Yemen: Celebrating the Bravery of Revolutionary Women

This post is part of our special coverage Yemen Protests 2011.

In their eight months of peaceful revolution, Yemenis have been an inspiration to many, not only to Arabs but to the world at large. Despite being the poorest Arab country, Yemeni men and women exhibited their richness in bravery, resilience and steadfast but mostly they impressed the world with their peacefulness.

Taiz has been known as the city of resilience, the heart of Yemen's revolution, and hence has been subject to continuous shelling for the past months by the Republican Guards, led by Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh's son, Ahmed.

The following video shows the brave women of Taiz, whose city was shelled by Saleh's forces in the evening, marching the very next day despite the rain to condemn the violence and demand the trial of Saleh and his family. (video posted by: mohammednaruto1)

Revolutionary women have been peacefully marching daily side by side with men in the streets of Yemen.

The next video shows the women of Dhamar as they marched chanting to the military to stop defending Saleh's brutal regime and condemning the regime's mass punishment of cutting basic services such as electricity and water. (Video posted by: almenifi)

In the capital Sanaa, outraged women marched out condemning the “fatwa” (religious edict) which Saleh urged his loyal clerics to issue prohibiting protests as this video posted by the mediacentersanaa shows.

The video which follows shows the heavy presence of women in the March on Octocber 4th in Sanaa saluting Yemen's National anthem. (Videos posted by: alqershi2011)

On the same day the Organizing Committee of the Yemeni Youth Popular Revolution issued an urgent appeal to the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and followed it by a video statement read by a brave revolutionary woman stating the demands of the youth.

Yemen and its revolution are often marginalized yet the peacefulness of Yemenis in making their demands continues to be an inspiration to many. Today one of our female revolutionary leaders, Tawakkol Karman was awarded the Noble Peace Prize. It is certainly a victory and honor for Arabs, for Yemen, for women, for activists, for freedom fighters but mostly it is a victory for Yemeni revolutionaries and Yemen's peaceful revolution.

Further Reading:

Global Voices Online, Oct 7, 2011: Yemen: Celebrating Tawakkol Karman

Global Voices Online, Oct 7, 2011: Yemen: Congrats to Tawakkol Karman

This post is part of our special coverage Yemen Protests 2011.

Thumbnail image shows large women's protest in the Yemeni town of Taiz. Image by Yemen Eye, copyright Demotix (17/04/2011).

4 comments

  • […] This post was published in Global Voices as part of a special coverage Yemen Protests 2011. Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. ← The Most Heated Discussion about Yemen’s Uprising on al-Jazeera […]

  • […] it means to be peaceful against all odds. The revolution has been a long journey one which has seen a conservative nation embrace women taking an active role and marching freely. Even though Saleh is in the USA, he is rumoured to be back in time for the elections. Outgoing […]

  • […] Yemeni women played an important role in their country's revolution this past year. They were at the forefront of many marches and were a fine example of bravery and steadfast. Therefore netizens were enraged by Sheikh Hamid Al-Ahmar, a member of Al Islah’s political leadership, who allegedly made an offensive statement regarding Yemeni revolutionary women. His comments were published in the New York Times article on May 23rd in an article entitled “Yemen’s Many Factions Wait Impatiently for a Resolution.” […]

  • […] المرأة اليمنية دوراً مهماً في ثورة البلاد العام الماضي. فقد كنّ في […]

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