Dr. Abdulmageed Ghaleb Almikhlafi
Lecturer,
Sana’a University
Dependency and Education
Since the departure of the colonialists from the Arab world, there has been no transformation, so to say, from the realm of retardation to the realm of emancipation, which really signifies a change of the Arab order. A principal factor in this state of affairs was the fact that the pattern of the colonial economy persisted even after Arab countries got rid of the colonial rule. The international division of labor and the continued dependence of Arab governments on foreign aid constitute a dependency relation which has its parallel in and connection with a dependency relationship existing within the Arab economy, education, and culture. As far as education system as an instrument of cultural socialization is concerned, dependency is a phenomenon of domination. The dependent-class structure and the linkage between the dependent local bourgeoisie and monopoly capitalism have led to the functioning of education as an effective instrument in reinforcing cultural dependency. In this cultural dependency situation, culture is used as a means for promoting consumption (needed to rationalize the dependent economies) and of defusing values which would consolidate dominion. The school is used as a means of transmitting ideologies of dependence and as a means of cultural reproduction of cultural dependency. Those who benefit from dependency in the Arab world have used the educational system as a system for internalizing ideological values and for controlling the social groups which were incorporated into the educational process. Education was used as an instrument for socializing people into their occupations and social positions in the Arab dependent bourgeois order. Education also was used as a tool for ameliorating certain contradictions in the development process by converting and taming the middle classes to cultural consumption.

Self-Sufficiency and Education
The notion of self-sufficiency as a condition of emancipation is very important, because it clarifies for Arabs that they may shift only half of the responsibility on others. But shifting the whole responsibility on others is a case of psychological infantilism which ignores the most important question: What have the Arabs done for themselves? A self-sufficient system is needed to provide the necessities to all the people, to cover economic, social, cultural and political aspects, to ensure justice in distribution to end exploitation, to be self-sufficient (self-reliant and dependent on the people only), and to adopt, as an economic and social policy, austerity and simplicity for the ruling segment of the Arab nation so that difference from the people is reduced to the minimum and possibility for double democratization of state and society is maximized.
Reliance on the people and their emancipatory forces means to be free from all conditions of retardation and free from the inferiority complex in the blind imitation of the material way of life. It also means respect for the cultural heritage and faith in the ability of the people to create. But it does not exclude learning from outside one’s own cultural heritage. It also means mass participation in planning and execution of development programs. It also means austerity. Disaster is not caused by austerity but by the opposite. The masses revolt against waste, corruption, and social injustice but do not revolt against poverty when everyone is poor. The individual Arab country has to deal with problems of self-sufficiency, not through decoupling or through development in isolation, or in any autarchic sense, but through the proper management of interdependence among Arab countries as a step in the right direction toward greater chance of unity. Arab countries can be interdependent only with Arab countries. For the alternative is a continued dependence on developed countries for capital, technology, and skills. Self-sufficiency policies must be adopted. These policies must aim at and envision an increase in production and productive capacity, and thus in the quality of life for the citizenry, whose creativity and energy are to be mobilized to decrease external dependence. That, in turn, requires mass participation in decision-making, reduced social inequalities, expanded roles for member-controlled and client-managed institutions, rejuvenated and transformed indigenous cultural patterns and social networks, stronger links between local production and consumption, and increased cooperation among Arab states.
Since the Arab nation has become ensnared in the competition between major capitalist and socialist powers, it has to seek political and cultural independence. Since Arab education is expected to play a major role in facilitating and nurturing that independence, Arab educational system must embody the commitment to self-sufficiency as a condition of emancipation which would reinforce that independence. The combination of decolonization and resistance to continued dependence, the demand for self-determination, and the call for cultural rejuvenation and transformation, must create a setting in which self-sufficiency can become national educational policy, rather than merely an orientation of a few schools outside the public educational system. Dependence on foreign funds is unlikely to promote self-sufficiency in the creation and organization of knowledge. All Arab schools must incorporate practical programs through which students would be integrated into the surrounding community and would develop useful skills. However, Arab education must contribute to the realization of the ideal of self-sufficiency by promoting cultural, scientific, and technological programs that would maximize the possibility of being self-sufficient in terms of food, health, defense, and shelter.

