Thursday Blues

Tik Root | The Economist

ON AUGUST 15th Yemenis woke up and, although it was a Thursday, for the first time since a two-day weekend was introduced in the late 1990s, everyone had to go to work.

Yemen is the last country in the world to switch to a Friday-Saturday weekend and abandon Thursday as a day of rest; Afghans and Iranians still take half the day off. The shift is meant to better align the Yemeni workweek with that of its trading partners in the Middle East, Asia and the West. “They were wasting a Thursday,” says Nabil al-Khamery, a prominent car-dealer whose business relies on international trade. “To save time and money, you have to [correspond] with the system.”

CONTINUE READING AT ECONOMIST.COM...

Yemen's Houthi rebels defy years of war and repression

Tik Root | BBC

Holding up "Death to America" signs and pictures of their fallen leader, an eager throng of Houthi rebels and their supporters gathered in the war-torn northern Yemeni city of Saada earlier this month for a funeral nine years in the making.

Just hours before the ceremony was set to begin, no-one had been told precisely where it would be held.

Despite being forced to hang around in the whipping dust, fidgety funeral-goers seemed understanding of the extra security.

They had, after all, come to bury Hussein Badr al-Dine al-Houthi, the charismatic founder of a group that has variously been a target for al-Qaeda, neighbouring tribesmen, and the central government.

CONTINUE READING AT THE BBC...

A day at the zoo — in Yemen

Tik Root | Global Post

SANA’A, Yemen — For just 100 riyals ($0.46), visitors of the Sana’a Zoo in Yemen’s capital can peruse a bizarre collection of animals that showcases pigeons over monkeys and alligators – and that hosts Arabian Leopards sixteen times as rare as the Giant Panda.

The animals are unhealthy, the cages are small, and the care is rudimentary at best. But the zoo’s low but quirky standards are not enough to deter pleasure-seeking Yemenis from enjoying the wildlife.

As one of the few green spaces among the city’s urban sprawl, the zoo is a weekend and holiday destination for Yemenis looking for an afternoon of entertainment amid the grinding poverty and rising insecurity that have come to characterize the country in recent years. 

CONTINUE READING AT GLOBAL POST... 

Stepping back in time in Socotra

Tik Root | BBC Travel

Nestled high on a plateau between the Haghier mountain range and the Arabian Sea, five Socotrans gathered in a stone hut devoid of electricity, running water and all but the most essential supplies. After a fire-cooked dinner of goat, rice and tea, a group of Dixam plateau men settled in for a standard night of song, poetry and discussion about their island’s future.

Socotra is an island of roughly 50,000 people located 380km off the coast of Yemen, the country to which it only technically belongs. Far removed from the political and security instability on the mainland, Socotra’s stunning microclimates, exceptional biodiversity and Candyland-like features make it an inimitable paradise.

CONTINUE READING AT THE BBC TRAVEL...

A Sheikh's Life

Tik Root & Casey Coombs | The American Prospect

Tariq al-Fadhli wept when he heard that Osama Bin Laden had been killed.

“I love him and thank him for supporting me. If it wasn't for Osama Bin Laden, maybe I wouldn't have returned to my country,” recalled al-Fadhli, a well-known Yemeni tribal Sheikh recently expelled from his compound in southern Abyan province at gunpoint by anti-al-Qaeda militiamen who were convinced he was aiding militants in the area. But during an interview at his government-proffered villa in neighboring Aden, al-Fadhli insisted that he is affiliated with not al-Qaeda.

“If I had a relationship with al-Qaeda, the local intelligence would know,” he said, waving a cigarette in his neatly manicured hand. Safe behind a high wall buffered with heavily armed tribesmen—most of whom had a wad of khat (a mildly narcatoic leaf chewed by many Yemenis) in their cheek—Sheikh al-Fadli was relaxed. Wearing a local kilt-like futa, a traditional dagger known as a jambiya, and other colorful accessories, he even cracked jokes. If the accusations of al-Qaeda affiliation turn out to be true, he said, “I am prepared to go to Guantanamo and pay for the ticket. I would go there naked.”

CONTINUE READING AT THE PROSPECT...

Jailed in Damascus

Tik Root | Foreign Policy

My time in Syria was short but decidedly varied: one week as a tourist, 10 days as a student, and two weeks as an inmate. As the Syrian conflict continues to unfold, my brush with the regime's paranoia was just one of the first instances of what evolved into an extremely bloody crackdown.

