...and Yemen!

[teqniq]

I would have more sympathy for what the Houthis are claiming they are doing - namely as a response to Israel's actions in Gaza were it not for the fact that they turned out to be a bunch of awful repressive arseholes with a really dodgy record on human rights. Subsequently my sympathies lie with the Yemeni people in general (the civilian population that is) who are having to cope with the ongoing bombing by the US and the UK in their attempts to protect Israel.

 

[klang]

Amongst other things, hardcore Sharia law is implemented in houthi areas, eg women not allowed out without male guardian.

 

[klang]

I would have more sympathy for what the Houthis are claiming they are doing - namely as a response to Israel's actions in Gaza were it not for the fact that they turned out to be a bunch of awful repressive arseholes with a really dodgy record on human rights. Subsequently my sympathies lie with the Yemeni people in general (the civilian population that is) who are having to cope with the ongoing bombing by the US and the UK in their attempts to protect Israel.

Also worth remembering that the houthis were a very marginalised group under Saleh...I found it interesting how such a small obscure 'rebel' group could withstand decades of oppression and bombing campaigns.

 

[klang]

my sympathies lie with the Yemeni people in general (the civilian population that is)

The houthis were not voted in and never represented the people of Yemen. Their rule is repressive and brutal.
A lot of Yemenis put a lot of hope in the post Saleh period and saw the Arab spring as an opportunity for progress

 

[klang]

I still think that a break up of Yemen into two states is inevitable.

 

[teqniq]

Also worth remembering that the houthis were a very marginalised group under Saleh...I found it interesting how such a small obscure 'rebel' group could withstand decades of oppression and bombing campaigns.

Indeed so. For anyone who can be bothered to trawl back through this thread you will find me posting about the Houthis right from when they first started making an appearance and they were just an obscure sect living in the mountains. Initially I thought they were a brave new hope in the fractured politics in Yemen but then I started seeing reports of their repressiveness and people being disappeared who spoke out against them and subsequently changed my mind pretty rapidly.

 

[klang]

Indeed so. For anyone who can be bothered to trawl back through this thread you will find me posting about the Houthis right from when they first started making an appearance and they were just an obscure sect living in the mountains. Initially I thought they were a brave new hope in the fractured politics in Yemen but then I started seeing reports of their repressiveness and people being disappeared who spoke out against them and subsequently changed my mind pretty rapidly.

To me a big turning point was when the houthis first took over Sana'a (with Salehs help) and published a photo in Tawakkol karman's (joint Nobel peace prize recipient after her role in Yemen's student uprising which lead to the ousting of Saleh) house, showing houthi fighters chewing qat in karman's bed.
A big fuck you to progress, women's right, and progressive politics.
A propaganda picture if ever there was one, showing that the houthis had little interest in progressive future building.
It stuck with me.

 

[klang]

I've written about it a lot over the years, but if there is anything we can learn from it at all it is that groups like the houthis and Islamism doesn't come out of nowhere. They are a direct result of imperialism, dodgy policies, and propping up corrupt regimes. They need a vacuum to flourish.

 

[klang]

more sympathy for what the Houthis are claiming they are doing - namely as a response to Israel's actions in Gaza

On a related side note - the houthis declared a few months ago that their attacks on red sea traffic would continue, even if the war on Gaza came to an end.... predictably, their stance has shifted.