The Yemeni woman has always set a good example for being courageous in undertaking responsibilities and working side by side with the man to have a better future.Cultural and environmd historic for two reasons:
The Yemeni woman has crossed the barrier of fear and worn out traditions that made her almost idle.
The Yemeni woman has restored her old glory as an active subject in the society and enforced democratic tendency in the country.
Yemen Times seized this opportunity and conducted interviews with the newly-recruited policewomen. Mr Mohammed ben Sallam from he YT has filed this reportage on his interviews with those policewomen.
Student Mona Saleh Al-Dabani an eighteen year old girl who has just finished grade 11 at school says “It has been my wish since I was younger to be a pilot or a policewoman.” Mona didn’t even wait to finish school. With the encouragement of her parents, she joined the academy as soon as it was announced and decided not to wear the veil anymore.
Mona expressed her sadness to see people looking down upon her when they see her walking in military uniform . But she is optimistic about the future and that people will change the way they look at a girl working in this field. Although Mona decided not to wear the veil anymore, yet she started wearing it again to avoid any harassment she could face.
Mona said a woman working in this field should be tough and should get rid of some of her feminine passions to earn full respect of others. She prefers to have a male trainer for being more serious and tough than a female trainer. She also expressed her desire not to get married at least for the time being and to accept to work outside her town provided that her parents approve it. Then she advised interested girls to quickly join the academy for the challenge it represents.

Student Amal Al-Dahiri, a high school graduate, said “I’m motivated partly by my desire to see the Yemeni woman free from all restrictions pulling her back all these years and partly by my love for my country. It is about time to see the Yemeni woman working side by side with the man for a better future

She also said “A woman shouldn’t be as tough as a man but she should give up a great deal of her passion to be a real policewoman.” About being sent for missions outside her own town, she told us that she’ll accept it if necessary. She invited girls to serve the country in this field and to cross the barrier of fear that most girls and families have. She wishes to be a member of the crew working at Sana’a international airport.

Student Hana’a Faiz Al-Kumaim, an eighteen year old high school graduate, who was born in the United Arab Emirates said “I joined the force to serve my country. Before the revolution, the Yemeni woman was ineffective, but since then she’s started playing a grater role in developing the society
Hana’a’s family members have always treated her as a boy and she’s always liked in military uniform. She always asks her friends to keep the Yemeni traditions and to wear the veil after the work.
Hana’a is optimistic about the future and hopes that people will stop looking down upon policewomen. She would like to be something distinguished before getting married.
Hana’a said that the Yemeni woman’s nature differs greatly from that of other Arabic women She prefers to have a male coach for being tougher than a female coach She wishes to be a member of president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s security and to study at the university.

Student Thekra Ahmed Al-Sabahi, an eighteen year old, grade nine graduate, has always wished to join the police academy. She feels that people will accept policewomen gradually. She’s had the approval of her parents to work in the force and she doesn’t mind being sent outside her town under any circumstances.

Student Kubool Ali Naji Al-Saadi, a seventeen year old high school graduate from Ibb province has always wished to join the police force. She would like to study in the university - faculty of medicine and to be a doctor in one of the hospitals of the Ministry of Interior. Her father let her join the police on condition that she continues her studies at the university and she is determined to do so.

Student Srour Murshed Ali Abdullah Al-Malahi, an eighteen year old grade nine graduate wishes to graduate from the academy after finishing grade twelve. Salwa insists on wearing the traditional uniform after the working hours. She told Yemen Times about an embarrassing situation she was in once, when she went out after working hours wearing the police uniform. But she found that a large numbers of people were following her harassing her which made her decide not to go out in uniform again.

