Yemen at the Crossroads
With all the attention on Dan Rather, there is another media story developing unnoticed by the American people that may have a far greater impact in the long run. Yemeni editor Abdulkarim Al-Khaiwani, the editor-in-chief of Al-Shura Weekly, was sentenced to prison for a year at hard labor as punishment for a series of articles on corruption.
In an analysis of the gradualist model of democracy, Yemen, along with Bahrain and Morocco, is one of the few semiauthoritarian Arab regimes “still moving ahead with liberalizing reform,” the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace reports. The other Arab states experience a high rate of political repression, remain partially liberalized autocracies, or as in the case of Jordan and Egypt, are drifting away from democratizing efforts.
“Liberalization in the Arab world tends to go a certain distance and then get stuck, resulting in the widespread regional syndrome of political blockage or the trap of liberalized autocracy,” Thomas Carothers noted in Carnegie’s series on the Middle East. Yemen is at the crossroads between continued democratization and becoming another dictatorship hanging on to power at all costs.
Yemen he identifies as perhaps the only country that has a real chance to make a successful transition to democracy. The US could get for free what it is paying so dearly for in Iraq.
Yemen, a remote country on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula, penetrated the American consciousness in 2000 with the bombing of the USS Cole. After 9/11, Yemen became better known as the birthplace of Usama bin Laden. In bin Laden’s communications, he often addresses the Yemeni people directly: “Youth of Islam everywhere, especially in …Yemen, jihad is your duty.” The vast majority of Yemenis though is too busy democratizing to respond.
An ex-British colony, Marxist South Yemen unified with long independent North Yemen in 1990. A brief civil war occurred in 1994. President Ali Abdullah Saleh, having guided Yemen through these tumultuous years, was reelected in 1999. Under his stewardship, a legislature was created in 2001. The parliament has been effective in confronting the executive branch and promoting an independent agenda.
Yemen is a nation with a strong indigenous pro-democracy movement. At the Arab Democracy Conference held in Sa’ana, its host President Saleh called democracy “the rescue ship” for political regimes and the “choice of the modern age for all people.” One of the poorest Arab states, Yemen is reforming in the face of 35% unemployment, with only half of the population literate. There are more than 12 active political parties in Yemen.
One of the most uniquely Yemeni institutions is the Children’s Parliament, instituted to teach students the concepts and principles of democracy, elections and consensus. The Children’s Parliament, which focuses on children’s affairs and rights, has determined that child labor will be its top issue this term.
Civil society organizations receive government support with an aim of enhancing their role. Last year, over 200 private volunteer organizations worked with government monies to achieve localized social development.
Yemen has been a reliable US partner in the War on Terror, but pro-democratic does not mean pro-American. Many Yemenis perceive the US’s Middle East polices as wrong and President Saleh has said: “We are not allies of America or collaborators, but we cooperate with the Americans within the framework of the international community in order to combat the world’s evil, terrorism.” The US has not imposed democracy in Yemen, its people’s determination has.
The Yemeni media has undertaken much of the hard work enfranchising and educating the electorate. “The media represents a major component of the democratic transformation undergone so far in Yemen” remarked James Rawley, Yemen’s UN resident coordinator.
“Since the reunification of Yemen, the country has witnessed the transition to a more pluralistic and free media…a key hallmark of the movement towards a democratic system of governance. The political space - not found in many other countries of the region - was further enhanced recently by the decision of H.E president Ali Abdullah Saleh in May, to abolish the provision for detaining journalists for what they say or write” Rawley said.
Yemen is a Middle Eastern country staking its own path to democracy. Yemen is also a case study in the difficulties facing reforming states. This month, contravening the law prohibiting retribution against journalists, the West Sana’a Court sentenced Abdulkareem Al-Khaiwani, the editor-in-chief of Al-Shura Weekly, to prison for a year for an investigation of corruption. In a quick, secretive trail, without full legal council, during the judicial vacation, Al-Khaiwani was convicted of defaming the person of the president and acting against the supreme national interest of Yemen. The paper has been closed for six months.
Despite vocal protests from journalists, unions and human rights workers, Al-Khaiwani remains jailed for performing the media function so essential in a democracy. The Public Forces Union believes the sentence “reflects the excessive influence of the executive authority, and its disrespect for the separation of authorities.” A statement from the Joint Meeting Parties said “Civil rights will not be equally attained unless the executive authority stops controlling the judicial authority.” President Saleh is the Supreme Judicial Council Chairman.
The media is known in the US as the fourth estate because of its vital role as a check on government. In a reforming state, the dynamic between authoritarianism and popular empowerment is often played out as a conflict between the press and the state. “It is amazing how quickly and drastically the margin of freedom accorded to the press in Yemen has contracted in recent weeks. With the sudden and unexpected verdict against Al-Shoura opposition newspaper and its editor Abdulkareem Al-Khaiwani, civil society in Yemen was outraged and disappointed.” One Yemeni editor noted. “This is not only about freedom of expression. It is an evolving national concern that these developments threaten the whole democratic process in Yemen…What we are facing is an extreme challenge, to defy the outdated and backward mentality that wishes us to regress to a state of dictatorship and oppression. This we resist and will never accept. But if we are alone, we will soon find ourselves in jail.”
Paul Wolfowitz recently noted the fundamental role of the press, highlighting the case of an imprisoned Indonesian journalist: “The rule of law is one of the essential pillars of a democratic society. There are few powers that a democratic state possesses that are as awesome as the power to prosecute its own citizens lawfully. And few things are more threatening to a true democracy than the abuse of that prosecutorial power.
One of the worst possible ways that power can be abused is to take away the freedom of the press and thereby remove one of the most important mechanisms for ensuring that government respects the rights of its citizens.” The same principals apply in Yemen as in Indonesia, the difference being the Yemeni editor has no powerful advocate here in the West.
The noble Yemeni people are at a crossroads between hope and hostility. Will Yemen devolve into an autocratic regime with a frozen media or will it continue down the difficult path toward democracy? President Bush has stated: “A vibrant, successful democracy at the heart of the Middle East will discredit (terrorists) radical ideology of hate.” If this is true, then a free Yemeni media enhances American security. When bin Laden next calls to the Yemeni youth to leave their parliament and join his jihad, how will they respond?
Bin Laden Message to the Iraqis: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/ACB47241-D25F-46CB-B673-56FAB1C2837F.htm
Bush quote: http://www.2004nycgop.org/cgi-data/speeches/files/v46q7t4op60p0109d9b8i8373arhnn0r.shtml
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Working Papers. Middle East series. Number 39, June 2003. pages 6 and 7.
Civil society support: http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=768&p=business&a=3
Children’s parliament: http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=757&p=business&a=1
CIA fact book Yemen: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ym.html
Joint Meeting Party Statement: http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=771&p=front&a=1
James Rawley Statement: http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=769&p=local&a=5
Salah democracy statement: http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=766&p=front&a=1
Salah collaborator statement: http://www.yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=766&p=front&a=1
Saqqaff editorial: http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=773&p=view&a=1
Wolfowitz: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/16/opinion/16wolfowitz.html
