The Hill News

In the wake of fresh anti-government demonstrations in Libya, Bahrain and Yemen, a new Arab world continues to emerge where citizens assertively demand their rights to democracy and self-determination.

Like Tunisia and Egypt before it, the impact of future protests in Yemen hinges on the protesters themselves, rather that the despot they defy. After celebrating the achievements of non-violent and unrelenting confrontation in these totalitarian states, Yemenis are now bent on challenging the corrupt and increasingly repressive government of their own President Ali Abdullah Salih, in power for over thirty-two years.

Yet protesters in Yemen, one of the poorest and most unstable countries in the region, face immense obstacles within a complex political and social context. Unlike the generally unified opposition in Tunisia and Egypt, they are fractured by regional differences, disparate leadership (or lack thereof) and competing demands. Most importan! tly, their divergent goals belie a unified readiness to break with the status quo.

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