JANUARY 2021

"Kifah al Akrad, the struggle of the Kurds" is one of Jemal Nebez’s great works. He wrote it in Arabic 65 years ago, sending it to the President of Egypt at the time, Gamal Abdel Nasser, so that he could learn first-hand about the Kurds' struggle for freedom. 

Hopefully, this republication will reach many new, young readers. Thanks to Jawad Mella for making this feasible.

Kefah al Akrad 1956 .PDF (1.19MB)

Kefah al Akrad 1956 .PDF (1.19MB)

It is commendable that Jawad Mella, on the 2nd anniversary of Jemal's departure, has commemorated this masterful early writing of Jemal’s by republishing it. We thank him, and hope that old memories will be awakened in those who read it decades ago, that they will remember what it was like for them  and hopefully share these recollections with us. One day, when the history of this work's impact is written (hopefully sponsored by the Jemal Nebez Foundation), your memories will be very valuable. 

Take the story of a high school student of Kurdish origin in today's Rojava in the 1960s, ten years after this script was written and spread, under the counter, across various parts of the Middle East. This Kurdish youth had, in his spare time, read “Kifrah al Akrad”, written in beautiful melodious Arabic, again and again, until he knew large parts of it by heart. When he was asked to write on the tension between freedom and society for a class assignment, the high school student surprised his history teacher with a novel line of argumentation. The teacher was relatively young, a cosmopolitan Arab and a Communist. He gave this high school student the highest possible grade after making sure that no cheat sheet had been used, and that he could freely produce such thought processes upon request. When this Kurdish high school student met Jemal Nebez in Germany, years later, they (and some others who happened to be sitting around them) enjoyed sharing the story.