The students involved in the Zeytun Exchange Program that I oversee have been attending various meetings from one day to the next to NGOs, ministries, and other political and cultural organizations of the like. I may post a few blog entries addressing some of the organizations we visited and what they had to say about their role in Yemeni culture.
One of the most interesting meetings took place with Nadia Esokaf, the Chief and Editor of the Yemen Times Newspaper. It’s rare to find a woman in Yemen (especially a Yemeni woman) with a position of this magnitude. Nadia was raised into the business and when her father was assassinated by the government, she and her brother and sister took over the paper’s endeavors.
When I asked her about the challenges she faced in this position as a woman, she said that she had to let get rid of almost half the male staff when she began because they weren’t receptive to authority coming from a woman. She has since learned how to talk to men in this region in ways that they are more receptive to. As her father left such a positive legacy, she didn’t have a problem proving her name, her problems were surrounding professional relationships within the press field.
I was extremely inspired by this woman whose intelligence and presence dominated the room in a manner that was assertive without being overbearing. She is fluent in English and posses a wealth of information of which we were only able to scratch the surface given the short time frame.
The Yemen Times is an English newspaper that has been in business for almost 20 years, despite three attempts by the government to close them down. Their main targets are educated Yemenis and foreigners living in Yemen or those interested in learning about or traveling to the country. Because the majority of the Yemeni population is not reading their newspaper, the Yemen Times has more immunity than most other sources of print since the government is not as concerned with what they have to say. However, they still tread with caution when publishing certain stories as there are many instances where government officials come into the office to intimidate or threaten.
Nadia’s wish is to someday be able to say something she knows is true without being scared she will offend someone. In Yemen, this is all you have to do to get prosecuted, thrown in jail, harassed, or killed. Nadia spoke of the frequent occurrence of rape in schools where older boys where sexually assaulting younger boys. They know this is happening and at some institutions on a very high scale, but they are unable to write about it because of the consequences they’d face from the school, the children’s parents, and the government. Sex in general is a very taboo subject in Yemen, but homosexuality is an even more sensitive issue.
Although free speech is clearly an obstacle, she feels the most significant problem the paper faces is access to information or lack there of. The majority of the time she can get in touch with opposition forces such as al-Qaeda, the Houthis, etc., before getting a response from Yemen’s own government.
She made the point that Yemen is an insecure country because the government cannot control it, especially with regards to terrorism. Nadia used a metaphor that shaped the Yemeni government as a very strict and old fashioned parent and the country of Yemen as its child. The parent wants things done in a very specific way, but the child is growing, expanding and learning and now as a teenager, is rebelling against the government in ways that are smart, where they remain unseen.
Speaking to the matter of terrorism and the lack of government control, the conversation began to address more specific political issues in Yemen, such as the war in the North and South. Nadia explained that the Houthis are successful at the war in Sada because they are living in the mountains where there are no roads and the rough terrain doesn’t allow for any government, including Yemen or Saudi Arabia, to control it. People easily disappear here and only the native people and Bedouins know how to navigate it. The government tries to maintain the security situation through the use of violence (hard security), but you can’t physically fight faith or belief which is why soft security is needed if control is to be established and maintained.
The idea behind soft security is to make the Yemeni people love their country by providing good health care, education, trained security, an honest police force, and so on. If Yemen becomes more appreciative of its people, the people will be more supportive of the government.
According to Nadia, there needs to be a change of authority and the old powers need to be replaced by educated individuals who are qualified to govern a country. While in 2006 Yemen held fair elections, this was threatening to the current regime that feared eventually a change in leadership would ensue. Perhaps this threat was a motivation for the government’s cancelation of the last elections. The opposition parties in Yemen have no real power and don’t have the people’s interest in mind. As a result of the inability of the system to satisfy the people, parties are turning into movements from the ground level and are neither registered nor organized.
Yemen’s problems are vast, but Nadia believes that its future rests in the hands of educated and loyal youth who have the desire to change things. Sadly many who fit into this category go abroad to study or work and generally don’t return.
