[News] La Patria son Unas Mujeres

[Anti-Imperialist News]

International Women's Day - 3 Stories

Comandanta Ramona

ramona.jpg

  She left the world too soon, after a struggle 
with kidney cancer. She was petite in stature but 
powerful in her strength of character and 
commitment. Comandanta Ramona left a legacy 
because of her struggle in Chiapas that Latinas 
and all mujeres can look up to. She was the 
founding member of the Clandestine Indigenous 
Revolutionary Committee (CGRI), the leadership 
body of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation 
(EZLN). She consulted indigenous Zapatista 
communities about the exploitation of women and 
subsequently penned the Revolutionary Laws of 
Women which were passed on this day in 1993. 
During the 1994 uprising in San Cristóbal, she 
was placed in charge of the military. Comandanta 
Ramona was the first Zapatista representative to 
speak during peace talks with the Mexican 
government subsequent to the uprising.

Comandanta Ramona was such a force to be reckoned 
with that the Mexican government tried to 
undermine her power by making announcements of 
her passing in 1997, claiming the mujer making a 
public appearances was a body double.

Some of the rights Comandanta Ramona fought for 
included access to power in the decision- making 
process; the freedom to choose their partner; to 
not be beaten or physically abused by family 
members nor others; to decide on the number of 
children that they can bear and take care of, as 
well as to have the right and the priority to nutrition and health care.

In the words of Comandanta Ramona :
The women finally understood that their 
participation is important if this bad situation 
is to change, and so they are participating 
although not all of them are directly involved in 
the armed struggle. There is no other way of 
seeking justice, and this is the interest of the women.

She was not just speaking to Indigenous women. 
Her words should apply to all women.

Via / Chiapas IndyMedia


La Patria es Una Mujer: Lolita Lebron


lolita.jpg

  With all the discussion here on VL around Jen's 
post : 
<http://vivirlatino.com/2006/02/09/is-puerto-rico-latin-america.php>Is 
Puerto Rico Latin America?, and in light of today 
being 
<http://vivirlatino.com/2006/03/08/international-womens-day.php>International 
Women's Day I thought it would be appropriate to 
highlight Latina mujeres who have impacted the 
world. One of my personal sheros is Lolita Lebron.

Lolita Lebron was destined to be a freedom 
fighter, as indicated by her birth as Dolores 
Lebrón Sotomayor in 1919 in Lares, Puerto Rico, 
home of the 
<http://peacehost.net/PacifistNation/lares.htm>Grito 
de Lares. Lolita, a mother, migrated to New York 
City in the 1940's like many other Puerto Rican 
women to end up working as a seamstress. Lolita 
went to school at night. It was also in the U.S. 
(note: when the term U.S. is used I mean the 
mainland United States as defined by the 50 
states) where Lolita became a disciple of Puerto 
Rican Nationalist leader Don Pedro Albizu Campos. 
On March 1, 1954, Lolita Lebron, along with 
Rafael Cancel Miranda, Irving Flores and Andrés 
Figueroa Cordero protested the 1952 creating of 
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico by unfurling a 
Puerto Rican flag, shouting "Viva Puerto Rico 
Libre!" and began shooting into the U.S. House of 
Representatives. When Lolita was arrested she announced:
I did not come to kill anyone, I came to die for Puerto Rico!

. She was charged and convicted and Lolita was 
sentenced to 50 years in prison for her act but 
was pardoned and released in 1979 by President Carter.

Some call Lolita a terrorist, other call her a 
hero who expected March 1, 1954 to be her last 
day alive, as she was prepared to sacrifice her 
own life for what she believed in, as many have 
done in the United States and across the globe.

Via / <http://virtualboricua.org/Docs/sl03.htm>Virtual Boricua

Interview: Palestinian Leila Khaled

By Sana Abdallah
Published 7/21/2003 3:41 PM
<http://www.upi.com/print.cfm?StoryID=20030721-082110-7107r>View 
printer-friendly version

AMMAN, Jordan, July 21 (UPI) -- Leila Khaled is 
considered the world's first woman hijacker. She 
is revered by some and hated by others, but is 
known across the world for her daring deeds.

Leila, as she is known across the Arab world, was 
only 4 years old during the first Arab-Israeli 
war in 1948. The war led to the creation of the 
state of Israel and also rendered her homeless.

She escaped to Lebanon from her hometown, Haifa, 
hoping to return soon. She never was able to go 
back and her quest for a lost homeland set her on 
a path that led to being branded as a dangerous 
terrorist by the United States and other Western intelligence agencies.

Leila's involvement with armed Palestinian groups 
began when she was only 15 years old and joined 
the Arab Freedom Movement under the influence of 
her older siblings. In 1967, when Israel occupied 
the West Bank and Gaza Strip, she joined the 
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. 
The PFLP, a Marxist revolutionary group 
established in 1967, has a place on the U.S. 
State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations.

