Şehîd Denîz Çiya was a young woman from Afrîn who fought in the resistance of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh. For three days, she alone defended a building against hundreds of heavily armoured jihadists. After killing 53 of them, she was thrown from the building, and a video desecrating her body was circulated. In response, the society of Rojava shared images of her flying away from the building as an angel. In this statement, Sozdar Avesta, KCK Executive Council Member, evaluated the brave actions of Şehîd Denîz and its meaning for women all over the world.
She is an angel of freedom. She is a goddess. I honor her with respect and gratitude. It wasn’t just this comrade who was thrown down; it was the conscience of humanity. There is nothing more to say about this; no words can describe it. This is a message [from the jihadists] for all women who want freedom, and it should make women around the world afraid.
For freedom-seekers, it is a message of revenge and a warning to women not to raise their heads against the “Casteist Killer”* system. The “Casteist Killer” portrays the history in this way: “I am the casteist killer I came about in this way. In heaven there is God, on earth there is the state, and I am the ruler, and you are under my command”. The Casteist Killer wants to impose this philosophy everywhere. But this doesn’t demonstrate the system’s strength; it demonstrates its fear. What succeeded there [in Sheikh Maqsoud] was the spirit of the free woman, the dignity of the Kurdish people, and the dignity of the people of Kurdistan and all the people and women of the world. Everyone should know that this dignified comrade is the goddess of freedom for all women.
Saddam Hussein did not succeed in hanging Leyla Qasim. In 1974, we saw Saddam Hussein hang women to intimidate them. In the resistance of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh, another Leyla Qasim emerged. In Iran, they tried to protect themselves from collapse by executing Şîrîn Elemhûlî, but today millions of Şîrîn Elemhûlîs are on the streets. This has been proven thousands of times. Neither murdering women like Seve, Pakize, and Fatma nor vanguards of the freedom struggle like Sara, Rojbîn, Leyla, and Evîn will stop us. The more they insist on these practices, the more determined we will be in our struggle.
ISIS is responsible for this. ISIS is seeking revenge. This is why the people of Kurdistan, the women of North and East Syria, and all the women of Syria should be aware of the following: According to al-Jolani’s constitution, women will be nothing more than servants and slaves. In the March 10 contract, he didn’t give them any space. He took revenge on those women who are fighting back. They say to us: ” You are opening the eyes of women, giving them knowledge and willpower.” They are taking revenge. We saw the women of Arab society. We saw Minbic. We saw what they did to women working in democratic institutions. We saw Derazor.
This mentality is widespread and oppressive. But this does not show their strength; on the contrary, it shows how small and weak they are. In Kurdish, there is a saying, “Bê çare ne,” which means “they are helpless.” This is what they show. They want to strengthen our fear in this way. But they should know this very well. They will never be an obstacle to women’s freedom. This mentality has oppressed women for thousands of years. Women have formed organizations with thoughts and a philosophy; they have become a force of protection.
All women must take responsibility for the situation in Aleppo and strengthen their defense. They must strengthen their legitimate defense, organization, and unity. They must become politically active. They must learn how to defend themselves. No being can exist without defense. In Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh, they defended themselves and their people. They only had individual light weapons. To defend their people, they chose dignified resistance. This is why women need to learn self-defense. Not just in North and East Syria—women all over the world need self-defense. From Venezuela to Ukraine to Palestine. Who has been harmed in all these wars? Women. Millions of women have been massacred. This is why Rêber Apo developed these thoughts and philosophy. This is why they want to take revenge on us. The Kurdistan Women’s Freedom Movement plays the vanguard role in ideology, system, organization, strength, and so on. This is why they attack us so brutally; they want to oppress us. But they will never succeed. The outcome is resistance and rebellion. History has proven this.
*In the new “Manifesto of peace and democratic society”, Rêber Apo describes men who organized themselves to impose oppression on society as the “Casteist Killer”.
Thirteen years ago, on 9 January 2013, the world stopped in Paris. Sakine Cansiz (known as heval Sara) was assassinated. She and her comrades Fidan Doğan (Rojbin) and Leyla Şaylemez (Ronahi) fell as martyrs following an attack — because they were women, because they were revolutionaries, because they were bearers of values, because they were free, beautiful and fighting.
These were three political femicides, but despite overwhelming evidence, the defendants were not brought to trial.
On 23 December 2022, three years ago, in the same way, at the same time, again in the French capital, Emine Kara (known as heval Evîn, one of the leaders of the Kurdish women’s movement) and two other comrades, Mir Perwer and Abdurrahman Kizil, were martyred.
After 10 years, this was a clear signal from the enemies of the movement to break hope and silence the struggle for a free society, with the vanguardship of women.
Sakine represents the resistance of her people: faced with the denial of their existence, language, culture and life, she imagines the resurrection of society. And she begins to ask herself, ‘Where to start, how to achieve freedom?’
