I was Awarded Sweden's Pen Holder Prize for 2016

I was awarded Sweden's Pen Holder Prize for 2016, today. The prize was established since the late 80s & is annually awarded for female freelance journalists to support their work & dedication. If I'm not mistaken, I'm one of the first brown women given the award in Sweden, which not only makes me proud but also makes me love Sweden more. My Sweden sees a difference to be an advantage. And, more importantly, my Sweden believes in women's power.

Such recognition for my small & absolutely imperfect work, makes me wanna work harder & harder to continue echoing the voice of my people in Yemen. It's been 5 years for me in Sweden & I've always been thinking on how to dedicate my time & energy for my people, despite the distance (till the time comes when I work from Yemen).

Working with human rights issues is a tough work. You know that things might not get better. And they don't. They go backward, often. Still, what gets me jumping out of my bed every morning is: the love of my life, that's writing.

What would I have done without you, writing? Don't know..

Anyways, tack Sverige!

Takfeer in Yemen

Can't stop thinking about Omar who was killed two days ago by a fanatic religious group because he dared to challenge one of the trio taboos in Yemen (politics, sex and religion). For Omar, it was Allah to be examined. He dared to use his mind and think critically while the lunatics killers didn't have the balls to think, and simply followed ill-hearted rules and decided that Omar's blood was their ticket to heaven. Heaven; Omar would have laughed at that idea. Rest in courage, sweet Omar! You'll always be my hero!

"Politics and the Evolution of Takfeer in Yemen". I'm reposting this in-depth report Sama'a Al-Hamdani & I made few years ago, as we're reminded again by the sensitivity of offending religion with the murder of the 18-years-old Mohammed Omar. Sama'a and I conclude that "mandatory education must be enforced to help individuals make informed decisions. The Yemeni educational system, which is currently being revamped, needs to give equal importance to scientific education (learned knowledge over memorized knowledge). More importantly, the people need to be aware of the influence of religious imperialism from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar, Egypt and Turkey. When it comes to governance, people need to understand that there are modes of governance other than religious orthodoxy or failed “democracy.”

Yemeni accused of atheism murdered

"Around 10pm last Sunday, a young Yemeni called Omar Mohammed Batawil was abducted in front of his home in the Crater district of Aden.

On Monday afternoon, residents in the Sheikh Osman district found his body. He had been shot.

Sources quoted by Almawqea website say Batawil had been receiving death threats and accusations of atheism because of comments "critical of religion" that he had posted on Facebook...." – Al-Baba.

One of late Batawil's facebook posts tackles the existence of Allah: 

Yemen Talks

In a remarkable reversal of al-Qaeda's fortunes, the Yemeni military backed by Saudi and Emirati ground and air support drove al-Qaeda out of the major southern cities over the weekend. The campaign began weeks ago with forces driving east from Aden into Lahj and Abyan, and was joined over the weekend by a massive campaign in the east that rooted al-Qaeda out of Mukulla, where it was firmly entrenched since April 2015. Yemeni forces marching south from the Saudi border prevented al-Qaeda from entering the interior wadi region of Hadramawt and secured key oil facilities and military bases.

Al-Qaeda clearly made a tactical decision to retreat in the face of an overwhelming show of force by the coalition, as it has done in the past only to reappear again, but the rapid retreat of al-Qaeda from the main southern cities is a major victory.

