Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH)
May 16, 2006

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ARTICLES IN THIS EDITION:

1. ~YOUTH VIEWS~ Another Iranian Revolution, but this time in the Arab world? by Talajeh Livani and Bushra Jawabri
World Bank consultants, Talajeh Livani and Bushra Jawabri, consider whether the increased mixing of religion and politics in the Middle East is the beginning of an Iran-style revolution in the Arab world. Although they note some similarities, they assert that in the Arab world, “such movements respond to the legitimate needs and grievances of the disenfranchised and are the only serious opposition to the secular and repressive regimes supported by the West.” They note that there are serious internal shifts in Arab politics, but that youth are included in these changes, not radicalised by them, resulting in what will surely be a revolution of a completely different nature.
(Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews-PiH), May 16, 2006)

2. Women's theology and European unity by Lily Zakiyah Munir
Lily Zakiyah Munir, Research Fellow at the Islam and Human Rights Program with Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, reports on a recent conference she attended that considered the role of women-theologians, both Muslim and Christian, in the process of European unification, and what kind of Europe they are aspiring for. Participants agreed that working towards gender equality and justice and women's rights is a significant contribution toward achieving this vision and that these goals should be pursued through transformation from within their respective religious systems. Worried that the status of Muslim women in many parts of the world lags behind that of other women, participants highlighted verses from the Qur’an that speak to these issues and reject discrimination and marginalisation in the name of religion.
(Source: Jakarta Post, May 5, 2006)

3. Nuclear Crisis by Sadegh Zibakalam
Sadegh Zibakalam, Associate Professor of political science at Tehran University, looks at why relations between the United States and Iran are at their lowest point ever. While U.S. concern over Iran’s intentions vis-à-vis a nuclear program is widely discussed, the internal divisions within Iran over “how to continue the country's nuclear program, and how to address the international community, particularly the US, on its nuclear program”, are often overlooked. This divide, explaining in part the complexity of negotiations with Iran, could turn out to be one of the most important determining factors of Iranian-American relations going forward.
(Source: Bitterlemons-international.org, April 27, 2006)

4. A nation's interests? Google tells all by Anand Giridharadas
Anand Giridharadas, an International Herald Tribune analyst based in Mumbai, India, provides an interesting look into the most-frequently googled terms -- by nation. Understanding which nations look up “Allah”, “Danish cartoons”, “democracy” and “George W Bush” provides insight into what people are thinking. As
Jonathan Zittrain, a professor of Internet governance and regulation at Oxford University, says, "This sort of feature reminds us that the Internet is global, not one undifferentiated mass….such measurement may help us understand the origin and movement of ideas as they sweep regions and the world."
(Source: International Herald Tribune, May 13, 2006)

5. In poetry-loving Yemen, tribal bard takes on Al Qaeda - with his verse by James Brandon
Christian Science Monitor correspondent, James Brandon, writes about a unique technique for countering terrorism that is becoming popular in Yemen: "Other countries fight terrorism with guns and bombs, but in Yemen we use poetry," says Amin al-Mashreqi, one of Yemen’s most popular poets. "Through my poetry I can convince people of the need for peace who would never be convinced by laws or by force." W. Flagg Miller, professor of Anthropology and Religious Studies at the University of Wisconsin explains this phenomenon, "Yemen has turned to poets because they are able to speak to diverse groups of people whom the literati and the elite cannot reach.”
(Source: Christian Science Monitor, May 12, 2006)

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ARTICLE 1
YOUTH VIEWS
Another Iranian Revolution, but this time in the Arab World?
Talajeh Livani and Bushra Jawabri

Washington, D.C. – In 1979, the world watched in shock as the Iranian Revolution transformed Iran from a pro-Western monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, to an “Islamic” republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The Iranian revolution had a major impact not only on Iran, but also on Arab countries and the world in general. It revolved around opposition to America and the West, and the promotion of a populist social-theocratic system.

In the years since the revolution, (political) secularism, while suppressed, has become more popular among Iranians, while an increase in extremism has occurred in the Arab world. As a result, the West and Arab moderates are worried about whether we are witnessing the beginnings of an Iran-style revolution in the Arab world or whether we are merely observing an insignificant political fad.

