The torch of the Tunisian citizen Mohamed Bouazizi not only ignited the flame of the revolution in Tunisia, but also in Sana'a, and the protesters' chants in the streets of Tunisia echoed throughout Yemen, so that its youth in the Jasmine Revolution found a luster, an inspiration for peaceful change.

After the speech of the late Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, a number of Yemeni youth, journalists and intellectuals marched in Sana'a on December 15, 2011, heading to the Tunisian embassy to bless the Tunisian people's revolution, marking a new movement that Yemen will witness.

The march was met with repression and detention of some of the participants, including the Nobel Prize winner Tawakkol Karman, and a member of Parliament, Aidaroos al-Naqib.

With this movement, Sana'a entered a new chapter that paved the way for the peaceful popular youth revolution, and students of Sana'a University began roaming the city streets with chants of freedom and demanding change, to leave the Yemeni capital in a state of hibernation and to wake up to the impact of a dream of aspiring youth in a modern civil state that safeguards rights and performs its duties to achieve a free and decent life for citizens.

Crowd in Sanaa at the beginning of the Yemeni revolution (communication sites)

Sana'a salutes Tunisia's revolutionaries

On January 16, 2011, another mass rally took place in front of Sanaa University towards the Tunisian embassy to the chants of Abu Al-Qassem Al-Shabbi's song of the will to life. The voices chanted: "If the people one day wanted life ... fate must respond."

From there, the leadership in the youth revolution, Tawakkol Karman, announced - for the first time - the masses ’demand for the departure of the family of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was in control of the reins of government in Yemen at the time.

Karman addressed - in a speech to the crowd - former President Saleh and his regime, which she described as corrupt, that they should leave before they leave, considering that the Jasmine Revolution ignited the Arab peoples 'revolution and restored confidence in the masses' souls in their ability to extract dignity.

The demonstrators chanted revolutionary slogans, including: "From Sana'a, a thousand greetings ... to Tunisia of freedom," "Revolution, revolution, oh peoples ... against the terrified ruler," and "Oh, Bouazizi, Maghawar ... we are with you on the line of fire ... against evil rulers." .

Those marches broke the barrier of fear among most Yemenis, who raised their voices, not only to express solidarity with the Tunisian people, but also to express popular demands that fueled the spirit of the revolution.

The protesters chanted at the time, "Where are the unity and the revolution? We have become the property of the family," referring to the regime's tendency at the time to inherit power and to neglect the values ​​of the revolution and unity.

The February 11 revolution was expanding in the Yemeni governorates with unparalleled enthusiasm, despite the repression that was directed against it and the blood that was shed for a new and prosperous future that Yemenis are still waiting for today.

After that, the glow of the revolution did not leave the sky of Sanaa and Yemen until the youth revolution toppled the former president, Saleh, and brought about a change in a limited transfer of power that did not meet the aspirations of the revolution and the revolutionaries.

Unity of revolution and suffering

Journalist Adel Abdel-Moghni says that the Arab peoples ’response to the voice of the revolution in Tunisia is evidence of the unilateralism of the Arab revolution, and the uniqueness of the suffering and problems that the Arab peoples suffer from.

He added - in his interview with Al-Jazeera Net - that the movement against unemployment and the restriction of freedoms in Tunisia was an expression of the reality that all Arab peoples living under the sway of oppressive regimes, and the absence of social justice and equality in citizenship.

He believes that the Jasmine Revolution was an inspiration for the Arab Spring revolutions in Yemen and the various Arab countries, with their peace and awareness of their people, considering this awareness - along with the existence of real state institutions - that preserved the revolution's achievements and protected Tunisia from slipping into chaos.

He says that decades of oppression, repression, corruption and exclusion suddenly erupted as a loud cry from the throats of the people who expressed grievances seeking freedom, equality, rights, and dreams of a better future.

Abdel-Mughni points out that most of the Arab Spring revolutions have not been completed and ended in catastrophic outcomes due to the absence of guarantor institutions in these countries.

The glow of demonstrations sparked from Sana'a to Taiz and various Yemeni cities (Al-Jazeera)

Disappointment and brokenness

Today, the situation appears disappointing for the February 11 revolutionaries in Yemen, after their revolution was aborted and their country entered the dilemma of war, turning it into the pain of a country torn apart by war and displaced by conflict.

Observers see that many reasons aborted the youth revolution in Yemen, most notably the absence of real national institutions, foremost of which is the army and security institutions, in addition to the control of political parties over the revolution, and the interventions that imposed a settlement through the Gulf initiative.

They talk about a revolution against the Arab Spring. Yemen was one of the arenas that witnessed its chapters, and it was supported by countries hostile to the Spring revolutions, and they were afraid that the winds of change would reach them.

Ten years after the Jasmine Revolution, which was blown to several Arab countries, the debate in the Yemeni street remains between those who blame the revolution for the causes of the conditions in which the country is living today, and this argument is supported by supporters of the previous regime, and between those who blame the counter-revolution and the deviations that accompanied the revolution responsible for this situation and devastation. Who arrived in a country that has become coveted for foreign agendas and a battlefield on the behalf.

It is regrettable that the flame of hope that sparked in Yemen's horizons 10 years ago appealed to peaceful change, has faded today with the roar of bullets and the war of the Yemenis and the conflicts of the region, but it has not been extinguished and its roots will remain awaiting a dreamy generation that breathes the spirit of challenge and determination, as activists say.