Heval Sara’s whole life has been a struggle, as she herself writes in her autobiography.
She was born in 1958 in Dersim in winter, into a Kurdish Alevi family. In Dersim, before her birth, the Turkish state killed, massacred and displaced thousands of Kurds who rebelled against assimilation, so much so that the rivers were stained red with blood.
As a young woman, she understood what it meant to be a woman in her social reality: she chose to break with the system and not to adapt to compromise. She chose to create life, to be revolutionary.
Her search for a just existence never stopped. First she joined Turkish socialist left-wing groups, then she met the Apoist movement. She began organising in the 1970s, under difficult conditions, in secret, against the ferocity of the Turkish state and against the prejudices of the time, which saw women as destined to be mothers and wives.
Present since the first congress of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party on 27 November 1978 in the village of Fis, in Amed, she was one of the first female comrades and paved the way for millions of others.
Her courage gave rise to the movement of free Kurdish women.
Her soul is wise. Her determination, her humanity and her questions have inspired and continue to inspire.
Sakine was arrested in May 1979, along with many other comrades. Despite being tortured, she did not once say a single word to the enemy. During her 11 years in prison, faced with atrocious physical and psychological attacks, severe torture, oppression and betrayal, she resisted with her head held high.
One day, the highest-ranking prison official asked her:
‘What is your name?’
‘Sakine.’
‘Are you Turkish or Kurdish?’
‘I am Kurdish.’
He slapped her and asked again: ‘Are you Turkish or Kurdish?’
Sakine replied: ‘I am above all a revolutionary. In the revolution, origin is not so important, but I am Kurdish. If I were Turkish, I would certainly admit it.’
This was the fighting spirit she propagated.
She organised all the women in the women’s sections around her, led hunger strikes, and spread hope and ideas to those around her.
She always tried to find solutions to problems. The slogan she carried with her, ‘Surrender leads to betrayal, resistance leads to victory,’ showed that the only possible way to confront fascism was through rebellion and organisation.
After years of imprisonment, she travelled to Damascus, Syria, to attend the academies of Reber Apo (Abdullah Ocalan). She was really surprised when she saw her picture in Reber Apo’s room: this was an expression of Reber Apo’s respect towards her struggle and determination.
She then spent several years in the mountains. Here she travelled from mountain to mountain, climbing peaks and crossing rivers. She became a strong and tireless guerrilla fighter, who never stopped thinking, questioning, committing herself and taking responsibility.
In her own words: “Strength is often misjudged. For example, strength means to start something new in life, to create something from nothing and make life more beautiful. Strength means to write poetry in the mountains. Strength means seeing and hearing the water. Even living with the beauty of nature is strength.”
For her, life, struggle, and love are inseparable from one another; in fact, she states, ‘I wanted to love in the struggle. I wanted to love as I fought.’
A life other than a revolutionary one was unthinkable for her. The struggle she fought was for the liberation of women. And as she herself states: ‘Liberation knows no borders but means a constant search, a continuous aspiration to beauty.’
Heval Sara sowed the first seeds, now it is up to us to continue sowing and reaping the fruits. What does Sara teach us? Which aspects of her personality can inspire us? How can we embody her beauty?
These questions, especially today, can accompany us and lead us to reflect.
During the attack in Paris, the goal was to kill courageous women who were fighting for freedom. But the spirit of these three women will never fade. Martyrs never die.
We can follow in their steps through our daily actions aimed at the building of a just and communal life.
“Society is not a single-layered class structure but a multi-layered, historical, gender-based battlefield. Humanity’s first and greatest problem is the counter-revolution that began with the enslavement of women and has targeted the sociality formed around women. The domestic violence, femicides and patriarchal oppression experienced today are all contemporary reflections of this historical attack. The caste-like structure that attacked women’s sociality and communalism later transformed into the assembly of gods in Mesopotamia, then into Sumerian priests, and from there into pharaohs and kings, making patriarchal oppression over society continuous.
Today, the woman is the most valuable raw material of capitalism. Her body is marketed, her personality is turned into an object of marketing. Even her spirit has been invaded—invaded by men. Woman lives with the dagger of bondage that patriarchal mentality has driven into her back. The male-dominated social hierarchy created by thousands of years of civilizational struggle produces hierarchy, violence and conflict. The state-based male civilization has taken away women’s language, production, bodies, and then the entire society. Without seeing this reality, no step toward freedom can be taken.
The problems imposed on women by the male-dominated system must be understood and resolved. Considering femicides, domestic violence, violence against women, discrimination and exploitation, the level of enslavement is far deeper than imagined. Woman has been completely degraded. Her reality has been distorted. The well-known anklets women wear as ornaments, the nose rings—these are all signs and traces of slavery passed down from history to today. In capitalist modernity, women’s bondage has been further deepened; the system has turned women into objects of decoration and marketing. To break free from this systematized enslavement and attain liberation, deep reflection and organization are needed.