Student Saba’a Abda Mohammed, an eighteen year old high school graduate and a student at the faculty of law wishes to be a police officer. She temporarily stopped studying at the university to complete her training at the police academy and to earn enough money and then to resume her study at the university again. Saba’a insists on going out wearing the uniform to make people accustomed to seeing girls wearing police uniforms. Saba’a prefers male coaches because they are tougher than female coaches and she is ready to carry out military orders outside her town. She spoke highly of the administration of the academy for their efforts.

Student Bushra Ali Monassar Salim, a twenty two year old high school graduate is very happy for being a policewoman. She was encouraged by her father who is a high ranking officer in the army. She thinks that people in Abyan and Aden are used to seeing policewomen but the problem is in Sana’a where people are still not used to see policewomen. Bushra is ready to work whenever duty calls, in her town or in other towns. She also said “I have self confidence and my parents have faith in me, this makes me feel more confident and independent.”

Captain Suaad Mohammed, a twenty eight year old officer, graduated from the police academy in Aden in 1992, is married and has two children. Captain Suaad lives happily with her husband and the two kids because she managed to find a balance between her work and her duties at home. Before her present work as a coach, she had worked for the administration of law at the ministry of interior. She deals strictly with the girl students at the academy. Captain Suaad wears her uniform when she goes out and she receives the military salute from soldiers of lower ranks although some people find it strange for a woman to go out wearing a uniform. Captain Suaad feels self confident and insists that she gets her all rights. She stresses that a woman could be as efficient as man in any field of life and sometimes even better.
Captain Suaad concludes by saying “we train five hundred girls which is the number that need to be trained in a limited period of time. The participation of women is very urgent to meet the needs of the country.”

Coach assistant Abdullah Ali Ahmed Al-Hashidi, a twenty year old high school graduate and police academy graduate, thinks that it is different to coach a boy than coaching girls for the physical difference. He also thinks that it is more interesting to coach a girl than coaching boys because they respond quickly. He said that the coach should be a woman because she is more able to deal with girl students. Abdullah is looking forward to marry a policewoman to get along well.
Brigadier general Saleh Hamood Al-Zubairy, director of the police academy said “We started training one hundred girls and this number may go up to four hundred girls as a primary stage. The training course includes different teaching subjects like:
penal subjects,
law subjects,
police subjects,
social subjects.

Brigadier General Saleh was surprised by the speed and the enthusiasm showed by the participants, but he didn’t deny the obstacles present like those present in any other field. Brigadier general Saleh stressed the importance of the policewomen to deal with other women whether in police stations, airports, immigration offices, jails or in interrogations.
He said that we should follow the examples set by other Arabic and Islamic countries which have had policewomen long time ago like the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
He confirmed the absence of contradiction of Islam and women participation in the police force and in any other field where it is necessary for her to be present.
He stated the conditions for a girl to be accepted in the academy which are things like fitness, high school certificate and an approval of good behavior. He also said that those holding a university degrees will be given a rank of lieutenant after the training period.
Brigadier general Saleh concluded “women will prove that they deserve to be to men in duties and rights. Yemen will develop by improving the women’s conditions which is considered the main partner for a balanced social progress”.