I was arrested on March 18, 2011, the first Friday of what was then termed the Syrian "revolution," after stumbling upon a protest in old Damascus. Just a student at the time, I was suspected of being a journalist, spy, or other unwelcome ilk. I was charged vaguely with "breaking Syrian law" and spent the next two weeks crammed in a basement prison run by the infamous secret police.

This week marked the second anniversary of my release. Since then, the Syria I so fleetingly knew has, for better or worse, unraveled.

CONTINUE READING AT FOREIGN POLICY...

Yemen Still Sentences Children to Death by Firing Squad

Tik Root | The Atlantic

SANA'A, YEMEN -- On Saturday, Mohammed Haza'a was put to death by the Yemeni government despite legitimate questions as to whether he was under the age of 18 when he committed an alleged murder.

In 1999, Mohammed shot an intruder at his home in the central Yemeni city of Tiaz. The man later died of his wounds. Various judges, including the one who made the initial ruling, determined that the killing was self-defense and that Mohammed was underage at the time of the crime. Ignoring these concerns, an appeals court eventually sentenced him to death.

George Abu Al-Zulof, a child protection specialist at UNICEF, describes in chilling detail how firing squads carry out their orders. "They put them on the ground, they cover them with the blanket and then a doctor comes and points around the heart from the back side. Then they shoot three to four bullets [into] the heart."

CONTINUE READING AT THEATLANTIC.COM...

Arms in Yemen: Guns for sale

Tik Root | The Economist

JIHANA, a nondescript village half an hour outside the Yemeni capital Sana’a, is a gun lover’s paradise. Yemen boasts a score of arms markets and Jihana is among the largest. The shops along the main road, as well as those tucked away in the market’s dusty depths, alternate between convenience stores and weapons outlets. Kalashnikovs, Turkish glocks, tank artillery and even “Libyans”, black rifles supposedly supplied by the Qaddafi regime, are all available.

CONTINUE READING AT ECONOMIST.COM...

A shake up in Yemen’s GPC?


Tik Root | Foreign Policy

Facing perhaps its biggest crisis yet, Yemen's ruling party of over three decades, the General People's Congress (GPC), is in desperate need of reform. As one of the only ruling parties to have survived a widespread Arab Spring uprising, it is now navigating uncharted territory. While the party and its leader, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, are doing infinitely better than their imprisoned, exiled, dead, or dismantled counterparts across the Middle East and North Africa, the party's continued relevance and prosperity is by no means guaranteed, a reality to which it is struggling to adjust. 

Formed in 1982 by Saleh, then president of the northern Yemen Arab Republic (YAR), the GPC was created to counter the rise of dissident leftist groups, like the National Democratic Front. Over time, the GPC grew into the country's dominant political force, winning the most seats in the first national elections held after the unification of the YAR and the southern People's Democratic Republic of Yemen in 1990. In the last parliamentary elections held in Yemen, in 2003, the party won 76 percent of seats. But, by the time the Arab Spring broke out the GPC was more a collection of powerful elites living off access to government coffers than a political party in the democratic sense of the term. Hardly bound to public opinion, the GPC ruled with relative impunity and only occasional resistance from the country's pseudo opposition coalition (the Joint Meeting Parties, or JMP). In hindsight, it is not surprising that the party became a primary target of revolutionaries. 

Yemen's popular uprising that began in January 2011 brought millions of protesters to the streets. Activists called for the "fall of the regime," and events often turned bloody, with more than 2,000 deaths reported by Yemen's human rights minister. In November 2011, after many delays, Saleh finally signed an internationally brokered Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) agreement to relinquish the presidency. In February 2012, President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi was elected in a one-man race called for under the GCC transition plan. Over this turbulent period the GPC's popularity, membership, and monopoly on government resources took a predictably hard hit. Now, with fewer spoils to go around and the need to mobilize support, the GPC will have to evolve into a more self-sustaining entity.

CONTINUE READING AT FOREIGN POLICY...

Gun Control, Yemen-Style


Tik Root | The Atlantic

SANA'A, YEMEN -- With shops lining the main road and hard bargaining merchants abounding, Jihana appears to be your average Yemeni market. But instead of shopping for food or clothes, customers peruse a vast assortment of glocks, pistols, AK47s, M16s, anti-aircraft artillery, bazookas, and nearly any other weapon short of an actual tank. 

"In Yemen, no matter if you're rich or poor, you must have guns. Even if it's just one piece," insists Abdul Wahab al-Ammari, a tribal sheikh from Yemen's Ibb province who resides in Sana'a, citing self-protection as the primary driver of gun ownership. "I have maybe 14 high powered weapons, and 3 handguns [at home]."