No movement for social freedom that does not place women’s freedom at its center can be a real revolution. I find current male-female relations horrifying. We addressed relations by placing women’s freedom at the center. A large part of our work consists of women’s work. Resolving the relationships and contradictions between men and women is important. We have thoroughly analyzed male domination, which blocks women’s freedom and enslaves women in every way. We developed a sociology of freedom. It is clear that being a woman is difficult and liberation is not easy, but women must dare. They must take the lead in removing the dagger of male domination embedded in humanity’s back and in building an equal, free and democratic life.”
25th of November is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Meanwhile, it is the sixth anniversary of the martyrdom of Şehîd Elefteria Hambî. To commemorate this significant day, we present an interview with comrade Viyan Kiçî, who shared a close bond with Şehîd Elefteria in the free mountains of Kurdistan. Through Şehîd Elefteria, we honour all the revolutionary women who sacrificed their lives for freedom and a better world.
My name is Viyan Kiçî. When I met Heval Elefteria first, I was in Garê, Sêdarê (Southern-Kurdistan), in a mixed unit. Life as a guerrilla in the unit is well known: it mostly consists of practical tasks such as building caves, acting as a courier, taking shifts on hilltops, capturing new hilltops and organizing logistics. At that time, there were more than 20 comrades in our group. It was in Garê Sêdarê that I met Heval Elefteria, who came to us for her new tasks. What touched me most when the comrade came to us were her eyes. They were a deep shade of blue. She also had a beautiful smile. When she reached the mountains, she was full of curiosity, love, morals and joy. She not only caught my attention, but she also caught the attention of all her comrades around her, especially with her broad smile. When she arrived, they greeted her and immediately set about preparing tea and food. But it was as if Heval Elefteria had already lived with us for years; she prepared the water for the tea herself. She integrated herself into our lives very quickly, adapting with ease. At first, she observed her comrades closely and got to know them all better, but she quickly won a place in their hearts. With her sparkling eyes and smile, she brought them joy. We lived together in the unit. The number of male comrades and women comrades constantly changed, but there were always more of us women. We carried out practical work without any break, day and night. There was always a drone above our location and our possibilities were drastically reduced; guerrilla life had changed. We had to adapt to these changes. It was necessary to try our hardest, day and night.
Heval Elefteria came from Germany with experience when she reached her first place in the mountains. During our daily lives together, she would talk to us and share things, especially stories about her life in the forest. She had always lived in the forest, fighting against state violence that threatened the ecology of her homeland. She was a rebel and had always acted radically in this regard. This is why she left the city; her life had been in the forest ever since, and she was one with nature — she knew every plant. She saw everything that passed before her in a very special way: her interactions with the plants and her love for animals. When she saw an animal, she would look at it, but her approach was truly unique. Heval Elefteria had reached a point where she felt connected to nature. For these reasons, she experienced few difficulties in guerrilla life. Her beautiful connection with nature was a part of her, and there were many examples of this. One day, instead of watching out, Elefteria was collecting and eating various plants — she loved nature so much. If we accidentally cut a plant, she would become very angry because she could not bear it and always defended nature. Her feelings for nature were very intense.
After spending some time in the mountains, her stance as a guerrilla became more and more clear: her comradeship, her interactions, her love, her connection with the ideas of Rêber Apo (Abdullah Öcalan, the ideological leader of the Kurdistan freedom movement) and her identity as a woman. Day by day, she grew stronger. When she joined the unit, she did not encounter many difficulties, but of course, all comrades are confronted with challenges, whether they want it or not. Above all, when it comes to exchange, attitudes and life in general, if you want to learn, you have to put in a lot of effort. But each day that Heval Elefteria moved on, her eyes were shining brighter. Her conversations and her comradeship became more profound. The comrades gathered around her as she created a sense of communal life and developed her language until she could fully express herself. She read a lot of Rêber Apo’s writings and discussed it with the comrades. She shared the problems she experienced. She was able to share everything she felt. Because of this, she adapted very quickly and found her place in the hearts of her comrades. She shaped her personality, and I would say that she set an example for the unit by coming from Germany to resist in the mountains of Kurdistan. She had traveled thousands of kilometers to reach Rojava, participated in the revolution and witnessed it with her own eyes. It had a profound influence on her. As a woman, she always pursued her chosen goal. Kurdish, Arab and women from many different nations in Rojava fought together against ISIS and shaped the revolution. Heval Elefteria was deeply impressed by these women and moved by the revolution. She continued to resist until she reached the mountains.
