This was originally published in our 2020 annual report. Find it here.

From alQaws to Haneen Maikey:

We recognize your impact, appreciate your leadership, and we shall continue the struggle

For years, alQaws’ name was intrinsically tied to Haneen Maikey’s. This connection reflects the enormous efforts Haneen has made to build out the organization and ensure that it remains active, lively, and influential. Haneen Maikey concluded her tenure as Executive Director of alQaws at the end of 2020, a change we began preparing for three years ago, and which developed into a working path over the past year. We turn the page on a new year and a new Director. 

The path to building an organization like alQaws wasn’t lined with flowers, nor was its enduring success the result of good faith and intentions alone. It required exceptional and inspiring leadership, which Haneen generously provided to alQaws’ activists and communities. Marking this milestone for alQaws, it is important for us—as activists, team members, and the board of directors—to pause, reflect on, and recognize the great impact of this leadership as we continue to build on its legacy of struggle and change.

Since its earliest beginnings, alQaws has relied on the efforts and capacities of its activists. This is an integral part of our organizational identity: we depend on collective work to realize and achieve our goals. Over the years, we’ve built work teams, activist groups, and a diverse grassroots base. To sustain this labor, we need leadership that motivates, coordinates, and encourages; leadership that inspires hope and gives space to existing capacities and energies; leadership that tirelessly works to build up the group, strengthen its relationships, and create support networks; leadership that carries the group to its fullest potential. Only by investing in our groups and laying the foundation for a solid grassroots base have we come to reach this moment of organizational transformation and leadership transition in alQaws. Now, we embark on an exciting phase led by fresh voices and experiences. alQaws new leadership is the harvest of seeds planted by wise and insightful predecessors.

The political identity of alQaws has also become an essential part of our work. We are an unwaveringly political grassroots organization, standing in direct opposition to patriarchy, colonialism, and capitalism.

The organization, therefore, requires leadership that encourages the development of political consciousness through daily practice and labor. We work hard to ensure that we don’t undermine any of our political cornerstones, or compromise on the principles developed by alQaws during Haneen Maikey’s leadership. 

This political conviction was not a spontaneous development; it was the result of years of on-the-ground work, combined with knowledge accumulated from various movements and ideologies. Haneen’s valuable experiences and leadership fostered the intersection of practice and ideology, shaping the direction of alQaws and allowing its political principles to develop and crystalize.

Finally, the collective labor and intellectual production of our organization couldn’t be realized without brilliant, detail-oriented, and practical management. Real leadership integrates all aspects of work, down to the finest details. Over the years, Haneen’s committed and compelling leadership was able to manage the organization’s daily life and bring to fruition its accomplishments and influence. 

The daily life of alQaws is a world of its own. It requires a leader who lives in it through and through; who uses the most suitable and strategic tactics to confront daily violence, including the violence of friends and allies; and who pushes the team’s capacities while maintaining constant communication with the organization’s activists.

In addition to Haneen’s knowledge, expertise, and organizational skills, her personal characteristics were also present in alQaws and had an immense influence on its path and identity—whether through her endless hope, her high energy, or her ability to call things by their name and put them in their correct places. 

A moment like this can’t be fully expressed with our words of gratitude, nor can these pages capture its abundance. We can only say that we recognize Haneen Maikey’s significant impact, appreciate it, and will continue on the path she has tread towards struggle and change. We can’t hide the confidence and hope we feel for our new journey, responsibilities, and roles. We are full of enthusiasm and eager to work with the new Executive Director of alQaws, Haneen Sader.