LA TIMES: Mideast's potent force survives alongside the Internet and cellphone.
SHIBAM-KAWKABAN, YEMEN — The slender, somber-faced 18-year-old wears two crucial tokens tucked against his belly, beneath the embroidered belt. The cellphone links him to the modern world. And the short, curved dagger binds him to the ancient system that is the only thing, he says, that he would die for — his tribe.
Fouad Hussein is one of a new generation of young Arabs, the vanguard of a massive baby boom. With synthesized Gulf pop in his ears and the Internet at his fingertips, he enjoys access to technology that his parents could probably never have imagined. But from the moment dawn sears the dusty hills until the last wash of sunlight fades over his mud and brick house, Hussein's life is ruled by the codes hammered out by his ancestors.
"I serve my tribe in everything they ask," Hussein said, blinking seriously in the brilliant morning sunlight. "If I'm alone, it means I'm weak. If I'm with the tribe, it means I have some power, I am strong." Modern Yemen embraces the tribe (more) By Megan K Stack
Mark Alexander