Americans, spurred by the tragic shootings in Newton, Aurora, and elsewhere, clearly aren't alone in their need to discuss gun control. Yemen, the second most heavily-armed country in the world per capita after the U.S., has a completely unique set of challenges as it wrestles with the question of what, if anything, can be done to address the demand of average citizens to bear arms.

CONTINUE READING AT THEATLANTIC.COM...

Yemen Explores Alternative Energy

Casey Coombs and Tik Root | Voice of America

SANA'A — The Republic of Yemen, unlike its oil-rich neighbors on the Arabian peninsula, has been forced to explore alternative forms of energy to offset low crude oil production.

But while desperate government officials in the capital Sana’a scramble to revive an economy shattered by last year’s anti-government uprisings, renewable energy investments remain on the back burner.
 
In the face of the uprisings, the Yemeni government and international actors froze millions of dollars earmarked for alternative energy projects and in many cases redirected the funds to what they considered more urgent priorities.

One such project, a 60 megawatt wind farm in Al Mokha city, had been stalled since Yemen’s political upheavals began, but is “now moving,” according to Wael Zakout, country manager of Yemen’s World Bank office.

Located along Yemen’s southern Red Sea coast, the proposed site overlooks the Bab Al Mandeb Strait, a waterway through which more than three million barrels of crude oil shipments sail daily. Currently, Yemen produces about 1,000 megawatts of electricity nationwide - about a third of consumer demand.

YEMEN: Wind and solar energy fall short of potential

Tik Root | IRIN News

SANA’A, 6 December 2012 (IRIN) - Thirteen years ago electronics retailer Abdulmajeed al-Wahbani was one of the first people in Yemen to venture into the solar power business. So far the gamble has paid off.

His solar panel supply business found a niche and has seen impressive growth, while also helping to fight rural poverty.

"People need to work, and to secure their business and their life, they will go to solar power," he told IRIN.

He said his rapid business growth is tied to a negative trend in Yemen - increasingly frequent and lengthy power outages over the past decade, especially during the political instability last year. Power cuts can sometimes last for weeks, acting as a brake on the economy, outside major cities.

In 2013 he is planning a nationwide advertising campaign to promote renewable energy - something he hopes will spread to the "entire country". While that goal may seem ambitious, both the need and potential for renewable energy in Yemen are high.

Yemen's western coast, from Bab al-Mandab to Al-Mokha, rates among the windiest corridors in the world, while the country's frequently clear skies make it a prime candidate for solar power. More modest geothermal potential also exists.

CONTIUNE READING AT IRINEWS.ORG...

Yemen Political Experiment Moves Cautiously Forward

Casey Coombs and Tik Root | Voice of America

SANA'A — In Yemen, like in many Arab Spring countries, the revolution’s center of gravity has shifted from the popular revolts in Sana'a’s Change Square to quiet boardrooms across the capital, where nominally-elected political elites are guiding the beleaguered country through the democratic reform process. 

However, in contrast to other revolutionary struggles around the Middle East and North Africa, Yemen's political transition is being driven by an experimental regional and international effort to stabilize the geopolitically sensitive hotspot in the Arabian Peninsula.

Beginning with the November 2011 transfer of power from former President Ali Abdullah Saleh to his longtime second-in-command Abd Rabu Mansur Hadi, the Saudi-brokered, U.S. and UN-backed Gulf country initiative has achieved progress toward its stated goals of restructuring the military and government in preparation for multiparty elections in early 2014.

The progress includes several rounds of presidential decrees removing or demoting former President Saleh's relatives and loyalists from top military and government posts.

Series: Taking The Pulse Of Life In Vermont

Tik Root & Paul Rosenfeld | Vermont Public Radio
Link: http://www.vpr.net/episode/54180/taking-pulse-life-in-vermont/ 

To listen to the piece or read the full transcript follow links to VPR website.

Root: Pulse of VT in Waitsfield and Hancock
Earlier this year, as part of a digital storytelling class, Middlebury College students Tik Root of Ripton, and Paul Rosenfeld of Saint Louis, decided to travel the length of Vermont's Route 100 - stopping to meet people and learn about life in contemporary Vermont. Their first stop was the Hubbard Store in Hancock, where they met co-owner Christine Farr. her daughter, Marissa.

Root: Pulse of VT in Rochester
Earlier this year, as part of a digital storytelling class, Middlebury College students Tik Root of Ripton, and Paul Rosenfeld of Saint Louis, decided to explore Vermont’s Route 100 – stopping along the way to meet people and learn about life in contemporary Vermont.  In Rochester , they stopped at a local Junior Varsity basketball game where Root says they met the school principal. 

