28 February 2011
SANA'A -- Tensions has surfaced among the young people at Al-Tagheer Square by Sana'a University, with many believing that the protests are becoming controlled by political parties.
Many members of the Islah Party, the largest and most conservative party in the opposition Joint Meeting Parties, joined protesters at Al-Tagheer Square as independents. On Sunday, a group called the Yemeni Youth Initiative called on all young independent protesters to coordinate their work and to choose new committees that respect the "aims of the revolution." Other protesters are calling on young demonstrators to protest separately from the tribes and members of the Joint Meeting Party.
"I have been participating in the revolution for change for ten days now. I lost my enthusiasm as it became controlled by the Joint Meeting Parties, especially Islah," said Ameera Ali, one of the anti-government protesters.
The number of protesters from tribes has started to out-number the students and young people, and the stage has become more organized by Islah members, according to young protesters. The procedures at Al-Tagheer Square have become more organized, and different committees are in charge of everything.
"The only solution now to keep the young people true to their protests for change, without being used to serve a political purpose by the JMP," said Amira. "What we need to do now is find a place that is not controlled by any party, and stop them from joining us to control us, like what they have done at Al-Tagheer Square," said Amira.
Hani Al-Arasi was studying in Russia, but he put his studies on hold to come join the protests to change the regime. He said that he was disappointed that the protest that didn't relate to young. "The young protesters now have no effect in Al-Tagheer Square. They have to find another place and to be careful not to be used by any political party," said Al-Arasi.
Al-Arasi said that the young protesters now have to put more effort towards raising awareness of how to hold their sit-in legally, as they are facing threats that can negatively affect the revolution. "The people who live in Al-Tagheer Square area complained to the police that they can't continue their normal lives because of the protest, and some of them are getting annoyed," Al-Arasi explained. "We need to understand the laws to avoid giving anyone the chance to stop us."
Foud Dahaba
Another point of view being voiced by some protesters is that the anti-government protests were planned by the JMP from the beginning, and that they misled the independent youth to serve their own aims of achieving power. "How would we know if it was a pure young revolution that had no political games from the beginning? I think maybe it was planned by the Joint Meeting Parties to put pressure on the ruling party. So they sent their young members to lead in the streets as independent young people, so they can reach some political agreement with the ruling party," said Yasmin Ali, another participant at Al-Tagheer Square.
Foud Dahaba, an MP from the Islah Party who resigned on Feb. 23 this year and joined the sit-in at Al-Tagheer Square, told the Yemen Times that his resignation was because the parliament had lost its legitimacy: "The parliament has been illegal since 23 Feb. 2009, and that's why I chose to resign on the same date in 2011."
Dahaba said that the people no longer acknowledge the parliament, as they are asking to remove the regime which includes all the constitutional organizations in the country.
Dahaba, who is a public figure at Al-Tagheer Square, denied that the Islah party controlled the stage or the square. "The media committee does not control the stage, they just organize it. Even when they check the text that will be announced, it is so they can make sure nothing contrary to the revolutionary aims goes out," Dahaba explained.
Alaa Al-Jarban from the Yemeni Youth Initiative, called for reorganizing the committees based upon independence. "The committees have to be independent people who don't have membership in any party. That was the way it was at the beginning [of the protests], but somehow something changed in the middle, and we need to rearrange everything again," said Al-Jarban.
About the tactics on how to differentiate between the independent people and parties' members, Al-Jarban said "It's hard to differentiate but we will start with those whom we know and trust, and we will also distribute questionnaires."
SANA'A -- Tensions has surfaced among the young people at Al-Tagheer Square by Sana'a University, with many believing that the protests are becoming controlled by political parties.
Many members of the Islah Party, the largest and most conservative party in the opposition Joint Meeting Parties, joined protesters at Al-Tagheer Square as independents. On Sunday, a group called the Yemeni Youth Initiative called on all young independent protesters to coordinate their work and to choose new committees that respect the "aims of the revolution." Other protesters are calling on young demonstrators to protest separately from the tribes and members of the Joint Meeting Party.
"I have been participating in the revolution for change for ten days now. I lost my enthusiasm as it became controlled by the Joint Meeting Parties, especially Islah," said Ameera Ali, one of the anti-government protesters.
The number of protesters from tribes has started to out-number the students and young people, and the stage has become more organized by Islah members, according to young protesters. The procedures at Al-Tagheer Square have become more organized, and different committees are in charge of everything.
"The only solution now to keep the young people true to their protests for change, without being used to serve a political purpose by the JMP," said Amira. "What we need to do now is find a place that is not controlled by any party, and stop them from joining us to control us, like what they have done at Al-Tagheer Square," said Amira.
Hani Al-Arasi was studying in Russia, but he put his studies on hold to come join the protests to change the regime. He said that he was disappointed that the protest that didn't relate to young. "The young protesters now have no effect in Al-Tagheer Square. They have to find another place and to be careful not to be used by any political party," said Al-Arasi.
Al-Arasi said that the young protesters now have to put more effort towards raising awareness of how to hold their sit-in legally, as they are facing threats that can negatively affect the revolution. "The people who live in Al-Tagheer Square area complained to the police that they can't continue their normal lives because of the protest, and some of them are getting annoyed," Al-Arasi explained. "We need to understand the laws to avoid giving anyone the chance to stop us."
Foud Dahaba
Another point of view being voiced by some protesters is that the anti-government protests were planned by the JMP from the beginning, and that they misled the independent youth to serve their own aims of achieving power. "How would we know if it was a pure young revolution that had no political games from the beginning? I think maybe it was planned by the Joint Meeting Parties to put pressure on the ruling party. So they sent their young members to lead in the streets as independent young people, so they can reach some political agreement with the ruling party," said Yasmin Ali, another participant at Al-Tagheer Square.
Foud Dahaba, an MP from the Islah Party who resigned on Feb. 23 this year and joined the sit-in at Al-Tagheer Square, told the Yemen Times that his resignation was because the parliament had lost its legitimacy: "The parliament has been illegal since 23 Feb. 2009, and that's why I chose to resign on the same date in 2011."
Dahaba said that the people no longer acknowledge the parliament, as they are asking to remove the regime which includes all the constitutional organizations in the country.
Dahaba, who is a public figure at Al-Tagheer Square, denied that the Islah party controlled the stage or the square. "The media committee does not control the stage, they just organize it. Even when they check the text that will be announced, it is so they can make sure nothing contrary to the revolutionary aims goes out," Dahaba explained.
Alaa Al-Jarban from the Yemeni Youth Initiative, called for reorganizing the committees based upon independence. "The committees have to be independent people who don't have membership in any party. That was the way it was at the beginning [of the protests], but somehow something changed in the middle, and we need to rearrange everything again," said Al-Jarban.
About the tactics on how to differentiate between the independent people and parties' members, Al-Jarban said "It's hard to differentiate but we will start with those whom we know and trust, and we will also distribute questionnaires."
© Yemen Times 2011