Without a doubt, there is significant and vocal anti-Western and anti-American sentiment in Arab countries due to U.S. foreign policy: support for undemocratic, autocratic regimes, the war in Iraq and the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners, and of course the one-sided U.S. policy on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which includes unconditional political, economic and military support for Israel.

The increased popularity of conservative, religious political parties is another reason for concern. Groups such as Hizbollah, Hamas, and the Muslim Brotherhood have clearly been gaining power. They are becoming more and more popular, gaining massive support, and attracting people of all ages. Their popularity is not just linked to religion – what all these groups also have in common is support for economic equality and assistance to the poor. Such movements respond to the legitimate needs and grievances of the disenfranchised and are the only serious opposition to the secular and repressive regimes supported by the West.

Finally, Saddam Hussein’s removal from power has increased fears that Iranian revolutionary thought may spread throughout the Arab world. It is a well-known fact that the Ayatollah Khomeini had attempted to spread his Islamic Revolution to other countries in the region. Iraq acted as a buffer, and the long Iran-Iraq war drained Iran’s resources, leaving it doing little more than supplying token support to terrorist groups. Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s policies, particularly his drive to re-assert Iran’s status as a major power in the Middle East, are seen to resemble that of Khomeini’s.

Despite these similarities, an Iranian-style revolution is unlikely in Arab countries for a number of reasons.

First, Iran’s identity is derived not only from Islam but from Persian ethnicity and history. Farsi is the state language of Iran and the majority believes in Shi’ism, a denomination of Islam that was established as the state religion by the Safavids in Iran. But it remains an open question whether Sunni Arabs, who have long held Persians and Shi’ites in disdain, are even able to identify with political developments in Iran.

Second, resistance to American power and disapproval of American policy may be widespread around the world, but do not always share the same historical origins and degrees of intensity. Iranian anti-Americanism is more aligned with Iranian nationalism and resentment over interference in domestic politics, such as the 1953 coup orchestrated by the United States and United Kingdom. Arab anti-Americanism, on the other hand, is directed mainly at U.S. policy, and is not derived from a sense of pan-Arab nationalism.

Third, Arab youth are, in aggregate, not nearly as radical as Iranian youth during the 1979 revolution. Western culture has penetrated the Arab world and many people, especially the young, wear Western clothes, listen to Western music, eat Western food, and travel to or have relatives in the West. Even the traditional, religious political parties have had to modify their ultra-conservative policies to some extent to attract more people, especially the young. For example, the Muslim Brotherhood has renounced violence, and Hamas has included more women in leadership positions.

In light of all these facts, it becomes evident that the Arab world is witnessing a massive shift in internal politics, but not something on par with an Iranian-type revolution. The Iranian revolution of 1979 advocated a complete rejection of the West and a strict system of religious law. Contemporary, mainstream religious movements in the Arab world are not opposed to having good relations with the West, particularly if the West, and the United States in particular, would stop propping up oppressive regimes and seriously embrace democracy in the Middle East. Many religious parties have a progressive and pragmatic agenda. They have realised that in order to be considered as alternatives to secular and corrupt governments and to gain support both domestically and internationally, they must transform some of the tenets of their ideology to attract support from the educated middle-classes and, especially, “globalised” youth, who make-up a majority of the population in Arab countries.

How powerful will this modernised, less radical and pragmatic “Islamic revolution” in the Arab world be? What are its implications for the region and the world in general? The answers to these questions are yet unclear but the status quo in the Middle East is certainly no longer a given.

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* This article was co-authored by Bushra Mukbil Jawabri, a Palestinian from a refugee camp in the Palestinian Territories, and Talajeh Livani, an Iranian who grew up in Sweden. Both Jawabri and Livani currently work as consultants for the World Bank in Washington, DC. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews-PiH), May 16, 2006
Visit the website at www.commongroundnews.org
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 2
Women's theology and European unity
Lily Zakiyah Munir

Rome - In Rome, Italy, a conference of European women theologians was recently organised under a thought-provoking title, “Women-theologians: in what kind of Europe”. The basic questions are: what is the role of women theologians in the process of European unification and, what kind of Europe are they aspiring for?

