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First of all, I would like to introduce myself
I am Alaa Qasim, the Executive Manager of Resonate! Yemen.
I will be the facilitator of this session Entitled “National Dialogue Conference, Between Success and Failure Indicators”
This session is part of a joint project between Resonate! Yemen
and Saferworld and funded by German Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
We will start the debate with Maha Alsaid.
You have two minutes, and we will start now. I will cut if you exceed the allocated time
The NDC will successfully lead the country to stability
This is the inheritance since 1963
which means 50 years until now.
This inheritance will be solved in 6 months of the NDC. therefore
it will be difficult for all of is inside the country and outside as well.
I am from Aden and when I just joined the NDC, I was somehow sad
because our situation in the south is much worse than the one here in the north
One month after the other in the NDC, my point of view has been changed a lot.
From my point of view, the best indicator of the NDC success is the beginning of the dialogue
when all the conflicting political parties are sitting around one table
to work on national goals along with the revolutionaries who went to the streets
with demands and other political actors that participated in the revolution.
To identify all the problems of Yemen that have been cumulative.
In spite of all the obstacles in the NDC until now, we have achieved 90% of the main outputs.
If there are no obstacles in any dialogue, it is nominal.
The obstacles and challenges in the NDC reflect that it is a serious dialogue.
The NDC is really a crucial opportunity that cannot be denied and the issues are discussed in it cannot be undermined
The existence of the NDC is a big success leading the country to stability though the challenges are a lot.
We still have hope and believe that the NDC has gathered the traditional and political forces around one table
to sort out all the difficult issues that can only be solved by the dialogue
Also the success indicator is the recognition about the weight of youth
women and civil society, and integrating them is a big opportunity.
I hope that the NDC gets successful
but what's going on is not a dialogue.
What's going on can be called “a festival”,
“a carnival”
job opportunities,
or anything else other than a dialogue
I am worried about the failure of the NDC because there is no solution for any conflict
at the end except a dialogue, a serious dialogue which includes the concerned parties
and the ones who make change and make decisions.
Raising the question of if the NDC has succeeded or not indicates its failure
Nothing can fail if it has a clear objective, and until now the objective of the NDC is not clear
Is it “psychotherapy” for 565 persons have been gathered to speak?!
Is it for drafting the constitution?!
What is the purpose of this beautiful thing?!
What concerns me that we have been prevented for any potential dialogue opportunities in future.
I have not heard anyone says that they are against the dialogue
but they are against this process that is going on and called “a dialogue”
because it can be anything else other than “a dialogue”
Regarding the importance of the dialogue, it is true.
No opportunities are available other than the dialogue
but the point is how the inputs of the NDC are in order to wait for its outputs
There is a problem in the inputs
and I think all of us know it particularly regarding the legitimacy of youth in general
independent or under their political parties.
As long as the inputs were wrong, it is very normal to have wrong outputs
I do not understand how who was part of the problem would become part of the solution.
The dialogue cannot be with who are in agreement.
It should be between who are in disagreement
It cannot be anything else other than a dialogue because it is a dialogue. It is difficult to name it anything else.
Our gathering now is an indicator of the NDC success or the success with the final outcomes
and the social contract that we all want that guarantees the rights and the equal citizenship
and including the demands of the ordinary people.
When it is said that all the people are included in the NDC, and do not talk against the NDC
it means that it is a war declaration. I am not kidding.
I am really afraid that when I do not see anyone from outside the NDC defending it.
Even the traditional forces that declare the war not peace, you do not find them really ready to come to your position to defend the NDC.
Why do you present the idea of the dialogue in the image of Christ the Savior?! I do not think it is really a serious thinking.
We need to present the NDC as an experiment. It could succeed and it could fail.
We should not implicate ourselves in presenting it as the Christ the Savior because it is not accurate.
The NDC comes to solve the problems of the people
I think that implementing 20+11 in the north and the south of the country will result in fruitful output of the NDC.
First objective of the NDC states that it has been held to respond to the people expectations
to achieve their ambition in future. That means that the NDC aims to conclude constitutional directions.
As an ordinary person, I ask what has positively reflected on me. Has my living condition improved?
This is how we should look at the issues, not through laws, decisions, and elites and educated people.
The results should be reflected on the ordinary people
Who participated in the resolution and got wounded and killed were simple ordinary people, not the sons of elites
The concerned parties who were in conflict before are now in a dialogue with us
Why would we have a dialogue with the ordinary people?!
Who was responsible for the serious problems are whom we should have a dialogue with.
Southern Movement, youth, women, Houths are concerned parties
and they were absent from the political scene. Now they exist and the play a strong role.
When youth went out to the streets, they did not demand to have a dialogue with who oppressed them
when we go together to the negotiation table under what is called “a dialogue”
it means that the revolution failed and started a dialogue has failure signs.
We disagreed with those people because of their policies, but now we have a dialogue with them
worked with them in the same government
do the same practices, and achieve the same results
This expresses a problem in the Yemeni consciousness
We reject corruption because the corrupted person is a different person
When we become in the same position, we change to the same corrupted person with different justifications
We will take five questions and will give the opportunity to the panelists to answer.
Form our demands, solving the Southern issue, development, independent mass media and judiciary
trial of the murderers, not the regime, who were given the immunity by the partners in the revolution
(Joint Meeting Parties). We adopted the political isolation for who want immunity should give up the political life
Who will be sent to judiciary are those who will found guilty of corruption and ***
This will happen after establishing the state
because it is weak at the moment
Dialogue is not a political compromise
It is a dialogue between political parties added to them three main components
youth, women and civil society organizations
that were not part of making the decision process before and now they are partners
I assure that it is a dialogue between the political parties to benefit the ordinary people
Which component will adopt the demands of ordinary people if not these three components?!
If there is an independent judiciary with the right standards, blood of martyrs will not go in vain.
I agree with Mr. Mahmud that the time is not sufficient for this heavy inheritance since 1963, but this is what we have for the moment.
I think that I will not witness the civil state, but I would love my sons and daughters to witness it.
There is a big difference between the NDC and the dialogue itself
We need to differentiate. I am convinced that we need the dialogue, the dialogue, the dialogue
even if we have a war for 20 years. Because I believe in the dialogue
I have a problem with what's going on
I totally reject the idea of ranting and praising the international community and the inferiority complex
I do not care about what Westerners say, I care about what people say in Thamah and Hajja.
There are citizens in Hajja, Taizz and Ibb…those who we should concern about and let the world go to hell
if there are patriots. I am not kidding! We should get rid of the Yemeni inferiority complex
I thank the panelists for their patience
I thank the audience for being active in their comments and questions and for staying with us until the end