Strategic Fragments
By: Mustafa bin Khalid
On International Youth Day… A Generation Writing Yemen’s Dawn with Minds of Sovereignty, Not Blood of Wars
Across the globe, this day is dedicated to youth. Platforms are adorned with promises, glittering speeches abound, and projects are painted with slogans of empowerment.
Yet in Yemen, International Youth Day arrives for a generation scarred by war, trapped in political disappointments, and imprisoned by a corrupt system accustomed to ruling to plunder, speaking to deceive, and competing not to build the nation but to divide its spoils.
Here, congratulations are insufficient, and polished speeches are futile, for the moment we live is larger than celebration and sharper than silence. We stand at a historic crossroads, where the nation no longer has the luxury of waiting, and youth can no longer afford the luxury of flattery.
This moment is not a passing episode in Yemen’s history, but an existential test measuring the mettle of generations.
The flood has reached its peak. Yemeni youth have no choice but to seize the reins with their minds before their hands, and sever the invisible ties binding the country to aging elites who have consumed the nation’s reserves and bequeathed failure, fragmentation, systemic division, blind mobilization, and wretched subservience to external dictates.
This is not a political gamble but a national duty connected to the fate of the land, the people, and the rights of future generations to a free nation—not governed from closed rooms or distant capitals.
The time for change has come. It is time to inject new blood into Yemen’s political veins: pure, untainted by deals, corruption, or inherited failure.
We do not need recycled faces, nor slogans whose shine has faded. What we need are young minds who understand that national reconciliation is not a concession of rights but the restoration of their essence, and that true peace is not woven from threads of fear or cowardice, but from the courage and steadfast will of the sincere.
The project we seek is a rule-of-law state, where pluralism is not a temporary electoral banner but a deeply rooted culture within governance institutions, and where transparency and democracy are not ornamental but the safeguard of the nation against the abuses of power and the spread of corruption.
A civil state envisioned by Yemenis is not a gift from warring parties, nor a commodity imported from the tables of foreign capitals. It is the fruit of a resilient national will, born from the heart of Yemen and nourished by the sweat of its devoted children, who believe that sovereignty is neither bought nor borrowed.
It is a state shaped by a populace refusing subservience to foreign powers, insisting on independent national decision-making as a non-negotiable right, and guarding the land from becoming a bargaining chip in regional or global deals.
A state built on a shared national consciousness, safeguarded against manipulative posturing and the schemes of opportunists, ensuring that Yemen remains for its children, not a playground for the heirs of ruin.
The time has come for youth to stop witnessing destruction and to become the makers of true change.
No longer should we tolerate recycled elites who have drained the nation to the brink of collapse. Silence is no longer an option. Every young man and woman must raise the banner of awareness and initiative, acting boldly to dismantle the corrupt system that has hollowed out the state.
National duty today surpasses speeches and good intentions. It is a choice between division and unity, subservience or sovereignty, destruction or construction.
Those brave enough to stand against narrow sectarian quotas, lead national reconciliation, and rebuild the state on law and transparency, will write history in the name of future generations, not those who sit behind closed doors awaiting change.
Yemeni youth are the hope of the nation and its guardians of sovereignty. They must act as a pressure force to ensure genuine political pluralism, safeguard independent national decision-making, and protect the land from every threat or exploitation.
Active participation is not a choice but a national and moral obligation, the sole path out of failure and fragmentation. Every day of inaction is a step closer to national loss.
This is the moment, the opportunity, for a new generation to bridge the gap from destruction to construction, from silence to initiative, from division to unity. Each young man and woman must have a direct role in reshaping Yemen’s future, making it a repository of freedom and law, not a playground for corrupt interests or instruments of foreign influence.
Arm Yourself with Knowledge… Struggle for Freedom and Justice
The struggle of Yemeni youth is not only against corruption and tyranny but a battle of awareness before politics.
A generation deprived of knowledge remains captive to hollow slogans, vulnerable to manipulation, and an easy prey for the instruments of conflict feeding on ignorance and extremism.
