Sectarian, Regional, and Nationalist Discourses in Wartime: Yemen as a Case Study

Abstract

The ongoing conflict in Yemen, since 2014, has reinforced hate speech in the political and social spheres, as it serves the agendas of the conflicting political parties. As a result, sectarianism, regionalism, and Yemeni ethnic nationalism ("Aqyal") have turned into rallying banners promoted and disseminated by sub-state groups through sectarian, regional, and racist rhetoric that incites hatred, bigotry, and violence, reinforcing societal division and fragmentation. This study examines hate speech in the Yemeni arena during the ongoing conflict and the narratives it is built upon, through official statements, declarations, and slogans on media outlets or on social media platforms. The study focuses on hate speech within three main spheres: Sectarian discourse, which views northern Yemen as exclusively Zaydi and that no sect other than the Zaydi school should be permitted there, as it is geographically exclusive to Zaydism. Consequently, anyone outside the sect is branded with discriminatory and hostile terms. Regionalist discourse views southern Yemen as distinct from the north and as not belonging to Yemen geographically or politically. Accordingly, it adopts an aggressive stance toward northerners or southerners of northern origin, labeling them as occupiers or invaders. Racist/nationalist discourse, which holds that Yemen's lineage is Qahtani, and that Hashemite lineage is foreign to it, and that Yemen should therefore be "purified" of Hashemites, considering them as a migrant group. This study focuses on the role of these discourses in dismantling national identity in favor of the emergence of narrow, factional identities. It also analyzes the effects of these discourses, particularly in light of the absence of unifying national state institutions and the dominance of armed groups that divide up the country's political geography. It also highlights the negative consequences of these discourses, including increased social tensions, the perpetuation of conflict, and the failure of peaceful solutions to the crises that have long afflicted Yemen.