When she came to the mountains, she could understand them. She felt at one with nature and had a very natural energy. When you think of Heval Elefteria, nature immediately comes to mind. In fact, it got to the point where we used to joke about her not choosing the name ‘Xweza’ (nature). Through the influence of the revolution and the mountains, she found her place in the world. She would often say, “I wish I had come much earlier.” Of course, she also experienced difficulties, but she shared everything. Of course, it is not easy to travel thousands of kilometers, cross the Middle East and reach places of constant war— a lake of blood, a place of constant killing and genocide. To come to a place known as such. Whether you like it or not, there are many negative perceptions of the region from the outside. But Kurdistan is also a place of culture and art, and people there have always played an important role in struggles and resistance. She had taken part in actions and uprisings before. When she arrived in the mountains, she did so with an open mind. She confronted her fears and pain head on; she never saw them as obstacles. Her thoughts, particularly with regard to ecological movements, were beautiful and profound. She wrote about these things several times and shared them with us. Over time, she wanted to take different steps to organize things, to spread the ideas of Rêber Apo and to grow the women’s freedom movement. She always had goals for the future. During our discussions and conversations, we shared our views with her. What I can particularly say about her personality is that she was always a loving comrade. Heval Elefteria was very clear-minded — she never wavered between the right and the left path, nor between acting and not acting. She was very confident of herself and determined. If she did not accept something, not even a thousand comrades could convince her. Even when negative outcomes occurred, her strong personality shone through.
She could carry heavy burdens. For example, when we were going through very difficult times and there were four or five drones constantly circling our area, Heval Elefteria went to support the comrades responsible for logistics. Due to the drones, they had to carry out most of their work at night. She volunteered to take on these tasks. I actually wanted her to stay in the caves — maybe it would be too difficult for her outside; maybe she would feel better inside. As a comrade who came from Europe, we needed to be especially careful to protect her. We wanted to look after her. At first, we brought her into the cave, but after a few days, she couldn’t take it anymore. She said, ‘Heval, I want to go and carry the logistics. I want to learn how to work underneath the drone. I can carry this weight. I know I can fight the enemy.” For her, working outside and moving under the drone all the way to the tunnel was an adventure. She insisted on joining this group. It didn’t matter what we did or didn’t do — she was determined. She had to learn to deal with her difficulties and the weight. She wasn’t used to it. Until then, she had never carried such heavy loads over such long distances. She told us that she also had to organize logistics in the forest sometimes. But in the PKK movement, where the enemy poses a very serious and constant danger and defense is necessary from all sides, everything is connected and requires effort. Heval Elefteria was not completely unfamiliar with it. Even though she had no experience in many areas, it was not a problem for her. That is why she wanted to develop herself through effort — her life began with effort. Effort makes you strong and allows you to grow; it is through effort that you learn. It was through her initiative that she joined the logistics work.
She truly took on a vanguard role. While the comrades were on the move from morning until night, she stayed awake the entire time. She took no breaks until the work was finished. She worked all day. Even when the conditions prevented the completion of the logistics — when all the comrades were tired, hadn’t eaten or were not feeling good — she continued the work. Heval Elefteria was a remarkable vanguard in this field, too. She always wanted to learn more. Sometimes, when you saw her looking at a stone, you could tell that she was seeing it in a completely different way and giving it a whole new meaning. For her, everything was alive. Heval Elefteria became a role model for all her comrades. During our meetings, her name was mentioned many times as an example. She fought too, naturally taking on the role of a vanguard. She advanced quickly, supporting the comrades and taking over their tasks if necessary. She was determined to foster a spirit of comradeship, and the other comrades recognized this. This created a deep connection between us.
Another notable aspect of her character was her deep connection to plants and herbs—she had a particular love for nettles. When you touch this plant, it stings and burns. Usually, it’s not something you can easily take, though sometimes comrades use it as medicine. Heval Elefteria collected these plants around our area every day. Whenever I went looking for her, she was gathering nettles like a nomad. Nomads are known for their connection to nature, their hard work, and their sweat. Her face always turned red quickly. Her life and love were universal. We always called Heval Elefteria “Keça Koçera”—which means “nomadic girl”—and she was happy about it. Plants, flowers, water, and fruit abound in Sêdarê, which is known for its fruits and cold waters. It is like a paradise. Heval Elefteria always said that she was lucky the comrades sent her to this region. “Maybe they knew that I love nature so much.” I would therefore call her the truest comrade of nature.
