative than a few Facebook statements. In choosing to emphasise addresses to western audiences rather than Yemeni citizens, Hadi has missed the point: successful public diplomacy must start at home.
Turning the tables for survival
Hadi's time in office - which was only supposed to last two years but has now lasted four - has seen constant cabinet reshuffles. This, in addition to his most recent shake-up, demonstrates his wavering efforts as a leader to continually adapt to a changing situation.
Just one week before the scheduled ceasefire on April 10, Hadi sacked Khaled Bahah, a well-respected technocrat who had a relatively peaceful connection to the Houthis and who served as both vice president and prime minister. Hadi gave away the positions to two key figures who had formerly been key hardliner members in Saleh's circle: General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar and Ahmed bin Dagher.
This has been seen as a very problematic move in the context of efforts to hold peace talks, and US Secretary of State John Kerry has reportedly stated that President Hadi has significantly complicated efforts for peace negotiations.
Hadi's actions are simply serving to fuel the fire. Al-Ahmar, who used to be Saleh's right-hand man, not only turned the tables against Saleh in 2011 by joining the uprising, but he is also believed to have plotted the assassination attempt against Saleh in June 2011.
Reminiscent of Saleh's survival politics that saw him once again become an ally to his former enemies the Houthis, Hadi today is establishing his new allies and turning the tables against Saleh and his clan. Despite Hadi's attempts at survival, his popularity is heading for a dramatic downturn.
Reports on opposing groups reflect the growing discontent over his leadership. Even Bahah has questioned Hadi's decree stipulating his dismissal, explaining that Hadi was violating the constitution, the GCC peace initiative and the UN Security Council Resolution 2216.
Hadi's recent tactics embody his dubious leadership. In a tribal country such as Yemen, where a leader's power is extremely locally-based through a leverage-building process, Hadi is drifting dramatically from strengthening his domestic ties, towards focusing solely on building his links with the West, which is itself, slowly starting to express discontent over his leadership.
When Hadi took office in February 2012, Yemen was characterised as a country on the verge of collapse. It is of course unfair to expect , that he would have already resolved these problems. But Hadi has taken one negative step after another, serving only to exacerbate Yemen's already mounting issues. Any successor to Hadi will need to rethink the setbacks he has come up against, prioritising a discourse addressing the population inside Yemen and building trust domestically before internationally.
_______________________________________________________
*This op-ed was originally published on The New Arab, 13 April 2016.
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