The refugee became an international figure -- 
admired in the Arab world and despised in Israel 
and the West -- when she took part in hijacking 
TWA Flight 840 from Rome to Athens on Aug. 29, 1969.

With a pistol in one hand and a grenade in the 
other, the 25-year-old hijacker instructed the 
American pilot to fly over Haifa to see it for 
the first time since she left, then landed in 
Damascus. After securing the evacuation of the 
passengers, who listened to her speak about 
Palestine, her fellow hijacker blew up the 
cockpit of the Boeing 707. All the passengers 
were released, except for six Israelis the Syrian 
authorities took and later exchanged for 13 Syrian soldiers.

Her second and last hijacking did not go as 
smoothly. On Sept. 6, 1970, she and San 
Francisco-born Nicaraguan Patrick Arguello, armed 
with pistols and hand grenades, tried to capture 
Israel's El Al flight 219 from Amsterdam to New 
York as two other hijackings were being carried 
out by the PFLP. Arguello was quickly shot by 
Israeli security staff on the plane and was later 
executed with four bullets in his back on the 
aircraft. Khaled was overwhelmed by crew and 
passengers alike and was beaten up until the 
plane landed in London. The British authorities 
managed to break her loose from Israeli hands, 
and arrested her. She remained in British custody 
until she was flown to Cairo on Oct. 1, 1970. She soon resumed her activities.

Since then, Leila has put on extra pounds, but 
her smooth dark face does not give away her 59 
years. She has been living in Amman, Jordan, 
since 1989, along with her physician husband, 
Fayez Rashid, and two teenage sons, Bader and Bashar.

In an interview with United Press International 
at her office in Amman's middle-class commercial 
district of Jabal Hussein, she looked back at her life without regrets.

Her office wall is decorated with a poster of Abu 
Ali Mustafa, the PFLP leader who was assassinated 
last year by Israeli helicopter gunships. She 
smokes French Gauloises cigarettes because she is boycotting U.S. products.

Q. How did you start your activities with the PFLP?

A. I was in Kuwait working as a teacher at the 
time. I tried to join the training camps set up 
in Jordan, but I was asked to remain in Kuwait to 
organize and establish cells. I did that for two 
years. Then I left and joined the camps for 
military training. When the PFLP asked me to 
return (to Kuwait), I insisted on staying, 
because I did not want to continue leading a normal life.

Q. Why didn't you want a "normal" life?

A. I primarily had dreams about taking our cause 
into our own hands. Also I had sisters and 
comrades in Palestine in Israeli jails and I 
thought those of us abroad should not be 
different than those inside. The launch of the 
Palestinian revolution caused me to take up arms 
for the liberation of Palestine. I came to Jordan 
and joined the training camps in 1969. After 
that, I was chosen to take part in the first airline hijacking of TWA.

Q. What were your feelings when you were given that first assignment?

A. For me, it was ultimate happiness and a great 
honor to be chosen, to the point that I couldn't 
believe it. When they told me I was to go on a 
mission, I thought: "Is it possible they are 
asking me to do this?" This dream of mine was 
becoming a reality. And I was imagining how I 
would finally see Palestine, because part of the 
plan was to fly over Palestine. It was as if this 
operation would liberate Palestine for me. I felt 
pride and honor to be part of this operation, 
which I saw as important and necessary.

Q. What was the objective of that operation?

A. The objective was to free prisoners, and to 
bring the world's attention to the Palestinian 
cause, since the world was dealing with and 
seeing Palestinians as just refugees who need 
humanitarian relief, not as a political cause of 
a people who aspire for their rights and to 
return to their land. So I had convictions that 
made the act easy. It was also a consolidation of 
the PFLP's view on women: That she is able to be 
equal to a man in the national struggle, and 
therefore can carry out any mission that can be done by a man.

Q. What memory sticks out most in your mind from the hijacking?

A. I remember when we reached the Palestinian 
coast, I said to myself: "I don't care if I die 
or get killed now." But we had a responsibility, 
which was the safety of the passengers and crew. 
Israeli aircraft surrounded the plane to prevent 
it from landing, because I was asking the pilot 
to land in the airport there. He was descending, 
but he didn't intend to land. At the moment, I 
thought that this enemy was not invincible, after 
all. I felt that with a simple operation, we 
could defeat them like they subjugated us. One of 
the things I did was to watch. So I was leaning 
over the pilot and looking down at our land.

Q. Did you achieve any political goals?

A. In political terms, we managed to present an 
important question to the world. The second 
achievement was showing that we could penetrate 
this enemy, despite all its strength and power. 
The third objective was to get the prisoners 
released, and this happened after the plane 
landed. They released 13 Syrian prisoners, 
including two pilots, because we landed in Syria, 
which had done the negotiations.

Q. You were arrested in Britain after your second 
hijacking in 1970. What was it like while you were in British custody?

