12 • INDEPENDENTWORLD
MAY 1, 2005
VOICE FROMAWAY
The news in Yemen
Newfoundlander Bryan Manning frustrated by world’s view of country he’s grown to appreciate By Bryan K. Manning For the Independent Editor’s note: Bryan Manning is teaching English as a second language at the American Language Centre in Aden, Yemen. The Middle East country, with a population of nearly 20 million, borders on Saudi Arabia. “I always wanted to travel and work in Yemen as it was about as exotic and unknown as any country I could imagine — and it certainly lived up to that part of its reputation,” he says. Manning says virtually everyone carries Kalasnikovs (Russian assault rifles), and there are an average of three weapons in every household, “however, the crime rate is comparatively low… and violent crime is basically non-existent as we know it in the West.” He describes the law of the tribe, which governs the land outside the cities, and is currently at the root of one territorial war. “All this is pretty fascinating to live amongst,” he says. “And I don’t regret my decision to come here for a minute, despite the Third World living conditions.” Manning submitted the following piece from his home in Aden.
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Yemeni Ahmed Abdullah al-Abrash jumps over a row of six camels, approximately three metres in length and three metres long, during the Yemeni Traditional Sports Festival in 2004 in the city of Zabid, 200 kilometres southwest of the capital Sanaa. The event was organized by the government for the first time in 2004 and will now be held yearly in Zabid. AFP/Khaled FAZAA
oo often in Yemen, the news takes the form of hair-raising headlines that read like warning labels on caches of TNT: Threat level rises for Westerners in Yemen, warns embassy. One would swear the very air in Yemen is laced with mustard gas. Can a place be so incorrigible in its supposed barbarism towards outsiders? Embarrassed as I am to admit it, I more than entertained — or should I say swallowed — this preposterous media myth. It is hard not to succumb to the description of Yemen (tainted and skewed as it is) we Westerners receive. For the sources — foreign media and government alarmism and opportunism — make clever and convincing bedfellows. There is no viable alternative to these news sources, barring uprooting oneself and making contact with actual Yemeni people, in Yemen. Not an option for most, I would think. And so the truth of life in the Middle East, and in Yemen specifically, is replaced by fallacy: that life as a foreigner, notably a British or American citizen, is inherently fraught with imminent danger. Cue the chorus line of weathered clichés. Fundamentalists and Islamic extremists will target you for assault, maiming, and possibly murder. If you make it through that nasty gauntlet more harrowing peril awaits — kidnapping. I was once informed by a Canadian Islamic scholar the kidnapping rate has escalated to “cottage industry” status. Not surprisingly, he had never set foot in any part of Yemen but was sure the statistics (more likely lore) held true. What hope is left if even the learned amongst us are being sucked in? Whatever the reason, be it nerve-
wracked governments, ill-advised individuals, or myopic journalists, the world perception of Yemen is plainly false, and painfully outdated. As a working citizen of Aden I see danger, not in the streets and alleyways — chaotic as they are — but in a web spun from beyond Yemeni and Middle Eastern demarcations. The web’s orb is fixed over the Middle East and its spin-doctors are busily at work here in Yemen. Its strands connect to North American and European media corporations. The message — Yemen is unsafe — is derived from the news, recycled by them ad infinitum and mass produced until the stories’ origin is virtually forgotten. You need only reference the research of American Will Hutchison on contrasting images of Yemen and America to begin to see the double-standard in reporting. An example: in Kansas City, population 440,000, a person is 97 times more likely to be a victim of a crime than in Sanaa, the capital city of Yemen. At the core of this epic blunder in communication between the West and the East is a thirst for sensationalism which demands a divorce from ethics. If they negatively sensationalize Yemen, you will not come. And the viewer ratings of a major broadcasting station grow. If they condemn the country as a haven for al Qaeda, then you may dismiss it soundly enough to malign it outright. This is the all too concrete and neglected crisis facing the national psyche of Yemen. It is a stake to the heart of key industries — culture and tourismrelated promotion, and foreign business investment to name a few — already struggling to get on their feet in the country. While the rest of the world reaps the exposure and profits of the global travel phenomenon, Yemen crouches in an arcing shadow of bad publicity. Sadly, those who lead the charge in this campaign of misinformation fail to consider its social and economic ramifications, the insidious and demoralizing consequences that hurt the dignity of an entire nation. It is about time this media assault changed from accusatory to accountable. Then, at last, some semblance of the real picture of life in Yemen can show itself. Then maybe the outside world, so long misled by spin-doctors and propaganda, will start to see the genuine Yemen. And foreigners like myself and countless others can stop chastising ourselves for not coming to this refreshingly uncommon country sooner. The truth about Yemen can be as sublimely vivid as a sunset over Elephant Bay — just don’t look for it on the evening news. Do you know a Newfoundlander or Labradorian living away? Please contact the Independent at editorial@theindependent.ca