About

"Al-Nedaa" is a Yemeni multi-platform newspaper. Its first issue was published on October 13, 2004, as a comprehensive weekly political print newspaper. At the end of May 2011, it ceased publication amid the security events Yemen was witnessing at the time. On October 12, 2022, Al-Nedaa returned to publication as an electronic newspaper, via the newspaper's official website and its social media pages.*

Publisher & Editor-in-Chief:
Sami Ghalib

On the First Anniversary of Al-Nedaa

The first issue ofAl-Nedaawas published one year ago, and this is its 29th issue! A mere glance at the publication timeline approaching the masthead of this issue reveals thatAl-Nedaais an independent political weekly... It is a weekly, not semi-monthly, as one might mistakenly think. Yet, its second issue took more than five months to reach the reader. To be precise, 21 weeks — as ifAl-Nedaa'sweek were luminous (photonic), not solar, as if its days were measured in another galaxy, not by your reckoning. This issue was never destined to bear the number 50, and the moment of birth nearly entered official records as a moment of death. The first issue was confiscated days after its distribution, and the confiscation was followed by an administrative order revoking the newspaper's license, heralding a harsh ordeal for the family ofAl-Nedaa— the call that had barely reached ears before it was lost in the wind.

That was a confused moment where birth and gathering converged. The temporal confusion (to remind: the license revocation was justified by the first issue being published 24 hours late beyond the legal deadline) was compounded, in its presence full of paradoxes, by spatial confusion. ForAl-Nedaa, which emerged as if by miracle, raised confusion about its identity among the devout of the regime and some of the opposition, despite the contents of its first issue.

The revocation decision was political, descending in the form of an administrative order issued by the Minister of Information. The family ofAl-Nedaahad to resolve the temporal confusion first, through a "civil" struggle that lasted five months, before the judiciary had its say by annulling the ministerial revocation. This coincided with an agreement between the newspaper and the ministry to halt the legal process, whereby the newspaper withdrew its lawsuit in exchange for the ministry canceling its decision. The second issue was published on March 22, 2005. Since then, the family ofAl-Nedaahas strived, secondly, to resolve the "spatial confusion" by affirming the approach it committed to in its first issue: balanced coverage of events, opening its pages to diverse and divergent viewpoints, and avoiding any slide into ideological, regional, sectarian, or racist biases.

My colleagues and I have strived to bringAl-Nedaaout of the zone of confusion into which we were pushed, by adhering to the approach we adopted in the first issue — for we have no other support in times of turmoil as in moments of consensus. It was understood that the confusion is a problem for its proponents in an environment where independent journalism has yet to take root, witnessing sharp polarization that transcends traditional polarization between regime and opposition into even sharper polarization within the camps of both regime and opposition — between power centers and enclaves — in addition to the strong tendency among political elites, as groups, to stereotype phenomena before them into ready-made templates, making it easier for them subsequently to identify enemies and choose supporters!

Yet, the greatest challenge always present remains in our ability as the newspaper's family, starting with the editor-in-chief, to curb our emotions and preferences in covering events, and to resist the temptations of authoritarianism generated by the power of permission and prohibition within the newspaper's management. The journalist is human; his soul is commanding, possessing whims, inclinations, tendencies, flights of fancy, and caprices. It carries him sometimes to the role of a judge issuing verdicts instead of a witness narrating what he saw and heard, and other times to the role of a poet composing praises or hurling satires, instead of a critic reading reality with iron sight and a sound heart.

The first year ofAl-Nedaawas long, full of annoyances, and rich in paradoxes. It was a light-year, but we are merely humble humans hoping that our next year will be solar!

Editor-in-Chief

Al-Nedaa That Never Disappoints

By: Abdulbari Taher

A year has passed since the publication ofAl-Nedaa. The idea weighed heavily and urgently on our dear Sami Ghalib. He was preoccupied with it and by it, obsessed with the echo even before uttering the "yaa" (the first letter of "Nedaa").

My friend, who had previously experienced the meaning of "the call" (al-Nedaa) inAl-Wehdaawi,Al-Usbou', and other newspapers, was not disappointed. Sami realizes that journalism is no longer the scaffolding upon which the building stands and by which it is built. The newspaper is no longer the tool that makes the revolutionary party, nor merely a fourth estate as the liberals wanted. Journalism in our current era is a "heavy industry," to borrow the description of the great thinker Kamel Zuhairi. It is a multifaceted and diverse industry: it shapes public opinion, leads nations and peoples to read themselves and the other, and uncovers hidden treasures within the human psyche — in the general and collective sense. It is the sight and insight of people, truth and justice. It is the alarm bell that warns its people. It is the voice and echo of the conscience of good people, the sighs of their struggles, and their eternal call to live in freedom and dignity. It is a call and the longings of people.

