Yemeni activists have launched a campaign urging people to stop chewing qat, a mildly narcotic plant, for one day on January 12 to protest corruption in the impoverished Gulf country. The campaign, called “I want Yemen to change, I will not store qat,” was quickly spreading across several cities and on various social networking websites. For thousands of years qat leaves have been chewed in the Arabian Peninsula and Horn of Africa. It is an intrinsic part of Yemeni culture, and millions of men, women and children chew the leaves on a daily basis. Once chewed, qat leaves release chemicals that are structurally related to amphetamines and the user experiences a mild high. Activist Abdel Rahim Alsamei said: “The plan is to fight all the corruption that has spread in the country because of qat.” Alsamei, who is based in the southern city of Taiz, said that protesters were planning to hold meetings to raise awareness of the negative consequences of chewing qat. They will also visit markets where the plants are sold, and use loudspeakers to discourage people from buying them. “Anyone chewing qat will not be allowed to enter the squares where protesters gather in Taiz,” Alsamei told dpa by phone. Similar activities are expected to be organized in the capital Sana'a, activists said. “It is a main artery of bribery in our country. For example, employees ask citizens for qat, or money to buy it, before getting their work done,” Alsamei added. “I am hopeful about this day.” An estimated 90 percent of adult Yemeni males chew qat for three to four hours a day, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in 2008. The same year, a World Bank study found that 73 percent of Yemeni women consume the leaves frequently; while 15-20 percent of children under 12 years are daily users. WHO does not consider qat to be a seriously addictive drug, but its impact is widespread in Yemen – on users' psychological and physical health, agriculture and the economy. For economists and ecologists, qat has become a symbol of all that ails Yemen. The plants consume vast quantities of scarce water supplies and exacerbate food shortages, as many farmers have replaced their crops with the more-lucrative khat. In this largely arid country, qat accounts for nearly half of all agricultural water usage. “Qat has detrimental effects on Yemen's agriculture, economy, health, society, and needs to be eradicated,” activist Noon Arabia posted on Twitter. It can cause persistent hallucinations, affect sleep cycles, raise blood pressure and disrupt households, as a significant portion of monthly incomes are allocated to feed people's qat habit. Many activists blame outgoing president Ali Abdullah Saleh for the khat menace, saying he “worked on spreading the qat culture in all areas” to drive people away from politics. A government employee said that a breakdown for costs for any committee set up to follow a particular project, shows that part of the money is paid to get qat for the committee members. After the year-long uprising against Saleh, activists are shifting gear to focus on issues such as corruption, which they see as hindering Yemen's economic growth and path to democracy. Unlike its wealthy neighbour Saudi Arabia, which has banned it, Yemen keeps the cultivation and selling of the plant legal. It is common to find a qat corner in every market, where bundles of the plant are wrapped in cloth or plastic to keep the leaves fresh and tender. The anti-qat campaign comes ahead of presidential elections scheduled for February 21, when Saleh will officially be out of power following the terms of a Gulf-brokered transition deal. Activist Hamza al-Adini posted on Twitter: “The cursed qat trees have taken wisdom away from Yemen and pushed it from wealth to poverty and corruption.” BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/b8tuq Tags: Campaign, Corruption, Qat Section: Culture, Features, Food, Yemen
