How Yemen’s leadership, and those who support them, carelessly gamble with the lives of millions
With every day that passes, however, it is becoming more obvious that these heroic undertakings are doing more harm than good. I could talk a lot about this social disease called fascism and why it has to be wiped out at all costs. But most of you already know this. My point is that this battle is not a fight for the well-being of the Yemeni people anymore. Maybe it never has been. Maybe it’s that between fearing for me and my family’s lives, because of intimidating buzzwords such as Shia, Hezbollah, terrorists, or even democracy, or because of working 10-12 hours a day, I was unable to see the big picture.
When political leaders become unpopular due to failures or bad decisions, or continuously fail to come after their responsibilities, or promises, or when they have an actual or potential conflict of interest that can be troublesome to their decision-making, these leaders have a personal responsibility to step down from their positions. This is especially true when these are putting the majority of citizens in extremely miserable circumstances, and when these leaders were never elected.
The outcome of the revolution was to form a transitional government consisting of all kinds of groups belonging to the domain of politics, who would, in a period of 10 months, set up and conclude the National Dialogue Conference (NDC), which would gather representatives from all over Yemen to draft a new constitution and pave the way for new elections the following year. Considering that I was able to fit all this in one sentence, it feels almost surreal that the actual process concluded without having achieved either. I and many others are blaming the Gulf Cooperation Council’s compromises in dealing with remnants of the former regime (including current president and former vice president Hadi), as well as the consequential intentional incompetence and disruptions these factions contributed to the process.
If these remnants hadn’t had any vital role in Yemen’s democratic transformation outside of participating in the national dialogue conference and possibly rerunning for office later on, the transitional process may have had a chance.
Our living conditions, immediately following our uprising, are deteriorating with each passing day. Since then, Yemenis have been living in catastrophic conditions of hardship and misery that no one deserves to be subjected to. Many people, including me, have lost their loved ones, everything they have worked for, their sources of income, and all hope. Prices have skyrocketed, there is an immense shortage of water and electricity, the sewage systems are collapsing, and radical groups are spreading fear and hatred in the name of an abstract. We are at the brink of a humanitarian crisis.
Paradoxically, the only sector which isn’t affected by this is our “national” defense. Soldiers’ salaries are higher than ever, recruitment is easy, eligibility poses no obstacles, and soldiers also get to keep their rifles. In fact, we now have a growing industry openly buying and selling military equipment found, stolen, or otherwise obtained, by people of all kinds. A few weeks ago, for example, someone I just met told me that he has been looking for a certain RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade) model, and asked me whether I knew where he could buy one. It’s a question I would never imagine having been asked two years ago.
I don’t know whether our poor living standards are being ignored by those in charge, or just not deemed important. I think before any leader gets to hold speeches or give press conferences in front of disconnected, elitist namedroppers, publish articles in The New York Times, or threaten the entire northern half of their own country with “might is right,” they should first make sure their people who got them there, the people they’re representing, they’re serving, and they’re responsible for, have enough water, are healthy, and don’t have to eat the little they have left next to their own feces. It should go without saying that anything else must come second – including a war from a gated hotel with their former boss and mentor.
Speaking of that, why is it that they’re suddenly so opposed to the actions of the old regime? What made them realize that blank force or absolute surrender is necessary for peace now, when they tolerated and participated in obvious acts of injustice, delinquency, and exploitation with them for decades?
Even if they were secretly opposed to it back then and “just did it for the money,” I think everyone would agree that their (former) affiliations alone make all of them completely unfit for the positions they’re currently holding. Yet they’re still there, ruling over us.
And why is it that the international community always seems to agree with ideas of Yemeni leaders to dry out, isolate, or otherwise dehumanize the entire Yemeni population as if we are monsters? Or why do they allow them to appoint whomever, whenever, to whatever position they like, even though they know they themselves were never fairly elected?
I’m not suggesting that their resignations would magically solve all our problems. It won’t. It is, however, something the most honest and greatest leaders would do, have done, and will be remembered for. It would show the public that their intentions were heartfelt and that their hearts are in the right place, that is, improving people’s lives’, but that complications, misconduct, or “externalities” have made it nonetheless impossible for them to realize their goals.
Almost all Middle Eastern leaders seem to be having a problem getting this concept into their heads. It’s a sad trend, which has and is converting many Arab countries into so-called failed states. This is a sad trend that I find difficult to grasp.
It seems as if their minds are besotted with ideas of revenge, the never-ending desire for more power, the fear of failing those who look up to them, superstitious beliefs and traditional values, egocentric mindsets like that of assuming they’re invincible or gods themselves, and, of course, plain ignorance.
Fortunately, the foreign and domestic voices rational enough to recognize this dilemma are getting louder with each day. But writing this in the dark in my room at 1:41 am, with no running water and the temperature nearing 40°C, I’m afraid it will be too late by then.
