Article

2005-05-31 Arabia

Yemen: hookers banned from evening strolls. I think.

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Posted by Fred 2005-05-31 00:00|| || Front Page|| [5 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Can the walk in the daytime or open viewing shops like in Amsterdam?

Posted by 3dc 2005-05-31 00:18|| 2005-05-31 00:18|| Front Page Top

#2 In the good ol' bad old days of Mayor Marion Barry, the DC cops brainstormed a new way to restrain the trade of the marginalized category workers: drivers of cars were forbidden from making right hand turns in the marginalized category trade zones.

Posted by Seafarious">Seafarious 2005-05-31 00:32|| 2005-05-31 00:32|| Front Page Top

#3 Looks like they may be being arrested for being Akhdam;
The Akhdam, literally "servants" in Arabic, is the lowest rung in the Yemeni caste system and by far the poorest. Marginalized and shunned by mainstream society, its members live in small shantytowns, mostly in big cities, including the capital, San'a. The common belief is that the Akhdam descended from the remnants of the Ethiopian kingdom in Yemen, defeated in the sixth century. Its soldiers were consigned to the lowest form of servitude. As a result, they are viewed as dirty and polluted. As one popular Yemeni proverb puts it: "Clean your plate if touched by a dog, but break it if touched by a Khadem" â the singular form of Akhdam.
"Once I joked with my brother that I had eaten with a Khadem," recalls a student at San'a University. "He became angry and said: 'Stay away from me! You're a Khadem. They're filthy, and they don't pray!' "
In Yemen's conservative Muslim society, Yemenis see the Akhdam as not fulfilling their religious duties, and therefore consider them impure. Huda Seif, a fellow at Emory Law School, said in a report last year: "The further condemnation of the 'non-Arab' as a fallen Muslim, who is unable to fully carry out the moral codes of Islam, only serves to legitimize the initial ethnic difference and prejudices, which are unequivocally proscribed in Islamic teachings." No official figures exist on the Akhdam population, but a study conducted by the United Nations Children's Fund in the late 1990s estimated there were roughly 200,000 in Yemen.
Hard to say from the article, but "being descended from the Ethiopian kingdom" may be one way of saying they're black.

Posted by Steve ">Steve 2005-05-31 08:27|| 2005-05-31 08:27|| Front Page Top

#4 Why don't they let them drive then?

Posted by john">john 2005-05-31 10:12|| 2005-05-31 10:12|| Front Page Top

#5 It seems that they may be the descendents of Ethiopians left behind during a failed invasion in the 6th century.

"...they have, in most, African characteristics in as far as the color of their skin, snub nose and tough, short curly hairs are concerned..."

http://www.yementimes.com/00/iss36/culture.htm

Posted by Tom 2005-05-31 20:35|| 2005-05-31 20:35|| Front Page Top

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