I meant is there a similar secular/socialist group in the north?
I keep thinking about this question and and keep mulling things over in my head, so here are a few thoughts on the history of class based politics in the South v the North of Yemen, and as to why Class Politics has found and still finds more traction in the South, compared to the North.
(trigger warning -> this will be half informed and semi worked out thoughts and theories, very badly worded and all over the place, because I'm not very good at this)
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Most of this will be pre- Arab Spring and the Houthi takeover, as this marks a very different period, but provides important context:
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Whilst the South has a long established tradition of international collaboration and had a good stab at lived socialism, class based politics were and are largely unknown in the North, and never really fitted in with conservative tribal politics.
(Most will probably know that) Aden was under British rule (protectorate) for a good 90 years, as its unique geographical position (located on the very southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, built into an extinguished crater of a volcano, which makes it the perfect natural harbour) lays half way between Britain and India. It was mainly used as a coaling station for ships passing the Suez canal, going back and forth between the UK and India, as well as other British colonies.
With the Brits came people from India and other colonies. Aden at the time was a thriving place, a colourful mix of cultures, where traders, labourers, sailors, military personnel, missionaries, refugees, travellers and chancers would meet and mix. Most of the world's religions would live together in relative harmony. There would have been a constant coming and going, people from all over the world would pass through and settle.
Many Yemenis were hired to work the ships, travelling the world, experiencing different cultures and returning home with tales of adventures in places far away.
(Yemenis usually had to work under deck, as fire men, feeding the coal fires, without seeing day light for weeks. A hot, dirty, and physically very demanding job)
As there was no ID or passport system for Yemenis in place before and during the British rule, many tribesmen from the Highlands made their way to Aden, claiming to be Southern / Adeni, and as such securing the right to work for her Majesty, exploring the world, and returning with a new outlook on life and politics.
(I'm not, in any way, endorsing Colonialism and I can only imagine the cruelty that was inflicted on Adenis throughout British rule. But at the same time, the foreign influence and the 'opening up to the world' Aden experienced for a good 90 years can't be ignored and played a big part in the developments that were to follow.)
(On a side note - Places like Taizz and Ibb ended up as part of South Yemen, even though culturally and geographically they are a lot closer to Sana'a. Events like the one above only highlight that there is no major difference between Southern- and Northern Yemeni people, but that, just like anywhere else, their outlook on life is shaped by experience, upbringing and education.)
To this day, there are strong reminders of Aden's Hindu-, Parsee- (there still is a Tower of Silence), Christian-, Sikh- and Buddhist communities. The unique architecture of Aden is a wild mix of British Colonial Style (from Kensington style gardens to statues of Queen Vic to a replica of Big Ben to streets resembling Chelsea), Indian, traditional Arabic, all the way to Chinese and Persian.
Every corner of the world seems to somehow have left its mark. I never got tired walking around Krater and exploring Tawahi. Every corner, every house, every apartment reminded me of a different country and culture, all thrown together and mixed up to make it so very unique to Aden.
Later, after ridding itself from Colonialism, in the days of Socialism, brutalist architecture was thrown into the mix. The crater of the volcano was already densely built on, so Aden expanded out into the salt plains bordering the deserts and high lands. There are whole areas (such as Khor Maxa) of brutalist architecture, reminding of the Eastern Bloc. (I stayed in the ex GDR embassy, a brutalist fortress with 3m thick walls, complete with a parade square out front, the size of 2 football pitches. When we stayed there we were 6 of us feeling physically very safe, but being a bit spooked by the sheer size of the building and its history.).
Of course, Aden is also influenced by its proximity to the Horn of Africa. Somalis, Kenyans, Ethiopians and Eritreans have traded with and via Aden for centuries, visited and settled, and they too have left their marks, esp within culture and cuisine. Southern Yemeni music is a crazy mix between Arabic, Indian, East African, and European. So is its arts and cuisine.
With the 'Corrective Move' and the dawn of socialism in 1969 came a new set of international relationships: South Yemen established strong ties with Cuba, East Germany, Angola, Russia and China.
Education was a very important part of the manifesto of The Socialist Party (free, paid for by taxation, minimum education a requirement), and there was a lot of educational cultural exchange between the countries. Suddenly Spanish was heard on the streets of Aden, spoken by Cuban exchange students. Lenin was hip, so people studied Russian. I was astonished by how many people had a basic grasp of German when I was there, in a place so far away and isolated from the rest of the world.
Class based politics had truly arrived in the very south of Arabia, an educated urban elite had emerged, conscious of its place in society, young, optimistic, hopeful and diverse.
With the fall of The Wall and the Eastern Bloc, which ultimately lead to the re-unification of Yemen (eg subsidies for workers' unions and education form East Germany came to an end), came global capitalism and a class system many Southern Yemenis had never experienced. (From trad Arab tribal structures to being ruled and disrespected by colonial oppressors)
Power structures had changed, an industrial Yemeni ruling- and working class had emerged, and the little industry that wasn't moved to the north of the country (notably: in the East of Southern Yemen lays a stretch of desert around Marib and Hadramaut, which has two great assets: Oil and date industry) suddenly had to compete against powerful international players such as the other golf states and the West.
Production had to be cheap, labour was exploited, and the sense of 'working together for a brighter future' had all but disappeared. International collaboration was replaced by Neoliberal Globalisation.
Gone were the committees, the women's rights orgs, the one brewery of the country, free education, the unions and the anti-tribal politics, and Aden swiftly turned into a backwater, a forgotten place where each was on their own, hungry, without a functioning state providing for basic needs like housing, health care and education.
With it also came Saleh-sponsored Islamism, Al Qaeda, and a weird style of Sufi-esque Wahabism (not unknown to the country, but previously largely found in the North).
Once the War on Terror was in full swing, US-lead drone attacks and targeted assassinations of dissidents weren't far behind. Saleh loved the position he was in: Allying with the US allowed him to suppress, eliminate enemies, blunder and terrorise.
It was only a matter of time before Adenis had enough of the new style of running things, and out of the many splinter groups and after a lost civil war the Southern Movement finally grew, out of the ashes of the South Yemen Socialist Party. Armed struggle was taken up. They enjoyed widespread support.
Their manifesto speaks for itself: 'The North can't be trusted, capitalism can't be trusted, the only way forward can be separation from the North. Nobody but ourselves can shape our destiny. Class struggle forms the roots of all struggles'.
Little did they know at the time that a forthcoming war would force them to ally with the one person they spent their entire existence fighting against: The president of a united Yemen.
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www.politico.com
catalyst-journal.com
caat.org.uk
