Human rights advocate and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Tawakkol Karman pushed back against framing Yemen’s conflict as a Sunni-Shiite confrontation, arguing that its central dimension is a struggle between the democratic camp and the camp of dictatorship.

Karman spoke during the high-level panel “Rethinking Governance – Forecasting Autocracy” at the Athens Democracy Forum, which examined the erosion of democratic norms, the rise of authoritarianism and ways to protect democratic governance. Organized by the Democracy & Culture Foundation in association with The New York Times, the forum brought together figures from politics, media, academia and civil society in Athens from September 29 to October 1.

Karman criticized past international approaches that sought to negotiate with and recognize the Houthi militia without addressing the roots of Yemen’s crisis, arguing that such policies had contributed to continued conflict and instability in Yemen and the wider region. She said the international community had initially treated the crisis as a Yemeni affair, but that its consequences had spread across the region, pointing to what she described as Iran’s growing reach toward Bab al-Mandab.

Karman maintained that the Yemeni revolution had not failed. “It is the failure of the counter-revolution,” she said, arguing that Yemenis remained committed to their struggle for freedom and democracy and would ultimately prevail.

Yemen’s Democratic Transition
Karman said Yemen’s experience after the 2011 revolution showed the difference between removing an authoritarian ruler and building a democratic system capable of sustaining political transition.

She rejected describing the transition as a failure, saying it was “forced to fail” by external powers rather than collapsing on its own.

She identified two major achievements of the peaceful revolution. The first was forcing former President Ali Abdullah Saleh to resign through a completely peaceful movement in a deeply armed and divided society. Yemen, she said, possessed more than 70 million weapons, while Saleh had ruled for 33 years through division, wars and hatred. Despite those divisions, Yemenis came together around a common struggle for freedom and dignity.

The second achievement was the three-year transitional process, which Karman described as successful despite being led partly by Saleh’s political party and partly by the new revolutionary coalition.

National Dialogue and Draft Constitution
Karman said the transition produced the National Dialogue, which she described as the most important process for bringing Yemenis together and developing a path forward.

The process also produced a draft constitution that guaranteed democratic principles and included 30 percent participation by women. Karman said the economy was more stable during the transition than before it and “certainly more than after,” arguing that the process had succeeded in several areas.

She said the transition was only steps away from putting the constitution to a referendum when it was destroyed.

Counter-Revolution and External Intervention
Karman attributed the collapse of the transitional process to what she described as a counter-revolution led first by Iran, with tolerance from the United States and the blessing of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

She said the Houthi militia’s coup was used to divide Yemen and destroy the transition because forces opposed to democratic change did not want democracy to prevail.

Karman also criticized the position she attributed to the United States and other democratic countries during the Arab Spring, saying they feared the will of the people, supported the coup in Egypt and contributed to the chaos that followed in parts of the region.

She argued that the international community had failed to address the roots of Yemen’s crisis and that framing it as a sectarian conflict obscured its broader political dimension.

“It is not a Sunni-Shiite battle,” Karman said. “It is a battle between the democratic camp and the dictators’ camp.”

She criticized past calls for negotiations with the Houthis and recognition of militias without addressing the underlying causes of the conflict, saying such approaches had created further problems. Karman said the international community was now paying the price, pointing to Iran’s growing reach toward Bab al-Mandab. She described the outcome as a failure of the international community and the counter-revolution, not of the Yemeni revolution.

Civil Society and Press Freedom
Karman warned of growing global disorder and rising authoritarianism, including in democratic countries, and called for stronger resistance to authoritarian practices.

Drawing on Yemen’s experience, she said Saleh first sought to divide society, using differences between people, cities and ideologies to wage wars and spread hatred. The regime then attacked press freedom by arresting journalists and blocking websites. Although Yemen was regarded as an emerging democracy, Karman said Saleh used democratic institutions as a “decor” to maintain his rule while fearing democracy itself.

The regime later weakened civil society and increasingly interfered in the judiciary. Karman said these were among the mechanisms authoritarian systems use to undermine democratic institutions.

She stressed that resistance to Saleh began before the 2011 revolution. In 2006, she said, she and others began defending freedom of expression and standing with journalists who were arrested or subjected to what she described as false accusations.

“Defending expression rights” was the first tool of resistance, Karman said, urging people in democratic countries to defend press freedom and freedom of expression.

Building Networks Against Authoritarianism
Karman identified collective action as the second essential element of resistance. She recalled being one of the few women publicly calling on Yemenis to wake up and join the struggle for peace and change, while Saleh spread rumors about her. She said she initially felt isolated but gained strength by building networks with human rights defenders, NGOs and international press organizations.

She urged journalists and civil society groups to stand together whenever a journalist, media outlet, NGO or civil society organization is targeted. She cited media solidarity in the United States as an example, arguing that collective action by media organizations can make restrictions more difficult to sustain. The same principle, she said, applies to NGOs and journalists in Yemen.

Karman warned that democratic societies must defend democracy themselves. Referring to actions by the Trump administration, including the closure of USAID and more than 60 NGOs involved in development and democracy, she argued that the absence of strong objections from NGOs and media organizations posed a serious danger to democratic resilience.

She also questioned why authoritarian leaders such as Saleh target journalists and press freedom first, saying they fear journalism’s ability to tell the truth and its role as a symbol of democracy.

Karman urged journalists to continue their work, reject self-censorship and stand together against authoritarian pressure. “Your battle is our battle,” she told the audience, stressing that she and others had made heavy sacrifices for democracy but had not given up.

A New Form of Dictatorship
Karman said the world is also confronting what she called “corporate dictatorship” alongside political authoritarianism. She said people in developing and poorer countries had long warned that they were surrounded not only by dictators but also by multinational corporations that, in her words, were destroying communities, stealing wealth and forming alliances with dictatorships through corruption.

She said democratic societies, governments, NGOs and media organizations are increasingly recognizing the influence of major corporations and their role in shaping the world.

Karman identified accountability as essential to protecting democracy. “Anyone in power should be held accountable,” she said, arguing that accountability must apply both to political actors and to private-sector interests whose influence increasingly shapes societies and global affairs.

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