Telling Who You Are by How You Refer to Houthis

These are dangerous times in Yemen. Whereas you would have been cheered for if publicly went all out against regime in 2011, you may now become target of harassment if even privately whispered disapproval or discontent with current regime (i.e. Houthis) and/or its practices. 

This is by no means that accurate and herein telling you overly stereotypical and just putting out there for fun. 

A person's stance on Houthis can be roughly derived from way s/he refers to them in a sentence like one below:

"The ...... are now in control of Sanaa." 

If speaker refers to them with choices from 1-7 below, then speaker generally fits description underneath choice. ;)

1- Government Irregulars. 

Speaker: Oblivious Int'l Media / Excessively Politically Correct / State Media of a certain embassy in Sana'a where Houthis two days ago started parking at with several vehicles that are packed with armed to teeth and trigger-happy 'do you feel lucky, punk?' gunmen.

2- Ansarullah / Popular Committees. 

Speaker: Houthi / Pro Houthi / Politically Correct / They Got Guns Yo! Better Be Safe & Just Use Houthi-Approved Terminology.

3- Armed Militia. 

Speaker: Anti-Houthi / Moderate Yemeni Political Parties & Activists (Intellectually obligated to say 'Violence is Bad' but not necessarily believing it so) / Agenda-driven Scaremongers Praying on Public & International Fears (Alas! Militia mobs everywhere in Sana'a now and ransacking city..this is worse than Tora Bora & Iraq combined!) / Intellectual Yemenis Genuinely Hatin' on Guns & Violence;  Divided into two groups a) disappointed after betting 2011 revolution would bring about a civil & stable state and still hopelessly insisting goal is still attainable b) extreme disconnect with reality & in-denial that state now ruled at point of gun...(Seriously!? This is surprising in infamously gun-cultured Yemen! What cave did you crawl out of?)

4- Armed Iranian Militia.

Speaker: Anti-Iran GCC 

5- U.S. Cronies / Ayatollah(Satan)-worshiping Heathens. 

Speaker: AQAP / AAS / ISY / Extremely Racist & Insanely Anti-Iran & Anti-Shiite GCC Crazies (Mostly from Saudi Arabia)

6- Houthis. 

Speaker: Average Yemeni with a ; "Meh! How's the electricity today? Power on for 14hrs today! Well that's a welcome improvement. Where's my Qat?"

7- Interchangeably using 1-6

Speaker: For lack of other subjects to discuss and/or trapped by question, is now confused being high on Qat and desperately, albeit vainly, trying to have an opinion on current state of affairs. 

Do the Average Folks in Yemen Really Know the NDC Outcomes

National Dialogue Conference Outcomes Basic Survey (3 Questions) 
Oct 19, 2014
Sana'a, Yemen -

The National Dialogue Conference (NDC) was a transitional dialogue process held at the Movenpick Hotel in Sana’a, Yemen from March 18, 2013 to January 24, 2014. As part of the Gulf Cooperation Council Initiative that saw deposed president Ali Abdullah Saleh step down, a National Dialogue Conference was to be held. As part of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2051, which stipulated the structure of the dialogue, the GCC Agreement was signed on November 23, 2011.The over 10 months long conference concluded on January 24, 2014 with the signing of the NDC Document, outlining the results of the conference henceforth known as the NDC Outcomes.

Following is a rough non scientific survery conducted by a group of volunteers to gauge how well aware/engaged were the general public of the NDC process and outcomes.


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Sample size: 83   Sex: All Male   Age: 18-56

Education level: 4 Primary - 57 Secondary/Vocational Train - 22 University/Prof. Diploma

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Survey Questions

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Question 1
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Can you name two or more of the NDC Outcomes?

        0 Yes           83 No (Naming only one and/or wrong outcome)

*Notes: 71 Responded with 'Yemen now a 6-region federal system';

             9 Correctly named all 6 regions.

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Questions 2
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Do you think the NDC Outcomes should be implemented? Why?

       21 Yes         28 No         34 Don't care

*Notes: Majority responding 'Yes' because:

                A) Next step in transition process

                B) Ends use as excuse for delay in transition progress

           Majority responding 'No' because:

                A) Don't know specifics of outcomes

                B) Don't trust the government/not sure of impact on citizens.

           Majority responding 'Don't care' because:

                A) Ink on paper/the government will do what it wants

                B) Most probably won't affect average citizen


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Question 3

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Do you think implementation of NDC Outcomes will improve Yemen?

         8 Yes         48 No         27 Skeptical      

*Notes: Majority responding 'Yes' conditioned with 'Only if 

            implemented correctly'. Majority responding 'No' certain it will

            not be implemented correctly.