See Yemen through my eyes Nadia AlSakkaf

[Music]

you have brought us images from the

Yemen times

and take us through those and introduce

us to another Yemen well I’m glad to be

here and I would like to share with you

all some of the pictures that are

happening today in Yemen this picture

shows a revolution started by women and

it shows women and men leaving a mixed

protest the other picture is a

popularity of the real need for change

so many people are there the intensity

of of the upspring this picture shows

that the revolution has allowed

opportunities for training for education

these women are learning about first aid

and their rights according to the

constitution I love this picture I just

wanted to show that over 60% of the

Yemeni population are 15 years and below

and they were excluded from

decision-making and now they are in the

forefront of the news raising the flag

English you will see this is jeans and

tights and and in English expression you

know the ability to share with the world

what is going on in our own country and

expression also it has brought talents

Yemenis are using cartoons and art

paintings comics to tell the world and

each other about what’s going on

obviously there is always the dark side

of it and this is just one of the less

gruesome pictures of the Revolution and

the cost that we have to pay the

Solidarity of millions of Yemenis across

the country just demanding the one thing

and finally lots of people are saying

that

Yemen’s revolution is going to break the

country is it going to be so many

different countries is it’s going to be

another Somalia but we want to tell the

world but no under the one flag will

still remain

so many people thank you for those

images Nadia and they do in many ways

tell a different story than the story of

Yemen the one that is often in the news

and yet you yourself defy all those

characterizations so let’s talk about

the personal story for a moment your

your father is is murdered the Yemen

times already has a strong reputation in

Yemen as an independent english-language

newspaper how did you then make the

decision and assume the responsibilities

of running a newspaper especially in

such times of conflict well let me first

warn you that I am NOT but the

traditional Yemeni guerrilla I guess

you’ve already noticed this by now

in Yemen most women are veiled and they

are sitting behind doors and not very

much part of the public life but there’s

so much potential I wish I could show

you my Yemen I wish you could see the

the Yemen through my eyes then you will

know that there is so much to it and I

was privileged because I was born into a

family my father would always encourage

the boys and the girls he would send he

would say we are equal and he was such

an extraordinary man and even my mother

I owe it to my family a story I studied

in India and in my third year I started

becoming confused because I was Yemeni

but I was also mixing up with a lot of

my friends in college and I went back

home and I said daddy I don’t know who I

am I’m not a Yemeni I’m not an Indian

and he said you are the bridge and that

is something I will keep in my heart

forever so since then I’ve been the

bridge and a lot of people have walked

over me but I don’t think

but it just helps tell that some people

are change agents in that society and

when I became editor-in-chief after my

brother actually my father passed away

in 99 then my brother until 2005 and

everybody was betting that I will not be

able to do it

what’s this young girl coming and

showing off because she it’s her family

business or or something it was very

hard at first I didn’t want to clash

with people but with all due respect to

all the men and the older men especially

they did not want Mira it was very hard

you know to to impose my authority but a

woman’s got to do what a woman’s got to

do and in the first year I had to fire

half of the men

but in more women brought in younger men

and we have a more gender balance

newsroom today the other thing is that

it’s about professionalism it’s about

proving who you are and what you can do

and I don’t know if I’m going to be

boasting now but in 2006 alone we want

three international awards one of them

is the IP I free media pioneer award so

that was the answer to all the Yemeni

people and I want to score a point here

because my husband is in the room over

there if you could please stand up here

he has been very supportive and we

should point out that he works with you

as well but in assuming this

responsibility and going about it as you

have you have become a bridge between an

older and traditional society and the

one that you are now creating at the

paper and so along with changing who

work there you must have come up against

another positioning that we always run

into in particular with women and it has

to do with outside image dress the

veiled woman so how have you dealt with

this on a personal level as well as the

women who worked for you as you know the

image of Yemeni women is a lot of black

and covered veiled women and this is

true and a lot of it is because of women

are not able are not free to show their

face to their self it’s a lot of

traditional imposing coming by authority

figures such as the men the grandparents

and so on and it’s economic empowerment

and the ability for a woman to say I am

as much contributing to this family or

more than than you are and the more

empowered the women become the more they

are able to take to remove the veil for

example or to drive their own car or to

have a job or to be able to travel so

the other phase of Yemen is actually one

that lies

behind the veil and it’s economic

empowerment mostly that allows the woman

to just uncover it and I’ve done this

throughout my work I’ve tried to

encourage young girls we started with

like you can take it off in the office

and then after that you can take it off

on assignments because I didn’t believe

a journalist can be a journalist with

with you know how can you talk to people

if you have your face covered and so on

it’s just a movement and I am a role

model in iam and a lot of people look up

to me a lot of young girls look up to me

and I need to prove to them that yes you

can still be married you can still be a

mother and can still be respected

Society in the society but at the same

time that doesn’t mean that you just be

one of the crowd you can be yourself and

have your face but by putting yourself

personally out there both projecting a

different image of Yemeni women but also

what you have have made possible for the

women who work at the paper has this put

you in personal danger

well the Yemen times across twenty years

has been through so much we’ve suffered

prosecution paper was closed down one or

three times an independent newspaper but

tell that to the people in charge they

they think that if there’s anything

against them but then we are being an

opposition newspaper and very very

difficult times some of my reporters

were arrested we had some court cases

my father was assassinated today we are

in a much better situation who’ve

created the credibility and inner times

of revolution or changed like the day it

is very important for independent media

to have a voice it’s very important for

you for for you to go to Yemen I’m so

calm and it’s very important to listen

to our voice and this is probably

something I wanna I’m going to share

with you on Western media probably and

how there’s a lot of stereotypes

thinking of Yemen in one single frame

this is what Yemen is all about and that

not fair it’s not fair for me it’s not

fair from my country a lot of reporters

come to Yemen and they want to write a

story on al-qaeda or terrorism and I

just wanted to share with you like

there’s one reporter that came he wanted

to do a documentary on what his editors

wanted and he landed up writing about

story that even surprised me hip-hop

that there are Yemeni young give any men

who express themselves through dancing

and rap breakdancing yeah I’m not I’m

just not in touch actually that’s a

documentary that’s so online videos

online it is shake the dust okay shake

the dust shake with us shake the dust oh

we get it definitely does give a

different image of Yemen you spoke about

the responsibility of the press and

certainly when we look at the ways in

which we have you know separated

ourselves from others we’ve been we’ve

created fear and and danger often from

lack of knowledge lack of real

understanding how do you see the way

that the Western press in particular is

covering this and all other stories out

of the region but in particular in your

country well there is a thing that says

you’ve you feel what you don’t know and

you hate what you fear so it’s about the

lack of research basically it’s almost

do your homework you know some

involvement and you cannot do what

parachute reporting you know just jump

into a country for two days and think

that you’ve done your homework and story

so I wish that the world would know my

Yemen my country my people I am an

example and there are others like me we

may not be that many but if if we are

moated as a you know and a good positive

example there will be others men and

women who can eventually bridge the gap

again coming to the bridge between Yemen

and the world and telling us first about

recognition and then about communication

and compassion

I think Yemen it’s going to be in very

bad situation in the next two or three

years it’s natural but after the two

years which is the price we are willing

to pay we were going to stand up again

on our feet but in the new Yemen with

the younger and more empowered people

democratic

Nadia I think you’ve just given us a

very different view of Yemen and

certainly you yourself and what you do

have given us a view of the future that

thank you embrace and be grateful for

thank you and a very best of luck to you

Yemen times.com on Twitter also you are

[Applause]