The conference of around 150 participants presented the views of mostly female scholars and academicians on their struggle to liberate women from discriminatory religious doctrines.

“Enlightening and amazing” could well describe their thoughts. They sharply and critically analysed and questioned religious doctrines that discriminate against women.

For example, participants discussed the creation of woman from man's rib, women being labelled as temptresses and the subsequent notion of inherited sin; and the status of women that equates them with slaves, or the issue of women's "double-god" (Allah and "god" the husband).

Another example was expressed by a woman-theologian who is a doctorate holder and for years has been teaching priests-to-be. She said in dismay, "I teach future priests, but I myself will never become a priest."

What is the role of women theologians in European unification? Starting with economic interests (coal and steel), the unification process is leading toward a Europe which is united geographically, politically and economically, but remains respectful of the diverse cultures and life-styles of individuals, families and societies.

It's a Europe where "no one would be excluded because of race, gender, religion, origin, etc.: a Europe which respects human rights and which shows also a social politic” (The Social Charter of the European Union).

The struggle of women-theologians to promote gender equality and justice and women's rights is a significant contribution toward achieving the above vision. They pursue it through transformation from within their religious system.

A discussion of women's liberation theology starts by bringing theology down to earth so that it is built on social realities and rooted in human problems. Theology should involve itself in human suffering, and become a power to enlighten and liberate humans, including women, from all forms of oppression and injustice.

A theology which is rooted in human problems is liberating, empowering, and supports those who are oppressed and discriminated against. It is also open to people of other faiths, willing to listen to and learn from them, and possibly work together on issues of similar concerns. People face similar problems regardless of their faith, and they may need to work together. Women's liberation theology needs to be continually promoted.

The most valuable lesson I gained from the conference is probably a deeper awareness of the wide gap between Islamic teachings and their practice in Muslim societies.

Islamic theology, known as Tawhid (the Oneness of God), teaches that all humans are equal before God, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity or social status. What distinguishes them is the extent to which they are God-fearing.

This teaching is supported by countless verses of the Qur’an which explicitly illustrate equality between women and men and ensure women's basic rights. On human creation, for example, the Qur’an never mentions the man's rib. It says that women and men are created from a single nafs (soul/substance).

Likewise, the expulsion of Adam and Eve from heaven is never blamed on Eve. The Qur’an states clearly that both were tempted by Satan and committed sin; then both repented and both were forgiven by God.

The Qur’an is clear that whoever does good deeds will be rewarded, and whoever commits sin will be punished, be they men or women. There are many more verses referring to equality between women and men, both as abid (creature) and as khalipha (God's representative on earth).

The Qur’an is so beautiful, especially in its mission to improve women's status and to bring them dignity. But what a big difference there is in reality. It is no secret that the status of Muslim women in many parts of the world lags behind other women in many aspects. They are being discriminated against and marginalised, often in the name of religion.

It is time that women's liberation theology be promoted in Islam.

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* Lily Zakiyah Munir is Research Fellow at the Islam and Human Rights Program with Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States. This article was distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Jakarta Post, May 5, 2006
Visit the website at www.thejakartapost.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 3
Nuclear Crisis
Sadegh Zibakalam

Tehran - The conflict between Iran and the United States is as old as the Islamic regime itself. But never during the past 27 years has the intensity of hostilities between the two states been so high. Even at the peak of the war with Iraq, and given that Iranians broadly blamed the United States for persuading Iraq to attack Iran, animosity between the two countries was not as high as it is today.

Many Iranians wonder anxiously whether the US will launch a military invasion against their country. Some are convinced that the US is contemplating an air campaign against Iran's nuclear sites. On the eve of the so-called "5+1" (the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany) gathering in Moscow on April 17-18, the price of gold jumped sharply in Iran. Although the government intervened and the price eventually came down, the price of a standard Iranian gold coin rose two-fold at the peak of the panic.

