Break the Silence on Yemen's Peaceful Revolution!

As the mainstream media failed to cover the daily news on Yemen, and was limited to al Qaeda and "Saleh said" news. Yemeni twitters turned into citizen reporters, tweeting the latest updates on Yemen and turned to social media as a tool to advocate support for Yemen's Peaceful and marginalized Revolution.
#SupportYemen was a hashtag that was launched on twitter as part of a social media campaign to raise awareness to what was happening in Yemen, even prior to the Sanaa Massacre. It has been extensively used on twitter, mainly by Yemeni twitters and supporters of Yemen.
A group of activists got together and collectively managed to organize a Worldwide Silent Protest in different cities of the world on September 24th,  calling on participants to put a tape on their mouth and stand for two hours to symbolize the world's silence towards Yemen. The protests were held in:

Alexandria - Egypt
Amman - Jordan,
Cairo - Egypt
Berlin - Germany
Calgary - Canada
London - UK
Moscow - Russia
New York - USA
Paris - France
San Francisco - USA
Washington D.C - USA
Stockholm, Sweden
Photos and videos from the protests can be seen on the Facebook page #SupportYemen

The protest was an outcry by Yemenis and their supporters in these cities, to the world to break the silence on Yemen. They held slogans condemning the silence and posters showing the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the revolution. It was an outcry to support the democracy and freedom of Yemen. It was an outcry to the governments of the world to stop supporting Saleh, but rather support the Yemeni people instead, who have been suffering for 8 months and have been enduring an economic and humanitarian crisises. But it was mainly an outcry to stop the bloodshed and massacres committed by Saleh and his brutal regime against innocent civilians.
Yemeni activists, bloggers, twitters, Youtube channels have used all methods to get the world's attention and support for their legal and just demand to topple the regime and build a New Democratic Yemen.  Yemeni protesters have been marching for months calling for the fall a corrupt regime that has been ruling Yemen for the past 33 years, a regime that turned the country into a profitable family business and kept it underdeveloped, undereducated, undernourished, and placed it on the lowest indicators on all levels, depriving it from basic services and many basic human needs and rights.
The USA and Saudia Arabia each seeking their own interest are the two main supporters of this regime. They have been financially and militarily supporting it, allowing Saleh to commit crimes against his own people and against humanity. Neither the USA nor Saudia Arabia have the right to determine Yemen's future nor choose who is best to lead Yemen. This is entirely the right and choice of Yemenis alone! And there is more to Yemen than the so called "Qaeda" elements, there are 24 million people who's lives are on the line!
Help us break the silence and let the world see what is happening in Yemen. Use the hashtag #SupportYemen and visit the Facebook Page #SupportYemen to express your solidarity.

Yemen: Bloodbath in Sanaa as Saleh Returns

Yemen has been witnessing increased and unprecedented violence in the past few days. Ibrahim Mothana tweeted on September 18th:

@imothana: The brutality and violence used against protesters in Sanaa today is unprecedented!! #Yemen

A hashtag #SanaaMassacre was used by Yemeni tweeps to report updates on the violence used by the regime to crack down on unarmed protesters in Change Square in Sanaa. @crazyyafi tweeted on September 22:

@crazyyaffi: The number of people killed in the past 4 days in #Yemen has surpassed 100 and is continuing to rise. #yemen #SanaaMassacre #SupportYemen

Fatima Saleh also included the figure of injured reported.

@tota770: #AJA Reporter: Death toll raised since Sunday reaching 100 dead and more than 700 injured who were shot by the regime forces #Yemen #YF

Among the 100 killed were children, the youngest being Anas a 10-month-old baby who was shot by a sniper while he and his older brother were in his parents parked car, in front of a store. This video[WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT] shows his injury and portrays the tragedy.

Yemen woke up on Friday, September 23, at dawn to the news on state TV announcing the return of President Ali Abdulla Saleh to the country, after three months of recovering in Saudi Arabia from an assassination attempt in June - a very unexpected and unwelcome return.

Mauritanian activist Naser Weddady expressed anger at the US and Saudi Arabia, both major players in Yemen's politics for allowing such a return - a sentiment which was shared by many netizens:

@weddady: if the world's fears in #Yemen are about Al-Qaeda, then letting the country under Saleh is the best help AQAP: ENJOY!

@weddady: Allowing Ali Abdallah Saleh to return to #Yemen is criminal.

