Yemenis commemorate the October Revolution?

The patriot activist, Abdulqawi Rashad, Head of the Coordination Council of the Southern revolutionary forces said that the revolution of October 14 was not recently born but rather was an accumulation of the struggles of the Yemeni people since Britain entered the south by the end of the 18th century. Rashad clarified that the National Front and all the national factions erupted an armed struggle in the glorified revolution against the British Empire. The Yemeni people wrote in the history a great epic by their national independence and forced the empire to leave Aden. He added: “Later, the culture of exclusion and marginalisation began to be adopted by the leaders of the nascent state, leading to serious catastrophes and destroyed all the gains we had achieved after the independence.” Rashad wondered: “What has happened in the south of Yemen when we give up our tolerance? One trend and one party controlled the country and the people, and nowadays we can notice the same conflict.” Rashad urges the national forces and factions and parties to enhance the culture of dialogue and pluralism and to refrain from spreading the culture of hostility which threatens the future of the country and re-makes the tragedies of the past. He demanded everyone to back the political leadership, led by Field Marshal Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi in order to save the country from this critical stage. This was said during Rashad’s speech in El Horreya Square Festival in Aden to celebrate the anniversary of the glorified Revolution of October that ended the British colonisation in Southern Yemen on November 30 in 1967, after 129 years of occupation. In his speech on behalf of the youth, the young activist Bassem El Shaabi said: “This great occasion embodies a lot of lessons and wisdoms. This revolution made the entire Yemenis one people and made Yemen a huge homeland that embraces all people. The Revolution of October 14 was the first raised Yemen’s flag and name high in the sky, valleys, streets and cities of the south. It restored the south after a long struggle to its normal track.” El Shaabi added: “This dear anniversary coincides with the most important and serious and complex stage in the history of the country’s contemporary history, namely the historic transition from the non-state to the state through a heroic epic written by the courageous Yemenis during the glorified youth popular revolution Moreover, our brothers in the peaceful southern movement struggled and were able to establish the first spark for the peaceful and civilised Arab Spring revolutions.” The Council of the Southern revolutionary forces said that the culture of dialogue is the language of the era. The country cannot pass to the future without dialogue. It is the safe path that would save the people and the nation from chaos and violence and conflicts from which the Yemeni always suffered since the national independence. The Council noted in a statement read by the young rebellious Mohammad Wajeh at the festival which was attended by thousands of citizens in Aden at El Horreya Square to commemorate the revolution,: “Our peaceful revolution today is only a reflection of the objectives of the glorious revolutions of September and October and to put them on their right tack which the rebels wanted and exerted all the sacrifices.” He explained that the South is going through its most dangerous phase and all the forces in the Southern arena should be reasonable and wise and to be updated with all the regional and international variables in order to be able to find proper solutions on which the future will be built. He called on all the influential forces from the south to sign a southern honour charter to assure everyone the freedom to choose projects and ideas that serve the country and to criminalise all forms of violence and exclusion. The supporters of the peaceful Southern Movement celebrated the event in Aden city, while some renewed their demands for secession; others asserted that dialogue is the normal solution for all Yemen's problems.