Dr. Al-Saqqaf stood for a free and civilized Yemen [Archives:2002/24/Focus]

Common Sense
By Hassan Al-Haifi
When an open-minded observer wants to project on how the world is faring and in what direction are we heading, Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Saqqaf would tell us that the best thing to do is look at the trends. Well, Dr. Abdulaziz, we are indebted to you for that wonderful advice and we are indeed looking at the trends of every aspect of our unpredictable lives. Surely, if you were around, you would be the first to say that the trends are painting a disagreeable outlook for the future. In fact, with the world the way it is, it is hard enough to predict what the global scene will be like, let alone how Yemen will fare in the future.
Dr. Abdulaziz had a vision of the Yemen he would like to see, which is to commensurate with what most Yemenis were hoping for, especially since May 22, 1990. No one can forget the great joy and the open eyed gleam of the millions of Yemenis, who saw Yemen turn a new page on life on that fateful day. With democracy we couldnt go wrong, thought everyone as the two flags of the former disagreeing regimes came down and the new flag of the new Yemen was hoisted. On that fateful day, Dr. Abdulaziz eyes were also gleaming and the future unfolded before his expansive imagination. Dr. Abdulaziz was not yet the well-known celebrity that he later turn out to be, and only because of that day was he able to become that popular figure. Not only was he a popular personality at home, but he was able to gain world prominence as an image of the Yemen that was to be reincarnated.
The new Yemen, as Dr. Al-Saqqaf and so many forward-looking Yemenis saw it that day, was a Yemen, which was going to project a model of how the future can be for all freedom aspiring Arabs and Moslem people, if they truly wanted it to be so. So, Dr. Al-Saqqaf, seeing a golden opportunity launched the Yemen Times, opening up a new line of communication between the Yemeni people and the rest of the world. This was a breakthrough in breaking the centuries of isolation that Yemen had been living in. The importance of this new channel of communication is that it was not controlled by any of the elements that removed it from its grassroots origin, but came to take on the voice of the people as part and parcel of the popular message that the Yemen Times was meant to convey. Today, the Yemen Times continues to echo the voice of the people of Yemen and refuses to take on any partisan or official tone in its message of hard-core straightforward journalism. It is a journal not aiming to please anyone or placate the wishes of any official manifestation, but conveys a message of how the people see it and how the people would like it to be.
What we must remind ourselves is that Dr. Al-Saqqaf had the vision which he not only perceived in his imagination, but wanted to have come out of the blueprint in his mind and be translated into a living manifestation. The vision entailed freeing a path for all Yemenis to let their intellect loose and produce a reality out of their dreams and aspirations. Of course in being that way Dr. Al-Saqqaf was braver than most. He took on the challenge of holding on to his dream and translating it into an outspoken voice for human rights and civil liberties. The most important appeal behind this stance was to encourage the rise of a civil society that could be felt, not so much in the philanthropic sphere, but in the advocacy of civil rights and political freedom. Moreover, Dr. Al-Saqqaf was an artist at mobilizing non-official and international support for Yemeni causes, which he saw as essential to the realization of the Yemen that was born on the 22nd of May 1990 the Yemen of the free, uncorrupted and unselfish. We remember Dr. Al-Saqqaf, because he reincarnated that instinctive spirit in all Yemenis to work for a free and cultured Yemen. A light to beam throughout the world.

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