An Introduction
“Push/Pull” by Ismail Khalidi
“Dinner During Yemen” by Karen Malpede
“The Book of Mima” by Naomi F. Wallace
The UN has described the war in Yemen as “the worst man-man humanitarian disaster of our time.” Who is responsible this disaster, for the largest cholera epidemic the world has known, the 22 million people in need of immediate humanitarian assistance, including 11 million plus who are at risk of imminent starvation, many of them children, and the deaths of thousands of civilians bombed or otherwise incinerated as the collateral damage of war? All of us. This war began as civil strife between the north and south of the country united in 1990. In 2011, as part of the Arab Spring, a struggle began for a more responsive government between the entrenched regime of former President Ali Abdullah Salah and the Houthi movement, which had early popular support. Ousted in 2012, Salah later allied himself with the Houthis but was accused of treason by the Houthis in 2015 and killed as he attempted to flee the capital city, Sana’a. His successor, President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, lives in exile in Saudi Arabia. In 2015, Yemen became a battlefield for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in their proxy war against Iran, which has been said, without much proof, to be funding the Houthi (who are Zaidi, a liberal sect of Shia). The Saudis and UAE bomb and blockade ports and roads, so that food aid cannot reach starving people. They destroy sewage systems and hospitals. Yemen, the poorest nation in the Arab world, sits on the Bab al-Mandab strait, a narrow waterway linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, through which much of the world’s oil shipments pass. Whoever controls the port cities of Yemen controls the flow of Middle Eastern oil.
And who is behind war effort of the Saudis and the UAE, selling them bombs and jets, refueling their planes in the air, providing increasing logistical and other support on the ground? The United States—arms dealer to the world. US citizens, most of whom could not find Yemen on the map, are unknowing war profiteers from the world’s worst man-made humanitarian disaster. What would you give up to end the mass starvation and slaughter in Yemen, your daily crème latte, or the investment of your 401k in the defense industry? (There are, of course, socially responsible investment plans.)
First, you would have to know, and so “Imagine: Yemen” was born. Three playwrights, Kia Corthron, Naomi F. Wallace, and I asked six other playwrights to join us to create an evening of the nine short plays. I prefer theater of witness to describe such work, rather than “political theater,” because witnessing sets empathy at the center of the aesthetic and is not doctrinaire.
The Kenyon Review editors have chosen three plays by Ismail Khalidi, Naomi F. Wallace, and myself, because they allow perception of the Yemeni experience and American complicity. Once informed about our role in this humanitarian disaster, there is a lot Americans can do. This “man-made” disaster could be reversed by our actions. Americans could stop profiteering off weapons sales that allow for starvation and slaughter and tell the Saudis to back off their intention (which, insanely, is shared by Bolton, Pompeo, and Trump) to incite “regime change” in Iran. There is an incipient attempt in Congress to block sales of weaponry to Saudi Arabia for use against Yemen, but the resolution has yet to be brought to the floor. Nevertheless, Senator Chris Murphy and Congressmen Adam Smith, Ro Khanna, Beto O’Rourke, and Mark Pocan persist in efforts to hold the US accountable and to end US involvement in the slaughter. We can support them and urge our own congresspeople to join their effort.
“Imagine: Yemen” took place on June 25, 2018, at the Irene Diamond Theater in the Signature Theater complex on 42nd St., Manhattan, before an audience of about 250; it was free. New York Rep, Markus Potter and Gayle Waxenberg; Theater Three Collaborative, George Bartenieff and Karen Malpede; Kia Corthron; director Kevin Hourigan and Naomi Wallace were the producers. https://www.newyorkrep.org/yemen/