What has elevated animosity between the two states to an unprecedented level is Iran's nuclear program. The positions of the two adversaries over the issue are clear and leave no room for compromise. Iran believes in its solemn and ineluctable right under international treaties, including the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to develop its "peaceful" nuclear program. Allowing for some minor mistakes and past negligence that are tantamount to no more than misdemeanours, the Iranian authorities insist that all of the country's nuclear activities have conformed to the rules and regulations of the international watch-dog body, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). They refer to reports compiled by IAEA inspectors who have visited every site in which Iran carried out some sort of nuclear activity as well as military installations not involved in any nuclear activity. None of the reports produced any evidence that Iran was developing atomic weapons.

While not disputing Iran's right to develop its nuclear industry, the US holds that the Islamic regime's past record as well as its present behaviour give rise to serious concern about the ultimate objective of its nuclear program. Iran basically says: "Take my word for it that I have no intention of developing an atomic bomb and I only intend to enrich uranium to a low degree sufficient to produce fuel for my present and future nuclear reactors." The US rejects Iran's word. The European Union has increasingly adopted the American position, while Russia and China have tried to play the role of honest broker. On the whole, Iran has found itself increasingly isolated and is losing the battle for international public opinion to the Western countries.

Apart from deepening hostility with the US, the nuclear issue has confronted Iran with its most serious international crisis since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. In many ways, the nuclear issue has presented Iranian leaders with a far more complex problem than the eight-year war with Iraq. The Iranian leadership was more or less united over the war with Iraq; this is not the case regarding the nuclear issue.

Ostensibly, Iranians have managed to present a unified front behind the country's nuclear program. The left, reformists, pragmatists, conservatives and hardliners have all defended Iran's rights to develop its nuclear potential. Beneath the unified front, however, there are disagreements. The main disagreement is twofold: how to continue the country's nuclear program, and how to address the international community, particularly the US, on its nuclear program.

The more pragmatic Iranian leaders, headed by former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, while in principle supporting continuation of the program, believe that Iran must refrain from antagonizing the West, particularly the US, over its nuclear activities. They are more inclined to reach a deal worked out by the three leading EU countries, the United Kingdom, France and Germany, rather than relying on Russian and Chinese support at the Security Council. They believe that the extent of trade and economic ties these two countries have with the US and the EU is critical; confronted with serious pressure from the US, both Russia and China might withdraw their support for Iran and leave the Islamic regime out in the cold. Meanwhile, Iran has to provide both countries with lucrative deals to compensate for their support.

The deal with the EU may not initially offer Iran a great deal. But in the long run, by convincing the Europeans that Iran is serious in not wishing to develop nuclear weapons, we can benefit a great deal more than by relying on Russia and China. Moreover the EU, particularly the UK, has far more leverage over Washington than do Russia and China together.

This was broadly the strategy employed by the previous Iranian negotiating team, headed by Hassan Rouhani, one of Rafsanjani's lieutenants. In trying to reduce American fears regarding Iran's nuclear program, the pragmatists are also inclined to halt uranium enrichment on an industrial scale for up to five years and to carry out enrichment on a laboratory scale under international supervision. In return for an open and limited-scale program, Iran would expect to receive Western know-how for its nuclear program and, more importantly, much-needed Western investment in the country's energy industry. In short, the more moderate Iranian leaders prefer a more conciliatory approach.

In contrast, the hard-liners, headed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, advocate a more hawkish approach to the country's nuclear program. Initially, Ahmadinejad's disapproval of the way the Iranian team had been negotiating with the Western powers was implicit, but he soon began criticizing the ex-negotiators very openly. Rouhani and his colleagues initially showed constraint and did not respond to Ahmadinejad's criticisms; eventually however, they lost patience and replied.

They defended their tactics throughout the two years of negotiating with the EU-3, including the two-year voluntary freeze on the country's enrichment program. The moderates further criticized Ahmadinejad's comments about Israel and the Holocaust. One reformist newspaper even went so far as to accuse Ahmadinejad of trying deliberately to provoke the US. Without naming the President, the newspaper wrote that "it appears that some of our leaders are trying to use the country's nuclear issue as a tool to score points against the Great Satan. While every effort ought to be undertaken to alleviate U.S. fears about our nuclear program, some of our leaders are in fact behaving in exactly the opposite direction." Ahmadinejad eventually replaced Rouhani with Ali Larijani.

