How Houthis Gradually Expand Their Influence in Yemen

He knows he can't deceive you in one day.

I'll tell you how the Houthi begins with the speech, "You are our brothers," and where he ends up afterward.

He starts with "Peace be upon you," and a smile that you return while feeling uneasy.

Then he invites you to a qat session. An ordinary gathering with pleasant conversation, nothing frightening about it. On Friday, you go to the mosque and hear a sermon full of incitement and hatred.

He implants in you the doctrine of master and slave.

And you stay silent. Then they pressure you into joining a rally.

You say, just once, and that's it. But one rally leads to another. And your son is at school studying a new curriculum.

He learns that their master is above everything.

Your son is raised to put them before you, the Companions, and the Messenger of God, even God Himself.

And the verse that is as clear as the sun means nothing to them if their master says something that contradicts it.

By God, I would not permit myself to give a sermon about verses before returning to the Malazim.

Then you find yourself working with all your might, and what used to bring you profit barely covers a fifth of household expenses, the Mawlid levy, and the war- effort levy, until you work only to survive. And then…

He'll greet you that day and smile at you, saying he'll come tomorrow.

He takes your son in the prime of his youth, perhaps long before that, and sends him to fight people with whom you have no enmity. Yemenis like you, people from your city, perhaps your family or friends.

In the end, they hand you a paper printed with, “Martyr of the Qur’anic March.” He gradually destroys your dignity until you no longer feel humiliated.

He takes your rights, and before you know it, you're submissive.

You're submissive, and you can't say you're submissive, because if you do, you'll be a traitor, an agent, a mercenary, and your end Like the fate of thousands of Yemenis who no longer saw the sun.

Refusal is dignity, and you own the land. The least refusal needed to uproot all these losses is not to give them the time of day.

Don't hand over your son to them at school or university, and don't associate with them. Make them feel unwelcome.

Their presence is temporary and will fade, God willing.

Concessions start small and do not end until everything beautiful you had is gone. You have, in everyone before you and in the cities he controlled, the clearest example.