The necessity of continuing peaceful struggle [Archives:2008/1131/Opinion]
Ahmad Al-Zaughari
In the governorate of Dhale', we had the honor to meet senior Yemen Socialist Party and opposition leaders and know more about the missing great men, among them the late Jarallah Omar, Assistant YPS Secretary General, who has led a life of struggle following the 1994 Civil War. In the wake of that war, Al-Dhale' has been transformed into a ground for daily confrontations, crackdown, oppression and terrorism, which have been so far resisted by all the means of peaceful struggle.
It is the peaceful struggle that made Al-Dhale' once a home to senior opposition leaders and currently an eternal capital city for peaceful struggle leaders in the south and liberals in the north.
Despite numerous meetings with Omar, there is only one meeting with the great man which can not be forgotten. That was during the YSP Fourth General Conference in Sana'a when positions, viewpoints, debates and arguments between YSP members grow sharper and sharper, thereby having a negative reflection on us as agents.
As the conference's morning session was over, I managed to stop the car of Omar, despite the heavy crowd of assembling people, and gave the man a leaflet containing a slogan, repeatedly chanted by YSP members and supporters. While trying to put the leaflet in the man's pocket, I angrily requested him to read it. He then opened the leaflet and read it before me finding out that it contains this slogan: “We don't want the political office members to do wrong”. I sharply commented on the slogan, saying it is a unanimous viewpoint, and my position did not uphold the late Omar and Mohammed Ba Masdous, another YSP leader. “I do only back the pioneer of peaceful struggle and strive Hassan Ba Aum because he is a field commander and a popular YSP leader,” I told Omar. “I am not like you living in an ivory tower near the Republican Palace in Sana'a.” The late man responded to my comments with a smile, “This is your opinion and I respect it.”
Despite my grievance over the tragic consequences seen in the country as a result of the poor and seemingly tense relations between our leaders, I had my lunch calmly on that day, projecting that our viewpoints and positions, if presented out of will and determination, would be heard as tough by other people.
The viewpoint produced by Omar, which it never forgot, and therefore wrote down in my diary on that day, was that of stressing the necessity of scoring victory in the battle but in a way siding with justice. He made this statement at an YSP conference in the Shuaib district on Sep. 30, 2002, and that was only two months before he was assassinated. This statement was also made in the presence of an American professor teaching at the University of Chicago.
Politicians, experts and researchers questioned how YSP could take the lead despite what happened to it in the war, plus the continuant media campaign against it, the mass exodus of its prominent leaders to other countries, the exile of others and dismissal of some party members from their senior government posts. Many observers were shocked at how the party could survive, but great leaders proved that the party survived since people still need it.
Full of sacrifices and critical situations throughout the different stages in defense of land and humanity, Al-Dhale's history has the word 'silence' repeated twice in the province's record of struggle. The first time was used when an YSP leader was assassinated after leaving a conference organized by the party in this province. That was on June 5, 2000. The province has witnessed the first peaceful and huge demonstration on that day and the martyr Omar was among the participants. The second time the word “silence” was seen in the province's record of struggle was during the funeral of the martyr in Jan. 1, 2003. Al-Dhale', since then, has been known as the fist Yemeni city to organize silence funeral services.
Source: Al-Thawri Weekly.
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