Political Identities and Popular Uprisings in the Middle East by Shabnam J. Holliday & Philip Leech

Author:Shabnam J. Holliday & Philip Leech [Holliday, Shabnam J. & Leech, Philip]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, World, Middle Eastern
ISBN: 9781783484485
Google: UUmJrgEACAAJ
Goodreads: 26781574
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield International Limited
Published: 2016-01-15T12:22:58+00:00

Chapter 7

Political Identities and the Uprising in Yemen

Fernando Carvajal

Yemen’s Arab Spring-inspired uprising was presented as a model of political solidarity and restraint by media and civil society alike. This narrative was common among various groups protesting against Ali Abdullah Saleh’s thirty-two years in power. Sunni Islamists demonstrated along with Zaydi-Shi’i Houthis, socialists, Nasserists, academics, independent students and women. Prima facie, it was an image of harmonious pluralism. Yet, this was a mirage. The unifying slogan of Yemen’s uprising, al-sha‘b yurid isqat al-nitham (the people want the fall of the regime), masked numerous violent rivalries, deeply entrenched political identities and assorted competing interests among the participants in the protests.

The eclectic nature of the gatherings gave hope to many, but struggles over leadership and shaping of Yemen’s future quickly became sources of tension. The spirit that stirred the protest movement in Yemen, stretching from Sana’a – the capital – to Taiz and Aden in the south, may have been directed at Saleh, but each group held unique grievances that were not reconciled during the eleven months of protests. Not only were old conflicts reignited within the protest camps, but also new ideas faced resistance from traditional forces. The aspirations of young protesters, with no partisan affiliation, were a direct threat to traditional political forces, whose primary interests at the onset were to simply rebalance relationships within the regime (Carvajal 2015). In Yemen’s unique case, the presence of independent protesters – those taking part in the political process ‘to sustain the movement’ (Durac 2012, 173) while rejecting partisan affiliation – was both unexpected and a vital element shaping the character of the uprising.

Though the impact of events in North Africa – made visible in Yemen via televised broadcasts and social media – facilitated the rapid expansion and momentum of the demonstrations, the broader context of shifting fault lines within the regime had already predicted division between ruling parties. In other words, Yemen’s political crisis may have been part of the ‘Arab Spring’ but this chapter argues that it should be understood as, primarily, a domestic affair. As such it was a contest for power between regime elites.

Yemen’s uprising was also unique in another sense. Unlike the uprisings elsewhere in the region – that were spearheaded by leaderless popular movements – the protest movement against Saleh is better understood as a temporary convergence of groups with fundamentally divergent interests. It was, quite literally, a tense merger of rival interests against a common enemy. Within the different protest squares, participating groups jockeyed for leadership and the right to represent the people’s demands. Thus, it would be a mistake to directly compare events, actors and their intentions in Yemen to those of other case studies. Instead, this chapter highlights the unique character and trajectory of events through the nearly year-long protests. Instead of emphasising the role of social media, this chapter examines how traditional methods of mobilisation were instrumental in the methodology of protest. Moreover, while there were commonalities with other uprisings in terms of language and slogans, this chapter finds that in Yemen even these were subject to political context.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.