[Thread] There is a discriminatory aspect to #Yemen's current conflict that people tend to *not* disclose. Its significance has social and political implications for generations to come and in my opinion a strong attribution of a failed political settlement to Yemen’s civil war.

While many tend to focus on the political aspect of this conflict, I see it through a sociological lens of race and supremacy. It is a crash between interactionism and conflict theory and it cannot be separated because there is a symbolic identity to it.

The intent of Houthis are based on identity, a source of their ideology. Their view is that they are chosen individuals (lineage of the prophet) above the average Yemeni citizen (non-lineage), and therefore, they can't settle through a political deal w.out a position of strength.

The government, who at this point is represented by various Yemenis from political parties, provinces, and also soft opponents, does not have this crisis of superiority. While there are disagreements, political bickering of policy & legislation, they do not have a supremacy view.

Now that we established the base of their ideologies, we have to analyze how this impacts the "peace process" in Yemen. Supremacy is an ideology that one cannot make peace with. With supremacy, the only way to make peace is through accountability.

From the perspective of the average citizen, superiority does not sit well since it is a violation of equality and it most definitely promotes disadvantages to the vast majority of Yemenis --not just on a social level, but also politically. The culture of prejudice becomes common

There then becomes power disparities which create a structural unbalance to Yemenis. For Houthis, identity is sacred and cannot be taken away (rightly so), but their ideology of prejudice can be punished by the international community - if they choose to go that route.

In my personal belief and a review of historical studies, prejudice can never be normalized nor accepted in societies. There is an unnatural tone to it. The only way to approach it is by punishing the act of discrimination through policy and with the support of civil society.

While Houthis focus on the doctrine of lineage which creates inequality/discrimination, the government functions on the doctrine of legislation. The latter can - w/ support of legal experts - rebuild a broken system. However, the first group can't govern on basis of lineage.

My point here is that a true & honest political settlement w/ Houthis cannot be done unless the international community reaps the harvest of Houthi supremacy. I hope to dive into this sociological view more in a longer piece, but just wanted to throw it out in the Twitter world!