Almuraisy replied saying:

@almuraisy: Unlike expectations, protesters at change square celebrate the return of Saleh to be tried of his crimes #Yemen :)

As usual with every Saleh TV appearance, let alone his return home, there were the celebratory gunshots by his supporters. Yet tanks and heavier weapons were reportedly used this time which resulted in deaths and injuries. A child as this video [WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT] shows was also hurt.

Millions of protesters across Yemen took part in the “Friday of Confidence in God's Victory” demonstrations. Yemeni protesters have given each of the 33 Fridays since their revolution has started a different name. Saleh was given the shoe treatment in the Friday protest in Radaa, where protesters raised their shoes to greet his return. (Video posted by: 11119801)

Mobarak Alsharafi tweeted what State TV quoted Saleh as saying:

@Mo_Alsharafi: “I return to the nation carrying the dove of peace and the olive branch,” Saleh was quoted as saying by state television. #Yemen

Although Saleh words claimed he came in peace, which the protesters could not believe, his actions proved that he came with a vengeance. His return only intensified the violence turning it from a massacre of protesters to a genocide. Only a few hours after his arrival, 18 people were killed and 53 were injured, following yesterday's Friday prayers.

Abdullah Obal, an opposition leader, said he believed Saleh “returned to run the war and drive the country into an all-out civil war.”
Abdulkader Alguneid, who lives in Taiz and is familiar with Republican Guards daily shelling on his city, remarked:

@alguneid: Now, certainly, #Saleh will start shelling #Sanaa residential areas, from far away. That's what he is good at. #Yemen

During a night raid on Change Square in Sanaa many reported the atrocities in their tweets:

Alaa Jarban tweets:

@AJYemen: #Saleh forces are burning houses & tents in change sq. now. Protesters r dying, dead bodies b/c of missiles r all over the streets! #Yemen

Waleed Saqaf adds:

@wsaqaf: #Saleh orders storming #Tagheer Square in #Sanaa, #Yemen, a massacre is in the making, corpses, blood & panic everywhere!

Michelle Shephard from the Toronto Star notes:

@shephardm: Just awful reports about shelling, fires & continued violence in #Sanaa tonight after #Saleh made surprise return… #Yemen.

NPR's Andy Carvin was horrified of a video from the carnage and warned:

@acarvin: Horrible, *horrible* graphic footage of a severely wounded child in #Yemen. Consider carefully before viewing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1Jrc72MdJM&feature=youtu.be

Yemeni protesters urged tweeps to expose Saleh's crimes.

@crazyyafai: Retweet so the world knows: #Saleh is storming sit in square burning tents & slaughtering peaceful protesters at this moment. #yemen

He cynically tweeted:

crazyyaffi: #Saleh has finally decided to come back and kill all #Yemenis & then become a president of the biggest grave in the world. #yemen

Fatima Saleh summed the eventful day in a tweet:

@tota770: what a day , started with explosions and news of #Saleh's return, ended with storming change sq and shelling youth #Yemen #yf

Clearly, Saleh's first day was not a peaceful one. Far from it, it was rather very bloody! Yemeni brace themselves and expect more of the unreserved violence in the coming days.

Today, September 24, marches are planned across 17 governarates to condemn these crimes. A series of world wide silent protests entitled #SupportYemen - Silence Kills! is also scheduled today in different cities of the world and in Yemen to condemn the media and International Community's silence towards Yemen's revolution which has allowed Saleh to continue his crimes against his people and humanity.

This post was published in Global Voices as part of special coverage Yemen Protests 2011.

Yemen to the Rest of the World: Silence Kills!

Yemen is the poorest country in the Arab world and the third to join the Arab Spring on February 11th, following the downfall of Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak. Yemen's revolution is a legitimate outcry against corruption, illiteracy, injustice, nepotism, poverty and tyranny. It is a call for a peaceful regime change, freedom and basic human rights which Yemenis have been deprived of for so long.

Yemen's revolution has been ongoing for more than seven months and has been amazingly peaceful and remains admirably so. It is worth mentioning that Yemen is known to be the second most armed country in the world, after the US, with approximately 60 million firearms in a country with a population of 23m. Despite some clashes between some tribes supporting the revolution and Yemen's president Ali Abdullah Saleh's troops and although protesters have been facing continuous violence by the regime, the youth marching in thousands throughout the country insist to keep the protests peaceful and not a single bullet has been shot.

