Special from Yemen: Female demonstrators lash out at defamation campaign
Sanaa -- Yemeni women activists are responding combatively to the media war waged by state outlets this week aimed at denouncing female participation in protests sweeping the nation.
Sparking the row, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Friday criticized gender intermingling during the demonstrations in a televised speech delivered to thousands of pro-regime supporters.
“I call on them [the joint meeting parties] to reject the mixing of sexes as it’s forbidden by Islam,” Saleh urged in Sanaa.
State-run television channels in subsequent days hosted several men who allegedly defected from demonstrations in Tagheer (Change) Square, the epicenter of Yemen’s unrest, because of female behavior there.
“I used to see men getting inside their tents, sharing poems or whatever. That bothered me a lot, as it’s a big shame,” a self-proclaimed member of one women protection committee said on the show, which was later posted on YouTube and publicized on social media sites.
“Once I saw some girls mingling with some male protesters," the member said. "Then they took a taxi and left the protest together. I informed the security committee but they did nothing. They said it’s not the time to address this kind of problem.”
Saleh’s state media mechanism has sought to appeal to the religious and socially conservative Yemeni majority through its criticism of female involvement in the unrest. State-run news websites continue to pursue a defamation campaign against the women demonstrators. They publish photos of females mingling with men in Tagheer Square, some holding discussions in academic tents with men chewing Qat -- a natural amphetamine pervasively used among men in Yemen.
“As a girl I can’t isolate myself from the society and not participate in what’s happening only because men in my society chew Qat and are not used to hosting women during their chewing sessions,” Sara Gamal, featured in one of the photos, told Al-Masry Al-Youm, while insisting her participation in political discussions with male counterparts does not violate Islamic rules.
In response to Saleh’s remarks, Yemeni female demonstrators on Saturday submitted a defamation suit to the general prosecution office against President Saleh, Minister of Information Hassan Al-Lawzy and head of the Yemeni Public Cooperation for Radio and Television, Hussein Ghuthem. The suit includes charges of libel and slander.
Critics of the regime say the head of state, in power for three decades, is resorting to any means necessary to retain power.
“Saleh contradicts himself. At the beginning he wanted to scare the Yemeni women, saying that if his regime withdrew, the Islamists will make Yemen another Afghanistan where women have no voice or rights,” said Arwa al-Faqeeh, a female activist involved in the defamation suit who has been camped out at Tagheer Square. “But now he is trying to act Taliban himself by denying our rights in making change in the streets along with our brothers.”
“He should be the last to talk about Islam or the Yemeni female honor and manners. He is a two-faced man that shouts for the constitutional legitimacy but, once we practice our constitutional rights, he accuses us of being un-Islamic!”
Al-Faqeeh and her fellow activists also arranged large marches in Taiz, Aden, Ibb and Yemen’s capital, Sanaa. Civil society activists, moreover, coordinated a mixed march in Sanaa to deliver a message to Saleh that women have nothing to hide in demonstrating beside men. And the Islamist Islah Party, the country’s largest opposition bloc, arranged marches strictly for women.
But some Yemenis, even those women dedicatedly involved in the pro-democracy movement sweeping the nation, suggest Saleh’s remarks are impacting the mentality of the unrest.
“Saleh led us to a dangerous way of thinking,” said female activist Samia al-Hadad. “He succeeded in making us relate the honor of women with the fact of mixing with men in general activities.”
“The regime is playing a strong psychological game against the revolution and the protesters in Change Square,” said political analyst Ahmed al-Zurqa. “The president knows how sensitive the stereotype of the Yemeni women is from an ethical point of view. He meant to cause defections in the square.”
Sparking the row, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Friday criticized gender intermingling during the demonstrations in a televised speech delivered to thousands of pro-regime supporters.
“I call on them [the joint meeting parties] to reject the mixing of sexes as it’s forbidden by Islam,” Saleh urged in Sanaa.
State-run television channels in subsequent days hosted several men who allegedly defected from demonstrations in Tagheer (Change) Square, the epicenter of Yemen’s unrest, because of female behavior there.
“I used to see men getting inside their tents, sharing poems or whatever. That bothered me a lot, as it’s a big shame,” a self-proclaimed member of one women protection committee said on the show, which was later posted on YouTube and publicized on social media sites.
“Once I saw some girls mingling with some male protesters," the member said. "Then they took a taxi and left the protest together. I informed the security committee but they did nothing. They said it’s not the time to address this kind of problem.”
Saleh’s state media mechanism has sought to appeal to the religious and socially conservative Yemeni majority through its criticism of female involvement in the unrest. State-run news websites continue to pursue a defamation campaign against the women demonstrators. They publish photos of females mingling with men in Tagheer Square, some holding discussions in academic tents with men chewing Qat -- a natural amphetamine pervasively used among men in Yemen.
“As a girl I can’t isolate myself from the society and not participate in what’s happening only because men in my society chew Qat and are not used to hosting women during their chewing sessions,” Sara Gamal, featured in one of the photos, told Al-Masry Al-Youm, while insisting her participation in political discussions with male counterparts does not violate Islamic rules.
In response to Saleh’s remarks, Yemeni female demonstrators on Saturday submitted a defamation suit to the general prosecution office against President Saleh, Minister of Information Hassan Al-Lawzy and head of the Yemeni Public Cooperation for Radio and Television, Hussein Ghuthem. The suit includes charges of libel and slander.
Critics of the regime say the head of state, in power for three decades, is resorting to any means necessary to retain power.
“Saleh contradicts himself. At the beginning he wanted to scare the Yemeni women, saying that if his regime withdrew, the Islamists will make Yemen another Afghanistan where women have no voice or rights,” said Arwa al-Faqeeh, a female activist involved in the defamation suit who has been camped out at Tagheer Square. “But now he is trying to act Taliban himself by denying our rights in making change in the streets along with our brothers.”
“He should be the last to talk about Islam or the Yemeni female honor and manners. He is a two-faced man that shouts for the constitutional legitimacy but, once we practice our constitutional rights, he accuses us of being un-Islamic!”
Al-Faqeeh and her fellow activists also arranged large marches in Taiz, Aden, Ibb and Yemen’s capital, Sanaa. Civil society activists, moreover, coordinated a mixed march in Sanaa to deliver a message to Saleh that women have nothing to hide in demonstrating beside men. And the Islamist Islah Party, the country’s largest opposition bloc, arranged marches strictly for women.
But some Yemenis, even those women dedicatedly involved in the pro-democracy movement sweeping the nation, suggest Saleh’s remarks are impacting the mentality of the unrest.
“Saleh led us to a dangerous way of thinking,” said female activist Samia al-Hadad. “He succeeded in making us relate the honor of women with the fact of mixing with men in general activities.”
“The regime is playing a strong psychological game against the revolution and the protesters in Change Square,” said political analyst Ahmed al-Zurqa. “The president knows how sensitive the stereotype of the Yemeni women is from an ethical point of view. He meant to cause defections in the square.”
