Yemen...the Oasis of the Peninsula

By Anis Albasha

         

Talking with many western people, I've noticed that most of them think that Yemen is a desert which is full of sand (and perhaps camels!) .The truth is, unlike the neighboring gulf countries, Yemen is a mountainous land with a fascinating geographical diversity. It is true that there are some arid parts in Yemen such as al-Rub al-Khali desert which is located at the borders with the Saudi Arabia. However, there are also many green plains and valleys scattered in different parts of the country. 

                                      
 Historically, the greenery and heavenly gardens of ancient Yemen were the reason that made Romans refer to the land as ‘Arabia Felix’ or Happy Arabia. Nowadays, we can still find the green color in many parts of Yemen especially in the countryside where farming is still people’s number one profession. The fruits and vegetables that grow in Yemen are very tasty. 

                               
Unfortunately, greenery is vanishing in the Yemeni cities especially in the major ones. For example, many old people in Sana'a asserted that forty or fifty years ago the city was covered with forests. Sadly, Sana'a now is only covered with dust. You can only spot one tree here or there. This is also the case in some other cities where the green color gradually disappeared to be replaced with ugly concrete buildings. This is actually the government’s fault because the soil of Yemen is so fertile and Yemenis could have had greener cities. 

Who is burning Yemen?

By Rasha Almaqaleh

“Is that a fire in Yemen? Who is burning Yemen?” These were questions asked by my five year old child a while ago, when he saw a picture sent to us by What’sApp showing a huge cloud of smoke rising from one of the residential neighborhoods after being hit by an airstrike. Even though, seeing such pictures of massive destruction in Yemen is so difficult for us, finding honest answers to our child’s innocent questions is more difficult.

 So, what’s really happening in Yemen? Is it really a war between Shiite and Sunni as many Western and Arabic political entities and news agencies are promoting all the time? I remember attending a presentation about Yemen, made by a German journalist a couple of months ago. The title of the presentation was “Yemen…War and Escape”. The journalist was focusing on the issue of “Sunni-Shiite”; which seems to be the ‘favorite’ argument in the western media. We as Yemenis believe that it’s a brutal war waged by Saudi Arabia against Yemen with the direct support of the United states of America and Europe. It is a war over power and interests. Religion is only used as an excuse and as a cover. In the Arab world, people could be easily enticed to fight when they feel threatened about their religious beliefs. Politicians and decision makers know this fact for sure and they are taking a good advantage of it. Therefore, they save no effort to spread hate and violence among people such as publishing malicious rumors in media and mosques. Consequently, people go to fight thinking they are defending their own beliefs while in fact they are fighting to achieve someone else’s hidden agenda. So, next time when you hear someone say it’s a war between Shiite and Sunni, be free to smell a rat.

  It is true that Saudi Arabia is a Sunni country. It’s also true that Saudis claim that their intervention in Yemen is to stop the Iranian expansion. However, the Saudis failed so far to provide evidence of this alleged expansion. And the only intervention that can be clearly seen in Yemen is the Saudi’s! The Saudi-led coalition that is fighting in Yemen is composed of 10 Arab states. However, the coalition is just a show done by Saudis to give the impression that they are not isolated and are not acting alone.  

 At best, one might argue that it is Saudi Arabia that is waging a war against Yemen and no Western country is involved. As a matter of fact, Saudi Arabia wouldn’t be able to cause even 10% of the damage that it’s causing now in Yemen if it weren’t for the Western extensive support which comes in many forms; political, logistical, and military. For example, the U.S. and some European countries are selling arms to the Saudi regime, which is using them to massively strike civilians and infrastructure in Yemen. Saudi Arabia is literally committing serious war crimes in Yemen with those Western weapons such as hitting residential areas, targeting political and judicial figures, striking weddings, schools, hospitals, food factories etc. There are some international organisation which reported and documented those serious violations such  Amnesty International  and Human Rights Watch . But no one is listening and it seems that the war in Yemen is another good opportunity to revive western economies.

