President Al-Zubaidi Attends Celebration Event Organized by Southern Community in Chicago Honoring Visit to USA

President Aidarous Qassem Al-Zubaidi, President of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) and Vice Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), attended on Tuesday evening a celebration event organized by the Southern community in Chicago city on the occasion of honoring his excellency's second visit and the delegation accompanying him to the USA.

President Al-Zubaidi delivered a keynote address at the celebration event, which was attended by Senator Steven Landek, the full text of which is as follows:

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

All praise is for Allah, Lord of the Worlds. May the praise of Allah and His peace be on Prophet Muhammad [PBUH], his family, and Companions.

My dear Brothers and Sisters of the Southern Community in Chicago, 

It is an immense pleasure and a privilege to be among you all today, members of our Southern community in Chicago. I am truly moved to be here in what is your second home. I am eager to learn about your experiences, listen to your perspectives, and share in this day filled with your successes, accomplishments, and honorable presence.

Generous crowd:
First of all, I want to express my sincere gratitude to the people of our great Southern community in the city of Chicago for the generous hospitality and warm reception, and thanks and appreciation to all who gathered today to attend this meeting to express their pivotal role in serving the aspirations of our free and steadfast people of the South, as the Southern migrant/immigrant has always been and will definitely remain a role model of a citizen who loves his country and is attached to the soil of his homeland in every place and time. As our national history of the South has recorded in letters of light the immortal national roles of the expatriate of the South with his/her homeland, people, and cause throughout our history of the South, both in the past and present. The pivotal role you have played in supporting the national movement since the outbreak of the Southern Liberation Revolution is nothing but evidence of your close connection to your motherland and its pure soil and your real feeling of the suffering of your people at home.

O members of our esteemed Southern community,
The honorable presence you have been fulfilling in the country of diaspora and at all levels has been and will continue to be a source of pride for your homeland and your people. You have projected a good role model of citizens of the South who are proud of their values, principles, history, and identity. You have established a prominent presence among other communities in this great country, and you have proven to far and near that the Southern citizen is capable of performing miracles whenever the conditions are created for him to work and be innovative. Indeed, you have conveyed an honorable image of your homeland, the South, with the great values that you have embodied in the details of your life, foremost of which are the values of coexistence, acceptance of the other, respect for the rule of law, and noble competition in the renaissance and prosperity of your country.

All attendees:
I was pleased to see the large and honorable presence of the people of our Southern community in the city of Chicago, and we all hope that you will answer the call of the homeland to contribute to rebuilding and progressing the South, each according to the expertise and skills he/she has acquired, for the South will neither be built nor defend its security, stability, and territorial integrity except its own people, especially you, the migrants in the various countries of destination. 

O Southern community members: 
Our participation in the United Nations General Assembly for the second consecutive year is a continuation of our people's long struggle to restore our free, independent, and sovereign state of the South. This noble goal is one for which trains of martyrs and wounded have sacrificed their precious souls. From here in the United States, we reaffirm our commitment to the path laid out by our blessed martyrs with their pure blood until the full restoration of our sovereignty. We will never ever deviate from this path, regardless of the cost or the distance, and no matter how hurricanes of heartbreak may be. We are the right holders of our cause, pursuing our unrelenting striving for the just national cause of the South; we have the patience, sterling will, and firm faith, which is enough to enable us to take by force our legitimate rights for, however long it may take, the will of the people is invincible.

Brothers, sisters, and all attendees: 
We have come to this great country carrying the cause, concerns, and aspirations of our people to restore its free, independent, and fully sovereign state, as representatives of a great people who strongly believe in their homeland and their cause, a people who yearn for freedom and life, a people who aspire to actively contribute to establishing the values of freedom, justice, and peace like other peoples whose struggles to self-determination have been immortalized in history.

We are here to represent our people, who have steadfastly endured brutal siege, starvation, and terrorism. We reaffirm to the world that we are an indomitable people who are proud of their identity and fight for their very existence. We are a people who love life and hold dear the values of peace, coexistence, and harmony. Our people have sacrificed trains of blessed martyrs and wounded in the pursuit of their freedom, independence, and sovereignty over their land.

O people of the South in diaspora,
We know that you are not satisfied with the overall conditions and discontent felt by our people at home due to the prevailing conditions. We are fully aware of the magnitude of our national responsibility to uplift our people and liberate them from the cocoon of fabricated crises. We assure our people at home and abroad that we remain steadfast on the path illuminated by the pure blood of our blessed martyrs and wounded. We will be where we should be, at the right time and in the right place. We will not hesitate to make the decisive decisions necessary to safeguard our people's interests, protect our land, and ensure our independence and sovereignty. This is our pledge to our people and to our noble martyrs who have ultimately sacrificed their precious lives for this cause.

Ladies and gentlemen,
Indeed, our patience should not be mistaken for weakness, but rather a testament of our commitment in giving patience a chance, to prove to the world that we are peace advocates and seek peace, but at the same time we are capable of taking by force the right of our people to restore their state in the ways that we deem appropriate and our options are open to achieve that, and let the world know that there is no peace or stability in our region except with the return of our independent state of the South with full sovereignty on the pre-1990 borders.

Houthi militants have escalated their terrorism, emboldened by a permissive international position that encouraged them to expand the scope of the conflict, Since nullifying the decision to designate them as a global terrorist organization, the Houthis have engaged in a dangerous new escalation, each day expanding their conflict with Iranian backing. Their actions threaten regional stability and the future of its peoples, while also targeting international interests in the Red Sea, Bab al Mandeb, and the Gulf of Aden, posing a grave threat to international peace and security.

From this perspective, we strongly support the existence of strategic deterrent policies and serious measures in which the United States and its allies are present alongside our regional partners and allies, represented by the leadership of the Arab Coalition, as it was prior to 2020.

In conclusion, I would like to reiterate my greetings and thank you for your active participation and your patriotic role in serving your Southern homeland and your just cause. I urge you to reach greater cohesiveness, cooperation, and alignment in this crucial stage of our people's history and struggle. 

All the best and peace, mercy, and the blessings of Allah be upon you,