Democratic Palestine : 15 (ص 24)
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- Democratic Palestine : 15 (ص 24)
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united understanding of this subject. So
far, our contribution in this field is very lit-
tle.
The second task is encouraging an
increasing number of women to partici-
pate in the battle for the liberation of
Palestine. If women participate effec-
tively in this process, who can deprive
them of their right to equality in a democ-
ratic Palestine? This is your responsibil-
ity, to apply your ability to fulfill your
duties, so as to be able to demand your
rights. There is some progress in this
field, but we must aim at achieving much
more.
Third is the responsibility of the
Palestinian organizations. Unfortu-
nately, the PLO is not one political
organization; it is not even a united front,
though we strive for this. In our efforts to
achieve at least unity in a front, let the
recruitment of women be a measure for
competition between the _ different
organizations. The reality is that there
are a number of organizations that com-
pete in terms of number of members,
military operations, etc. The organiza-
tions’ concentration on_ recruiting
women for the liberation battle should
also be a criterion, in view of the impor-
tance of this subject.
The PFLP can be alittle bit proud of
having given importance to the women’s
question. In 1978, the politbureau
decided to evaluate our progress in this
field, to evaluate the percentage of
women in our total membership. In
1979, in Lebanon, 30% of our members
in Sidon were women; 28% in Tripoli;
and 20% in Beirut. This was connected
to the revolution’s open presence which
enhanced our ability to recruit. In other
branches the percentage was not more
than 5%. In Jordan, for example, recrui-
ting women is difficult- we are under-
ground.
If we are really concerned about the
women's question, this will be seen in
the extent to which we lay importance on
having women in the PFLP. This con-
cerns not only members; there is the cir-
cle of women who are friends of the
PFLP. A chief measure of our conviction
about the women’s question is our en-
thusiasm about recruiting the broadest
sector of women tied to the PFLP. If we
understand this scientifically, we can
recruit thousands to the PFLP in Syria
alone.
Women comrades may find it dif-
ficult to adapt to the conditions and
duties attached to PFLP membership,
because of duties in the home and
motherhood. If some are not ready to
22
participate as members, we are ready to
find an organizational form whereby
they can participate as friends. There is
the framework of a democratic organiza-
tion which has its own leadership. If each
member of the democratic organization
feels responsible for its program and
future, there will be great enthusiasm. If
the members feel they are not important
and do not play an active role in shaping
the future of this democratic organiza-
tion, we cannot expect it to grow. This is
very basic.
The 27th Congress of the CPSU
stands for something new. The reports
stressed removing the mistaken
hegemony of the party from the
economic institutions. Gorbachev hopes
that this will increase production greatly.
Also we should not understand the
supervision of the party as restricting the
potential of the democratic organization.
It is not important that our woman com-
rades be the leaders of the democratic
organization. If a non-member has the
capacity to lead and recruit women, then
let her. This understanding of the demo-
cratic organization, related to the PFLP,
is very fundamental. We want 10 active
members to bring in 500, not 120 to bring
30.
Let us not expect there will be large
numbers of women able to commit
themselves fully to a party; there are
many reasons why they may not be able
to do so. Even in socialist countries, the
number of men and women party mem-
bers is about 10-15%. What about the
rest of the people? They are recruited
into unions and other democratic organi-
zations. Broad recruitment into democ-
ratic organizations should be a measure
of our party organization’s leadership
role.
On the GUPW
We must specify our policy with
respect to the General Union of Palesti-
nian Women (GUPW) - how we can be
effective towards the same goal of
liberating women. Unfortunately, all the
Palestinian unions, not only the GUPW,
are experiencing a split. This is a new
phenomenon but we should not forget
the negative points about these unions
before the split. Neither before nor after
the split, has there been effective work
on the tasks stipulated in the constitution
and internal regulations.
What can we do in the light of this
reality? We should concentrate on hav-
ing our women friends play an active role
in the GUPW. Do not despair because of
the present difficulties in working for a
united GUPW, representing all Palesti-
nian women. Determination and scien-
tific thinking will always result in suc-
cess.
We took the position that the politi-
cal differences which occurred between
the resistance organizations should not
result in splitting the unions. We call for
unity in the field, the unity of the Palesti-
nian people. The teachers, students and
writers union together total approxi-
mately 50,000 members. Why should
these be split? Why can't we establish
democratic dialogue? Anyone adhering
to the national line is confirming the
soundness of this line. Why be afraid of
democratic dialogue? Those who con-
tracted the Amman accord may be afraid
of democratic dialogue, but should those
who adhere to the national program be
afraid? Some thought that if the unions
remained united, they would give legiti-
macy to Arafat. If we look closely at this
question, and if we think of making new
unions, a large number of members will
be lost; the opposition to the right-wing
line will be lost within the unions.
The Cuban delegation which
attended the student union’s congress
two years ago, was pleased that the
PFLP and others opposed the right-wing
line in the union. We fault anyone who is
trying to split the unions. Arafat split the
writers’ union, ignoring the internal regu-
lations governing the convention of con-
gresses. The fact that we remain part of
a union dies not mean that we don’t see
the reality of the split. No matter where
we aré, on our own or with others, we
raise the slogan: Unite the unions.
Even if the unions had remained
united, their state of affairs was unsatis-
factory. To improve this, we raise three
slogans, especially for the GUPW:
1.The unity of the union; 2.genuine
democracy embodied in proportional
representation; and 3.effective work.
In closing | would like to make a
point about the role of women van-
guards, in the context of the role of col-
lective leadership. This is the era of col-
lective leadership. We emphasize this
on all levels in democratic and party
organizations. Yet the importance of col-
lective leadership should not lessen the
value of the role of the woman vanguard,
which is a historical phenomenon in our
revolution. We are waiting for new van-
guards to blaze the trail. History will
record that they played a major role in
the liberation of the Palestinian woman
and her participation in the liberation
struggle and the establishment of a
democratic Palestine. - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 15
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- أبريل ١٩٨٦
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
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