Revolution Objectives [Archives:2000/42/Focus]

Ahmad Al-Wadee,
Lawyer
It is discouraging to compare what has so far been achieved out of the 6 goals announced on the eve of the revolution. The gap between Yemens realities and those aims is very long. In fact, the gap between our reality and those goals is so wide, that it is comparable to that between Islam during the prophets era and the Islamic experiment of Afghani Taliban.
Lets have one of those goals as an example. Abolishing differences among classes of the society is one of the six goals that has been turned to be a big hoax. The same can be said about the remainder. This, of course, will raise many important questions.
As far as achievements and failures of September 26 revolution are concerned, the issue seems to me far from saying that its achievements have been more or less than its failures. A few years ago, an eminent statesman, Sheikh Abdullah Ben Hussain Al-Ahmar said a few words to Al-Wasat magazine that summed up the long explanation; The revolution is ours.
In my opinion, the most important failure has been the inability of the revolution to prevent the catholic marriage between religion and tribe, or between the religious and tribal fanaticism.
For more than 6 years, the revolution went through ups and downs from the next day of its eruption. Therefore, it is difficult to talk about a revolutionary momentum. The momentum indicates the amount of radical changes in the societys structure effected by the revolution. The revolution was not lacking the will to change but no real chance was left for it for that. On the eve of the revolutions victory in the battle of survival scored at the end of 1967 and beginning of 1968, traditional forces including Sheikhs, religious people, police officers and tribal intellectuals carried out a coup d tat on November 5 under the pretext of restoring the national identity.
The major achievement of the Southern revolution was driving out the colonizers, unifying that part of the country and preparing the citizens to contribute to the whole unity of Yemen which happened in 1990. Without that performance of October 14 revolution and its unity principles there could have been no unity at the time and no continuation of unity after the civil war of 1994.
On the other hand the most outstanding failure was the inability to outline a unity version that could have saved the country the trouble of the civil war of 1994.
Tawfeek Al-Sharaabi
Yemen Times

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