Sami was possessed by voice and echo; he sought the name and the reaction toAl-Nedaabefore forming its first letters. WhenAl-Nedaaturned into a resounding voice, the reaction of the "treasurers of Hell" and "guardians of the Lord" (as Goethe termed it) was harsh and painful. The birth gasp ofAl-Nedaaawakened the urge for infanticide (wa'd). For the custom of the purebred Bedouins in pre-Islamic times had not been abandoned by their descendants at the beginning of the twenty-first century. But this was an infanticide of voice, echo, and conscience — which, by the logic of the age, surpasses the infanticide of the ancestors.

The first issue was quiet enough to awaken the demons of "security" and the monsters of repression. The arena only accommodates screaming — either praise or condemnation. A quiet, deep voice is a portent of breaking from the usual and the mundane.Al-Nedaawas stopped on its birthday. Its rationality, balance, and objectivity in addressing various issues did not intercede for it. Strangest of all, the stoppage was vengeful, taking revenge on the newspaper's sobriety and its failure to fall into the trap of "bickering." Nor did Sami's patient attempts to resolve the arbitrary stoppage in the kindest manner avail him. Mediations did not work, nor did forbearance and patience. The judiciary was the last refuge. The judiciary did justice toAl-Nedaa. It was the first newspaper to be suppressed before its voice was heard, and the first newspaper, as far as I recall, to overcome the barrier of prohibition by a legal ruling in its second issue.

And if the judiciary has ruled in its favor — or rather in favor of freedom of opinion and expression — the methods of repression and subjugation in the land of Waq al-Waq (mythical distant land) begin and never end. Harassment started with a torrent of threats that extended to the office of the American Associated Press (AP) news agency and its director, colleague Ahmed Al-Hajj. It also extended to the workers and journalists atAl-Nedaaand Al-Hajj's office. Overt surveillance was imposed around the clock. One of the agency's workers was kidnapped. The campaign culminated in the smashing of Al-Hajj's car and harassment of journalists and workers. Finally, the agency and newspaper office were burgled, and everything the newspaper owned was looted — including the only computer, whose price remains a debt on Sami's conscience.

What has happened and is happening toAl-Nedaacannot be explained solely by the responsibility of its discourse — for responsibility of discourse is more a reason not to punish (in a country other than Yemen, of course). But however important that is, it cannot answer all the questions of repression, wide open like the gates of Hell.

Certainly,Al-Nedaawas born in an evil hour in both the mythical and realistic senses: born amid the unbridled madness of repression demons. Journalist Hajej Al-Jahafi is subjected to a deliberate assault with a booby-trapped envelope.Al-Naharnewspaper is also facing judicial prosecutions and threats from multiple parties, including influential sheikhs with long reach.Al-Shuranewspaper is being copied, and its editor-in-chief is sentenced to six months in prison. The Union of Popular Forces party faces a "military coup"! Malicious lawsuits againstAl-Thawriexceed twelve, sometimes in different courts simultaneously. Punishment also targets the Journalists' Syndicate. Newspapers proliferate like rats, gnawing at reputations and violating sanctities. In the midst of this vortex,Al-Nedaais born — or its voice comes to alert to the danger of the comprehensive crisis, carrying the lamp of truth. Since its first cry, the newspaper has offered a deep, balanced "call" that does not disdain the truth, does not condescend to reality despite hating it, and does not gloat over people's pain and suffering. The new-born has perhaps offered in its critique of the "premeditated" Press Law what established newspapers — both partisan and opposition — have failed to offer. Hence, its share of the repression stockpile was abundant: from confiscation and banning to "open" and "semi-official" theft, to harassment of its writers and workers.

Indeed,Al-Nedaa, the deep and conscious voice, is among the new phenomena that flourish and grow despite the harshness of reality, the bitterness of exceptional measures and infanticidal practices, and the suffocating methods that begin and never end.

So, greetings toAl-Nedaa— the voice, the name, the verb, the letter. And a call to those young people who dedicated themselves to the call of the future and the summons of truth. And greetings to dear colleague Sami Ghalib, the simple, deep, and humble human being who lights himself to illuminate the path. MayAl-Nedaabe heard by present and future generations.

This is a "Call" (Nedaa) to the People

Searching for a name for this new publication took many weeks before a "call" (Nedaa) came from behind a towering mountain and a suburb of shadows!

