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ABSTRACT
Political divides often take center stage in studies of Yemen, but the social fabric of Yemeni society is also highly heterogeneous, governed by norms that sharply define boundaries between different social strata. The Muhamesheen, or the marginalized are assumed to have an African origin, and constitute a class of untouchables who in a moralizing discourse on the Mohamesheen prevalent in Yemeni society, claims their inability to practice or possess moral virtues. Along with other groups active during the uprising of 2011, the Mohamesheen demanded equal citizen and an equal state, demands that were accompanied by a new solidarity that recognized the diversity of identities among Yemenis. This possibility for new overarching solidarities was soon closed again during the subsequent transition phase outlined in an agreement known as the GCC agreement, lasting from March 2012 to February 2014. It was supposed to lead towards a ‘new Yemen’, but failed utterly to do so. During the transitional phase, however, in conventional political activism and in subversive acts in public arenas, citizenship was enacted by Muhamesheen activists who did not accommodate a Muhamesheen women’s agenda; neither did Yemeni women’s organizations.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. Such as a news story on a conflict between Muhamesheen and other parts of the population appeared in the Yemeni English-language newspaper, the Yemen Post in December 2012: A young man of Muhamesheen identity had asked a man for permission to marry his daughter. Besides rejection, the result was the burning down of several houses belonging to Mohamesheen families, not just the one belonging to the family of that particular audacious young man.
2. Horgen Citation1976.
3. Seif (Citation2005).
4. Meeting 9 July 2013, on ‘Citizenship’ organized by then UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Jamal Benomar. Notes from observations.
5. Noman al-Hothaifi lamented that the label of Muhamesheen does not capture the specificities of the Akhdam grievances: ‘- there is a large segment of Yemeni people that are marginalized and poor. We will lose if we sustain the name of Muhamesheen. We are different, we are black, and we have our own origin’. Noman affirms the genealogical origin of his group by stressing the blackness of skin (Nevola Citation2018), a view opposed by other Muhamesheen activists who think both Muhamesheen and Akhdam are discriminatory terms that confirm the inferiority of this group in the society.
6. Especially Mohammed Al-Qairi who was part of the Socialist Party has frequently mentioned this in interviews.
7. An official number in 2004 based on a government census was 153.133 (All Youth Network for Development & International Dalit Solidarity Network Citation2012), but in news media, such as Al-Jazeera, 1,5 mill are mentioned http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/plight-yemens-untouchables-0022437 whereas in the estimation of two NGOs (which) they are approximately 3,5 mill.
8. The link between support from international organizations and Muhamesheen activism is in this case and others evident, but discussing these links further falls outside the scope of this article.
9. Up to 2014, there were about 34 CSOs that focused on the Muhamesheen, 11 in Taiz City alone https://www.alaraby.co.uk/investigations/c36dd99e-7ffa-480b-ac14-7637a760c72d.
10. A report about the conditions of the Muhamesheen at the beginning of the current conflict published in Al-Alaraby. https://www.alaraby.co.uk/investigations/c36dd99e-7ffa-480b-ac14-7637a760c72d.
11. http://www.yementimes.com/en/1613/news/1477/Marginalized-%E2%80%98Akhdam%E2%80%99-receive-no-government-support-at-conference.htm, accessed 4 April 2014.
12. The NDC website, http://ndc.ye/news.aspx?id=1610 .
13. This is in accordance with their identification of ‘two different orders’ that are both describing social agents: on the one hand, by material properties which, starting with the body, can be numbered and measured like any other object of the physical world; and, on the other hand, by symbolic properties which are affixed upon them through a relationship with subjects capable of perceiving and evaluating them and which demand to be grasped according to their specific logic” (Bourdieu Citation2013, 293).
14. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/07/uk-yemen-akhdam-idUSLNE82602Q20120307 – accessed 4 April 2014.
15. All three are public figures, well-known by Yemeni media audiences, and they have agreed to have their full name displayed in this article.
16. The construction of social ‘others’ is not limited to the Akhdam – from her Aden field site Dahlgren is pointing at ‘badu’ – or beduin – as an expression for the rural population ignorant about urban, educated lifestyles, equally a useful maneuver of social othering, serving to position oneself as urban and educated (Dahlgren Citation2010, 269). Equally, Dahlgren identifies several moral frameworks, not just one which is Islamic, but in addition a traditional and a post-colonial or revolutionary moral framework (Ibid, 272-273).
17. Article 27, Yemen Republic, Constitution of 1991.
18. Participation from a range of civil society activists was stipulated in the agreement made between the GCC and the UN – the National Dialogue should include all parts of the Yemeni society and not only participants on the formal political sphere. The text from the ‘Agreement on the Implementation Mechanism for the Transition in Yemen Pursuant to the GCC Initiative, 21 November 2011’ reads as point number 24:
19. Singular of Akhdam. In contrast to Mohammed and many other Muhamesheen, Noman insisted on using the term Akhdam and Khadem to emphasise the particularity of his people’s cause, arguing that ‘- using the term Muhamesheen does not serve our cause and its specificities. Our cause will be lost and vanish within the issues of other marginalized groups in Yemen. We are more marginalized and more deprived than any other social group’.
20. Hussein Al-Houthi was the leader of a zaidi shia group, now well-known as the Houthis in the north of Yemen. The Houthis fought six wars with government and used to be identified as a rebellion-armed group until the uprising in 2011. Now they have rebelled against the transition government and are at war with its Arab allies.
21. When the Houthis rejected the draft constitution that was a result of the NDC deliberations, and occupied the capital, Saleh allied with them in defiance to the transition government. The Houthis, however, also shot him dead in December 2017, when he announced that he was ready to shift to the other side of the war, and return to support the transition government and its Arab allies, according to several news outlets.
22. Mohammed was by interviewees described as the spiritual father and philosopher of the Mohamesheen.
23. Bilal ibn Rabah was one of the closest companion of the Prophet Mohammed as well as the prayers caller or Muathin. He was a slave brought from Al-Habsha land (Ethiopia) nowadays and was liberated after converted to Islam. Therefore, Bilal symbolizes the equality based on Islam.
24. Zabid City is in Al-Hodeida Governorate and is usually known as the city of religious scholar and is part of the international heritage reservation efforts by the UNESCO. The Muhamesheen in this city is said to be original Muhamesheen or the remains of those who came from Ethiopia more than 600 years ago. They did not move outside Zabid since then as mentioned by Shajab (Citation2002) and Ahmed.
25. News about these movements can be tracked on the website of the Voice of the Marginalized Net News, http://mohammash-ye.net/ .
26. Min ebadat alebad to ebadat rab alebad. This was highlighted in the press release on the launching day of the movement in June 2013.
27. For full notarization, statement see the Muhamesheen Net news website http://www.albaldnews.com/news4234.html.
28. This happened during the registration time for military colleges in September 2013. There is a common belief among the Muhamesheen that they are not welcomed to join military colleges and both Noman and Mohammed told some stories of Muhamesheen being refused to join the military.
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Notes on contributors
Connie Christiansen
Connie Christiansen is a Visiting Associate Professor at Lebanese American University. She was previously an Associate Professor at Roskilde University, Denmark, and a Senior Advisor at KVINFO, the Danish Center for Gender and Equality.
Sabria Al-Thawr
Sabria Al-Thawr is a Ph.D candidate at Roskilde University, Denmark, and affiliated with the Gender-Development Research and Studies Center at Sanaa University. In addition, she has for several years been working as a researcher and gender consultant in Yemen.