They Say, All the Women Must be Commandos

Detroit, Michigan: The Radical Education Project, 1970. Very good. Some dust soiling, water staining.. First separate edition, originally published with author attribution to Sheila Ryan in issue no. 234 of the Liberation News Service, dated 14 February 1970. A powerful portrait of life for Arab women in refugee camps, and their recent rise as commandos to fight for their lives and families during the War of Attrition between 1967 and 1970. The piece highlights the challenges, both social and physical, for women in these positions, as well as the unexpected liberation is has brought women of all ages. For example, it notes that "Just as there is no minimum age for learning to shoot, there is no maximum age for usefulness. Two women with wrinkled, tattooed faces and white hair, too old themselves to learn to read or aim a rifle, care for the children of a younger woman while they attend classes. ‘And we thank them,' explained a Democratic cadre, ‘and tell them that the old ladies in Vietnam help, too. They make shoes for the fighters.'" (p. 7). Single vol. (8.5" by 5.5"), pp. [1], 19, photo-illus., stapled in original orange illus. wrps. Some of the photos include a woman in front of tents in a 1967 refugee camp; a militiawoman of the Democratic Front, in Amman; and a group of women at a political. meeting of the Palestinian-Jordanian women in Amman.