The events in Saada were unjustifiable and lacked a Yemeni character or national goal that any sane and sensible citizen would aspire to, especially as it opposes the wishes of Yemenis across different orientations and affiliations. It lacks justifications, does not rest on facts or arguments, or belong to freedom of thought or intellectual liberation, nor does it bear the interest of the public and cannot be tolerated.
What happened was indeed unprecedented, a superficial attempt wearing a foreign cloak to create a popular and regional dimension for its ideological direction, succeeding only in pitting kin against kin. It was a trial and test of the Yemeni arena to impose its destructive beliefs and export them, through political trading that ended up bartering land and honor, especially when it preyed upon inexperienced and naive youth. This was executed by a group whose minds had been brainwashed to adopt a wrong ideology, backed by financial, logistical, and military training to overthrow peace and social security.
This act led its perpetrators to commit grave mistakes with unpredictable outcomes, costing society many lives and wealth. The external lure promised a group of youths wealth and a comfortable life, or a comfortable death after fulfilling unlimited goals, infiltrating among the poor, the young, and the less knowledgeable, leading them towards a path that appears merciful on the outside but harbors infidelity to all that is humane, national, or religious, blending evil intentions with greater evil. Its victims were the well-intentioned and the entire nation.
Despite its severity, this issue is fundamentally about upbringing and faced initial societal laxity that allowed it to take dangerous dimensions, distorting the meanings of tolerance, intellectual freedom, and belief to spread division and tear the social fabric and national unity through extremism by individuals who blindly believe they are preparing themselves for paradise, far removed from reason and accessible interpretation.
The events remind us of many similar pathological cases among youths misled ideologically in European and Asian societies, driven towards collective suicide, individually and in groups, even as families, due to ignorance of their doctrines' ethics, resulting in violent confrontations with their societies. They were subjected to misguided, unmonitored programming, blindly obeying destructive plans under the misconception they were enacting divine justice through their absolute faith and beliefs, unaware they had become tools of psychological and social destruction under the guise of freedom, leading to catastrophic human tragedies.
Such phenomena may be expected in societies experiencing religious, emotional, social, and psychological voids. However, it is shameful for it to occur in an Arab and Muslim society that does not condone individual suicide, let alone collective suicide that burns itself and those around it for illusory claims. It mortgages its future and country to a crazed movement intent on recruiting anyone it can reach with its funds, asserting its false righteousness, and pretending to hold a civilizational project while demolishing everything civilizational and humane.
These groups operate in darkness, recruiting and training youth because their founders ensure they remain uncorrected or unadvised by anyone. Thus, their ideas and organizers remain unknown. This secrecy and external support, whose sources and size are unknown, indicate the unhealthy and harmful nature of these groups' activities, which harm political plurality and opposition. Some of the latter exploit the fallout to defame Yemen, just as it harms the nation!
Political movements have justifiable reasons for their existence and legitimate opposition if they transparently present their programs, do not harm others—whether parties, individuals, or groups—accept peaceful dialogue, and use existing opportunities for equality and social justice to oppose and defend their ideas without harming societal peace and security. By doing so, they operate within the principles of pluralism and opposition by opinion, which are not disputed, even if not all of their proposals are agreed upon. The essence of pluralism is the disagreement that does not harm the nation.
What is unacceptable is for a group to exploit its members to work against society, its constitution, and its charters, taking advantage of stability and tolerance to rise above everyone and deceive them into thinking they are ignorant while the group, surrounded by knowledge and understanding, claims divine guidance and guardianship, deserving only the community's blessing by force if necessary. This is a disaster for our educational, social, and political system, which initially tolerated this phenomenon without assessing its obscure external dependencies, allowing an ignorant group lacking experience and education to veer towards extremism and fanaticism under the pretense of plurality and freedom, touching all sacred and social systems tied to a chain of shared interests that should not have been touched.
Such a phenomenon puts us to the test, questioning why we delayed teaching the principles of citizenship, social discipline, and national loyalty across different segments to prevent freedom from being misunderstood as absolute or turning into a weapon for anyone to use without accountability. It should not infiltrate simple-minded communities under the guise of religion, exploiting the limited cultural understanding of rural and tribal societies and their religiosity, to instill harmful ideas and import what they should believe, practice, and how to act, deviating from the collective in an organized manner designed with high cunning and malice abroad, becoming more dangerous than atheism.
Indeed, these youths erred in following a charlatan prepared abroad, failing to distinguish between idols and individuals. Early attention to their aspirations and needs—intellectual, psychological, and social—could have instilled in them loyalty to protect them from falling prey to opportunists skilled in exhuming graves and eating the dead’s flesh. They have left nothing untainted, from the nation's honor to its creed, sects, and intellectual schools that presented the Arab and Islamic world with a model of tolerance, fraternity, and intellectual human complementarity. There is no school in Yemen that does not teach complete jurisprudential curricula as the heritage of all Yemenis, uniting their views and guiding their purposes and goals.
Only the mobsters have benefited from this lapse, skillfully exploiting the innocent intentions of the simple-minded to create a phenomenon, taking advantage of the political system's tolerance and review of these misguided individuals with advice and ideological confrontation, knowing it was a fleeting mistake. However, they disappointed everyone, causing malicious anticipation that we were on the brink of undermining the republican system and the political direction we chose, for which we sacrificed lives. Enemies hoped we were heading toward the disasters they envisioned, unaware that society was not represented by those ignorant or misguided fools, and the Yemeni individual, who no longer accepts regression, will not compromise on faith, nation, or the republican system under any pretext, regardless of the degree of tolerance.
Thus, it is no longer useful to reiterate the regional conspiracy's dangers against us, which continually manipulates emotional and religious sentiments. It has become evident that it spares no one in the region. However, it is crucial to properly educate our youths, understanding the conspiracy's danger and its objectives to expand in all directions, intending to bring the adventure to the entire Arab world, not out of love for it, nor for Ahl al-Bayt or Islam's message, but with a perverted message seeking popular support and a leadership role in the entire Arab region.
It was wise of the government to unify education and its curricula, as the goal was to cut off those exploiting religious doctrines, claiming they care more for us and our children. However, we found them only more corrupting with ideas conflicting with the aspirations of a Muslim people yearning to teach their children the principles of religious sciences without intermediaries whose profession is the political trade of religion without moderation or balance.
It is time to review many cultural and political propositions on the scene that may pose a threat to properly preparing youth. We must unify and support youth movements to encourage them to review their experiences within the constitution, law, and responsible national guidance of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. He has consistently directed the development of youth roles and prepared them for a prosperous future for Yemen, sparing no effort or hesitation in supporting and adopting their activities to engage them in the political and social movement genuinely and loyally. Will we act on this?
Isn't it more beneficial that we do not forget our responsibilities as institutions, families, and individuals to provide support and guidance to youth and cultural organizations so they can be active and participate under our watch to protect them from imminent dangers in such a dismal time, where loyalty is sold, and sincerity and faith are bought, and beliefs are violated for interests? Hence, faithful youth turn into misguided ones because we neglected our duties toward them and left others to direct and guide them. It is everyone's responsibility, first and foremost.