Karen Dabrowska
‘They are going to see it their way - eventually,’ insists Salma Samar Damluji. The Iraqi-born architect who now lives in London and frequently works in Arabia, is convinced that her mission in life is to ensure the continuity of the architectural values of the past, especially in Arabia. In recent years her attention has been focused on Yemen, Oman and the UAE.
‘The condition of the present is impoverished on a cultural level only because the language of architecture has been ignored. We have to use that language again.’
Damluji insists that traditional architecture is not an architecture of the past. ‘It is wrong to think of it as something historic. It is a form of work which is alive and related to the social and economic quality of life. If it has been dropped it has to be picked up again and rehabilitated. This has nothing to do with restoring the past or reinventing the past.’
Arabian Sites is an institute without wall, bureaucracies or directors. People familiar with the architecture of a region, the master builders, will direct each project. The first priority is the urban and architectural rehabilitation of towns and villages in Yemen and Arabia.
With reference to Yemen, Damluji explained that if you provide water and sewage systems you are precipitating the maintenance of buildings, especially mud brick buildings and preventing the collapse of these structures due to the introduction of water.
Damluji’s association with Yemen dates back to 1982 when she was working for the UN Economic Commission for Western Asia and proposed the setting up of a Centre of Yemeni Architecture to safeguard the architectural wealth of the country. But Yemen’s Kafaquese bureaucrac and the intrigues of ambitious individuals who tried to enhance their reputation at the expense of the project proved detrimental to the venture, which may still be revived under the auspices of Hadramaut University.
‘I was documenting the architecture but only with a view to doing something about enhancing and promoting its consolidation into new urban schemes,’ Damluji emphasized. Her major preoccupation has always been the mud brick buildings of the south, especially Hadramaut.
She had a dream, the establishment of a Centre for Yemeni Architecture, which is both a recognized world heritage and a thriving practice. In a detailed proposal for the project, Damluji pointed out that this heritage and its practice in the south is best exemplified in the governorates of Lahij, Shabwah, and Hadramaut. While the architecture of Yafi in Lahij has developed sophisticated technique in building with stone up to seven stories in height, that of Hadramaut has excelled in mud brick construction to eight stories with similar admirable style. The attractive qualities of this architecture are rendered by the creative designs and techniques of building mastered by local builders since pre-Islamic times.
But the architectural practice in Hadramaut and Yafi is being seriously influenced by external design techniques and imported materials. The survival of the traditional art of building is threatened by the extinction of the old builders and craftsmen as well as by the neglect and disrepair of hundreds of important public and private architectural edifices.
A Centre of Temeni Architecture seemed like the ideal solution. It would undertake the rehabilitation of buildings in the governorate of Hadramaut, train master builders in traditional building techniques and expand the range of existing local materials to include baked bricks, glazed bricks, ceramic tiles and ash.
But the establishment of a Centre for Yemeni Architecture is not the only project on the horizon. Damluji is also fascinated by developments in Oman and the UAE. The Omanis have totally forsaken their traditional towns and villages while the princes of the UAE are trying to rebuild sections of a traditional quarter in Dubai, Sharjah and other cities.
‘I visited Oman in 1993 and, after working in Yemen, I was very disappointed’, Damluji recalls. ‘All the old villages were deserted and the vernacular architecture had turned into dilaputated remains more akin to an archaeological site than architecture. The spirit of the spaces has departed.’
She returned in 1995 when the Sultan Qaboos University expressed an interest in supporting her research on the architecture of the Sultanate of Oman.
‘I realized that despite all the coffee table books about Oman there were no academic references or documentation of architectural merit. Oman prides itself on having renovated 99 forts but most of the surrounding urban fabric of villages and old quarters of towns and cities have either been removed completely or isolated from the recent urban development. The people have moved into new towns of cement with modern villas. I am trying to direct research and work towards a new awareness on the national and official level regarding the rehabilitation of traditional towns and villages and to encourage investment in these villages rather than leaving them decay.’
In her proposal for the establishment of an art & design craft centre at Adm, in Oman’s interior region, Damlulji points out that until recently a quarter of the population of Oman were engaged in artisanal work.