The future of American-Iranian relations concerning Iran's nuclear program depends in part on the outcome of the quiet struggle that is unfolding between hard-liners and moderates within the Iranian leadership.

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* Sadegh Zibakalam is Associate Professor of political science at Tehran University. This article was distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Bitterlemons-international.org, April 27, 2006
Visit the website at bitterlemons-international.org
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 4
A nation's interests? Google tells all
Anand Giridharadas

Mumbai, India - Google lifted the veil this week on one of its best-kept secrets: which nations search for what.

Who looks up democracy most avidly? Who seeks out Allah or Christ most faithfully? Who types in "drugs" or "sex" most frequently?

No country's secrets are spared.

Pakistanis look up "Danish cartoons" more avidly than anyone, according to Google. They also lead the rankings for "sex" - with their neighbour and nuclear rival, India, seldom far behind.

"In Pakistani society, sex is a taboo," said Fatima Idrees, a project manager at the Pakistani affiliate of the Gallup International polling agency, adding that "curiosity and availability of the Internet may cause such behaviour."

The site introduced Thursday, Google Trends, measures how often particular phrases are searched for from computers in individual countries and cities. It short-lists the places with the highest absolute number of searches for, say, "cat food." Then it picks the top 10 or so based on which places look up "cat food" much more than they do other things - for instance, "dog food."

The Google Trends site is likely to generate a mix of consternation, embarrassment and laughter around the world. While Google emphasizes its efforts to protect individuals' privacy, the new site does nothing to protect the collective privacy of nations, if such a thing exists - the right of the British to conceal that they look up "handcuffs" most often, or the right of China's leaders to hide that Mandarin ranks second only to English as the language used to look up "democracy", or the right of other officials to hide that Arabic-speaking users rarely look up "democracy".

"This is a fascinating project, effortlessly offering a glimpse into regional and cultural habits and differences that is otherwise nearly impossible to reproduce," said Jonathan Zittrain, a professor of Internet governance and regulation at Oxford University.

"This sort of feature reminds us that the Internet is global, not one undifferentiated mass," he added. "Such measurement may help us understand the origin and movement of ideas as they sweep regions and the world."

The Google rankings also generate a new kind of interest-level rating for politicians - as for countries, brands or anything else people look up. Now, the most vain (and most regularly-searched) among us can check how many people are looking us up, where they are from - and, most important, whether they search more for us or for our rivals.

In India, suspicions that Sonia Gandhi is the power behind the throne of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appear to be buttressed by search results. As the leader of India's governing Congress Party, Gandhi gets about 50 percent more searches from Indian users than Singh does.

French users, meanwhile, shed light on France's power struggles. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy draws as many searches on his own as his rivals, President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, combined.

For politicians with sagging poll numbers, Google's index might be some consolation: it records how often people look you up, not whether they love you. To bring Machiavelli's famous formulation into the age of Web surfing, it may be better for a prince - or president or prime minister - to be searched than loved, if he cannot be both.

President George W. Bush commands at least seven times as many searches in Russia as its own leader, Vladimir Putin. Among the French, Bush generates about 50 percent more look-ups than Chirac; among Iranians, Bush is searched twice as often as the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Not everything on the site is a surprise. People in Boston and Minneapolis and in Halifax, Nova Scotia, lead the search for "mittens". Dubliners top the list in "Guinness" searches. When it comes to looking up "dowry", surfers in Pakistan and India are clear leaders.

Other findings are quirkier, and at times too difficult to explain.

Even though homosexuality is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia, the kingdom ranks No. 2 for searches for "gay sex," behind the Philippines.

And consider the list of cities that most frequently look up "amour", the French word for love. Paris, allegedly a romantic haven, is absent from the top 10. The top three berths went to Rabat, Algiers and Tunis.

