The two opposing forces of unity and disunity are helping to shape the future of the struggle against Saleh in Yemen.
A GOOD PIECE
Larbi Sadiki
Al-Jazeera
"...
'I am the state'
Condensing the many "Yemens" into a single Yemen in the name of national unity, order, stability, and lawfulness has been one prominent modus operandi and a systematic narrative emblematic of how Saleh and co., with Western explicit and tacit approval, have taken power for granted, turning it into an art of self-preservation, not to mention self and tribal aggrandisement through dynastic and fiscal gerrymandering of Yemeni polity.
The president-imam, the president-general, the president-tribal chief, the president-exchequer and the president-despot all become embodied in a single figure. A single figure who has populated the concentric circles of power with kinship and kingship, and with bribery as well as thuggery.
"I am the state" has no Napoleonic lineage in this instance. There is no empire-building, no institutions, and no grandeur. There is only fear and crisis. Here "I am the state" is an unspoken rhetoric, the constructs of which are fear and crisis, literally the "rentierism" of despotic regimes.
A GOOD PIECE
Larbi Sadiki
Al-Jazeera
"...
'I am the state'
Condensing the many "Yemens" into a single Yemen in the name of national unity, order, stability, and lawfulness has been one prominent modus operandi and a systematic narrative emblematic of how Saleh and co., with Western explicit and tacit approval, have taken power for granted, turning it into an art of self-preservation, not to mention self and tribal aggrandisement through dynastic and fiscal gerrymandering of Yemeni polity.
The president-imam, the president-general, the president-tribal chief, the president-exchequer and the president-despot all become embodied in a single figure. A single figure who has populated the concentric circles of power with kinship and kingship, and with bribery as well as thuggery.
"I am the state" has no Napoleonic lineage in this instance. There is no empire-building, no institutions, and no grandeur. There is only fear and crisis. Here "I am the state" is an unspoken rhetoric, the constructs of which are fear and crisis, literally the "rentierism" of despotic regimes.
Despots like Saleh have bought out time in power by "renting out" fear and crisis to domestic and external publics. Thus, legitimation and utility are invented for such despots to, supposedly, arrest the peril of Islamists, Shia, terrorists, the clones of bin Laden, the separatists, and all kind of anti-systemic conspirators.....[Exactly what the Rabbit of Syria is doing!]
United we stand
More relevant to our story here is that a majority of Yemenis have organised and mobilised to replicate the ousting of Ben Ali and Mubarak, despite their own deployment of their parochial crises as political resources in their struggle against Saleh (or each other) and against monopoly of state resources by the Sanhan, the president's clan.
Their moment of popular empowerment attests to the creative potential of unity within disunity - indeed, in spite of it. The seeds of the Yemeni uprising have been evident since mid-2007, when southern officers' protests against illegal sackings were organised. By mid-2009, protests gained momentum in the southern provinces of al-Dhalah and Lahaj.....
Disunity as pluralism
It is no exaggeration to state that in Yemen, the notion of an "un-civil state" is not an oddity.
The rise of civil bodies and civic activism are partly responses to exclusionary tactics, violence, patronage- clientelism, nepotism and dynastic tendencies.
The movements and figures today rallied against Saleh's reign all share a common consciousness of victimhood and marginalisation.....
Youth against despotism
The youth-based activism was made up of various organisations, such as the Revolt's Youth and the Coalition of the Free Youth. This brand of urban activism has no single ideology, sect, party or region. It is a forum of a variety of struggles, united by the quest for democratic transition and rallied against Saleh.
Yemen oozes with youth mobilisable for taghyir ["change", "transition"]. Note that it was the youth who were mobilised in the early 1990s by the late Sayyid Husayn Al-Houthi to protest against exclusion, and to contest uneven power through the Devout Youth Forum.....
True, Yemen may be teetering on the brink. But the brink can be looked at in two ways [The Syrians too have to understand and appreciate this.]: a brink in the sense of uncertainty or implosion, or the brink of a democratic invention of how to conduct politics and construct a democracy without the spent force that is Saleh."
United we stand
More relevant to our story here is that a majority of Yemenis have organised and mobilised to replicate the ousting of Ben Ali and Mubarak, despite their own deployment of their parochial crises as political resources in their struggle against Saleh (or each other) and against monopoly of state resources by the Sanhan, the president's clan.
Their moment of popular empowerment attests to the creative potential of unity within disunity - indeed, in spite of it. The seeds of the Yemeni uprising have been evident since mid-2007, when southern officers' protests against illegal sackings were organised. By mid-2009, protests gained momentum in the southern provinces of al-Dhalah and Lahaj.....
Disunity as pluralism
It is no exaggeration to state that in Yemen, the notion of an "un-civil state" is not an oddity.
The rise of civil bodies and civic activism are partly responses to exclusionary tactics, violence, patronage- clientelism, nepotism and dynastic tendencies.
The movements and figures today rallied against Saleh's reign all share a common consciousness of victimhood and marginalisation.....
Youth against despotism
The youth-based activism was made up of various organisations, such as the Revolt's Youth and the Coalition of the Free Youth. This brand of urban activism has no single ideology, sect, party or region. It is a forum of a variety of struggles, united by the quest for democratic transition and rallied against Saleh.
Yemen oozes with youth mobilisable for taghyir ["change", "transition"]. Note that it was the youth who were mobilised in the early 1990s by the late Sayyid Husayn Al-Houthi to protest against exclusion, and to contest uneven power through the Devout Youth Forum.....
True, Yemen may be teetering on the brink. But the brink can be looked at in two ways [The Syrians too have to understand and appreciate this.]: a brink in the sense of uncertainty or implosion, or the brink of a democratic invention of how to conduct politics and construct a democracy without the spent force that is Saleh."
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