About the closure of the Abi Dhar Library.. Intellectuals: a cultural genocide targeting the identity of Yemenis
English - Monday 14 February 2022 الساعة 10:03 am
Sana'a, NewsYemen, private:
40 years of intellectual and cultural activity, publishing and distribution ended at the stroke of a Houthi judge when he ordered the closure of the famous Abu Dhar al-Ghafari library located in Haddah area - central Sanaa - under the control of the Houthis.
The ruling of the Houthi judge to empty the library of its content after 3 years of closure, preceded by limiting the militia from importing books, especially religious, intellectual, philosophical and political, which struck this leading institution to the core, which depends mainly on its resources from selling those books, in addition to the arrest of Issuing Yemeni newspapers and magazines since the Houthi coup the year 2014 had a negative impact.
With the cessation of salaries, the success of the import of books and the decline in sales, rents accumulated on the owner of the library, so the owner of the building went to the courts, after which the Houthi militia closed the library on the pretext that its ownership documents had been tampered with and that it belonged to one of the anti-coup parliamentarians, and this doubled the losses, and made the owner unable to Payment of rents, which made it easier for the building owner to obtain a ruling to vacate the building.
The Abi Dharr Library has been an important resource for enlightenment in Yemen for four decades and a great cultural source for intellectuals to acquire books with their different titles and specializations.
Intellectuals considered that what happened to this ancient library is an extension of the Houthis' systematic targeting of culture and its institutions in Yemen, with the aim of ignoring people and perpetuating the Houthi ideology.
NewsYemen monitored a number of opinions from intellectuals on this matter:
The writer Ahmed Naji Ahmed confirmed that the closure of the Abi Dhar Al-Ghafari library is an intense expression of the nature of the stage we are living in in every sense of the word. He added: In any country in the world that respects culture, it does not allow the closure of an important cultural landmark such as the Abi Dhar Library.
However, the closure of the Abi Dhar Al-Ghafari Library is one of the evidence of the cultural and value destruction that Yemen is experiencing in this dark phase of its history.
For his part, the poet and journalist Fathi Abu Al-Nasr said in his interview with "Newsmen", "We are living in a general erosion of culture... a contempt for enlightenment... Militias and thugs are roaming the regions."
In addition, activist Kamal Khaled confirmed that closing the Abi Dhar library is a major crime in addition to the systematic crimes of the Houthi militia to erase the identity and culture of Yemenis.
He added: In return for what the militia has committed, it seeks to impose concepts from Iran that sanctify ethnicity, spread sectarianism, perpetuate hostility and hatred, and make Yemen a springboard for chaos.
For her part, activist Wadha Murshid stated that the Houthi terrorist militia kills every beautiful thing in our lives, assassinates culture and education, and closes an ancient library that formed an important tributary of culture in Yemen for decades.
Writer Hamdan Al-Ali said, commenting on what happened: Yemeni and Arab intellectuals feel the enormity of this crime, but many of them do not know that there is a systematic work to erase everything related to the identity and culture of Yemenis at the hands of the Houthi group, in exchange for spreading beliefs and concepts from Iran, which carry in their essence In sanctification of ethnicity and targeting diversity, coexistence and Yemeni consensus, and even perpetuating hostility to the countries of the region and the world, and pushing Yemen to be a springboard for chaos and targeting Arab countries.
He continued: Returning to the crime of closing the Abu Dhar Al-Ghafari library, it is important to note that this operation is not the first, as the Houthis do not pass through an area without practicing the same process, and they have burned huge amounts of books, whether religious, national or historical, and confiscated many libraries In Sana’a, Hajjah, Dhamar, Ibb and other cities, it is possible to search for details of some of these operations that were published on the Internet, some of them supported by pictures of piles of books burning. As for the available libraries, they were prohibited from selling books that did not support the Houthi belief.
Al-Ali added: This operation is one of several means to carry out a more serious and broader crime, which is the cultural genocide that Yemenis have been subjected to since the Houthi takeover in the name of ethnic distinction and divine right, and under religious and national banners and slogans such as “faith identity,” “Quranic march,” and “liberation.” Jerusalem,” taking advantage of the sentiments of the Yemenis and their religious and Arab principles.
The militia began targeting the Yemeni identity and culture from the first day of its invasion of Yemen and its control over the role of official culture and education. This is to impose sectarian cultural courses in schools and impose a sectarian school curriculum that devote allegiance to the group and its terrorist dynasty.
The militia was not satisfied with that, to extend its hand to target private culture houses such as libraries.