The regime forces have continuously and excessively used violence to crackdown on protests. Peaceful marches were attacked with live bullets, expired tear gas, cannon sewage water and batons, resulting in killings, injury, suffocation from gas, torture and arbitrary detention. The Report of the High Commissioner on OHCHR’s visit to Yemen issued on September 13, called for further investigations and a probe into human rights abuse. The report indicated that hundreds of people have been killed and thousands injured since the crackdown on protesters began.

This video shows an example of how the security forces deal with peaceful marches such as the one that happened in Taiz on Thursday, September 15th. (Video posed by FreedomTaiz)

The regime forces used live bullets, water canons, and tear gas to disperse the protesters, even women were not spared from the attacks as the following video from Taiz shows. (Video posed by FreedomTaiz)

One man was killed and many were severely injured, including women, on Thursday.

Another peaceful march was recently attacked in Sanaa on Sunday, September 18th. More than 800 protesters were wounded, including 265 with live bullets, and at least 26 were killed. The death toll is expected to rise, since 96 are in a critical condition. WARNING: This video contains graphic scenestowards the end, of the injured protesters being rushed to a field hospital. (Video posted bymediacentersanaa)

The regime forces did not hesitate to use live bullets to disperse protesters. Water canons and tear gas were used as well. This video shows snipers in surrounding buildings and on roof tops aiming at protesters. (Video posted by YouthStandYEMEN)

This is one of the videos in a series showing graphic images of the injured in the field hospital.WARNING: Graphic content (Video posted by mediacentersanaa)

The prolonged revolution also caused a grave economic and humanitarian crisis in Yemen, where 45 per cent of the population already lived under the poverty line, earning less than $2 a day, costing Yemen billions of dollars monthly. Besides the loss of lives and injury of many people and a refugee crisis, the entire population has been enduring domestic gas, fuel, water crises, power outages and food shortages - a collective punishment tool by the regime to intimidate Yemenis to submission.

The Republican Guards headed by Saleh's son, Ahmed, aided by the air force continuously and almost daily shell and bombard villages in Arhab and Nehm, killing and injuring scores of innocent civilians, damaging houses, wells, fields and vineyards. Many residents fled to neighboring villages to seek refuge in mountain caves, similar to those used in the dark ages, to escape the violence. (Video posted byla7jPress)

The endless fight against the so called “Qaeda” elements in Abyan and US drone attacks caused more than 100,000 refugees to flee to Aden and live in schools as shown in this video. (Video posted byla7jPress)

The Gulf Cooperation Council's initiative in all it's modified forms did not address Yemenis aspirations. Instead, it embodied favorable terms for Saleh rather than the people and thus was widely rejected, albeit signed and approved by the formal opposition, the JMP. This move has caused a huge discontent and rift between the official opposition and the independent Youth movement.
The US and Saudi Arabia have been passively calling for a peaceful transition yet continue to support Saleh, militarily and financially, thus supporting his regime to quell the anti-government protest and allowing their crimes to continue. Each has their reasons for not being enthusiastic about the revolution. Saudi Arabia fears a successful revolution and a democracy at its doorstep and the US fears loosing an ally and long time partner in their “war against terror” and fighting AQAP, which is the US's major concern in Yemen, rather than it's democracy and the well being of its people, which in turn would reduce the Al Qaeda threat.

This video shows the Yemenis who have been marching in millions almost daily in cities across Yemen for months, persevering and enduring all forms of hardships amidst continuous violence, yet peacefully and resiliently demanding a regime change and aspiring to build a civil state in a new Yemen. (Video posted by KareemooS)

Yemenis are outraged by the world's silence and media blackout towards the human catastrophe their country is facing and turning a blind eye on the regime's crimes, which they perceive is a direct reflection of the lack of world and regional support for Yemen, mainly due to what they see as the interference of the US and Saudi Arabia. This video shows how they expressed it clearly in a silent protest on April 9th in Sanaa. (Video posted by FiredoglakeTV)

A hashtag #SupportYemen was created on Twitter and a campaign last week encouraged the use of social media to shed light on the revolution in Yemen, where mainstream media failed. @AjYemen tweeted encouraging people to use the hashtag #SupportYemen

@AJYemen
Let's get the world's attention to #Yemen, as everyone's silence kills the people of Yemen. Spread and use this hashtag #SupportYemen https://twitter.com/#!/AJYemen/status/114531563961716736

In his tweet @Yemen4Change wondered why Yemen's revolution wasn't getting any media coverage.

