26 September Editorial
The flag of the Republic of Yemeni flies high over the homeland, and the anthems of the revolution echo in every corner, celebrating this glorious historical day—the 14th of October—when the freedom of Yemenis was wrested in a precious part of our beloved nation.
From the mountains of Radfan, the beginning was heralded by the first shot of Laboozah, which ignited the triumphant revolution. This was the revolution that ground the face of the colonizer into the dust and kicked him out with a resounding cry: “Begone, Colonizer, from the land of the free!” Free men streamed in from all corners of the homeland, shaking the earth beneath the colonizer’s feet with a quake that shattered his balance٥ and broke the capabilities he thought would grant him permanence on the land of the generous and free.
The 14th of October earthquake struck a colonial empire on which the sun never set. From its inception, it was a unifying Yemeni revolution. After expelling the colonizer, it united the scattered emirates, sheikhdoms, and sultanates and strengthened the bond of national cohesion with the glorious 26th of September Revolution, which had torn down the pillars of the backward theocratic power from its foundations.
On the 62nd anniversary of the triumphant October Revolution, we draw from its sacrificial lessons across the precious parts of the beloved homeland—from Crater and Al-Mansoura to Al-Sha’ab, Sheikh Othman, Radfan, Al-Dhale, Lahj, and extending to the mountains of Al-Kour in Shabwa and Bayhan. From this, we draw the certainty and faith in victory over the new theocracy and all the petty projects that seek to diminish a great Yemen into dwarfed, beholden cantons. These projects aim to alter the features of the great and grand Yemen, a land historically defined only by its unity, the dignity of its people, and the iron will of its sons in the face of all attempts at fragmentation and division.
As we celebrate the 62nd anniversary of the immortal 14th of October Revolution today, we celebrate a resounding victory that extends from that date to the present and into the future—a victory over all the plots and conspiracies woven against our great Yemeni people, their unity, their cohesion, and their entrenched national values. These values, drawn from our religion and the goals of our immortal Yemeni revolutions of September 26 and October 14, cannot be erased by any force on earth.
We have every right to celebrate the 62nd anniversary of the immortal October Revolution in a manner worthy of its greatness, its sublime goals, and the immense sacrifices made to achieve them. This is a fulfillment of our duty to the pure blood spilled on its sacred soil—the blood that achieved the departure of the last British soldier, Major Dai Morgan, in humiliation and defeat, head bowed, with no regard for his dignity or that of the entire colonial army, before the steadfastness of the Yemenis who accomplished the glorious October Revolution. They will undoubtedly complete the achievement of liberation from the remnants of the backward Imamate, whose most vile elements have returned to some areas, exploiting moments of laxity, with the support of the terrorist state of Iran.