At the peace talks in Kuwait, after an initial delay of three days waiting for the Houthi-Saleh representatives to arrive, the talks have again stalled as little progress has been made. The Houthis and Ali Abdullah Saleh want an end to the air campaign while Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi wants to focus first on demilitarizing the Houthi militias and removing Houthi forces from the northern cities. On a positive note, the U.N. special representative to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, emphasized that the cease-fire does seem to be gradually taking hold, though fighting and air strikes continue in the Taiz region in particular. Representatives of the two sides remain in Kuwait so further on and off negotiations are expected this week. – Middle East Institute

Co-Speaking With Nawal El Saadawi

Stockholm, winter, 2011 – This is the only picture I have with Dr. Nawal El Saadawi. I made sure to go early to her talk accompanied by my friend, Roya. As we were about to enter the building, Nawal was just arriving as well. Once our eyes faced each other at the gate, I screamed with joy. Wallahi I’m not kidding. I bet Nawal thought I was a crazy young lady. It didn’t matter what she thought about me. For me, I was and still star-struck. Ever since my feminist consciousness came to birth, that’s around 2008, she’s been one of my feminist heroes. I used to watch her, read her and think about her whenever I felt how society treat me in a peculiar way just because I was a female. I remember during my work at Yemen Observer in Sana’a (2009-2011), I used to wait till lunch time when the office gets empty so I can check Nawal on Youtube and watch some of her interviews. Back then, not many Arab TV channels used to host her and not many at my men-dominated office used to leave me alone if it happened that they watch me watching her on my computer, for she has always had provocative issues to rise. Anyhow, I love the internet for helping me & my generation to overcome such obstacles.


Sharing the stage with the legendary feminist writer like Dr. Nawal El Saadawi, later today is insane. Despite that ever since (and about) the Arab Spring, El Saadawi has been embracing ideas that I don’t agree on, speaking with her on Monday would be too good to be true. Can’t wait!

:: ~~|~~ :: where & when the talk will be: Today, Stockholm at Södra teatern at 7.00 pm, for more info see here.

President Hadi’s Dubious Leadership

Headlines on the critical state of Yemen's current affairs highlight the catastrophic humanitarian situation, war atrocities and the precarious upcoming peace talks. But there is another calamity brewing in Yemen that is receiving little attention: the unreliable leadership of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

Hadi's latest New York Times op-ed, and his cabinet reshuffle both demonstrate that his own survival comes first on his agenda, overlooking the importance of winning the hearts and minds of the Yemeni public.

The fact that he appears more concerned with speaking to the west, only pausing to address Yemeni politics for his own survival interest, is weakening his status domestically. Hadi needs to rethink his leadership style and expand his public diplomacy to include both domestic and international audiences.

Inevitably, after spending 17 years in office as the vice president of ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Hadi has learned about the politics of staying in office from Saleh who for the past 38 years has masterfully engineered his own survival.

For Hadi, though, the tactics he is employing are proving problematic. While Saleh used to preach that ruling Yemen was "like dancing on the heads of snakes", Hadi seems to have adopted the idea that ruling Yemen can be achieved through publishing op-eds in western media, for western audiences.

Public diplomacy starts at home

The two op-ed pieces were written by Hadi for The New York Times in April 2015 and March 2016 on the conflict in Yemen were meant to polish his image exclusively on the international stage. Clearly, these addresses were not intended to speak to the people of Yemen, where more than half the population is illiterate, let alone able to read English.

My Commentary on Yemen's Ceasefire

If the ceasefire doesn't hold, we're facing an irreversible catastrophe. For millions in Yemen, the current situation is like a slow death. We have a great deal of newly born babies who have been born and died as a result of the catastrophic humanitarian situation...  –I spoke yesterday on TRT World. 

 

Let's Coexist Yemen

Kudos to Yemenis who despite all the misery & frustration continue to advocate for peace & coexistence! 

via لنتعايش Lets Coexist Yemen: "The country has been going through a very devastating time. Individual Yemeni youth in partnership with House of Ideas has collaborated to launch a sustainable campaign to promote peace and coexistence in Yemen. The campaign is launched with this video......



......the social fabric in Yemen, sometimes even causing fractions between families. Yemenis aspire for permanent peace and social justice. Stopping the war is the ultimate goal but dealing with its ugly consequences and the devastating impact on social ties can start from now.

The video is only the beginning of this campaign. We invite every Yemeni individual and organization to contribute to the campaign by keeping the hashtag alive and by contributing to achieving its objectives.