@Yemen4Change
OUR demands r legit, OUR protests r peaceful, OUR ppl r seeking basic human rights, why r we being forgotten by media? #SupportYemen @hrw

A group of Yemeni activists planned together another silent march, to be at the same time in different cities around the world where there is a huge Yemeni community and in cities in Yemen on September 24th from 12:00 to 2:00 pm to condemn the world's silence and the current media black-out towards Yemen's revolution under the name #SupportYemen- Silence Kills!
This video contains some of the powerful images that portray this beautiful peaceful, yet very marginalized and almost ignored revolution. (Video posted by Soso4410)

So don't be silent and Support Yemen!
This post was published in Global Voices as part of a special coverage Yemen Protests 2011. 

ساندوا اليمن, صمتكم يقتلنا

ساندوا اليمن, صمتكم يقتلنا
تواجه اليمن أزمة إنسانية واقتصادية خانقة منذ 8 اشهر مضت, هدفنا من هذه الوقفة الاحتجاجية هو شجب واستنكار الصمت العالمي وتغاضي وسائل الإعلام وعدم تغطيتها لأحداث اليمن والكفاح السلمي الذي يقوم به الشعب اليمني لإسقاط النظام الديكتاتوري المستبد في اليمن.
من المقرر ان تتم هذه الوقفة الاحتجاجية في نفس اليوم ونفس الوقت وفي عدة مدن حول العالم, في الدول التي يتواجد فيها أبناء الجالية اليمنية, كما من المقرر ان تقام هذة الفعالية الاحتجاجية أيضاً في عدة مدن داخل اليمن.
هذه الفعالية الاحتجاجية ستكون عبارة عن وقفة صامتة, حيث سيقوم المشاركون فيها بوضع شريط لاصق على أفواههم ويقفون لمدة ساعتين كاملة للتعبيرعن الصمت العالمي على الأحداث التي تجري في اليمن وكذلك لنستنكر اختلاف المقاييس التي تتعامل بها دول العالم فيما يخص الشأن اليمني.
الوقفة الاحتجاجية الصامتة ستكون يوم السبت 24 سبتمبر الجاري 2011 , من الساعة 12:00ً وحتى الساعة 2:00 ظهرا. في كل من المدن التاليه (اظغط على اسم المدينه للرابط)
القاهره 
برلين
باريس
ديربون
عمان
لندن
نيويورك
ستوكهولم
واشنطن

أماكن التجمع لكل مدينة سيقام فيها الاحتجاج  و الزمن مذكور على رابط كل مدينه و ايضاً في صفحة الحدث الرئيسيه في الفيسبوك:

 #SupportYemen- Silence Kills! Worldwide Protest

شاركونا وساندوا اليمن وهيا لنقف كلنا معاً لدعم أبناء الشعب اليمني الصامد  الذين يهمهم دعمكم هذا ووقوفكم بجانبهم.

تذكر : وقوفك معنا لمدة ساعتين فقط, قد يعطي اليمنيين حياة كاملة من الاستقرار والحرية

فم بزيارة صفحة : #SupportYemen و عبر عن مساندتك و لو بكلمه

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=241143752604701

#SupportYemen - Silence Kills!

Yemen has been facing a humanitarian and economic crisis for the past 8 months. This protest is to condemn the world's silence and the current media black-out towards Yemen's revolution, and its people's struggle and peaceful plight to over-throw a dictatorial regime.


It will be a silent protest, thus protesters will stand for two hours with tape over their mouths to symbolize the world's silence and indifference towards Yemen.

The protest is scheduled to be at the same time and in different cities across the world where there is a large Yemeni community, and in cities in Yemen.

It will be on Saturday 24th September 2011 at noon 
12:00-2:00 pm 


#SupportYemen in Amman, Jordan

#SupportYemen in Berlin, Germany
#SupportYemen in Cairo, Egypt 
#SupportYemen in Derbon - Michigan, U.S.A
#SupportYemen in London, UK
#SupportYemen in New York, U.S.A
#SupportYemen in Paris, France
#SupportYemen in San Francisco, CA, USA 
#SupportYemen Stockholm, Sweden
#SupportYemen in Washington D.C, USA

Visit the Facebook page for the Worldwide event for information and updates: 
#SupportYemen – Silence Kills! Worldwide Event 
 Or the #SupportYemen Facebook page

Come and support Yemen, stand in solidarity with its people. Your support is important. It is a life-line for millions of  Yemenis! *

*Bring some red tape along!