Thus, arming oneself with knowledge is the first line of defense for human freedom and dignity, a weapon with inexhaustible ammunition, immune to rust over time.
True struggle for freedom, justice, and equality cannot thrive without a firm foundation of democracy protecting rights and development opening doors of opportunity.
There is no value to the freedom of the hungry, no justice without institutions, and no equality unsupported by a fair economic and social environment.
Youth must understand that peaceful and intellectual struggle is the deepest form of resistance. Liberating minds from ignorance and cultivating critical awareness are essential prerequisites for any genuine national project.
Change built without knowledge collapses at the first test, and democracy unguarded by public awareness becomes a hollow façade.
The path to a new Yemen passes as much through classrooms, research centers, rational discourse, and dialogue platforms as it does through participation in peaceful activism.
Those who wish to build a rule-of-law state must first build citizens aware of their rights and responsibilities, and those who desire sustainable development must cultivate in generations a culture of work, creativity, and innovation—not one of dependency and waiting.
Tolerance and the Art of Negotiation… Keys Out of the Dark Tunnel
Amid political storms and continuous wars, tolerance remains one of the greatest weapons of resilient peoples. It is not weakness or surrender but a strategic intelligence that extinguishes grudges and reprioritizes national interest.
Yet tolerance alone is insufficient without mastery of negotiation, the art of transforming contradictions into points of convergence, replacing domination with partnership, and seeking transitional justice and fair solutions for all parties—not for dividing spoils, but for securing a free and sustainable future.
Effective negotiation requires minds capable of engaging without submission, maneuvering without betrayal, and extracting national gains from crises.
Corrupt elites have placed Yemen in a dangerous quagmire, where division projects intersect with chaos, fragmentation threatens the state, and political disputes transform into social ruptures.
The way out of this dark tunnel is not through stubbornness or exclusion but through a youthful will that believes lasting solutions are born at the negotiation table, not from battlefield rubble.
Let Yemen’s youth today be leaders of change, not mere spectators, letting their initiative illuminate failure’s shadows, with a credo that the future is shaped by intellect, not destruction, and the nation restored by peaceful work, not idle waiting.
Popular Uprising… A Peaceful Path to a Civil State
Nations are not restored by petitions alone, nor is their will liberated by waiting for external initiatives. They are reclaimed when their people rise in an aware and peaceful surge, compelling political factions to heed the people’s voice, not the gun.
When armed with awareness and organization, popular movements can redefine the equation and impose the people’s agenda at negotiation tables.
This uprising is not an invitation to chaos but a legitimate public pressure, leaving corrupt elites with two options: either join a just civil state embracing all citizens, or face political and social isolation, removed from the future.
Youth must recognize that victory in peaceful struggles is measured not by protests alone but by the ability to transform scattered demands into a unified vision, chants into a new social contract written on Yemeni soil, not in the offices of patronage.
True change begins when today’s generation realizes that peaceful action is not weakness but a moral and political weapon capable of breaking cycles of bloodshed and opening political horizons that unite the nation rather than reproduce crises.
Yemen in Your Hands… Shape It as You Dream
Yemen today is not merely borders on a map or a name in the record of nations; it is an issue of existence and destiny, awaiting the courage of new generations to write its next chapters.
Hope lies in minds that refuse to break, and hearts that understand that nations are not inherited by the strongest arm but by the most conscious, devoted, and diligent.
Every conscious youth initiative, every free word, every hand extended to national reconciliation is a brick in the wall of the rule-of-law state and a shield protecting the land and sovereignty from exploitation.
Change is not born from emptiness but from a resolute will insisting that Yemen remains master of its fate, not a subordinate in queues of subjugation.
Let today’s youth initiative be a beacon dispelling failure’s darkness, a voice rising above the noise of weapons, and a force shaping the future with intellect, not ruin; with action, not waiting.
May the motto of this generation be that sovereignty is safeguarded by awareness, unity built on equal citizenship, and renaissance forged through knowledge and justice, not temporary bargains.
Yemen is in Your Hands… Be Its Builders, Not Witnesses to Its Loss.
