Promoting Democracy. Manal A. Jamal

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ that more autonomy served the mass-based organizations well.67 Although the degree to which these mass movements were autonomous is not settled, a sole focus on autonomy as the measure of associational efficacy obfuscates the real determinants of citizen participation and empowerment.

      PLO- and FMLN-Affiliated Women’s Movements: Power in Numbers and Reach

      The women’s sectors would emerge as integral sectors of the PLO and the FMLN’s mass-mobilization efforts. These sectors would share similar historical trajectories, goals, and objectives. Especially in the Palestinian case, the women’s mass-based organizations were careful to involve members in expressing their needs, and in establishing and running committees in the various locations. Much of these major achievements in the Palestinian case, however, would be reversed by the early 2000s.

      Palestinian Women’s Organizing

      The Palestinian women’s sector metamorphosed from a number of charitable societies founded in the 1920s,68 into an integral component of nationalist resistance during the late 1970s and early 1980s, and later to a community of institutionalized feminist organizations. In 1965, 139 women delegates convened and established the General Union of Palestinian Women, a mass-based organization affiliated with the PLO. After 1967, these societies expanded their purview from traditional welfare functions to place greater emphasis on education, health, and vocational training. These organizations were predominately run by middle-class Palestinian women and were located in Palestinian urban centers, and therefore inaccessible to the majority of Palestinian women who lived in the rural areas.69

      By the early 1980s, the major Palestinian political organizations had established their respective mass-based women’s organizations. In March 1981, women affiliated with the PCP founded the Union of Palestinian Working Women’s Committees (UPWWC) with branches throughout the WBGS. Later that year, women affiliated with PFLP established the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC). In 1982, women affiliated with Fatah founded the Union of Women’s Committees for Social Work (WCSW). In 1989, the WWC was renamed the Federation of Palestinian Women’s Action Committees (FPWAC).70 The women who were involved in establishing the women’s committees were relatively young, educated, and activists in their own right. Many of them were also political cadres in their respective political factions. These women were committed to articulating women’s issues both in relation to and separate from the broader national movement.

      Goals

      For the most part, the women’s committees shared the same goals: to enhance the status of women by empowering them to improve their daily living conditions, and to lend support to the broader national struggle,71 though the WCSW was not as progressive as the others, and did not espouse an agenda of societal transformation. The founders of the committees were also interested in addressing women’s status in Palestinian society-at-large, including the promotion of women’s economic self-sufficiency.

      Most of my interviewees, including founders of the women’s committees, talked about the increasing realization that women’s lives needed to be improved. Each committee wanted to increase support for its political faction, and eventually to recruit more members. In turn, by strengthening women’s role in the national movement, they hoped they would be able to realize women’s full potential in Palestinian society. The UPWWC, the UPWC, and the FPWAC stood out as more willing to address socially contentious issues relating to the status of women, such as early marriage and polygamy, and more willing to promote less traditional roles of women, including employment outside the home. But, generally, the committees focused on addressing women’s immediate practical needs, as well as their economic, political, and social consciousness, while providing them with greater economic opportunities by establishing self-help and productive ventures. There was also particular focus on addressing the needs of working women and women in rural areas.72

      Organization, Membership, and Decision-Making

      In the pre-Madrid and pre-Oslo period, the most important and uncontested achievements of the Palestinian women’s committees were their ability to recruit large numbers of women from different sectors of Palestinian society, including remote villages, and to involve them effectively in decision-making structures. These committees had radical democratic structures, in which the members were directly involved in choosing their immediate leaders and the types of projects and programs that they implemented. The ability of the various women’s committees to forge horizontal links with grassroots constituencies and directly involve them in decision- making laid the groundwork for what could become an effective civil society that could contribute to democratic development in Palestinian society.

      By the mid-1980s, all four women’s committees had amassed a substantial following, with a visible presence in terms of projects and activities in the public realm. Despite the fact that the exact membership of these committees was difficult to verify, all four committees claimed to have a membership base in the thousands, covering most geographic locations of the West Bank and later the Gaza Strip. By 1986, the members of the FPWCA claimed to have over 5,000 members.73 At the height of the Intifada at the end of the 1980s, one organizer estimated that their membership had reached 15,000 individuals.74 Also, there was a high level of participation, as demonstrated through the daily activities of the Intifada such as sit-ins, marches, and neighborhood committee meetings. The UPWC estimated to have about 5,000 members up until 1994,75 and by 1990 the WCSW estimated that its membership had reached 12,000.76

      The official policy of these committees, especially those in the leftist-leaning organizations, was to recruit members from all geographic locations, especially rural areas, which were considered the most in need of organizational support. One entry strategy into the villages was to establish nursery schools and kindergartens.77 Other activists initiated collective recruitment drives in which organizers would meet with women in a village. A representative from the steering committee of an organization would visit an area and help set up a local committee. The women would discuss some of the activities they wanted to initiate and then they would hold an election. Although each committee was responsible for its own local projects, it was also part of a nationwide network in which it participated by electing a representative to a regional committee, which in turn elected a national executive and steering committee. The women in the village would continue to meet on a regular basis, and regional organizers would visit the respective location every three to four months

      Most of the women I spoke to discussed the consensus decision-making approach used in the various locations. When women were not able to reach a decision by consensus, they would often vote on the particular issue. One grassroots coordinator explained, “We used to meet with women in the villages every two weeks. We would put together a needs-assessment list based on what the women wanted. Then we would vote to prioritize what they wanted to see accomplished.”78 Though the respective political organization might have had some general suggestions regarding the types of programs being implemented, the women also had a direct say in the projects and programs that were being carried out. Another grassroots women’s committee organizer explained, “When we met, the women told us what they wanted. There was a lot of autonomy in decision-making and in choosing events.”79 Moreover, the political organizations knew that increasing membership in these women’s committees was contingent on satisfying the women’s demands and needs.80 Hence, ideas and initiatives flowed both ways between the local committees and the executive. The WCSW differed in this respect because it never aspired to organize the masses per se, but rather sought to gain their support through charisma and patronage.81

      Although there was some competition and political disagreement among the different women’s committees, there was also a degree of cooperation. In 1984, the women’s committees set up a mechanism to facilitate informal coordination, especially related to consciousness-raising programs, and in the activities to protest Israeli occupation.82 The lack of overt and acrimonious competition between the different women’s committees facilitated their ability to recruit members in such high numbers.

      In reminiscing СКАЧАТЬ