68 Exit from Authoritarianism Yemeni Socialist Party, translated somewhat awkwardly into English as the “Party to Reform the Path of Unity [with the North].” This organization was a part of a transnational coalition of separatists with ties to specific factions in the former southern leadership. Other pro-secession groups were founded independently of the old political establishment entirely. The National Board of South Yemen, also located in Sheffield, was established by secessionist supporters in 2007 to lobby and protest on behalf of popular movements in south Yemen. After being invited to attend one of their meetings during a gray, raining evening in the fall of 2012, I observed their members – men of various ages and political backgrounds, some communists, others unaffiliated with any particular faction – debating amicably in Arabic around a long table about how to plan a protest during an upcoming visit of Yemen’s president to London. This group also participated in pro-South rallies in London on several occasions, including in 2009 and 2010, to correspond with diplomatic visits by regime officials. A parallel organization in the United States was founded in response to the 2007 pensioners’ crisis in South Yemen to work on a similar set of actions. This group, called the South Yemeni American Association, was formed in New York to lobby the UN on behalf of the southern pro-secessionist movement and held demonstrations publicizing the South’s plight.18 After the 2006 presidential elections in Yemen, President Saleh indefinitely postponed future elections and sought to amend the constitution in order to abolish presidential term limits. On the eve of the 2011 revolution, the regime faced mounting international pressure to resume elections. However, no movements that I could locate in the diaspora were active in supporting democratic change in Yemen at this time. Rather, the only known anti-regime Yemeni groups operating in the US and British diasporas before the Arab Spring were dedicated to advocating for the cause of South Yemen autonomy and independence specifically. 2.9 yemeni socialization and empowerment organizing Yemenis have long socialized together in mosques, community holiday celebrations, and in Yemeni cafes. However, in terms of their formal socialization and empowerment efforts, I located only one organization dedicated to this effort before the Arab Spring in the United States. The American Association for 18 Party led by Ali Salem al-Baydh. See Steven Day’s (2012) excellent book on these dynamics, Regionalism and Rebellion in Yemen. I contacted supporters of the South Yemeni movement with several interview requests in the New York area, but I never received a response. Because this group had no public online profile or official status that I could find, it remains unknown whether this group’s informal membership extended beyond the New York area. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009272148 Published online by Cambridge University Press