Annas [Archives:2004/705/Press Review]

19 Jan 2004
Main headlines
– Woman demonstrations all over the world in solidarity with Islamic scarf
– Killed and wounded in clashes and explosions at various areas of Yemen
– Previous official reports affirm 11 thousand AIDS cases; a citizen prefers death by cremation after discovering contamination with AIDS
– Zindani calls for benefiting from Bush's directives
– “Heavy” high-priced wave after Eid
– Community college students maintain their strike for the second week running
Columnist Nasser Yahya says in an article that all previous indicators and experiments with regard to the government's statements and budgets point out that the Yemenis are going to witness a new wave of price rise. It is a dose the date of which has been delayed probably because it coincided with convening of democracy and human rights conference. It is understood that the delay was a smart step taken by the authority. For it is undoubtedly there would have been prospects that the government carrying out of such a dose could have aroused a popular anger and resentment and then it would have been something embarrassing for the government while hosting the democracy and human tights conference. It is one of the simplest aspects of democracy and human rights for the government to allow the citizens express their rejection of the price rise dose and organisation of protest demonstrations.
The question is now not whether the dose is coming or not. The question is what are the boundaries of the dose? How much can the GPC authority risk in its arbitrary decisions taken against its people?
The logic of reason says that the authority could not improve the people's level of living and thus it has at least to preserve the current level and not to make it worse.
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