Yemen's Ongoing Festival

Yemen’s Ongoing Festival

 

Feb 27, 2011

Last night was my first experience in a true Yemeni festival.  I have seen festivals in other parts of the world, and I always wished that somebody will have the courage to organize a public festival in Yemen.  When I was a kid I remember going to Al-Sabeen Square to participate in the celebrations of the 1962 revolution.  I was a public activity were thousands of people gather.  Later these celebrations changed into a government thing with no involvement of the public. 

Last night I decided to go and see what is happening in the Sit-ins in Sana’a.  I have a friend who is active in the “Pro Change” group sit-in, so I called him and there I was.

As I arrived in the street the first thing to face was the search.  I was searched by police.  The policeman looked tired, he was moving very slowly, and hardly looked at me.  After a few meters I met the first wall of young men, another, then a third one.  I went through the three walls of young men easily.    I was search in each wall by a young man.  The young men were very excited, they smiled and welcomed me.

I walked up the street.  I saw tents lined on the right and the left.  There were signs on the tents, either telling about the group; like “shabab Al-Bayda, Al-Jawf Governorate,..etc”, or saying something against the regime or the president.  The shops in the street were open and people were walking up and down the street.

A man was on a small stage chanting “Al-Shaab Yoreed Esqat Al-Nidham” with a number of people around him repeating.  Not far from there another man was giving a speech in one of the bigger tents. As a walked a group of young men were dancing, around them fans were clapping and shouting.  Other tents, small and big were quiet.  In each one of them a few people were chewing Qat, as if they were in a different world.

As I approached the center, near the “Al-Hikma” monument, there was a large crowd of people.  On the stage there was a young woman giving a speech, stopping, and chanting some anti-regime songs while the crowd were repeating.  An Egyptian revolution song was played, and then another person took the stage.  The center was the theatre of several announcements.  A Munshid (a traditional singer) said he decided to join the “revolutionists” and a member of the Shoura Council announced his resignation from the council in protest on latest developments.

I walked my way through the crowds.  It was an exceptionally pleasant experience. People were nice and polite.  They were all smiling and willing to stop and apologize when they touch me.  A few women were there.  It seems nobody was giving them a lot of attention. 

I was asking myself, then my friend about who is organizing this.  He said, they are groups of young men.  He walked me through a few small tents marked with signs; the medical committee, the media committee, the security committee, the newly established financial committee.  I also noticed that some people were collecting garbage.  After I made a comment, he said:” yes, there is a group taking care of that, but the most important group is the engineer’s group.  They are connecting electricity and helping organize things in the site.  I noticed their big tent.

As time was passing I noticed more and more people coming.  New performers were coming and new stages were forming.  It is not only young men and women, I noticed some older men, and children.  Not only they were walking around but also participating, chanting and giving speeches.   Street vendor were standing there providing snacks.

Speeches, songs, dances, meetings, discussions, and parades of young men going up and down the street, it is a true festival.  Everybody seems to be doing the thing they like.  Some were just sitting and chewing Qat.

It is a whole community, living in the streets.  Well organized, yes, everybody seems to be aware of his rights and what he could and could not do.  With thousands of people I did not hear a single dispute.   It was too ideal for me…  It was time to go as more people were coming…

Wait, next time I will take a look at the “Pro Government” group…

see this link
https://sites.google.com/site/classtemplate_en/

The New Hope

The New Hope

Feb 12, 2011

By: Kai s Aliriani

Suddenly!, the flowers are blooming, the birds are singing, and women are trilling “Yeli li li”. In the middle of the winter, the sun shines like no other time, and the stagnant waters started to move, announcing the start of new life.

2011 comes with new hopes, new hopes for all of us. It started in Tunis, moving to Egypt, but we all feel it around the Arab World. To those of us who felt, for a long time, that our life is losing its beauty. To those, who were struggling through life because we are fed up with corruption and injustice. To those who felt hopeless, in a world that is going the wrong way. This is a new dawn!.

The sun decided to rise, to kill the darkness inside us. The voices of young men and women are filling our life with joy and excitement. Now we say: we have a future, and we will work for it. The “facebook” generation that was accused of being careless, that we felt will ruin the future, has proved us wrong. History is made here. In less than a month two revolutions are shaping our future and it is not over, yet.

The legitimacy of the revolutionary regimes that have been ruling our world for decades is falling apart. The regimes that do not bother to know about their own people are falling. A new world of freedom is forming in front of our eyes, a world where Arabs can be proud of themselves and their nation.

There is no revolutionary council, no leader, except for people. There isn’t even a single gun needed….

Now is the time to believe in ourselves. Never give up!... Injustice has no room in our world, but we must take a position. We must say no and resist. We must seize the moment.

It all starts here, with you and me….