Looking For a Hero: Alternatives to Houthi Anti-Imperialism in Yemen

In the general absence of trustworthy mainstream media to narrate the Palestinian struggle for liberation, many of us turn to social media and their frequent 10-slide or 280-character uncontextualized explanations. Such a simplification was made evident when many of us ended up cheering on the Houthis following their virtuose hijacking of Israeli-related maritime freight through the Suez Canal. We asked Yumna Al-Arashi to provide us with the proper historical framework regarding Yemeni politics, in dialogue with other forms of anti-imperialist practices, in particular through the paintings of her aunt, Elham Al-Arashi.

I watched a video made on November 19, 2023 of Yemeni Houthi rebels hijacking The Galaxy Leader, a commercial ship owned by Galaxy Maritime Ltd, a company registered in the Isle of Man, co-owned by an Israeli individual. The footage is not an afterthought; it is filmed carefully and intentionally, clearly recognizing the weight of imagery in conflict. We are first watching from the perspective of a helicopter adorned with large decals of the Yemeni and Palestinian flags on the underside of the aircraft. It descends on the Galaxy Leader. The helicopter hovers perfectly over the ship’s deck, and we cut to around eight Houthi military personnel gracefully storming the vessel. Dressed in full military gear, some men have GoPro cameras attached to their heads, while others wear a headband with the Palestinian flag, an image of a keffiyeh-wearing fighter and the Arabic words “طوفان الأقصى” (“Tawafan Al-Aqsa,” or “The Flood of Al-Aqsa”)—the name of the Hamas-led Operation against Israel on October 7, 2023. Their mission is choreographed from the first moments of arriving on the ship. As if we were a character in a video game, the camera’s first-person perspective allows us to see the hijacking from the perspective of a Houthi fighter himself. The yellow and green camouflage helicopter flies away and the fully masked Houthi men enter the ship’s bridge where its personnel have their hands up. We cut to an image of a crew member with a blurred face: his hands are up, and the person filming is passively pointing his weapon while instructing him to get on the ground. The weapon of the camera operator is in the foreground of the frame, and his adrenaline becomes mine: I am entertained. We cut again to a comrade in the interior of the ship, chanting “لبيك يا قدس” (“Labbaik ya Quds,” or “Everything for you, Jerusalem”) into a walkie talkie while raising his weapon. I find myself cheering them on, as if I was a part of the successful mission myself.