We can also mention her combative personality. We took over some new mountaintops. Before, our comrades placed themselves on these mountaintops, but then they were left empty for a while. As the war progressed, we decided to place ourselves on these mountaintops for preparation. Peaks such as Barût and Polat were to be taken. When we planned to place ourselves on Barût, we assembled a team. We decided to send Heval Elefteria as well so she could learn and gain experience. She already knew how to react to drones, how to move, especially alone, and how to change her position and meet comrades. She had moved with a courier from one place to another many times. She had reached the level where she could adapt to guerrilla life. We discussed with the comrades who to send, and everyone agreed that we should send her. We knew that if we didn’t, she wouldn’t accept it and would rebel. At all the meetings, she would have asked, “Why wasn’t I sent?” So, it was good for both the comrades and her. She put in a great deal of effort and spent a long time working. Heval Elefteria loved nature very much. The peak was very high, and the atmosphere there changed greatly for her. Shortly before she left, she was very serious, with her weapon freshly cleaned and her ammunition and other necessities prepared. The comrades prepared so thoroughly that they were ready for a war situation. The atmosphere was truly like a state of emergency. With her preparations, she was ready for an operation. She filled this role well, carrying her bag, weapon, and ammunition belt.
Given all the joy and love she gave us, it was impossible not to be touched by it. We knew that she would fly out of happiness when she reached the mountain peak. With the sounds of “tîlîlî” (shouts of joy), clapping, and slogans, the comrades set off. The peak was not far away—maybe half an hour to forty minutes. The comrades stayed on the peak. I often visited them. Sometimes they came down for education sessions, classes and meetings. After Heval Elefteria went to the peak, she changed even more. It became impossible to get her away from the mountaintop because she loved it so much. Once, when I went to visit the comrades, I looked for Heval Elefteria and found her surveying defensive positions. We had used these peaks before, so ammunition and supplies were still hidden everywhere. Wherever comrades had once been, you could still find things they had left behind.
Heval Elefteria wanted to get to know the area, so she wandered around to explore it. She had a good understanding of military strategy. She once said to Heval Viyan, “When attacks happen, this will be our defensive position.” This made me very happy. A person, especially a guerrilla, must choose a place for self-defense before going to fight somewhere. The essential area must be chosen based on its defensive capabilities. Heval Elefteria understood this, and I was pleased. Having a comrade realize things this way in such a short time is a reason for joy. Heval Elefteria was full of love for the peak. No matter what we did or didn’t do, she stayed there. In the end, I went to the peak myself to bring her down with difficulty so that she could support the comrades in the cave with their tasks. Afterwards, I’m not completely sure, but I think she wanted to return to the peak. Instead, however, we brought her into the caves, where she stayed for a while.
In general, after some time, the comrades are changing their tasks. For example, consider the mental effort required to build caves and tunnels. The comrades built all of the tunnels themselves, and they were all young. They worked with mines, hammer drills, shovels, and pickaxes. Some prepared the clay and some used wheelbarrows. Heval Elefteria contributed greatly to building the tunnels with the comrades and shaping communal life. She devoted all her energy and intelligence to it. She wanted to understand and saw that guerrilla life was very difficult, but it was her calling. She was moved by it and wanted to learn everything she could. She always asked questions, participated in discussions, shared her opinions, and offered suggestions. She was open-minded and flexible, not dogmatic. She was only sometimes stubborn, which may have been influenced by German culture. But we saw it as a positive trait.
Yet, if she was not convinced about something, it was difficult to change her mind. She was a fighter and a rebel. She could endure great effort. Her martyrdom was extremely hard on us. The organization had high hopes for Heval Elefteria and always kept up with her progress. All the comrades asked about her and sent greetings. Everyone who met her remembered her; she had found a place in their hearts. Through her efforts, she developed deep bonds with the comrades. That is why her martyrdom was so difficult for us—for the organization, her family, and all the comrades who knew her. However, for us, there is no difference between comrades who give their lives for this revolution and this philosophy, whether they are Kurdish or from other nations, or from the Middle East or Europe. We live a life centered on ideas that bring us together from all over the world. We proudly follow in the footsteps of Şehîd Elefteria, and we still talk about her today. No matter how much I try to share, I cannot say enough about Heval Elefteria’s great love. Her perception, understanding, and expression were very special. Through her efforts, attitude, belief in change, and practice, she proved herself in this revolution. That is what I can share about Şehîd Elefteria.
To all comrades who wish to follow in her footsteps, I would like to say that she is still alive for us. She was a person who left her homeland, crossed rivers and seas, and fought for other oppressed societies. She came to the mountains, a place where thousands of comrades resisted and were martyred. It takes a strong and self-sacrificing stance to struggle in these places. This comrade undertook such a long journey to fight oppression and achieve freedom. To me, this is the most meaningful stance in the world. We say that all martyrs are our light. Heval Elefteria is one of them. It is important for all comrades who knew her—in Germany or elsewhere—to learn about her attitude during the Rojava revolution and her struggle in the mountains. They must learn about her will, conviction, and belief in order to carry on her legacy. I see this as a very important point.
