On September 30, 2010, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) and CIPE co-hosted a film screening followed by a discussion of Destructive Beast, the CIPE-sponsored film that addresses the nature and costs of corruption in Yemen, which is arguably the root of al-Qaeda’s growing presence in the country. The film highlights corrupt practices between business owners and government officials, and features members of the Yemeni Children’s Parliament speaking out against corruption, which they identify as one of the largest problems concerning Yemeni youth. The film is directed towards the Yemeni public in order to promote awareness of corruption’s presence in Yemeni society, and to mobilize recommendations to combat corruption among the public.
While counterterrorism remains the United States’ largest concern in Yemen, al-Qaeda’s presence appears to be a lesser concern for the Yemeni people themselves, who are faced with corruption in every day transactions – exchanges that directly influence the basic rights they have reserved as Yemeni citizens, especially concerning business and property. Yemen’s corruption and poverty levels go hand-in-hand with al-Qaeda’s rising presence as well as the growing international concerns for security in Yemen, and neither corruption nor terrorism put Yemen in a position to manage foreign aid and investment. These growing security concerns make aid projects difficult to approve, let alone implement on the ground.
Yemen is paying the price for its corruption levels: the government’s failure to implement sufficient anti-corruption reforms in earlier years prompted the World Bank to cut Yemen’s financial assistance plan by one-third from 2005 to 2008. In a more positive light, the government claims to be planning efforts to combat corruption, which will hopefully provide a better environment for economic development, beginning with a shift in the society’s perception of corruption as no longer inevitable. Both the public and the government must reject its existence as a whole and enforce critical anti-corruption measures in order to counter corruption’s stronghold on Yemeni life.
View the trailer for Destructive Beast here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RxmlGFQJiw).
Published Date: October 08, 2010