Media Campaign Targets UN Leaders in NY Over Yemen

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By DANIEL LARISON

PRI reports on a media campaign sponsored by Inside Arabia that is seeking to raise awareness of the war on Yemen’s human toll and to demand action from the world’s governments to put an end to the war:

A media group based in Washington, DC, launched an ad campaign this week in New York City that targets an exclusive audience: World leaders in town for the 73rd United Nations General Assembly. The goal? An end to the war in Yemen.

“This is a body that has the power, the resources, the influence to work to stop this war,” says Elisabeth Myers, whose publication, Inside Arabia, is behind the campaign. Provocative images and messages are being shown on billboards, kiosks and on some of Manhattan’s bright red double-decker tour buses.

“Looking out from the back of a bus is the eye of a Yemeni child,” Myers says. Inside the eye, if you look closely, she says, is the reflection of two flags: the Saudi flag and the Emirati flag.

The war on Yemen and the resulting humanitarian crisis have been severely neglected by the rest of the world, and the U.N. response has been hamstrung because of the unstinting support for the Saudis and Emiratis provided by the U.S., Britain, and other Western governments. Western media coverage has also been sporadic and lacking since the Saudi-led intervention began three and a half years ago, and that has made it easier for the war’s supporters to escape scrutiny and accountability for the catastrophe they have created.

An ad campaign timed to coincide with the U.N. General Assembly should embarrass some of the governments responsible for the disaster in Yemen and it may cause others to pay more attention to the war. Confronting the American public with the horrific costs of a war fueled by our government is an important step in bringing political pressure to bear on members of Congress and the administration. U.S. support for this war still isn’t well-known, but as Americans learn more about what our government is helping the Saudis and Emiratis do to the people of Yemen opposition to the war has steadily increased.

Here is an example of one of the advertisements on the side of a bus:

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