Heval Elefteria is an example for all of us—not only for Kurdish women, but also for German women and women around the world. She was a pioneer for us all. She was a truly beautiful woman. When you looked at her and saw her smile, you could see her inner and outer beauty. As beautiful as she was on the outside, her thoughts were equally beautiful on the inside. Her thoughts and soul were one. This is what I can share with you. Of course, we have some shared memories, but many years have passed. The more you talk about them, the more vivid they become. I can now share these memories with you.
West Berlin, May 14, 1970, 9:45 a.m. Ulrike Meinhof is sitting in the reading room of the German Central Institute for German Issues. The political prisoner Andreas Baader enters, handcuffed and accompanied by two guards. For 75 minutes, he will speak about a book project with journalist Ulrike Meinhof. They read magazines and take notes. At around 11 am, three armed comrades storm the institute shouting «Hands up or we`ll shoot». Shots are fired from both sides. Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof and everybody else who took part in the action jump out of a window at 1,5 m height and run to an Alfa Romeo waiting at the corner. The Red Army Fraction is born. Decades later, we will find out that Ulrike Meinhof jumped spontaneously. She was supposed to stay behind and report on the action later, without having to go underground herself.
What drives a successful journalist and mother to abandon her entire life in an instant?
Or maybe: what could have kept her from jumping? There was no other option. Where would she even have returned to? She had filled pages with relentless critiques on imperialist war-mongering, the half-hearted confrontation with Germany’s genocidal past and the twofold exploitation of the woman as a worker and a mother. And yet she remained part of it; still an isolated mother, still an exploited worker, still part of the murderous system.
There was no other way, what she had endured until now became unbearable. She saw cops shooting, she saw her friends jumping.
In this moment, with this jump, she gave a promise to herself; a promise she could not have broken easily without betraying her values. And even though she certainly could not have known what expected her, she dared to jump into the unkown. She woke herself up to stay alive. This one jump forward was not just about leaving something behind. May 14, 1970 was not only the day Andreas Baader was freed, not only the birth of RAF. This jump was cutting with the system to open everyone’s eyes.
Let‘s jump back. West Germany, October 7, 1934. Ulrike Meinhof is born in Oldenburg. She was a child during the first world war. Through her texts we see how deeply she disapproved the war Germany had waged and the fact that life just continued while Nazis were still doing the same jobs, only in different clothes.
She grew up during the Second World War and lived her youth in the post-war period. The whole German nation was crushed about having lost:Both about having lost the war and about having lost so much of its humanity that a fascist extermination system could emerge. She was way too small during the war, she herself has certainly not caused any injustice directly related to the extermination of millions of people. But fascist ideology permeates society — if you do not defend yourself against it, you will be shaped by it. Her own father was a NSDAP1 member and even if they did not spend a lot of time together, that must have been frightening. The indifference of this time was overwhelming and the unwillingness to end German fascism or at least to confront it was paralyzing. But she did not see herself as separate from history. German fascism did not come overnight. Still, the majorty of the society just accepted it. The German society had seen the posters that read «Jew, die» and still continued to vote for Hitler.
In the post-war period, Ulrike started doing political works to dismantle the war machine. She was connected to the peoples. She went to Jordan2 for a boot camp, wrote for the people of Iran, spoke up for the people of Vietnam. For her, her generation had a direct responsibility. She insisted that her generation is innocent of genocide, of course, but cannot remain content with that.
She carried a heaviness within her. Our past is weighing heavily on our shoulders and fascism is threatening to take away the air we breathe. Ulrike Meinhof writes at a time Kiesinger3 was the German chancellor. He pushed law changes, so NS-criminals who were his long time party comrades, would not be judged in court. This heaviness and suffering drove her to act, based on a feeling of injustice and on a simple rational thought: what do we need right now?
Ulrike Meinhof had two small daughters. Being a mother meant a lot to her. She strongly rejected authoritarian education and took her daughters out of state school. She talked about what it meant to be a single mother. Her articles on the situation of working women and mothers are scientifically sound and well researched. She understood the situation of women and fought for them in many ways, writing a lot and giving lectures. When women were unaware of their situation, it made her really angry.
She did not act without considering her own reality or becoming blind to her own situation. When she sent her children to Sicily so that they would not have to live with their father, it was a difficult decision for her. She struggled with herself, but considered the need to take radical steps to be greater than her family’s happiness. It was certainly difficult for her children, and therefore for her too, because she loved them. Being a single mother and working in politics is difficult, incredibly difficult, she says.
“So the problem for all women working in politics, myself included, is that on the one hand they do socially necessary work, their heads are full of the right ideas, they may even be able to talk, write, and agitate effectively, but on the other hand they sit there with their children just as helplessly as all other women.”