A Tribute to My Son

This post is neither political nor poetic, it is rather a personal and emotional one. It has no links, actually, only one to my heart. I was initially hesitant to write it, because it is very painful and personal, but I finally decided to go ahead. I didn't write it to gain sympathy, nor preach, but to share with you a difficult time in my journey of life, hoping that someone might learn some of the lessons I did or find some comfort in it.

September 14th is a date to remember. Seven years ago, I was blessed and was given a gift from God, a beautiful son. Every mother who is blessed with the joy of giving birth feels her son/daughter is special. But my son is indeed special, he is an angel in heaven. He filled our lives with joy and happiness in the short time he was with us. A year and five months later, our gift was taken back by its Creator.
I can not recount the painful and tragic events of that day nor explain how it happened, albeit six years ago, it feels like yesterday and I still feel the same intense pain. My life suddenly and tragically turned upside down. Everything in it seemed so trivial and meaningless. In general loosing a loved one is a painful experience in itself yet the pain of loosing a child is the most unbearable pain any human can ever endure. It is an excruciating pain, an ever lasting agony that no parent can ever imagine nor forget. It is an intense sorrow that tears you apart, an ache that rips your heart and stays there for life.

I miss my son every single day, but especially today, I miss him tremendously. A mother can never recover from the anguish of such a loss and mourns it forever. The pain is compounded on a day like this, his birthday, it becomes exceedingly overwhelming. Thus, I'm writing this post, as a tribute to my dear son, to thank him, and mostly God, for being in my life. Although he was with us for a very short time, yet his impact on our lives was ever lasting.

My little angel's loss changed my life, my family's and some of our close friends'. It made me reconsider my priorities in life and reflect more about the after life. It was a wake up call on so many levels. I am a Muslim and my faith is what held me and my husband together after loosing our child. It is only through faith that a person is given the strength, the patience, and above all the ability to accept and persevere with such an enormous calamity. Just as having him was a blessing, loosing him was also a blessing, indeed one in disguise. It brought us closer to God and made us appreciative of every moment in this life and every blessing he has given us.
In Islam, a parent who loses his/her child and patiently perseveres and abides by God's commands would be reunited with his/her child, as he/she awaits them on the gates of heaven to hold their hand and escort them through it. What a beautiful promise, and what more can a mother ever wish for her child, then for him/her to be granted a place in heaven. Both my husband and I look forward to that day, when we reunite with our little angel.

My journey with grief and depression was a long one, I went through all its stages. I longed for something that would pull me together and ease my pain, I tried counselling (but never accepted to go on any medication), Reiki (but didn't continue because I was reluctant to open my chakras), oil painting (which is one of my hobbies), I wasn't able to write to express my roller coaster of emotions (although it is known to be therapeutical), so of course I resorted to the only thing that provided me some relief, endless crying.
Certainly my family and friends were there for me. They stood by me through it all, trying in every way to provide comfort and to them I am forever grateful. But what I needed most of all was God. Yet, He was there all along, all I had to do was seek Him. Don't get me wrong, I was a practicing Muslim, but I have to admit I was not a fully committed one.

I never asked myself the cliche "why me" but was struggling to deal with the enormous and sorrowful loss. As my journey with pain intensified, so did my search for closeness to God and with it came the comfort I had been seeking. I found inner peace, serenity and with it came acceptance.
My husband and I travelled to Mecca and Madina immediately after the funeral and we performed the smaller pilgrimage "Umrah", which we had performed twice before when we lived in Saudi Arabia. As I realized that nothing in this life is for granted, several months later, I went on a journey that I had been putting off till a later stage in life, I performed my pilgrimage "Hajj", the journey of a lifetime.

The point I am trying to make here is that one must have a strong faith inorder to go through such an ordeal because the pain is overbearing and if one doesn't have it then he must seek it, because without it the calamity can certainly be unbearable and perhaps destructive. I hope no one ever goes through this experience and I pray for the parents who lost their children, may they be blessed with the patience and serenity to accept their loss and the strength to persevere despite the enormous pain.

I am forever grateful to God for all his blessings, but mostly for blessing me with enough faith to enable me to withstand such a trauma. God blessed me with the joy of motherhood not once but four times. Thus on a happy note, two years later, I was blessed once again with a child, whom I named with one of God's names, meaning gratitude. He certainly was a much appreciated gift and a happy last addition to our family. Thus when asked, I always reply "I have four children". May God bless and keep them always and may he also bless all your children and keep them from harm.

