AL-THAWRI: Sanaa weekly, 6-8-98. [Archives:1998/32/Press Review]

(Yemeni Socialist Party)   Main Headline:
1- Prominent figures and political organizations in Mareb, Al-Jawf, and Shabwa say conclusions reached by the so-called ‘1st National Conference of Middle Region Citizens’ do not represent the real opinions of people living there.
2- Russian Mafia pockets millions of dollars in an illegal arms deal with the Yemeni government. Yemeni ambassador in Moscow is ordered to retrieve the money.
3- University teachers and students as well as many other citizens condemn the governor of Lahaj’s decision to grant agricultural lands belonging to the Nasser College of Agriculture to private owners. The original owners were to be compensated with lands in another area.
Article Summary:
Is There Capitalism in Yemen?
By Abdulkarim A. Al-Souswa
For privatization to succeed in Yemen, there must be a true capitalist system. There is no capitalist class in Yemen to transform the country from tribalism to civil society. What is here is a parasitic class that lives on trade in consumer goods, services and sales agencies of foreign companies. These sectors actually hinder the development of a true national capitalism.
The feudal system still prevails in the countryside where the means of production are still primitive and social relations are tribal. The proportion of people working in modern industry is negligible. Actually, there is no manufacturing, heavy or production industries.
Within such conditions, privatization would be a disaster. It will hand over state-owned enterprises to a weak parasitic class of owners, who transfer their money abroad instead of investing it to build a real industrial base.

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