Rosenfeld: Pulse of VT in Newport
Earlier this year, as part of a digital storytelling class, Middlebury College students Paul Rosenfeld of Saint Louis, and Tik Root of Ripton, decided to explore Vermont's Route 100 - stopping along the way to meet people and learn about life in contemporary Vermont. All this week during Morning Edition, we're hearing about what they discovered in their travels.

Root: Pulse of VT in Hyde Park
Earlier this year, as part of a digital storytelling class, Middlebury College students Tik Root of Ripton, and Paul Rosenfeld of Saint Louis, decided to explore Vermont's Route 100 - stopping along the way to meet people and learn about life in contemporary Vermont.

Rosenfeld: Pulse of VT in Jamaica 
Earlier this year, as part of a digital storytelling class, Middlebury College students Paul Rosenfeld of Saint Louis , and Tik Root of Ripton, decided to explore Vermont 's Route 100. Along the way, they stopped to meet people and learn about life in contemporary Vermont. 

Yemen's youth: the best hope for democracy

Tik Root | Al Jazeera
Link: www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/08/201181514211383535.html 

Across the Middle East and North Africa, youth have used their newfound sense of dignity to create change that previous generations only dreamed about. But as the so-called Arab Spring progresses, the youth voice often gets buried under individual interests and political posturing.

Nowhere is this truer than in Yemen, where the youth face both a resilient autocrat and stubborn allies. Yet still, their determination to change the status quo through peaceful, democratic and selfless tactics has become one of the few constants in a decidedly unstable country. Over the past six months the younger generation has made it clear that if Yemenis hope to realise their revolutionary aims, the solution must include a prominent role for youth.

The uprising began even before Tunisia revolted with a handful of young activists endearingly known as the "pioneers". Every week, they would hold demonstrations against the regime. Soon after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak fell, more people joined. At its height, the popular movement drew hundreds of thousands, if not millions, to the streets, demanding President Saleh's ouster. Change Square in Yemen became a symbol of resistance, just as Tahrir Square had in Egypt.

By the middle of May the situation was deteriorating rapidly. The plan brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to transfer President Saleh from power had collapsed three times, tribal violence was escalating, and the opposition was beginning to see its own internal splits. From the Youth's perspective, they were being pushed to the side of their own revolution.

Read More

Obama can't 'lead from behind' on Syria

Pathik Root | CNN

On March 30 Syrian President Bashar al-Assad gave his first speech since the start of the popular uprising in his nation. I was listening from a 12-by-12 prison cell in Damascus with 21 other inmates. I had gone to Syria to finish my junior year studying abroad after the revolution in Egypt led to the evacuation of my program there.

The Assad speech was the only time during my two weeks in prisonthat I was allowed news from the outside. Although we were all skeptical of Assad's ability to reform, I still had a sliver of hope.

After my release I supported the Obama administration's cautious stance on the Syrian revolution. I applauded the president's willingness to consider all options. However, recent developments have made it clear that Assad's opportunity to institute real reform is gone. His speech Monday was merely confirmation. Unfortunately, President Obama still clings to a "lead from behind" policy that does not reflect the realties on the ground.

Hillary Clinton's recent op-ed in Asharq Alawsat, stating that the Syrian regime is "certainly not indispensable," represented an escalation of rhetoric, but failed to adequately shift policy. It is now in America's moral and national interest to decisively guide the international community toward a future without Assad.

Read the rest on the CNN website...

A Well Timed Trial, But for Whom?

Tik Root | New York Times "Room for Debate"
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/06/08/will-mubaraks-trial-unite-or-divide-egypt/mubaraks-trial-a-united-force-but-not-for-long 

Mubarak’s trial is similar to Saddam Hussein’s in that, by itself, it is unlikely to affect the long-term trend toward either chaos or stability. However, there will be significant short-term implications.

The trial is the biggest test yet for Egypt’s maligned justice system. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which now runs Egypt, has been widely criticized for its lack of transparency and insistence on trying civilians in military courts. Mubarak’s trial is an opportunity for the Supreme Council to prove that it can openly implement due process. If the effort fails, Egyptians could start to seriously doubt the ability of the Supreme Council to hand power over to an elected legislator later in the year.

The Supreme Council is known to use Mubarak and other top regime figures as a way of temporarily deflecting public criticism away from itself. Mubarak’s trial is sure to provide a distraction for the many Egyptians who are growing wary of recent military misdeeds like virginity tests. The distraction will buy the Supreme Council time to solidify its own interests before relinquishing power.

