Back to February

If there is one lesson we should learn from the events in Syria, it is to return to the path of the 2011 revolution.

In 2011, the voice of the Yemenis was united as never before. The voices of regional anger faded. Aden chanted for Sana’a and Sana’a chanted for Aden. A new future for the country appeared: a unified homeland, a thriving economy, equal citizenship, no corruption or favoritism. The revolution resounded with hundreds of songs glorifying life.

After 2012, the political components began to drag the revolution after them, instead of placing themselves after the revolution. Thus, all the political components (opposition parties and the ruling party) shared the gains according to the principle of no victor or vanquished.

Despite the new political reality based on consensus, it was not able to silence the voice of the revolution: the revolution began against corruption in state institutions, the government employed thousands, and exchange rates stabilized.

The Arab Financial Stability Index showed Yemen twice in terms of improvement and stability, the first time was in the seventies during the era of President Al-Hamdi, and the second time was in 2013 during the era of Basindawa.

Despite the presence of the Congress Party in the formation of gains, its leader gradually returned to take revenge on the other components that granted him in the name of the revolution, which guaranteed him everything he wanted, and took from him only the title of president and granted it to his deputy. In 2014, the war broke out and began to devour everyone.

During the war, the leaders of the political components left the country, and the honest revolutionaries - despite the majority belonging to the political components - remained in the firing lines at zero distance, while the representatives of the Yemeni state from the immigrants who took the lead in drawing up the tactics of the battle of salvation from abroad, including the Al-Ahmar Congress members, learned how to stand in a long line in front of the food and gratuity committees, and the treasurers to receive their salaries in hard currency.

The Arab Financial Stability Index showed Yemen twice in terms of improvement and stability, the first time was in the seventies during the era of President Al-Hamdi, and the second time was in 2013 during the era of Basindawa.

After the outbreak of the war, the Yemenis who resisted the militia found themselves strangely divided, either according to political affiliations, geography, or loyalty to the external supporter. The regional voice calling for secession returned stronger than it was before 2011, and Yemen became a source of concern for Arab national security. The economy deteriorated horribly, and imported classism imposed itself on a large number of Yemenis. Corruption is expanding with the increase in components and does not care, and with this situation, hundreds of Zamels glorifying death came out.

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Despite the political components' quota of legitimacy, the voice of the revolutionaries was loud and their steadfastness on various fronts was present and strong. The honest officers of the revolution, along with a number of soldiers and a similar number of civilians, despite their political affiliations, were the ones who rose up to confront the Iranian groups at first. The revolutionaries did not come out with any gains and are still paying the price of their dreams with their lives.

In 2017, in honor of the sacrifices of thousands of Yemenis, the Yemeni government declared February 11 an official holiday.

This symbolism is all that the heroes got to remember their dreams one day of the year, and their preoccupation the rest of the year, even on Fridays, with the struggle against the priestly militia, for freedom and a decent life.

The revolutionary and non-revolutionary political components welcomed the decision, even the conference members who jumped from Saleh’s ship after the outbreak of the war preferred to remain silent about the loss of salaries. All the representatives in the comfortable hotels were beneficiaries, with no winner or loser.

It was only a few months before Ali Saleh took the same line as the steadfast revolutionaries in confronting the Houthis. Fate willed that the Houthis kill him. Since then, and every year that passes, the angry GPC members and their new supporters, including those claiming to be revolutionaries, look at February 11 with half an eye.

And every time the economic situation deteriorates, they attack us with sharp tongues polished for criticism and vengeance, as if they were not active participants in managing the scene, where the government is divided, the presidency is shared, and hotel rooms are divided equally, room by room and suite by suite.

The revolution does not accept suspicious deals to share the country with its enemies. The revolution is a project of justice for the Yemeni people and preserving the geography of their country. It does not stop at the interests of a group of beneficiaries and does not accept partial solutions.

Throughout the war, those who came out in 2011 were subjected to relentless moral attacks. In the last two years, the attacks have intensified. Even some pretenders who changed their skin in search of a rich polarizer began cursing us out of excessive enthusiasm. This is something that Saleh did not do, who saw the youth’s demands as legitimate! But he was angry about the parties’ involvement with the protesters, as he used to say. In the end, the leaders of the political components went to celebrate the day of the uprising on December 2, in the year when its enthusiasm had waned, with a holiday that symbolizes the sacrifice of the Yemenis: February 11.

By God, if Salih rose from his grave, he would die laughing at the stupidity of the transformations. This is because he knows that the one who will break his killer is the one who rose up to confront him from the first moment.

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In Syria, the revolution led politics. In Yemen, the revolution and its masses belonging to the political components fought over who would lead and control the scene. The leaders of the political components were unable to ignore February 11 and silence its voice despite attempts to ignore any names that refer to the events of 2011 as a good event for the country.

The pretext that the political components are using for February 11 is that the world will not accept you, the countries of the region, the neighbors, no one welcomes you. And they whisper warningly: The brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia do not want you at all.

In 2022, the last remaining top-level positions on the civil service ladder were shared: the presidency, by forming the Presidential Council led by eight heads, according to a dual criterion that combines the external acceptance of the component by the supporting party, and political and geographical affiliation.

The formation seemed to be intended to wage a decisive battle and end the Iranian-backed rebellion, through war or peace. What happened, perhaps, was a surprise even to Saudi Arabia, as instead of uniting around one goal, eight other goals emerged, each one a subsidiary. The surprise came when the members of the Presidential Council, and the political components they represent, showed unexpected flexibility in their negotiations with the militia under UN auspices.

They were on the verge of sharing the country with the militia, just as the international community had begun to return to dealing with the regime of dictator Bashar al-Assad, who had turned Syria into an arena for targeting Arab national security with killing, sectarianism, and Captagon factories!

Those close to the eight members of the Presidential Council justify their position on the agreement they were about to sign in late 2023 by saying that they are under international pressure, and they point to the Saudi support the peace agreement is receiving, as if they want Saudi Arabia to say: No... on their behalf. In fact, Saudi Arabia is adopting an official path that is in line with the approach of any country under the eyes of the world. And on a legal basis, any country, no matter how much it supports you, will not accept, at least on the surface, supporting a confrontational position in a neighboring country, let alone accepting factions that are still out of power, no matter how unified their goals are.

With them, victory will come, and everyone will join the revolution. We find thousands of those who are submissive, opposed, and silent, inventing details out of nothing so that they can stick to the revolution and its history. If we disagreed about the beginnings, we will agree at the end, and make it a holiday for the country.

And everyone knows the pivotal event of the end.