The campaign objectives include:
- Promote social cohesion and peace in Yemen.
- Emphasize shared values and beliefs.
- Support the efforts of peace and conflict resolution by increasing the readiness for tolerance and reconciliation." 

#tbt

#‎tbt‬: Protesting to demand passing a law banning child marriage in Yemen, in front of the Yemeni parliament in Sana'a - March 2010.  ‪#‎nostalgia‬

Yemen war one year on: Are peace talks doomed to fail?

*As the war in Yemen enters its second year, the previously adjourned peace talks led by the United Nations special envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, are scheduled to resume in mid-April in Kuwait. The talks cannot succeed until their structure is revised and attitudes are changed on both warring sides.

During the covert and overt peace negotiations to end the conflict, both sides have shown interest in reaching a political solution while accompanying attempts for a ceasefire have been infringed on the ground with increasing brutality.

Talks in Switzerland, in Oman and then again in Switzerland failed to establish concessions for a roadmap to a political solution and a long-term ceasefire. Instead, they gave a chance for warring parties to reposition themselves in renewed fighting.

Significant problems in the talks lay in the structure of the talk process and in the warring sides' attitudes.

Flawed negotiations table

Rather than having a negotiation table that includes all parties to the conflict, previous talks focused exclusively on two parties - Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi's government and the Houthi-Ali Abdullah Saleh alliance - and failed by excluding a major party in the conflict, the Saudi-led coalition supporting Hadi.

The exclusion of the coalition camp ultimately represented an ineffective communication and contributed to the renewal of the fighting more aggressively. Over the past year, more than 6,400 people have been killed and more than 30,000 injured, and 7.6 million people are in a position of severe food insecurity, according to the UN.

It is difficult to see the possibility of productive negotiations if the Saudis don't sit around the table as well and became involved in direct communication with all the warring sides.

A previous exchange of prisoners swap and the latest one between the Houthis and the Saudis, conducted by intervening tribal men, exemplify how talks might be more productive if the two sides started talking to each other.

An important missing component in previous talks was the participation of women. Yemeni women are playing a vital role as advocates for peace-building, as affirmed by Oxfam's executive director, Winnie Byanyima, and yet they have nearly no access to the peace talks.

As a result, Yemeni women are struggling to ensure their participation at the negotiation table through a "Pact for Peace and Security" endorsed by the UN Women, the body created in 2010 as the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.

Featured Among Most 100 Influential Arabs

I did it again. I’m among ArabianBusiness’ latest list of 100 most influential Arabs. Unbelievable!

The Problem of Yemen Experts

Local voices are under-represented in favour of a new market of Western experts.

*Mohammed Al-Yamani, the dedicated Yemeni photojournalist who was killed after being shot by a Houthi sniper more than a week ago, has received a wide solidarity online exceeding his usual humble local network in Yemen; as his death came in a tragic incident. The New York Times has even reported his death. Hadn’t Al-Yamani – like most other killed Yemeni media workers – been murdered, the likelihood that his name would appear in big media publication would have been slim, if not impossible.

Tainted by evident under-representation of local Yemen experts, media outlets in all forms and directions, as well esteemed international panels and research centres, cover and analyse Yemen through the lens of predominantly non-Yemeni experts on Yemen. This undermines the importance of local Yemeni’s agency in shaping the narrative related to their country in international media.


“Study up” Yemen

It is crucial to differentiate between two types of foreign Yemen experts: those who have never been to Yemen and yet like to study and analyse Yemen as a mere subject-matter, and those who have been to Yemen for months or years and decide to make Yemen their speciality. Certainly, the former is more problematic than the latter. But they both contribute to the under-representation of the local Yemeni experts.

In the second oldest magazine in the United States, Harper's Magazine, a contributing editor wrote: “face it, until recently many of you didn’t know for sure if Yemen was a country or an erectile dysfunction medication. Now that Yemen has emerged as a major focus of the war on terror, you better study up.”