YemenExtra

M.A.

Rune Agerhus is an activist for the Yemeni issue living in the European country of Denmark. He has bee using social media, particularly Facebook, to spread his support for the Yemeni people through his graphic design works. However, his account has been shut down by the Facebook administration with no further explanation. Recently, he attempted to register for new multiple accounts, but most were discarded from the popular social site.

YemenExtra had the opportunity to interview the Danish activist who insists on maintaining his spread of word and does aspire to reach Yemen and document the war crimes being perpetrated by the Saudi-led coalition against the Yemeni community.

Following is the full text of the interview:

YemenExtra: What do you know about the Yemeni issue?

Agerhus: It’s an aggression against the poorest Arab country in the world. A US-Saudi aggression against the state of Yemen, where the US is using the Saudi Arabian state as their tool, to force Yemen into submission by starving them, indiscriminately bombing them, invading them and occupying their lands. State-terrorism.

YemenExtra: How do you assess the level of European and Danish interaction, especially with the Yemeni issue?

Agerhus: Minimal, to nearly non-existent. I know some very good activist comrades from Europe, the US and Canada, who’re doing a tremendous job in putting pressure on their governments to acknowledge the atrocities that are going on in the Yemeni nation. Other than that, you don’t really hear much about it, sadly.

YemenExtra: Does the coalition engage in political or media activity to mislead public opinion in the West about what is happening in Yemen?

Agerhus: Absolutely. The war on Yemen is mostly portrayed as a “Coalition against Houthi terrorist” intervention, which is completely false, and a complete distortion of factual reality. The Houthis, or Ansarullah as they’re originally called, arose in the northern Yemeni province of Saadah because of the popular necessity for a revolutionary movement, that would abolish corruption, poverty, hunger etc. They were created as a direct reaction to the instability, the Yemeni nation was in, before the aggression. It’s not the Saudi’s business to dictate the will of the Yemeni people. That is solely a Yemeni matter, and the Saudis along with their allies, should stay away from Yemen.

YemenExtra: What do you know about the Saudi regime and why does the West support them, while the Saudi Kingdom is no democratic country and possesses weak rights for humans?

Agerhus: The only reason the US supports the Saudi Kingdom is because of the cheap oil the US would get in return, and because the US may use Saudi Arabia as a gateway for influence in the Arab world. The US couldn’t care less for human rights and women’s rights in relation to the Saudi monarchy. As long as they get their oil, they’re happy.

YemenExtra: What drives you, as a Danish young man, to eagerly support Yemen?

Agerhus: Politically speaking, I’m a revolutionary socialist. And a socialist principle is to ALWAYS stand by the oppressed, no matter what. Armed struggle for the greater good is something to admire, something to praise. We, as Danes, fought against occupation ourselves from 1940 to 1945, against Nazi Germany. And we succeeded. So will Yemen.

YemenExtra: Why do you think the popular social network of Facebook keeps shutting down your accounts?

Agerhus: There are 2 possibilities:

1. I may be on some sort of tracked blacklist, and as such, the Facebook administration will keep deleting my accounts.

2. individuals on Facebook may be mass reporting my accounts. Political opponents, wahhabists and so on.

YemenExtra: Concluding the interview, what is your message to the Yemeni community?

“Stay strong, stay resilient, and keep the resistance struggle against aggression ongoing! (Ansarullah fighters, eliminate the enemies)!