Choosing a name for a new publication is far from being a leisurely sightseeing trip. Rather, it is an arduous journey full of frustrations and disappointments, after all the desired names were reserved on the Ministry of Information's list for licensed publications — newspapers that are published regularly at varying levels, others that do not publish for various reasons, the bitterest of which is the absence of their owners in the seas of eternity or the depths of oblivion, and a third type that publishes only on religious and national occasions, and sometimes social ones.

Here,Al-Nedaahas been snatched from the trap of random proliferation, after consultations within a narrow circle of fellow male and female journalists, and from companions who consider themselves among those with refined auditory taste. But as soon as I submitted a written license request to the Minister of Information — and he annotated it in his own handwriting, agreeing, sympathizing, and encouraging all at once, just like all officials and employees in the ministry — it became apparent that the name was a source of division and protest among colleagues and friends, especially those who had welcomed the idea of publication, encouraged, endured, and persevered, without being exhausted by waiting for the birth of this issue, only to turn away from its owner.

I found those who objected vehemently — a guest participant in the opposite direction — and more than that, those who did not hide their disgust for the name simply because they read it laden with connotations of extremism and fundamentalism. I had thought that "Nedaa" without any addition — as in "Call of the Homeland," "Arabism," "Islam," or "Progress" — would suffice to strip it of any ideological baggage. I informed these people — sometimes defiantly, sometimes angrily — that my decision stemmed from a deep impression by the most prominent protest publication issued under this name, posted on the church door at the beginning of the 16th century, written by Martin Luther, the most famous protester and the "non-conformist" who broke away from the institution, founding a new denomination that rejects the guardianship of popes and ridicules their mediation between the servant and his Lord — which the Church considered heresy, and some clerics deemed a form of "Mohammedanism," as recorded in history books.

Truth be told, I came across leftist friends who liked the name, out of nostalgic manifestation, simply becauseAl-Nedaawas, in a bygone era, the newspaper of the communists in Lebanon. Similarly, Islamist friends and colleagues appeared less wary of the newspaper and its line becauseAl-Nedaahas now become, amid the growing power of the Islamist current, a beloved title for newspapers, bulletins, and cassettes with religious identity across the Arab arena.

Thus, the name was met with a storm of objection. However, I clung to it at the behest of an inner inspiration, relying on sounding out those with supposed refined auditory taste and those known for refined visual taste — especially the famous calligrapher artist Ahmed Mansour, Abdullah Al-Mujahid, the painter who scatters love wherever he settles, and director Tariq Al-Sam'ai — all three are dear friends. The latter two, I counted myself fortunate to have had the opportunity to work alongside them atAl-WehdaawiandAl-Usbou'.

However, the name is merely a signpost for a place, and places are defined by their people, just as newspapers are defined by their content, editorial policies, modes of expression, and above all, their real capital: credibility and integrity. Even if the name falls short of creating a beautiful impression, the content elevates it, embellishes it, and enables it to penetrate the reader's conscience, earning their trust and friendship.

Print journalism in our country is either owned by the government, political parties, or individuals (as there are no institutions yet that own newspapers — may that happen soon). In principle — regardless of the owner's identity — journalism in its essence belongs to society. Otherwise, why would constitutions emphasize the elevation of freedom of opinion and expression? Otherwise, why would newspaper publishers claim they seek to serve society and its welfare? But if we look around us, we regretfully observe that government journalism in our country, despite being rich with dozens of professional competencies, has its function reduced to mere platforms that "embellish falsehoods and fabricate lies," as court poets and intellectuals did in eras of decline. Party newspapers, except for those spared by the Lord, transform from platforms for the other opinion into a trumpet glorifying the party leader or a revolver that alone decides the identity of the prey and determines when to pull the trigger.

Trumpet and revolver — two descriptions ascribed to journalism. Opposition party leaders like to invoke them whenever they parachute into their newspaper offices to give workers there — if they forget or turn away from mentioning them — a new lesson in party loyalty.

Independent (civil society) newspapers are supposed to be less burdened, and thus more agile in dealing with reality and its emerging phenomena. My colleagues and I do not possess a comprehensive electoral program to present at the outset of this issue to win readers' votes, or to impress the international community as in our tribal-consensus elections! Rather, we have limited experience, boundless enthusiasm, pens that have not yet known humility, a small share of imagination that emboldened us to take a step on a journey of miles, and beyond that, unlimited ambition that our call to the people be dignified, respecting their minds — not elitist, condescending to their concerns, nor populist, pandering to their emotions and tickling their instincts. No grandiloquence, no stammering — but rather a new call, as the liberals say (if ideological baggage is unavoidable) — a call to the people and for the people.

Editor-in-Chief