Wednesday (January 27th): Do we have a Yemeni Memorial Day? Not yet!

Abdul-Malik

Name? Abdul-Malik Badreddin al-Houthi

Westphalian identity? Yemeni/Houthi

Age? 41

Why is he in the news? Abdul-Malik Badreddin al-Houthi is the leader of the Houthi rebels fighting against the internationally accepted government in Yemen. Last week, two long-range missiles were fired at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and experts agree that they most likely came from the Houthi rebels. 

Why do we care? This is a textbook proxy war between the two regional powers Iran and Saudi Arabia; partially why we care. Furthermore, 80% of the Yemeni population depends on humanitarian aid and is at the edge of starvation. 76 years ago today, Auschwitz was liberated by USSR soldiers and we rightfully remember it still. In Yemen, we have a chance to avoid another memorial day for the death of millions of people. 

Why should you care? Did you read the last paragraph? People are dying and not only because of a pandemic. So keep your physical distance to others, but not your emotional distance to a statistic of Yemenis starving. On our How much should you care scale, 10/10.

Who else cares? For once, we are not going to look at a big international player but at the actual Yemeni population. Of which 16 million people are starving of hunger. We will just leave you with a quote by a Yemeni woman in an interview for a frontline report on MBS (Minute 32): “Why are they (Saudis) doing this? Because of Iran? Iran has its own country, fight them there!” Maybe Abdul-Malik should talk to that woman before he continues to oversee the diversion of 1,9 billion USD (in 2019) to war-related matters instead of humanitarian aid… 

Any further comments? The Biden administration put the Houthi’s terrorist status on hold for a month after the Trump administration rushed them on there last minute. Either Abdul-Malik wants to portray power at home or for some reason remain on that terrorism list. 

Joshua Dario Hasenstab

General Coordinator