Other findings suggest the stirrings of a trend. Searchers for "Allah" come overwhelmingly from the Muslim world. But, in a sign of shifting social realities, the word is searched from the Dutch-language version of Google more avidly than from the Arabic-language one. Norwegian, French, Danish, Swedish and German sites also featured in the top 10 for "Allah" inquiries.

"Guns" is a word easy to associate with the United States. But the rising incidence of violent kidnappings and murders in Latin America has perhaps driven searchers to the Web for answers. Buenos Aires leads the cities index for "guns" searches, and Argentina as a whole outranks the United States, with Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru also in the top 10.

The Google system can also be queried one country at a time, to determine, for example, how frequently people in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia are looking up "democracy". The Bush administration is unlikely to be pleased by Google's reply for each of those countries: "Your terms - democracy - do not have enough search volume to show graphs."

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* Anand Giridharadas is an analyst for the International Herald Tribune based in Mumbai, India. This article was distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: International Herald Tribune, May 13, 2006
Visit the website at www.iht.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 5
In poetry-loving Yemen, tribal bard takes on Al Qaeda - with his verse
James Brandon

Sana’a, Yemen - As the dusk call to prayer fades, Amin al-Mashreqi glances at the expectant faces surrounding him and begins to read from his slim, handwritten book of verse that is helping to bring a measure of peace to this mountainous Arab country.

O, you who kidnap our guests,
Your house will refuse you,
These violations are against Islam

Crammed into a mud-brick shop, his audience, some with their hands resting on their gold-trimmed daggers, listen to his verse denouncing violence and Islamic militancy. When he finishes, there is silence. Then the room erupts in applause.

"Other countries fight terrorism with guns and bombs, but in Yemen we use poetry," says Mr. Mashreqi later. "Through my poetry I can convince people of the need for peace who would never be convinced by laws or by force."

For years Yemen has been known as a breeding ground for extremism. It is the ancestral homeland of Osama bin Laden and where Al Qaeda bombed the USS Cole in 2000.

But today this country is quietly winning a reputation for using unorthodox tactics to take on Islamic militancy.

"Yemen has turned to poets because they are able to speak to diverse groups of people whom the literati and the elite cannot reach," explains W. Flagg Miller, professor of Anthropology and Religious Studies at the University of Wisconsin who has studied Yemeni poetry for about 20 years.

For centuries, Yemen's rulers have relied on poets like Mashreqi to take the government's message into remote areas where regular soldiers and officials feared to tread - and where using force could create more, and angrier, enemies.

"There is a long tradition of leaders turning to poets right across the Arab world," explains Dr. Miller. "The prophet Muhammad himself worked with a poet, Hassan ibn Thabit, to spread the word and compose poetry against other poets and tribes who refused to acknowledge Islam."

But the long and rich history of Yemeni polemical poetry, the idea of using tribal poets to fight extremism began with a chance meeting nearly two years ago, explains Faris Sanabani, a friend of Yemen's president and editor of a weekly English-language newspaper The Yemen Observer.

Leading Yemenis in Sana’a had gathered to chew khat, a narcotic shrub, talk politics, and listen to poetry, Mr. Sanabani recalls. Suddenly, one guest turned to Yemen's most popular tribal poet, Mashreqi, and asked him if he could recite any poetry about terrorism, he says.

Mashreqi rose eagerly to the challenge. He stood up, adjusted the broad, curving dagger hanging at his waist and proudly declaimed a handful of verses glorifying suicide bombers.

As the applause faded, the man who had asked him to recite the verses, Sanabani himself, took him aside and quietly invited him to visit his office.

The next day at the office of the Yemen Observer, Sanabani asked Mashreqi to watch a video made after Al Qaeda's 2002 suicide boat-attack on the French oil tanker SS Limburg off the Yemeni coast.

"I showed him footage of the environmental damage caused by the oil spill and of Yemeni fishermen and their families whose livelihood had been destroyed because their fishing grounds were polluted," recalls Sanabani.

Chastened by the images of oil-stained beaches, dead fish, and seabirds and sobbing, destitute Yemeni fishermen, Mashreqi left Sanabani's office appearing troubled and lost in thought. When Sanabani next saw him he seemed a man transformed.

