Between Yemen’s 2015 and America’s 2021
By Dr. Ammar Alsharafi
The contrast between a country like Yemen and the United States of America cannot be more stark as the two have nothing in common in any way or another. However, the recent events in the US capital have made a razor thin comparable circumstance between the two countries. Both of these countries had presidents who lost their positions and chose to take revenge and incite violence against their own people.
In the case of Yemen, president Saleh was ousted by a public uprising that led to an agreement toward a peaceful transition of power to his vice president as well as creating a joint government. Unlike countries that have a true democratic system, the people of Yemen did not have the leisure to use the ballot box to hire or fire presidents so the public uprising was the last resort solution that the majority of people in the country participated in and or supported in one way or another. I say the majority, because yes there was still a large segment of the population who supported Saleh and many still do till this day even after his tragic end. Saleh, however, did not simply accept the outcomes of the uprising and the agreement he personally signed on and publicly endorsed. So, he went on to create a new alliance with the far right and extremist groups and militia known as Houthies or Ansar Allah in order to bring down the new president and government. Eventually, the extremists and the Houthie militia invaded the government buildings including the parliament and presidential palace, which resulted in a complete coup that forced the government officials to flee the country and followed by full collapse of the Yemeni government.
In the case of America, president Trump was voted out by a democratic and fair election that normally happens every four years and the American people are accustomed to. It was supposed to be just another normal election except in this case it was anything but normal. Trump did not accept the outcomes of the election, so he managed to rally the most extreme members of the American right wing, including militia groups like Proud Boys and such, behind him to overturn the election results and stay in power. This alliance led to the invasion of the US capitol building on January 6, 2021 during what was supposed to be a ceremonial certification of the election results by the Congress. However, Trump and his MAGA extremists did not succeed in stopping the congress from certifying the results and the transfer of power to president elect Joe Biden.
As similar as these two scenarios can be, they also highlight the huge contrast between the two counties. In both countries there was an attempted coup by presidents who lost their power but in the country of Yemen there was no strong constitutional and democratic government. Hence, the actions of the former president led to a complete collapse of the government and a civil war that continues till this day. However, in the case of the United States, the country not only has a strong government, but also the country carries the title of the oldest lasting constitutional democracy in the world, so Trump and his MAGA extremists were doomed to fail and no one ever thought they had a chance. The only surprising thing is the fact that some of these extremists were able to breach the US Capitol and create fear among the American people for hours before seeing their law enforcement agencies act swiftly to remove these MAGA extremists from the US Capitol and bring law and order back to their beloved capital.
Finally, it is worth noting that there is no country in the world that is immune from extremism and terrorism. However, history; modern and old, shows us that democracy is the best and only sustainable system of government that can bring security to any nation and leads to prosperity for its people.