Watching world news channels, one can learn about what happens in Syria, Libya, Somalia, Iraq, Myanmar, Colombia, Philippine, …,Etc! Perhaps, if something happened in Alaska or in Antarctica, one could find something about it in the news. But when it comes to our country, it seems that Yemen is not recognized as a part of this world at all. If a herd of cows die in India, it will absolutely be on the news. But when a number of Yemeni people and children die, the news channels are suddenly stuck on silent mode. This silence costs 25 million Yemenis the only thing they have; their lives. Thousands of civilians were killed or injured because of this worthless war. Regrettably, Yemeni people are not only deprived from a good life with the very basic human necessities, but they are even deprived from the right to be a mere ‘number’ when they die.

'Wadjda'....98 minutes of old news

By Rasha Almaqaleh

I have recently watched the film ‘Wadjda’. It is a Saudi feature film directed by a Saudi woman, Haifaa Almansour. It was exclusively shot in Saudi Arabia and was first released in 2012. The storyline focuses on the status of Saudi women in the Saudi society through a story of an 11-year-old girl who longs to ride a bike in order to race against her male friend, Abdullah, a boy from her neighborhood. Wadjda glimpses a green bike loaded on a moving truck so she follows it. The truck stops at a toy store to unload the bike and Wadjda stops there to check it. Seeing her checking the bike, the old bearded salesperson tells her the bike is expensive and she cannot afford it. While her mother is busy worrying about her husband getting a second wife, Wadjda struggles alone to raise the money she needs to buy the bike. At the end of the story, Wadjda gets the bike she wants as a gift from her mother and she wins the race against her friend Abdullah. The film was very well received by Western audiences. But was it well received because it is a masterpiece or there are other factors behind its alleged success?

   As a matter of fact, the film is basically addressed to the western mind. This is well illustrated by the writer/director’s desperate attempts to unnecessarily load the scenes with the flaws of the Saudi society.  For example, in one of the scenes, Wadjda and Abdullah pass by a house where an old man stands at the door shaking hands with some people coming to express their condolences and sympathy. Abdulla then explains to Wadjda that the son of that man killed himself in a suicidal bombing and tells her that the suicide bomber is already in heaven in the company of 70 brides as a reward of his action. Another good example is the scene of the underage-married girl who brings her wedding photos to show her friends at school. It seemed that the writer was literally ‘listing’ the problems instead of efficiently using them in the logic evolution of the story. While such problems do exist in Saudi Arabia and other so- called radical Islamic societies, displaying them in this superficial way doesn’t aim to raise the awareness of Saudis but rather it intends to present a shocking image of a different culture to the Western audiences; who basically come to watch such films in order to ‘be shocked’! Consequently, the film was easily absorbed by Western viewers even though the script is dull and the long pauses cannot go unnoticed.

                                                                                      

Even though it’s very well known that Saudi Arabia is ruled and dominated by a royal family that forbids democracy, human rights, freedom of speech, etc, Almansour completely ignores this key point in understanding the reality of the Saudi society and thus the position of Saudi women. She deliberately blames the society for the degraded status of women as though the regime takes no responsibility and has no effect on the society. That’s why Almansour tries in some of the scenes to depict a good image of the Saudi political regime, i.e. the election scene. In addition to that,  at the final scene where Wadjda achieves her goal and eventually rides her own bicycle, the director focuses the camera- in blatant hypocrisy- on a poster of the Saudi king and some officials, pasted onto the back of a bus. The sentence title of the poster is “May our country be always strong”! Through that scene, the director suggests that Saudi women could be liberated under the rule of Al Saud family implying that the royal family does not play a big part, if any, in the status of Saudi women.

Given these points, the film ‘Wadjda’ does not discuss seriously the problems of Saudi women. Instead, it thrills the imagination of the Western viewer who already has preconceived thoughts of such societies. Thereby, if you belong to this category, I would definitely recommend you not to miss this film! You would most likely love it because it would give you what you basically look for. But, if you genuinely want some deep knowledge away from stereotypes and prejudices, this film is not a good choice.