She was the leader of a campaign that fought against the situation of children in orphanages in the 1960s. She was particularly moved by the situation of young women. In her writings, we see the situation of women through her eyes. These orphanages were not homes for these young women, but prisons. Raising children and working, working politically, is incredibly difficult. She looks at her own children and all the children in the world and turns her anger into revenge. She has never seen her own life as a mother separate from the global situation of all mothers and women .
“If you like, this is the central oppression of women, that their private lives are contrasted with some kind of political life. On the other hand, one could say that if political work has nothing to do with private life, it is not right, because it is not sustainable in the long term.”
She saw it as her responsibility to act. As Ulrike Meinhof said, one day they will ask about Mr. Strauss4 just as we now ask our parents about Hitler. We are continuing on her path. When future generations ask about Trump, Merz, Erdoğan, Netanyahu, what will we have to say in response?
When future generations ask us what we did to continue the work of these revolutionaries – what do we do to avenge the death of Ulrike Meinhof, who was tortured and murdered by the German state precisely because she remained resistant, and especially because she was a woman?
What will we say then? Will we jump?
“Protest is when I say that I don’t like this or that. Resistance is when I make sure that what I don’t like no longer happens. Protest is when I say I’m not going along with it anymore. Resistance is when I make sure that everyone else stops going along with it too.”
Hitler’s far-right political party in Germany, active between 1920 and 1945. ↩︎
In 1970, the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) organized itself in Jordan. The PLO fought in the Jordanian Civil War with allied revolutionary groups against the Jordanian regime. At that time, the Middle East was generally an internationalist center. Many revolutionaries from all over the world learned from the movements overthere. ↩︎
Kurt Georg Kiesinger was a German politician. He was an active member of the Nazi Party from 1933 and became deputy director of the Reich’s external radio propaganda, being in this capacity one of the main censors of the regime. ↩︎
A German conservative politician who was a Wehrmacht soldier during the Second World War and who participated in several massacres against jews. ↩︎
we start this perspective by commemorating the great effort that many women throughout our history gave in order for us to live and continue the struggle for women’s liberation, freedom and social justice. The women who became martyr in the struggle for women’s liberation dedicated their life to the socialist cause, to the building of a free and equal society for us all. We dedicate this perspective on socialism to them.
First of all, this month marks the beginning of the international conspiracy against Rêber Apo. The 9th of October of twenty-seven years ago Rêber Apo, under enormous political pressure, was forced to leave Syria heading to Europe in order to avoid a military conflict in the region and protect the Kurdish Freedom Movement. In this way began his long journey across Greece, Italy and Russia searching for a political alliance within the international community. At the end on the 15th of February 1999 was captured by the secret services of Israel and Britain in Kenya and was brought in isolation into the prison island of Imrali, in Turkey. This attack, in which all the imperialist powers took part, especially aimed the defeat of the resistance of the people of Middle East against imperialism and the destruction of the struggle for a new world system based on the paradigm of women’s liberation, social ecology and democracy. Since that moment until now Israel, United States, Turkey, Britain and all the other members of the NATO, continued their brutal attempts to stop the resistance of the Kurdish people and of all the other peoples that live in the region. Especially now with the genocide in Palestine, the attacks against Lebanon, the war in Iran and the violent conflict and crisis in Syria and in Kurdistan, we bring again the attention on Rêber Apo and on the necessity of his physical liberation in order to stop the war and bring a political solution in Middle East.
We address this perspective to you.
It might be that while you read this perspective you are in the car listening to music, and every song is talking about women as a trophy or property, as an object to own together with money and weapons, or maybe they refer to us just as sexual desires meant to fill up the deep void that the system creates in human beings. Or maybe you are walking on the street going to meet some friends or going to school and in every corner there is an advertisement with a woman, most of the times half naked, pictured together with some material for cleaning the house, food, cars or any kind of goods that can be sold in the market. Or let’s say that you are going back home after a nice night together with your friends and in every step you take you hope to not find any man on the way, so that you won’t have to change the side of the street and walk faster, or take the house keys in your hand ready to use them to defend yourself and hold the breath until he is gone. Or maybe while you read this perspective you are not in any of these situations, but you know that you will go through them tomorrow, because this is the reality in which we as women are forced to live in everyday by the sexist capitalist system. So, we address this perspective to you, whether you are in school or at the university, whether you are starting new to study economics, social sciences or perhaps physics. Or, on the other hand, you might have had no other choice than to work. Maybe as a waitress in a restaurant, or as a care worker, or in the logistic sector of some company that most of the times is not intended to give you any job security but leaves you in precarious and uncertain conditions. Not to mention the salary, that if you are lucky it is enough to get you at the end of the month and, anyway, cannot repay the value of your time and work. Whether you live in a family that expects you to have a man by your side and wants to convince you that you just have to wait for the right one, or to make an effort to love a man or to change who you are for a man. Whatever your situation is, we address this perspective to all of you; to all the young women that are resisting and fighting, in many different ways, for the liberation of us all.