A. I was in a police station in London, not a 
regular prison. The day following my arrest, a 
young unarmed Palestinian man hijacked a British 
aircraft and brought it to Jordan to help in my 
release. And the whole world was mobilized 
because three flights were hijacked at the same 
time. So the first few days in prison, the 
authorities tried to talk to me, but I refused, 
telling them they had to first recognize me as a 
fighter of the PFLP and the Palestinian people. 
So they didn't speak to me for the first few 
days. After five days, they said the British 
government had agreed to recognize me, and 
indeed, some of them stood up and said they 
recognized me as a fighter for the PFLP and the Palestinian people.

Q. How were you treated?

A. They treated me with respect, keeping in mind 
that a British plane was hijacked to Jordan. They 
took very good care of me. They had two women 
with me in the room all the time. They allowed me 
to play tennis. A physician visited me every day, and I showered twice a day.

Q. Do you regret anything? Would you do things differently?

A. I have no regrets. Every action at the time 
and within that situation -- not at this time, 
but at that time -- was necessary. Part of the 
objectives was achieved. We succeeded in 
presenting the Palestinian cause with a force to 
the world. But freeing all the prisoners was not achieved.

Q. Would you like to see your sons follow your example?

A. I wouldn't say I want them to do what I did. 
But I'd like them to give importance to their 
cause. I'd like them to put their cause at the forefront.

Q. Would you like them to be active?

A. The circumstances are now different. 
Therefore, their options have changed. I can't 
impose anything on them. Both are still studying, 
one at the university and the other just finished 
his high school. My older son, who's studying 
computer science, says there are scientific means 
and ways to participate in the struggle. I see my 
boys communicating with people abroad on the 
Internet on Palestine. But they're not involved the same way I was.

Q. As the hijacker of two planes, what did you 
feel when the airliners smashed into the Twin 
Towers in New York on Sept. 11, 2001?

A. I saw it on television and thought it was a 
film. Then I realized there were operations 
happening. We, at the Front, were always careful 
not to hurt innocent crew because they were not 
responsible for anything. Now, what happened on 
Sept. 11, flying planes into buildings, was 
criminal. What do the passengers and people in 
the buildings have to do with anything? It was 
horrible to see buildings collapse and people 
burn and die. At the same time, I felt the danger 
of this thing, and saw the repercussions. The 
question that comes to mind is who was really behind this act?

Q. How do you see the Mideast "road map"?

A. The road map is a continuation of the Oslo 
accords. But it's a map that does not lead to the 
Palestinian road. It leads to the Israeli road in 
terms of its texts. The political reality says 
that everything (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) 
Sharon's government has done and is doing 
indicates that this government is not serious 
about peace with the Palestinians. All that is 
required of the "road map" is to stop the intifada.

Q. Do you think the intifada has already stopped, or at least, dwindled?

A. No one can make the intifada continue or stop. 
The intifada is an expression of the people's 
choice. The hudna (the recent cease-fire between 
Israel and the Palestinians) is just a pause. As 
long as there is occupation, the intifada will continue.

Q. What are you doing now?

A. In Jordan, I am not active because we don't 
have an organization here, since Palestinian 
activities are illegal. But I work with women 
groups, federations and societies. Most of my 
activities are abroad, giving lectures and talking about the struggle.

Q. Are you comfortable with that?

A. Of course not.

Q. Have you visited the West Bank?

A. I went to the West Bank and Gaza in 1996 for 
40 days to participate in the Palestine National 
Congress, but the authorities would not give my 
husband and children permits to go there, so I 
came back to Amman. My husband was deported in 1970.

Q. Do you still dream of an independent Palestine?

A. My dream hasn't changed, and will not change. 
All that's changed are the realities. I still 
dream that millions of Palestinians like me can 
one day return to Palestine, and have a state of their own.

Q. What are the realities holding you back?

A. All attempts are being made to conform to 
America's desires and demands for the Middle 
East, especially after the invasion and 
occupation of Iraq. That's why they're trying to 
calm down the situation in Palestine. The Israeli 
Knesset recently voted that the West Bank and 
Gaza were not occupied territories, which means a 
law that declares the territories as part of 
Israel. Then there's the so-called security 
fence, which is effectively apartheid. The 
Israeli crimes did not stop, but this will create 
a new face of resistance because that's the natural equation.

The resistance in Iraq will also escalate, and 
that will confuse the U.S. plans. The new Iraqi 
council is sectarian, which is always the basis 
for civil war. If the resistance in Iraq 
escalates, it will create a new situation that 
will affect the whole region and will reflect on 
the United States when more American soldiers 
return in body bags. The colonialist doesn't 
learn. As Ho Chi Minh said, the colonialist is a 
stupid student. They don't learn unless they're struck on the head.
Copyright 2001-2003 United Press International



The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
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