To find out more on the Yemen Times, refer to their website at: http://www.yementimes.com/
One of the most interesting meetings took place with Nadia Esokaf, the Chief and Editor of the Yemen Times Newspaper. It’s rare to find a woman in Yemen (especially a Yemeni woman) with a position of this magnitude. Nadia was raised into the business and when her father was assassinated by the government, she and her brother and sister took over the paper’s endeavors.
When I asked her about the challenges she faced in this position as a woman, she said that she had to let get rid of almost half the male staff when she began because they weren’t receptive to authority coming from a woman. She has since learned how to talk to men in this region in ways that they are more receptive to. As her father left such a positive legacy, she didn’t have a problem proving her name, her problems were surrounding professional relationships within the press field.
I was extremely inspired by this woman whose intelligence and presence dominated the room in a manner that was assertive without being overbearing. She is fluent in English and posses a wealth of information of which we were only able to scratch the surface given the short time frame.
The Yemen Times is an English newspaper that has been in business for almost 20 years, despite three attempts by the government to close them down. Their main targets are educated Yemenis and foreigners living in Yemen or those interested in learning about or traveling to the country. Because the majority of the Yemeni population is not reading their newspaper, the Yemen Times has more immunity than most other sources of print since the government is not as concerned with what they have to say. However, they still tread with caution when publishing certain stories as there are many instances where government officials come into the office to intimidate or threaten.
Nadia’s wish is to someday be able to say something she knows is true without being scared she will offend someone. In Yemen, this is all you have to do to get prosecuted, thrown in jail, harassed, or killed. Nadia spoke of the frequent occurrence of rape in schools where older boys where sexually assaulting younger boys. They know this is happening and at some institutions on a very high scale, but they are unable to write about it because of the consequences they’d face from the school, the children’s parents, and the government. Sex in general is a very taboo subject in Yemen, but homosexuality is an even more sensitive issue.
Although free speech is clearly an obstacle, she feels the most significant problem the paper faces is access to information or lack there of. The majority of the time she can get in touch with opposition forces such as al-Qaeda, the Houthis, etc., before getting a response from Yemen’s own government.
She made the point that Yemen is an insecure country because the government cannot control it, especially with regards to terrorism. Nadia used a metaphor that shaped the Yemeni government as a very strict and old fashioned parent and the country of Yemen as its child. The parent wants things done in a very specific way, but the child is growing, expanding and learning and now as a teenager, is rebelling against the government in ways that are smart, where they remain unseen.
Speaking to the matter of terrorism and the lack of government control, the conversation began to address more specific political issues in Yemen, such as the war in the North and South. Nadia explained that the Houthis are successful at the war in Sada because they are living in the mountains where there are no roads and the rough terrain doesn’t allow for any government, including Yemen or Saudi Arabia, to control it. People easily disappear here and only the native people and Bedouins know how to navigate it. The government tries to maintain the security situation through the use of violence (hard security), but you can’t physically fight faith or belief which is why soft security is needed if control is to be established and maintained.
The idea behind soft security is to make the Yemeni people love their country by providing good health care, education, trained security, an honest police force, and so on. If Yemen becomes more appreciative of its people, the people will be more supportive of the government.
According to Nadia, there needs to be a change of authority and the old powers need to be replaced by educated individuals who are qualified to govern a country. While in 2006 Yemen held fair elections, this was threatening to the current regime that feared eventually a change in leadership would ensue. Perhaps this threat was a motivation for the government’s cancelation of the last elections. The opposition parties in Yemen have no real power and don’t have the people’s interest in mind. As a result of the inability of the system to satisfy the people, parties are turning into movements from the ground level and are neither registered nor organized.
Yemen’s problems are vast, but Nadia believes that its future rests in the hands of educated and loyal youth who have the desire to change things. Sadly many who fit into this category go abroad to study or work and generally don’t return.
To find out more on the Yemen Times, refer to their website at: http://www.yementimes.com/
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