"Three days later he came back with the most beautiful poetry I have ever seen," says Sanabani, recalling his amazement at the poet's new verses that now condemned violence and promoted peace and tolerance.

Sanabani and Mashreqi realized that the historic respect accorded to poets gives them a unique power to win over illiterate tribesmen in remote areas where villagers are traditionally sceptical of all that the government has to say and offer.

"The Yemeni people are very sensitive to poetry - especially traditional poetry like this," says Mashreqi. "If poetry contains the right ideas and is used in the right context, then people will respond to it because this is heart of their culture."

And although Yemen has used force to tackle Al Qaeda cells and rebel groups, Mashreqi's poems also fit into Yemen's wider strategy of defeating Islamic extremism by appealing to their countrymen's sense of pride, honour, and patriotism.

O men of arms, why do you love injustice?
You must live in law and order
Get up, wake up, or be forever regretful,
Don't be infamous among the nations

The poems, however, also robustly argue that carrying out terrorist attacks in Yemen will succeed in scaring away much-needed foreign investment and tourism - an argument that few impoverished Yemenis can dispute.

"You have to talk to people about the dangers and effects of terrorism," says Ahmed al-Kibsi, professor of political science at Sana’a University. "Education, the media, and the military complement each other."

So far Yemen's tactics seem to be helping. Since Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh joined President Bush's War on Terror in late 2001 the country has not experienced any major Islamist attacks - although internal tribal conflicts regularly flare up, as does a long-running Shiite Muslim uprising in the country's far north.

But while there have been few successful attacks by Islamic militants in Yemen, the country has still had its troubles with Al Qaeda.

In February, at least 23 suspected and convicted Al Qaeda members escaped from a jail in Sana’a. The Yemen Observer reported that, "some of the escapees were the most important and dangerous members of Yemen's Al Qaeda network, and have been blamed for bombing the USS Cole warship in Aden."

Also, there may have been other unintended side effects of Yemen's successful campaign to persuade would-be jihadists not to carry out their attacks on Yemeni soil.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that many Yemenis have instead travelled to Iraq to fight against the US-led occupation. In the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan in the 1980s, Yemenis are said to have made up the second largest contingents of Arab volunteers.

Others worry that while Yemen has succeeded in suppressing the visible symptoms of Islamic militancy, the root causes of violent radicalism remain and the Islamic militancy in the country is not defeated but is instead merely dormant.

Rising poverty, a lack of opportunity, and the arrogance and corruption of an increasingly authoritarian ruling class mean that Yemen's victory over terrorism may be only temporary.

"I've become aware of a real anger on the streets," says Robin Madrid, resident director of the National Democratic Institute's program in Yemen, adding that many Yemenis can despairingly point out second and third homes built by government ministers.

"Yemen has the potential to make excellent progress on all the fronts that we're concerned about," says Nabeel Khoury, deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy, Sana’a, citing Yemen's need to tackle corruption and international arms smuggling while also extending democratization and protecting press freedom.

"At the same time, Yemen faces so many serious challenges that if it doesn't make the right decisions it risks deterioration on all these fronts," says Mr. Khoury, "with potential consequences for domestic as well as regional stability."

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* James Brandon is a correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor. This article was distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Christian Science Monitor, May 12, 2006
Visit the website at www.csmonitor.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH).
Copyright © Christian Science Monitor. Reprint permission can been obtained by contacting lawrenced@csps.com.

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The Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) provides news, op-eds, features and analysis by local and international experts on a broad range of issues affecting Muslim-Western relations. CGNews-PiH syndicates articles that are balanced and solution-oriented to news outlets worldwide. With support from the Norwegian government and the United States Institute of Peace, this news service is a non-profit initiative of Search for Common Ground, an international NGO working in the field of conflict transformation.

This news service is one outcome of a set of working meetings held in partnership with His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan in June 2003.

~YOUTH VIEWS~

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Medhy Hidayat (Jakarta)
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Leena El-Ali (Washington)
Emmanuelle Hazan (Washington)

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Posted by Evelin at May 17, 2006 08:22 AM