Islah... as a son of the Republic of Yemen and its pluralistic political system

All creatures, entities, and even ideas and concepts are not abstract in themselves, or isolated from their surrounding environment. Everything in this existence takes its own form from its interaction in its general space, being affected by it, or being affected by it.

There is no difference between the individual being or public entities such as groups and parties, as everything is a product of the field in which it occupies space.

The Islah Party, which is celebrating its 34th anniversary, which coincided with the establishment of the Yemeni Republic and the transition to a pluralistic democratic political system in the year 1990 of the last century, is today the result of the political and societal interactions in the past years of the life of the unified state.

The religious group allied with the societal forces, which was operating in the field of the single party openly in the north and secretly in the south, is different now, having become a party in the pluralistic democratic system of the unity state. Just as political groups create their political system, the political system also creates its political groups, resembling them and they resembling it.

By comparing the beginnings with the outcomes, we discover this matter with the Yemeni Congregation for Reform. When it was founded, the name of the party represented a major problem for the elites who founded the party, who were still burdened by their experience before the pluralistic democratic system, so they chose the name of the congregation instead to escape that problem. Now, the name of the party no longer represents any problem worth mentioning, and it has become an axiom that the party and partisanship in general are the backbone of the pluralistic political system adopted by the Republic of Yemen.

The Yemeni Congregation for Reform was destined to be born simultaneously with the birth of the Yemeni Republic and its democratic political system, influencing and being influenced by them. It was also destined for its current problems to be the same problems that the Yemeni Republic and its political system suffer from.

The defeat of the Yemeni Islah party in favor of the past attack of the dynasties was a defeat for the Republic of Yemen as a whole and for its political system. Islah has no particular problem with the Houthis, except for what the Houthis represent as a threat to the democratic political system of the Republic of Yemen. It is ridiculous and misleading to consider the problem between them as a problem between two religious groups, each of which claims a divine right to rule. The Houthis are a racist entity, while Islah is an open space for all Yemenis without fanaticism or racism. While the Houthis claim a dynastic right to rule, Islah only wants to return to the pluralistic democratic political system of the Republic of Yemen.

It is to Islah’s credit that it was clear on this issue regarding its position on the Houthis, while various political forces colluded with the Houthis to spite him, or to drag into past conflicts with him, while he had risen above past conflicts, and was more loyal to the pluralistic political system, and to the political struggle for its reform.

The Yemeni Congregation for Reform was destined to be born in conjunction with the birth of the Yemeni Republic and its pluralistic political system, and it is an honor for it to acquire its main characteristics from them, so that talk about its future is now linked to talk about the future of the state and system in which it was created.

Islah is the son of the Yemeni Republic and the democratic political system. That is its pride, and that is its only problem with the forces that find themselves in opposition to that.

*From the author's Facebook page