Joy for delegations should not  mean misery for the Yemeni public [Archives:2000/18/Viewpoint]

Unity Celebrations should Bring Happiness not Misery It is quite sad to see that preparations for the 10th anniversary celebrations of the reunification of Yemen are rapidly taking an ugly turn. Yesterday I have seen people taken out of their fish stores, a few days ago I saw police pickup cars collecting street sellers, to be taken to jail, roads are blocked causing chaos and anger every where. A loud voice was heard in traffic jam said, “hell with the celebrations.” People are beginning to feel that the preparations are taking their tolls. Market owners have started complaining, people everywhere are unhappy with what is going on. We seem to have reversed the idea of a celebration. We as Yemenis should be celebrating and feeling happy for our country’s unity, and not undergoing misery and difficult times in prison or without being able to make ends meet. I believe that if the preparation committee wants to do everything on the expense of the people, they are doing something wrong. Just to make Sanaa shiny and sparkling unlike its every day look, we need not to cause the suffer and agony of the public. It is this public that has achieved the unity, and without their love to their country and dedication unity would not have been a reality. Do they deserve to be treated like this? Are they being punished for being poor, or selling fish?
Even if we do make Sanaa sparkle like gold, and even if the celebrations go fancy with parades and festivities here and there, I cannot imagine how the authority could be happy about its success while thousands of Yemenis slept the night of 22 May hungry? It will remain as a shameful experience glossy from the outside for a few days, but dark from the inside for years. The celebrations may take one or two months before they are forgotten, but I do believe that the agony, pain, and humiliation caused to the poor and vulnerable of the society during the days of celebration would need long years before they would be forgotten, if forgotten at all. Walid Abdulaziz Al-Saqqaf
Chief Editor

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