Unity Day: What does it mean to you?
Revolutionary youth present conditions to participate in the Dialogue
The youth in Change Squares demand that army and security units be reorganized to be run by the Defence and Interior ministries.
Many parties will take part in the NDC like the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP), the General People's Congress (GPC), the Southern Movement, the Houthis, and the opposition based abroad.
The Yemeni government, in its attempts to pave the way for the upcoming NDC, was met with a list of 20 conditions issued by the Organizing Committee of the Peaceful Youth Revolution in Sana'a's Change Square.
The Organizing Committee threatened that the youth of the revolution won't participate in the NDC unless the government meets all of the conditions.
The dismissal of the ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh's relatives from all military institutions is the principal condition of participation in the NDC for the youth in Change Squares across Yemen.
The second condition is the trial of all those who killed protestors and those who supported the killers. The third is the release of all political prisoners and forcefully disappeared people, whether the youth, the Southern Movement, or the Houthis.
The demands of the revolutionary youth included the rehiring of workers who were fired due to their revolutionary stance, and the firing of unqualified people appointed to government posts during the former regime's rule.
“These conditions are urgent and must be fulfilled as soon as possible,” said Abdulhadi Al-Azazi, a member of the Organizing Committee.
“All detainees who supported the revolution, either military men or civilians must be released. Further, those wounded must receive treatment and the families of those killed in the protests must receive care and adequate compensation,” said Al-Azazi.
President Abd Rabu Mansur Hadi must also abolish the Yemeni House of Representatives and Shura Council in the first meeting of the NDC, according to Al-Azazi.
“The current government isn't a part of the NDC. The Gulf Initiative pointed out that the revolutionary youth are among the parties which will participate in the NDC,” he added.
In mid-April 2012, Huria Mashhor, the Yemeni Minister of Human Rights, met the youth in Sana'a's Change Square to prepare for the NDC. This angered the revolutionary youth, because they felt that the National Unity Government considers itself a part of the NDC, though it is not supposed to be.
“Mashhor dealt with the revolutionary youth as if they are obedient to the government,” said Abdulnasser Al-Saqqaf, the spokesman of the Coordinating Council of the Youth Revolution of Change (Nasr).
The government dealt with the youth in change squares across Yemen only to cover its inability to make critical decisions like the dismissal of the former president's relatives, according to Al-Saqqaf.
The media loyal to the former regime tries to present the youth of the GPC as if they are part of the revolutionary youth in Change Squares, though they aren't. The Gulf initiative stated that only the youth in Yemen's Change Squares will participate in the upcoming NDC, according to Al-Saqqaf.
“The youth coalitions in the 17 change squares across Yemen are not all with the dialogue. Some coalitions like Al-Sumood Youth, who are linked to the Houthis, refuse the dialogue and the Gulf initiative in general,” said Al-Saqqaf.
During the past year of the revolution, Yemeni youth established more than 600 revolutionary groups to lead and organize the protests.
The Organizing Committee was established in February, 2011. It included youth from the Yemeni opposition parties and was established to organize the protests in Sana'a's Change Square and its offshoots in Ta'iz, Ibb, and Hodeida.
Moreover, there are other effective youth coalitions like the Supreme Coordination Council of the Yemeni Revolution (SCCYR), the Coordinating Council of the Youth Revolution of Change (Nasr), the Civil Coalition of Youth Revolution (CCYR), and Al-Sumood Youth coalition. All these coalitions pursue peaceful change.
Some coalitions have tried to establish a unified pan-youth coalition just like The Preparatory Committee of the Revolution Council, led by Tawakkul Karman, the revolutionary activist and a 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
However, because of the different youth coalitions, there are different strategic viewpoints. but what is important is that they have a single aim of peaceful political change.
The majority of the youth coalitions demand peaceful change and the eradication of tyranny and corruption in order to found a new government based on justice and equality. They all want to establish a civil state built on rule by the people.
