For the first time in the history of Yemen, a foreign country commemorates the anniversary of its independence on the 30th of November, and after nearly 54 years of Yemenis sacrifices in order to expel the occupation, is the commemoration of the occasion just a coincidence?
Exclusive-Alkhabar Alyemeni:
While Yemeni forces in Aden and Shabwah were trying to create new goals to commemorate, the evacuation of the last British soldier from Aden on the thirtieth of November 1967, the Emirates was preparing a program with all perfection in media and popular sides for this occasion.
For the ruling forces in southern Yemen, the celebration was not to remind peoples, especially the southerners, with the sacrifices that were poured out from Radfan mountains in resisting the old British occupation, rather, to achieve political gains under the guise of the new occupation. The transitional, which represents the de-facto authority in Aden and some southern regions, refused to allow the Southern Movement to hold the event for fear that it would deviate from its goals under the shadow of Emirates, in fact, the situation reached to arrest a prominent leader in Aden for organizing an event commemorating the thirtieth of November, in which a northern journalist participated.
This transitional is the same whose media said about what they describe it as repression and abuse practiced by the opponents of the Council in Shabwah. Referring to Islah authority there, whose crews stormed Rudum markets and closed Ataq to prevent STC from holding an event in memory of November, and even arrested dozens of activists in the ranks of the Council.
Indeed, no one considers the thirtieth of November as a date and glories to cherish, nor to remind the new generations of the extent of foreign ambitions in this country for centuries, or even to pressure towards providing a livelihood for citizens who are in these areas bear the brunt of starvation and exorbitant prices rather, for the purpose of “ulterior motives”as goes saying. The transitional sees the occasion as nothing, but an opportunity to target Yemenis in a regional manner to perpetuate the concept of separation, and directing them as arrows in the side of his opponents in power, most notably Islah Party, and the latter did not care about the effectiveness that he did not revive in his areas of control in Taiz and Marib, and even Shabwah, Al-Mahrah and Hadhramaut, some of which suffered from the same occupation.
In general, none of these parties wants to anger the coalition, which has come to be known in the region of “legitimacy” itself as the “new occupation.” This is evident Islah’s avoidance of talking about Saudi Arabia in its criticism to coalition, and STC’s attempt to highlight the role of UAE on every occasion.
Of all these, only Emirates that implemented the British agenda, reaped the benefits of the evacuation anniversary in Yemen, and called it “Emirati Martyr’s Day in Yemen.” and it was certainly not her sacrifices in order to help Yemenis face foreign occupation, nor was it motivated by Arabism or even their support to confront hunger and poverty, which it participated in drawing as a reality over the seven years of war and siege. Rather, to empty the content of this memory, which constitutes a nightmare in the face of any occupation, or covetous of nation’s wealth and strategic location, this memory, according to what its followers see, should be to expel Yemenis themselves, as Tariq Saleh is trying to portray.
