Chairman’s Report 2021

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

Twenty-eighth Annual General Meeting, 9 September 2021

This will be a longer than normal Chairman’s report this year. There has been a lot happening in the Society as we seek to address our role in building awareness about Yemen and the situation of the Yemeni population. With the terrible humanitarian situation faced by the country during the war, we have felt the need to step up and meet this challenge as best we can. I would like to do justice to all the efforts put in to achieve so much this year.

This can only be achieved by tapping the energies and skills of our BYS Committee members, all working entirely in their own time. We have a strongly committed team with a wide range of skills, with varied backgrounds well distributed between Yemenis and non-Yemenis, and with a good gender and age diversity. As you will read below, this has worked well over this last year and we have achieved much – eight events most with over 100 attending, four important Yemeni projects now supported, and a revamped and expanded Journal are some of the key highlights.

James Firebrace, BYS Chairman

​The State of the Society

The BYS Committee and its Officers: Meeting changing needs and a new workload

The membership of the Committee remains as elected at the last AGM and no changes are proposed looking forward. We are fortunate to have a highly committed Committee whose members are prepared to devote sometimes considerable time to Society business. Meetings have been held by Zoom and an attendance of around 80% has been achieved throughout the year.

There have been a number of important changes to the Society’s Officers. Louise Hosking took over from Audrey Allfree and has brough new skills and energy to the pivotal role of Secretary. John Huggins stood down as Treasurer half way through this last period having steered us with great perseverance through a change of bank to the Clydesdale. He is replaced by Robert Wilson, who continues also to act as our Membership Secretary. We are grateful for him taking on this combined workload. This combination makes sense as tracking membership fee payments previously straddled both roles.

Thanos Petouris took over as Editor of the Journal after Helen Lackner put to bed her eigth Journal last autumn. The Editorship is a labour of love, highly time consuming and requiring multiple skills of selecting articles, reviews and obituaries, editing them and ensuring it all fits within the space allocated while meeting multiple deadlines. The BYS Journal would not be respected publication it is today without Helen’s earlier tireless efforts. Thanos now has a BYS Journal Committee to advise on content and support decision making on production issues, and his first Journal is eagerly awaited.

We have adapted to the changing format of BYS events, which are now held online but to much larger audiences since lockdown forced this way of operating on us. Ibrahim Zanta now acts as our Events Secretary allowing us to build on his advanced digital experience and skills and to handle increasingly complex webinars with panel speakers. To spread the workload, each BYS Event now has a Champion who liaises with speakers and ensures all goes according to plan. We also have a Champion for each project supported by the Society (see later for details) and for the BYS Scholarship Programme (Noel Brehony).

Membership

Joining the roles of Treasurer and Membership Secretary has made it possible to get a much clearer idea of our paid-up membership. Our records had accumulated a number of names whose membership had become dormant, sometimes for several years, and of individuals who had, perhaps, joined at one of our live meetings (it seems such a long time ago!) but not renewed their subscription the following year.

We currently have 231 members on our list of paid-up members. These include 17 new members since the AGM last year and a very small number whose subscription payments are still awaited, or who continue to pay at the old rate of £15 per annum. Members will recall that at the last ‘live’ AGM it was agreed that a modest increase in subscription to £25 would be acceptable. This increase was postponed while we were in the process of moving our account to a new bank, but the Committee has not yet decided to move forward on this. Happily we are attracting more younger members and more members of Yemeni descent.

Membership Review

During the year we conducted an internal review of our membership to give us a clearer idea of the composition of the membership, building largely on the personal knowledge of members from the Society’s four Secretaries since our foundation. We are enormously grateful for all the time and effort they each put in. The key findings from this exercise (%s are significant but approximate as not all details were available):

1. 1. Age profile. 66% over 60; 20% between 40 and 60; and 14% under 40. This is changing quite fast with our main growth in the 40 to 60 age range.

1. 1. Year of joining BYS. This was analysed by the dates of tenancy of our successive past Secretaries. 45% joined pre-2006; 24% joined 2006-13; 23% joined 2013-mid 2019; and 8% joined since mid-2019. In fact with recent 17 new members since the last AGM this last figure is now much larger. These results also show that the Society has been successful at keeping the loyalty of older members.

1. 1. Yemeni origin members. This is now up to 15% and growing, with many Yemeni-origin Brits joining the organisation in the last two years.