Omani crafts include metal work (brass and copper utensils), silver and gold jewellery (and khanjar making), weaving (flat weaving & embroidery), pottery (pots, vessels, decorative items & incense burners) palm frond basketry and mat weaving including ceiling panels, leatherwork (bags, purses, water-bottles, pouches), bone carving (camel bone of kohl vessels), woodwork (carving for doors, column capitals, window screens, hand-painted ceiling beams etc), masonry and plsdyrt work, incense, myrrh and perfume production.
But today there appears to be little respect for artisans and the quality of their work has deteriorated. Foreign workers are taking over artisanal work and under-cutting prices. Official support is ineffective and short term and there is no national coordinating body for the arts and crafts.
Damluji recommends the establishment of an arts and design centre at Adm where a rota system would be set up for artisans in selected fields: metal work, jewellery, weaving, pottery, palm basketry etc. Artisans from all parts of the country would work at the centre, teach and learn to adopt their skills to contemporary market needs in terms of packaging and presentation.
In addition to her architectural rehabilitation projects, Salma Damluji is also a prolific writer and author of six books. Her book on Oman, published in 1988, has a forward by the Prince of Wales, She has also published books about the Holy Mosques in Madinah and Makkah completed in 1994 and Zillij, the Art of Moroccan Ceramics (1993).
She is currently working on a major publication about the UAE, which is presenting architects with the challenge of rebuilding old quarters of cities.
In the introduction to The Architecture of the United Arab Emirates, Damluji notes that the cities of the UAE present a unique and specific case for urban development in terms of the concept, development planning and architectural design.
The two most important quarters, as far as the architectural heritage of Dubai concerned, were concentrated in the housing of Al Bastakiyyah and al Shandaghah quarters. The architecture of the Shandaghah quarter was totally removed four or five years ago. The Bastakiyyah quarter, currently containing the largest number of traditional buildings in one area, including the renovated Palace of the Ruler, is now subject to a renovation and architectural rehabilitation scheme to include 50 houses. A committee for the preservation of the architectural heritage formed in 1995 is affiliated to the Heritage Department of Dubai Municipality.
The question of Dubai’s conservation, especially concerning the area of Al Shandaghah, once described as having been the heart of the old city, remains a complex issue. It was intended that the demolished quarter’s buildings constructed on the site point to a short-term commercial prospect rather than a long-term plan. The quarter reconstruction of the traditional residential fabric remains an enigma.
Damluji believes that through Arabian Sites she is in a position to bring the importance of traditional architectural wealth to the attention of international organizations who can assist local communities. ‘A lot of money is being invested in ventures which do not have a long term affect on the environment or the younger generation. I want the local people from a country - the master builders and experts - to be involved in projects in that country and act as project co-ordinators. Arabian Sites could act as a catalyst for architectural rehabilitation.’
Damluji pays tribute to the famous Egyptian architect Hasan Fathy with whom she worked in Cairo during the 1970s and mid 80s. He pioneered the idea of returning to mud brick and stone architecture. She recalled his life-long quest for establishing an Institute for Mud Brick Architecture.
On her coffee table in a London flat, a remarkable synthesis of the most sophisticated computer design technology and Islamic and modern artifacts and modern Arab art work, lies an article about Fathy’s life. One sentence from the Egyptian master summarizes Damluji’s life and work: Straight is the line of duty and curved is the path of beauty.’

Ismael Al-Ghabiri
Yemen Times

Journalists urged the government not to back out from its decisions to specify the journalism cadre due to be implemented from January 2001 in accordance with the Cabinet decision already approved in this regard.
In their second sit-in staged last Tuesday in front of the Cabinet and in coordination with the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate, journalists presented their second memo to the cabinet addressing Dr. Iryani, PM, saying “We were expecting that your esteemed government would be up to its decisions and that journalism cadre would be characterized from January 2001. However, to our astonishment, this was completely ignored in the budget of media establishments for 2001.”
They also said “We could find no reason for the government to go back on its decision to specify the cadre.” In their memo, reported by local as well as foreign media, journalists asserted that they would never give up demanding for their rights and that they would struggle hard despite their miserable conditions. It is reported that the journalists conditions in Yemen are the worst when compared to the situation of the Arab Media bodies.
In its meeting held last week, the Journalists’ Syndicate Council had expressed support for journalists’ demands. The council indicated that in case these demands were not met, the council would meet with the President to discuss the matter with him.”