The trial will also take place as candidates gear up for the parliamentary elections, which are scheduled for September. Perhaps the Supreme Council is hoping that the political rhetoric will focus on fixing the problems left behind by the old regime, rather than the blunders of the transitional government.

The timing of the trial even favors Mubarak. It begins on the first week of Ramadan, a monthlong Muslim holiday consisting of daily fasts and religious observance. It is traditionally a time of forgiveness and mercy, when, among other things, prisoners are often showed leniency.

Ramadan is also prime shopping season and often makes or breaks a business’s profits for the year. It will be hard for the average Egyptian to justify paralyzing the economy with further demonstrations. If this hesitancy is combined with the theory that a fasting population is harder to mobilize, the result could very well be a subdued public reaction to the trial, and less pressure on the Supreme Council. That said, Egyptians have already shown a willingness to take to the streets unexpectedly.

I think that the vast majority of Egyptians are hoping that Mubarak will be convicted. In the short run, this common goal should be a uniting force. But in the long run, Egypt faces so many other potentially divisive challenges that the effects of the trial are likely to fade.

For now, a fair and transparent trial would be the ultimate victory for the millions of men, women and children who are struggling to shed Mubarak-era tactics.

Studying abroad, I got caught in Syria’s crackdown

Pathik Root | Washington Post
Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/an-american-student-caught-up-in-syrias-%20crackdown/2011/04/25/AFovSk8E_story.html

The walls of my 3-by-7-foot cell, which I shared with another man, were covered in carvings made by former prisoners. The tick-marks in the plaster, meant to indicate how many days a person had been there, were most unnerving: Khalid, 12; an unnamed man, 24; and poor Ashraf, 31. I asked myself: How many am I going to be making? I was lucky. I only got to seven, at least in that cell. I spent a second week packed into a 12-by-12-foot cell with 22 other men.

I am a student at Middlebury College, and I was planning on spending my junior year studying in Alexandria, Egypt. I did spend the fall there, polishing my Arabic skills, meeting Egyptians and traveling around the country. In January, I watched my friends, neighbors and professors join the crowds on the streets of Alexandria. I became a surprise witness to the country’s largest popular uprising in modern history.

By the seventh day of the revolution, our program evacuated, and I could choose to finish my year abroad in either Morocco or Syria. After consulting many people and doing plenty of research, Syria seemed like the clear, safe choice. After all, who could imagine a revolt in a police state?

Read More

Notion of free water must evaporate

Pathik Root & Roger Harrison | Arab News
Link: http://www.arabnews.com/node/328371

JEDDAH: The average human is a frail creature that cannot last very long without water, especially in a hot, arid climate like Saudi Arabia’s.

According to an unreleased report prepared for Minister of Water and Electricity, the Kingdom uses 1.5 billion cubic meters (BCM) of water each year to support 20 million palm trees. That is three times that amount of water that Jeddah consumes annually. Although the number may seem justifiable, the economic impact of such water use might not be.

The consumer in Saudi Arabia buys water for domestic use under heavily subsidized pricing. It is a sweet deal for consumers because they can use as much as they wish and pay low monthly bills.

Desalination plants supply 60 percent of this urban water use, with the other 40 percent coming from groundwater. According to an industry expert, production and transmission costs amount to SR4/cm for desalinated water, and SR2/cm for ground water. But these prices exclude two hidden costs.

One overlooked cost comes from the use of government-subsidized oil in the desalination process. If the plants were to use market priced oil, it would add an estimated SR2 /cm to the production costs. Furthermore, the above transmission cost only includes getting the water from the source to the municipal distribution network. Distributing this water to each household adds another two riyals to the cost of both desalinated, and ground water, according to this industry expert who did not want his name published.

Read More

Kingdom has potential to harness solar energy

Pathik Root & Roger Harrison | Arab News
Link: http://www.arabnews.com/node/328351 

JEDDAH: The summer solstice occurred on June 21 at 05.45 UCT. During that 24-hour period, when the sun reached its farthest northerly arc, 970 trillion kilowatt hours of free energy beamed to earth. That, according to the US Energy Administration, is about 247 years supply of energy for America — in one day.

The best part is that sunshine is free. Any profit lies in the rights to place solar energy gatherers in national territories, the conversion of heat to electricity and the sale of energy. The fossil-fuel industry operates on much the same basis. However, there are a couple of significant differences.

The sun is not going to run out for several billion years, however much energy we can extract from it and we can utilize its energy with far, far less pollution. The biggest hindrance to solar adoption has been the perception of high economic cost compared to conventional oil-fired power plants.

Read More