Thursday, March 8, 2012

A message to Circassians on International Women's Day

8 March 2012 - It is International Women's Day and there needs to be more women Circassian activists and men that support and work alongside them.


Women are, or will be in the future, mothers of our nation. Besides the reverence we place in the Nart's Setenay or the lore of Circassian beauties, in the past Circassian women raised the warriors and defended our homes when our men fought in the battlefields. Women nurtured our customs and passed on our language. (I would not be surprised if there were Circassian women fighting with our men.) The women of our history were fearless, tenacious, patient, and had incredible courage. With these qualities, Circassian women kept Circassia together.


Many young Circassians (males & females) today are taught that to continue our existence on this Earth, it will be enough to "just marry a Circassian". But this is not the case. We see very high numbers of marriages outside our nation. Our language and customs are endangered. Our people are being killed and our human rights are practically non-existant. It is naïve to think "just marrying within our nation" will solve the problems of our nation. This can not be the end point of our destiny. This cannot be the end of our responsibilities.


Like in our past, Circassian women today are the linchpins of our families, societies, and nation. 


Today, more than ever, we must wholly embody the noble qualities of our grandmothers in the past. It is true: it is our responsibility to continue our existence. To do so we must educate ourselves and pursue professions that will ultimately aid in achieving a free Circassia. We must have the patience and the tenacity to face challenges and resilient enough to not drown in them. We must be fearless in demanding our human rights. We must be courageous so that future generations can be inspired from our bravery.

And a note to Circassian men, young and old: Recognize the very important role of the Circassian woman. 
Engage regularly with the womenfolk of society and value their opinions and wisdom. They will be marrying you or your sons and raising your children. A nation is only as strong as the strength of all its parts, and we want Circassia to be as strong as possible.

1 comment:

Zhanna said...

if we would make more efforts to learn circassian language than dancing than we would have more chances to help our nation however only Allah SWT knows