1. 1. Original prime interest in Yemen (for non-Yemenis). 31% had a diplomatic or military background, 27% had an academic or linguistic interest; 9% were aid or development workers; 7% had a specific cultural, archaeological or environmental interest; 7% were journalists or film makers; and 6% had a business interest. Clearly these categories overlap as most members had multiple interests in Yemen.

1. 1. Location. 61% lived outside London; 33% had a London postcode; and 6% lived outside the UK

1. 1. Gender. 64% of members were male with 36% female. This percentage is changing fast with proportionately more women applying.

Finances / Treasurer’s Report

As noted above, we completed the transfer of our bank account from RBS to the Clydesdale Bank (now trading as Virgin Money) during the year since the last AGM. Although this was technically completed in the 2020 calendar year, much of the detailed work of amending mandates etc carried on into this year, and it took until this August to have full control of the bank and PayPal accounts. This would not have been possible without the tireless work of John Huggins who has kept the account in such excellent order for the past few years, moved our account over to a new bank, and continued to carry out his Treasurer tasks until after the bulk of our subscriptions had come in in mid-January.

The Accounts for 2020 have now been approved at the September 2021 AGM, after being accepted by the Trustees in January. We started 2021 with £24,600 in the current account and £19 in the PayPal account, and we have continued with a stable balance sheet and bank account. Current balances in fact show a rather significant increase in our assets since, at the time of writing, we have £33,155 in our current account (but with large project transfers pending) and £36 in the PayPal account.

We are particularly grateful for donations to our appeal totalling almost £2,250, and for a legacy of £2,000 from the estate of one of BYS’s founding members. Outgoings include £2,000 as a further donation to the Al-Rahma hospital in Mukalla; and we have committed, but not yet paid out, similar sums to the YERO Orphans charity in Sanaa and to the Ras Morbat clinic in Aden. Another expense that will show by the end of the year will be the production of this year’s Journal in its new format.

B-YS activities

Events organised by the Society since the last AGM.

We held 8 events over this last period, and thanks to the online format and advertising our events to non-members, six of these achieved attendances of over 100. The events are generally recorded and then available later on our website. Three of the events related to peace and the current political situation, two on cultural issues, two on history and one on health.

19 June 2020. Panel event on COVID-19 in Yemen immediately following our last AGM. Two of the panel spoke from Yemen (a first for BYS) – from Sana’a, Dr Sahl Aleryani, head of the team establishing Yemen’s national strategy and Executive Director for the Medical Mercy Foundation, and from Aden, Samah Gameel, Executive Director of the Yemen Centre for Human Rights. The other two panellists were Iona Craig the British investigative journalist then recently returned from a four-month trip to Aden and Marib, and Dr Luca Nevola, Researcher at the University of Sussex and foremost analyst of the Houthi movement. This event was Championed by our Vice-Chairman Taher Qassim.

28 September 2020. Dr Julian Jansen van Rensburg, the leading expert on the cultural heritage of Soqotra who has led numerous research projects and expeditions to the island, spoke on Soqotra’s Forgotten and Endangered Heritage. The event was held jointly with the International Association for the Study of Arabia (IASA) and the MBI Al Jaber Foundation.

8 October 2020. Professor Clive Jones, Professor of Regional Security for the Middle East at Durham University, and author of numerous books, including on Britain in Yemen’s Civil War, on Israel and the Gulf monarchies and most recently ‘The Clandestine lives of Colonel David Smiley, codenamed Grin’, the subject of this talk which set off a lively discussion of this little-known foreign intervention in Yemen’s Civil War of the 1960s.

10 December 2020. Helen Lackner, visiting fellow at the European Centre for Foreign Relations, Research Associate at SOAS and former Editor of the BYS Journal spoke on The PDRY in its Historical Context, with the event chaired by former BYS Chairman Noel Brehony, himself an expert on PDRY history.

4 March 2021. This was the first of our series on Winding down Yemen’s War with a panel discussing What it would take to achieve peace and whether the Biden Administration’s first steps would prove successful. A high-level panel gave their views from a range of perspectives, followed by a wide-ranging discussion. The panel, following the format of two Yemenis and two outside commentators, consisted of Rt Hon Alistair Burt, former longstanding Middle East and North Africa Minister at the Foreign Office, Amat Al-Soswa, former Minister and Head of the Executive Bureau in Sana’a, Abdulghani Al-Iryani, highly respected political analyst and Associate of the Sana’a Centre, and Jonathan Powell, who played a key role in the Northern Ireland peace talks that led to the Good Friday Agreement.

