Demotix/Luke Somers. All rights reserved.In Yemen, only ruins are left of the
revolutionary process which raised such enthusiasm in 2011. Political and
sectarian polarisation have been the outcomes of the military campaign launched
by Saudi Arabia against the Houthi militias in March 2015, in addition to humanitarian
disaster and a military and strategic failure.
Polarisation is wiping out all
independent or dissenting voices. Yemeni intellectuals are constantly at risk of
acts of violent intimidation, arrest or assassination—another element fuelling
radicalisation.
On 2 January 2016 in Sana’a, Nabil
Subay, a Yemeni journalist, heads for lunch with friends. Unidentified gunmen
attack him on a busy street: they beat him violently about the head and shoot
him in both legs. He is taken to hospital and operated on. One of his
colleagues, Muhammad Aysh, immediately places responsibility on the Houthis, given
that the city is under their control; they allowed this aggression to happen
and let the perpetrators escape. No one claims the assault, a familiar pattern for
such acts for decades.
Wamidh Shaker, Subay’s wife, posts
the following response on her Facebook page: “You will not bring change, we
will! What you did today to Nabil will not change him in any way. Remember, we
are the ones who change things, not you!” The word used for change (taghyeer in
Arabic) is not chosen by accident: it is a direct reference to the ‘change’ square
in Sana’a, where hundreds of thousands Yemenis spent many months in 2011 and
2012 to first demand, and later achieve, the downfall of President Ali Abdullah
Saleh. Wamidh’s challenge fits in neatly with her husband’s courageous stand;
he is a journalist, an intellectual, a satirist, and father of their two sons.
Nabil Subay has been famous among
Yemeni intellectuals for the past 15 years. Born in 1978 into a modest family
in Dhamar, south of Sana’a—his father was a migrant worker in Saudi Arabia—he first attracted attention with his innovative poetry. This was followed by
his stimulating and often iconoclastic political statements.
In 2003, going against the grain, he
spoke out against widespread Yemeni popular support for Saddam Hussain,
pointing out that dictatorship is responsible for more suffering in Arab
societies than US imperialism. In 2005, he was sued by the government for his sharp
criticism of Saudi policy in Yemen, and was banned from publishing for a few
months.
In 2007 he started the weekly al
Shareea (the Street), a first
venture into investigative journalism. This weekly publicised some of the major
scandals of the Saleh era, in particular the trafficking of subsidised diesel
to the Horn of Africa by regime cronies and the treatment of the Black minority, the akhdam. His independent spirit influenced his younger brothers: Jamil became a photographer, Murad an artist whose
political murals since 2012 have earned him the nickname of ‘Yemeni Banksy’ in
the western press, as well as a number of international prizes. His sisters as
well as the youngest brother are also politically committed.
Tired of
the difficulties of being a journalist working in an impoverished press with
bad distribution, as well as having developed a fascination for the potential
of social media, Nabil Subay has recently taken up blogging, and now has 60 000
followers on Facebook. This has increased his popularity. His posts are uncompromising
and his satire remains well targeted. His fearlessly critical positions are
considered less than constructive by some, but they are characterised by his
unique sense of humour and wordplay, which have made his name.
This “lion
of the word” (asad al kalmia)
has come to symbolise the hopes of the many youth who came out on the streets against
Saleh and who also reject the regime of Hadi and the Islamists. As early as
2012 he pointed
out the failure of the revolution, the fragmentation of society and the
need to save the country from identity politics. His independence of spirit is
recognised on all sides but it makes him many enemies among the Islamists,
Saleh supporters, southern separatists, the Houthis and other powerful people
whose contradictory statements he daily points out.
Yemen needs to overcome the current conflicts between Sunnis and Zaydi-Shi’a, north and south, Islamists and ‘liberals’.
With the
2015 war, Nabil Subay has taken a stand equally opposed to the Saudi bombing, Houthi
policies, Hadi and his allies, and the southerner separatists. Although he
could have escaped abroad, he chose to stay in Sana’a with his family, living
and writing despite the bombing and the pressures.
His
partnership with his wife Wamidh Shaker, from a family active in the southern movement,
as well as his own social and religious Zaydi origins, also enable him to go
beyond the binary logic of an increasingly polarised intellectual and political
field. This simplistic dualism does, however, make life dangerous for
independent intellectuals; no one protects their autonomous voices and they are
likely to pay the price demanded by an increasingly violent society.
The
attack he suffered in early January 2016 symbolises a deep and worrying dynamic
emerging in a country which, only a few years ago, and particularly during the
2011 revolutionary moment, demonstrated a flourishing of ideas and creativity. As
the political situation has become increasingly tense since 2014, far too many
independent and moderate personalities have been murdered or suffered violence
and intimidation.
An unrelenting
process has emerged, which is fed by all political currents. The first targets
for assassination have been moderate Houthi leaders, whose assassinations have
often been claimed by al Qaida. The deaths of Ahmed Sharafuddin, Abdul Karim
Jadban and then Abdul Karim al Khaywani have weakened the position of those who
sought the integration and normalisation of the rebels in the political system,
a position very remote from the warmongering logic promoted by Abdul Malik al Houthi
and his opportunistic ally Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Senior Muslim
Brotherhood figures have been arrested by the Houthis after their coup in
January 2015: this is the case of Muhammad Qahtan, a widely respected Islah
party politician, whose fate remains unknown. His death, in a prison possibly
targeted by Saudi missiles, has been announced more than once, but never confirmed.
The Houthis
have also arrested and are holding in solitary confinement Abdul Qader al
Gunaid, a doctor from Taiz. Muhammed al Mutawakkil, a descendant of Zaydi imams
and the mentor of many independent intellectuals, was assassinated in November
2014. He was a figure of moderation and political compromise and, in a way, he
appears to have been killed to clear the field for the emergence of the murderous
polarisation of common benefit to all warmongers.
Yemen
needs the critical intellectual voices which are currently under threat. A new
round of peace negotiations are, in principle, due to start on 15 January,
though as yet their location has not been finalised. More than likely, like
earlier ones, they will only have a limited impact. They are taking place in a
context which is so remote from the reality on the ground and involve elites
who are operating within a war logic.
For all
those who want to see the return of peace, the need to build agreements and
bonds beyond the polarisation is patently obvious. What needs to be done is to
create a dynamic of convergence that overcomes the current conflicts between Sunnis
and Zaydi-Shi’a, north and south, Islamists and ‘liberals’ etc.
The voices
of Nabil Subay and other independent thinkers, such as Wamidh Shaker, Samy Ghalib,
Bushra al Maqtari, Farea al Muslimi, Muhammad Aysh, Ammar al Awlaqi and Nadia
al Kawkabani are essential participants in the emergence of a new political framework.
Today, with the internet and transnational media it is possible to develop and broadcast
ideas in a safe and secure environment in contrast with the situation on the
ground. Many of these intellectuals have chosen to settle abroad, albeit
temporarily.
In the coming
weeks, Nabil Subay will decide how he will address the situation after the
attack he has just suffered. Let us hope that he and his family will take into
consideration the risks he faces in a country that has never given so little scope
for independent thinking.
Thanks go to Helen Lackner for translation from the French.
There is an acute and growing tension between the concern for safety and the protection of our freedoms. How do we handle this? Read more from the World Forum for Democracy partnership.