Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

Although I don’t agree with the use of some of the language such as ‘the international community’ by a supposedly a radical leftist magazine, it is a history and context, power struggle and geopolitics, internal dynamic and social forces that help us understand a movement and its actions .   An interview with Yemen scholar Helen Lackner

The BBC drenching the conflict and the war in Yemen in (neo-)orientalist narrative. After all, the Houthis are directly attacking ‘our interest’ and interrupting ‘the free market’ as well as they might slow down the Israeli terror and destruction.  " They [the Houthis] are generally more war-like, violent and cruel ," says Edmund Fitton-Brown, who was UK ambassador to Yemen from 2015-17.  "I encountered astonishing instances of brutality in Aden and Taiz. The Houthis consider themselves an elite from an elite (the Zaidi sect). Some of their casual viciousness towards Sunni civilians in central and southern Yemen has been remarkable: a readiness to deploy snipers and kill non-combatants for fun." Now let’s compare that to the narrative deployed to describe the Australian elite troops in Afghanistan: “And it wasn't just that these alleged executions took place, it was the manner of impunity by which they happened. In fact, according to the report, there was an air

Although Challand is right to address the use of cultural activities in supporting political messages and mentions some of the positive achievements of the period, he is insufficiently critical of the weaknesses of the programs and policies militants proposed for the future. Revolutionary leadership was missing: the negative slogan of getting rid of the existing political system required a positive vision about the kind of society and polity with which demonstrators wanted to replace it. As many of Challand’s ideological references are Marxist, the absence of any discussion of the major issue of the movements’ lack of alternative economic programs, and in particular the fact that there was no explicit challenge to dominant neoliberal economic policies, is surprising. In other words, there is little reference to the economic structures that determine political choices and constrain outcomes. Helen Lackner reviews Violence and Representation in the Arab Uprising Related The Arab Thermido

It is a pattern. “Counter-terrorism training provided by American mercenaries to Emirati officers in Yemen has been used to train locals who can work under a lower profile - sparking a major uptick in political assassinations, a whistleblower told BBC Arabic Investigations.” Here only some examples: US trained butchers of Timor, Indonesia Human rights violations by the CIA Learning to kill by proxy The crimes of the US in Indonesia, Afghanistan and Guatemala The School of the Americas – a report From El Salvador to Iraq: Washington man behind brutal police squads Israel? It would be anti-Semitic to say that it has carried out political assassinations. Rogue State   by William Bloom

The objective of the US-UK imperialism strikes on Yemen is to stop the disruption to one of the arteries if capital accumulation and support Israel’s goals on its war on the Palestinians. The strikes on the Houthis might actually embolden the Houthis and see they support strengthened .  Everything that was worth striking has been struck by the Saudi coalition in the past nine years,” al-Iryani said, referring to the war waged against the Houthis by a Saudi-led coalition that began fighting the Houthis in 2015 after they had overthrown President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, head of the internationally recognised government. “I don’t think [US attacks on Houthi targets] are going to act as a deterrent to the Houthis,” Raiman al-Hamdani, a researcher at the ARK Group said.

South Yemen (when Yemen was divided in two) in 1970: “To quote Tuful Saïd, a woman refugee from the eastern sector whom I met in the western sector in February 1970: 'Here we are fighting on two fronts. The first front, that of revolutionary violence and armed struggle, is the easiest. The second and most difficult one i s where we fight against illiteracy, ignorance and backwardness.' A number of measures resulted from the Second Congress. Slavery was abolished. Education classes in politics and literacy were set up throughout the liberated area. For the first time young children received primary education; and in 1970 a Lenin School was set up just inside the PDRY – People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen. In addition to learning history, mathematics, politics and languages, the children shared the tasks of the camp - cooking, cleaning and guard-duty - and had group discussions on the tasks they had to perform. —Fred Halliday in Arabia Without Sultans. “If we name a human being

Yemen in crisis Related “Made in France” war in Yemen Yemen in purgatory The Road to War

“The most radical socialist experiment in the recent history of the Middle East”

As Irène Félix, Chairwoman of the Metropolitan District, Bourges Plus, explains, “After a period of reconstruction at the end of the nineties, hirings in the Defence sector have risen sharply over the past five years due to orders from the French army and other countries.” The accusations of complicity in war crimes aimed at our national champion do not seem to worry this official, elected on a list “miscellaneous left.” The defence industries are perfectly familiar with the limits of their activity,“she answered us.” The local authority supports the local industrial fabric but does not interfere with diplomatic issues which are managed by the Government." Complicity in war crimes indeed. “Made in France” war in Yemen Related Yemen in purgatory The Road to War

From Imamate to the present

Hunting Russians, Giving Pass to Americans Related A secretive programme to wage proxy wars

Canada’s military exports to Saudi Arabia increased in 2021

Irish law maker speaks out

A good summary. “There is no contradiction between standing with the people of Ukraine and against Russia’s heinous invasion and being honest about the hypocrisy, war crimes, and militarism of the U.S. and NATO. We have an undeniable moral responsibility to prioritize holding our own government accountable for its crimes because they are being done in our names and with our tax dollars. That does not mean we should be silent in the face of the crimes of Russia or other nations, but we do bear a specific responsibility for the acts of war committed by our own nations.” On hypocrisy: “ How many of the people with Ukrainian flag avatars on their Twitter profiles have spent days or weeks pleading for the world to stand up for ordinary Yemenis living under the hell of American bombs and Saudi warplanes? The same question applies in the case of the Palestinians who live under an  apartheid state  imposed by Israel and backed up by a sustained campaign of annihilation  supported  and  encoura

It seems not equally so

Saudi’s war on Yemen and the ‘West’. Refugees. Sanctions. Myanmar. International oil companies and boycotts. Israel and the Palestinians. Blatant racism

Arms, aid and counter-revolution

A collection of articles