Economic and military challenges and the leadership council

Most of the Leadership Council members are residing outside Yemen at a critical time. The currency has collapsed to its lowest levels, and hundreds of thousands of government employees no longer have enough salaries to buy a bag of flour for their families. The rest of the social classes have been crushed by poverty and no longer exist. In contrast, the Council does not hold regular meetings and does almost nothing. The government does not follow the Council’s steps in any way, including not holding weekly meetings, and does not submit reports on any activity, except for the empty visits of its members at home and abroad.

Locally, the Houthis are mobilizing thousands of fighters, conducting intensive military training, and displacing villagers in Hodeidah, in preparation for an upcoming battle, which they plan to ignite against the liberated sites guarded by soldiers exhausted by hunger and destroyed by corruption, and for whom the government has not provided the minimum military and living requirements, while the government lives in enormous extravagance and exorbitant expenses.

The Leadership Council, its participating members, and the components of the government believe that their continued presence in their positions is guaranteed, and that relying on official statements that hold the Houthis alone responsible for the collapse of the currency, high prices, and deterioration of services, exempts them from their responsibilities to confront and address economic and social challenges. This is a false belief that has been proven time and time again throughout history, and in Yemen in particular. The biggest losers will be the powerful blocs in the government that represent social and political organizations and broad popular segments, while members who do not represent any Yemeni popular segment will flee abroad.

It would be absurd to repeat that the Yemeni demonstrations on the anniversary of September 26 target Al Houthi alone, because those demonstrations, most of whom are made up of younger people, want a republic and democracy with its contents that protect dignity and make state institutions an effective means for developing society and the people, and a gateway to practicing politics and public and professional work. The government and the Leadership Council completely lack those contents.

Regionally and internationally, there are tremendous changes: the aggressive war on the Gaza Strip is unprecedented in history, and the clear Arab failure sends messages to other occupations such as Iran that destruction like that which occurred in Gaza will be possible to repeat in several regions including Yemen, especially since the idea of mass displacement and the demolition of residential areas on the heads of their inhabitants with explosive barrels and various weapons is a crime committed by Iran over the past decade in several Arab countries including Yemen, and the Zionists repeated it in Gaza, and the Iranian occupation may repeat the same crime directly and through the Houthis in Yemen. Just as regional developments imposed two decades ago with the occupation of Iraq by the United States, a golden opportunity for Iran to occupy some countries of the Arab Levant and threaten the rest of them, the current war between the occupation and Hezbollah, the Iranian spearhead, will only result in widespread destruction, especially in Yemen, unless the government, its components and social forces work to create a clear plan with national goals and principles to confront these repercussions on the Yemeni people crushed by poverty, hunger, fear and disease.

The presence of the Presidential Council, the government and the rest of the central state institutions abroad is a major crime and a national, constitutional and legal betrayal. It is not right that it should remain without being addressed by the people, through their living forces and the remaining legal and constitutional institutions. Millions of Yemenis are living the effects of this absence, which has become similar to the major absence in some beliefs and sects, which has turned its followers into blackness, lamentation, confession and the loss of humanity and human dignity.