Last but not least, I believe everything happens for a reason and there is always a lesson. We must never forget to appreciate all our blessings and should be thankful for the hardships, because we will certainly be faced with many.There will be all sorts of tests and tribulations along our journey, which we should learn from and which would enable us to become a better person. Hence, we must make our short time in this life worthwhile by trying to make a difference, even if small.

Peace

Related links:
اشتقت اليك

For My Little Angel
It's February Again
Another Birthday

Support Yemen Project1

Building on the #SupportYemen social media campaign which was launched last week and aimed to generate world support for Yemen's disregarded revolution, a friend and fellow Yemeni activist and blogger came up with this great project. He goes by the name Notuntilhefalls, and that is precisely when our revolution will succeed. However it is not limited just to HIM, i.e Saleh, but also until his corrupt regime and family rule falls too.The project is simple and thoroughly explained. So show your solidarity and join the support Yemen community, take part in this project.

Updates on the project and tips will be posted on the Facebook page #SupportYemen

Support Yemen project1 : By : @NotUntilHeFalls

The Aim

• Very simply, to create your personal video to support Yemen.

• You do NOT have to be a Yemeni. You just want to support it and show some solidarity.

The Objectives
• To get the Yemeni diaspora to know each other and form a connection through what we produce.
• Start to develop a creative visual movement to raise awareness and support for Yemen.
• To give us Yemenis abroad the chance to be involved and proactive.
• To share your environment and community and spread awareness of Yemen through it.

• Have fun.

Tools
• Any visual recording piece of equipment as you need to create a video.
• Basic editing/uploading skills.
• Ideally a twitter account.
• Social Skills. You can’t be scared of talking to strangers.
The Project
The idea is to choose a question from the ones listed below and to create a video

 from it. It is that simple. There are some criteria to be considered which is important to adhere to. This is a collective project where the individual contribution has to be in sync and harmony with the others. There will be a deadline so that they are all launched at the same time. They will be launched as links on the Twitter timeline using the hashtag #SupportYemen. Whether you link from your blogs, You Tube channels etc is irrelevant. An online gallery of the contributions is being worked on and will be resolved before the deadline. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT THESE VIDEOS ARE SHOWN TOGETHER IN SOME FORM. In order to do that it is important to include the hashtag #YEMENPROJECT1 as well as the #SupportYemen hashtag. This will enable me to locate them after they have been launched on time line and to collect them for their final home. Alternatively email me the link to your finished video at notuntilhefalls@gmail.com.

You can also ask me questions about this although it’s so simple I can’t imagine you’ll need to if I did the brief correctly.

The Rules
• You can’t be in the video. You have to stay behind the camera.
• Videos should be a maximum of 7 minutes long. Not less than 5.
• Your voice can’t be heard asking the question. Leave that to the title of the
video.
• Friends and family can be included but the challenge is to talk to people you don’t know. Go for as wide as variety as possible. Get as big a cross section of people as your environment allows.
• If you choose a question that requires a monosyllabic answer, or you are getting monosyllabic answers then obviously meet a lot more people
• Do not ‘massage’ the results.
• Do not try to influence the answers. This is as much about us learning as informing
• The video is about the people’s reaction and answers to your questions nothing more should be included.
• This is where your individuality and creativity is crucial in bringing this to life. Remember to balance your creativity with the fact that we are doing this for Yemen. So respect that.
o You choose your music for the video
o You choose how to style it. Think of how to make your video stand out. Maybe it could be black and white? Maybe it’s about the lighting. Maybe it’s a location. It’s all up to you as long as you match the requirements above. Just try to make your individual contribution memorable somehow.
o Enjoy making it!!!

The Questions
Choose ONE of the following questions and use it to make your video. How people respond is up to them. Some require an audience who know about Yemen. Others don’t. Faithfully record and include. Don’t ignore negative comments, or edit the outcome in anyway. These videos aspire to be an education to the viewers and to us Yemenis
• Do you know where Yemen is?
• Tell me three things you know about Yemen?
• What message do you want to send the people of Yemen?
• How should the people of Yemen break the media blackout?
• What are your perceptions of Yemen?
• What would you like the Youth to do next?
• What should Yemen’s top 5 priorities be post Saleh?
• What are your predictions for Yemen’s Arab Spring?

• IF HOWEVER, YOU FIND A BETTER QUESTION, GO FOR IT, JUST KEEP IT TO THE ONE QUESTION AND STICK WITH THE GUIDELINES.

The Deadline
• 24th of September. This is ample. Just want to give it time to get as much people involved as possible