Why We Need & Why We Should Achieve Democracy in Yemen? [Archives:2001/07/Focus]

DEVIL’S ADVOCATE
By Sharif Akram
Democracy so far has proved itself to be one of the most progressive and efficient state systems of the World. Most of the developed countries and the ones which are trying to develop, apply this system.
As Yemenis, we also need democracy. We need to be treated as equals among the other nations in the world. When we look to the world at a glance, what we will see is that only the countries governed by the forms of democracy are rich…not only in economic sense, but in arts, culture, society, etc., as well. These countries do not all have important resources to exploit, no! They have earned their wealth by working hard, and respecting each other.
They have the power to say what they like and make themselves listened to by others. They are the ones that are respected not only because they are militarily strong, but because their societies are strong. The rest of the crowd of nations, who constitute the periphery, basically just try to defend the undemocratic ways that they are ruled with or obey the core and be servants of it.
We need democracy in Yemen, because we need to be strong, we need a strong society to be able to compete with the rest of the world including our neighbors. Only a strongly cultured and educated Yemeni society in a democratic environment could compete and challenge our rich and arrogant neighbors.
We need democracy to respect others and to be respected by others. Only in this way can we achieve our national goals of getting rid of poverty and developing into a richer country.
Through democracy, we can form a transparent society, which will form a block against corruption, falsification and the other illnesses that are slowly killing our society.
We need democracy to be equal. To treat our people equally, including the women. The women are the mothers of our new generations. They need to be equal and educated, so that our children will learn at home to be equal and respect others. Women, if permitted, will play a major role in bringing Yemen into a new era of material development, scientific advancement and socio-political liberation. We cannot hope to catch up, let alone keep pace with the advanced world as long as we deprive ourselves of the talents and energies of half of our population.
We need democracy to be educated and to let all our people have access to basic education. In this way, illiteracy will not be a problem any more… Educated people will be able to educate the coming generations and we will be able to have a high standard of education which will finally lead us to a point were we don’t need people to tell us what to do any more. We will be teaching them what to do.
We need democracy to give equal opportunities to our children. Thus, they will get into higher posts and positions in the government and private sector because of their talents and education.
This will make them respected not only in our country, but in the outside world as well. They will be proud to say that they are Yemenis, because their fathers gave them the chance to be equal.
We need democracy, because we deserve it. We have fought hard for our independence, we have fought hard for our republic, we have fought hard for our unity, we have made sacrifices for every inch of this country of ours.
How can we achieve democracy? Because we have the deep roots of democracy in our culture, but we just cannot see how to use it…We have the roots of democracy in our tribal system, it may not be complete, but it still exists. In the tribal system every member of the tribe is treated as equal and has a right to voice his opinion. Tribal customs and laws allow negotiation and compromise usually in a peaceful way by a negotiator.
In parliamentary democracy the negotiator is the President and we can roughly name the political parties as tribes as well. Rival parties struggle for victory without violent conflict. All sides are equal. They all respect each other, observe the same rules, share certain principles and culture, just like tribal policies. Both competing parties accept victory and defeat with grace, because they both know that victory can never be total nor defeat be final.
Fundamentalism or totalitarianism does not have the proper cultural background in Yemen.
Throughout history, no totalitarian regime would have been able to control all of Yemen altogether. Yemen and Yemenis were always free and sovereign.
But today, fundamentalism and totalitarianism are being inserted into Yemeni society by certain political powers backed by certain foreign forces who are trying to change the social structure of the country, because they are afraid of a strong Yemen.
We should never forget that only democracies may negotiate and compromise with each other on equal basis, the rest of the world will only be the followers of the leaders.

So let us be a leader country as well, let us be among the equals…Our past and traditions give us hope for the continuance of our nation and statehood.

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