25 March 2021. A panel event organised and moderated by our Vice-Chairman, Taher Qassim examined the Current Situation in Al-Mahra. The four panelists were Saeed Al-Mahri, Researcher at the Leverhulme Trust, Ahmed Naji from the Malcolm Kerr Carnegie Centre in Beirut, Elena De Lozier from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and Dr Noel Brehony former diplomat and author.

12 April 2021. A highly entertaining event organised by Committee member Hamdan Dammag in which Professor Kamal Abu-Deeb, one of the foremost Arab literature critics and researchers of the modern era and Emeritus Professor of Arabic at the University of London gave an illustrated talk on Cultural Politics and the Symbolic Power of Art and Architecture, a contemplation of the art and political history of Yemen.

27 May 2021. The second in our Winding Down the Yemen War series, entitled Negotiating Peace in Yemen at the Local Level. This event looked at the range of unofficial dialogues and moves to rebuild damaged relationships between Yemenis at the grassroots. It was organised by Committee member Sarah Clowry with a panel consisting of Marwa Baabad, Associate fellow at RUSI and BYS Committee member, Shoqi Al-Maqtari, Senior Advisor at Search for Common Ground, Kawkab Al-Thaibani co-founder of Women4Yemen, a network of Yemeni activists advocating for peace and security in Yemen, and Dr Thania Paffenholz, Executive Director of Inclusive Peace, the Swiss organisation that supports peace processes.

The BYS Journal

The Journal is now taking on a new larger A4 format with a redesigned cover. Content has been selected by our new Editor, Thanos Petouris, supported by a Journal Committee. We agreed two aims: re-connecting the Journal with the activities of the Society (events, awards and projects) and creating links between BYS and the Yemeni communities across the UK. The new format allows for a significantly more substantial Journal than in the past, with around twice the number of articles over previous years.

We look forward to hearing reactions from the membership on our new-look Journal once it is out. Thanos is keen to receive ideas for articles from the membership and he can be contacted directly at editor@British Yemeni Society.org.uk. The Journal this year will once again be available in the autumn, most likely in November while we sort out new printing arrangements.

BYS-supported Projects in Yemen

We are currently supporting four projects in Yemen and have deliberately aimed to ensure a spread across Yemen’s different regions. We have faced the challenge of needing to transfer funds to UK bank accounts given all the complications of transferring money to Yemen, but in each case we have found ways of doing this. Our Yemen Appeal continues to attract substantial funds and remains open for donations.

1. 1. Ras Morbat Eye Clinic in Aden. BYS has long supported the essential work of this clinic, which managed to keep going through all recent conflict and insecurity. Recent grants have been for essential equipment. Champion: John Huggins

1. 1. Al-Rahma Co-operative Hospital in Mukalla, which we are supporting for the second year running with contributions towards essential equipment. Champion: Dr Noel Brehony

1. 1. Yemen Education and Relief Organisation (YERO) in Sana’a. This organisation, run by Nouria Nagi OBE whom many of you will know, supports orphaned and abandoned children, whose number has increased dramatically with the war. We are making our second grant this year. Champion: James Spencer

1. 1. Action for Child Trauma (ACT) have begun operations in Yemen recently. They provide expert training, delivered by highly experienced women from the Arab world. The traumatisation of Yemeni children has become a major issue during the war, and ACT works to address anxiety and to build resilience. BYS will be making its first grant this year, directed at their work in Taiz and Hadhramaut. Champion: Julian Lush

Website and Facebook

The Society’s Facebook Group is our most active media channel, and now has 1,719 members, over 100 more than last year, with further applications being reviewed. The Website itself has benefitted from a number of improvements but we are conscious it needs a more fundamental refresh as soon as time can be found from within our (volunteer) Committee. New and younger members of the Committee continue to bring valuable ideas and experience

BYS Academic Award

The Committee made a grant in late 2020 to Gabriel Lavin of the University of California, Los Angeles to enable him to research South Yemeni music at the British Library, specifically examining Aden’s early recording industry. Gabriel’s research was delayed by the restrictions of the pandemic, but we are hoping he has sufficient material to talk at a BYS event this autumn. The 2021 grant has yet to be awarded. We have been advertising more widely within academic institutions and hope this way to gain more Yemeni applicants.