At this point in your life, you may ask yourself, “Who will I become?” or perhaps more importantly, “What will I do?”. We want to try to give an answer to these questions in the next few lines.
About democratic socialism.
We as young women find ourselves in a dramatic situation. In front of the systemic attacks that we receive everyday, for us the solution can be nothing less than the construction of a new world system that radically rejects sexist rules and focuses on the freedom of the whole society based on woman’s freedom. We call this system a socialist system. When we refer to socialism here we don’t refer to a system of domination or to some utopian reality; this has nothing to do with the reality of democratic socialism developed by Rêber Apo. Democratic socialism is not a construct imposed on society, nor is it a concept alienated from the social nature of human beings. It is a concrete way of life based on freedom, communality, and diversity. It stands in contrast to capitalism, which is based on exploitation and violence, and also to liberalism, which focuses on individual and false freedom. In the socialist understanding, both the individual and the collective play a role in the society and are in organic balance with each other. Democratic socialism is of central importance, especially for us as young women, because it is interwoven within our history and is part of our identities.
How did we get to today?
In the mid-19th century, the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels led to the development of a new form of socialism called scientific socialism. They understood the reality of society in the present and in history in terms of the struggle between classes with opposing interests, namely the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. The basis of these analyses and the goals of social construction is the material situation of society, in particular the relations of production. These insights were groundbreaking and led to historically significant steps. But the solution based on Marx’s ideas only scratched the surface but was never able to really solve the fundamental social contradiction. In fact, the oppression of women was neither destroyed nor resolved in real socialism. Yes, the situation of women improved, abortion rights were introduced, but even the Russian revolutionaries themselves were aware of the problem: relations between men and women were so sexist that they even undermined class consciousness. At that time, class consciousness was seen as the basis for the common struggle; history has shown to us that this does not touch the root of the problem. As Alexandra Kollontai analyzed herself:
“The interests of the working class demand that new, comradely, and equal relationships be established between members of the working class, male and female workers. [For example] Prostitution prevents this. A man who has bought a woman’s affection can never see her as a ‘comrade’. It follows that prostitution destroys the development and growth of solidarity among members of the working class, and therefore the new communist morality can only condemn prostitution.”1
Alexandra Kollontai, like also Clara Zetkin and Rosa Luxemburg, took important steps. They came closer to the truth of socialism. Beyond the contradiction of classes, they understood the relationship between genders as the main problem. In doing so, they always encountered resistance from the dominant male mentality. Before the October Revolution in Russia, women were seen as appendages to men, not as revolutionary personalities, even though they were the driving force of the society. For example, the strike waged by women demanding for bread on International Women’s Day in 1917 in Saint Petersburg was ultimately the starting point of the October Revolution, and it was women who became the driving force of the Russian Revolution.
The Feminist Movements of the 1960s and 1970s also made significant steps on the topic. Already at that time they were able to spread in the society that “the personal is political”. Everything we experience, every injustice, every oppression and violence is not just something individual, or occasional, but the same injustice is experienced by thousands of young women every day.
How do we build democratic socialism?
Rêber Apo writes in his letter for the 8th of March 2025:
“Unless the rape culture is overcome, social reality cannot be revealed in the fields of philosophy, science, aesthetics, ethics and religion. As Marxism proves, the achievement of socialism will not be possible unless the new era destroys the male-dominated culture deeply embedded in society. Socialism can be achieved through women’s liberation. One cannot be a socialist without women’s freedom. There can be no socialism. One cannot go for socialism without democracy.”2
The understandings that Rêber Apo reached now days prove that what many revolutionary women tried to explain in the past centuries was right. The social problem that Alexandra Kollontai brought to light a century ago about prostitution have reached today all levels and fields of society in the most brutal form. It is especially in the era of digital media and financial capitalism that the young women are hyper-aesthetized and hyper-sexualized the most. We are constantly led to conform to or respond to aesthetic and social canons that are based on sexism and rape culture. For this reason the first step to build democratic socialism is to build in ourselves a strong socialist personality that is able to create around itself an organized society through the building of communes, cooperatives, councils and any other form of autonomous organization that firmly reject sexism. Insisting on the moral values of humanity is at the same time creating a democratic and socialist culture and as young women, we carry these values particularly strongly within us. These principles though, do not only apply to us women, in fact, they are also of fundamental importance for men. As Rêber Apo says “A man can only call himself a socialist if he is able to live properly with women.”3
Commune is society, and sociability is socialism.
We have mentioned the commune as a form of organization of the society, but it is not just this; it plays a central role in the building of democratic socialism. In the early 1800s archaeological researches made new discoveries about the origin of democratic societies and systems. At that time Marx and Engels were not yet able to take these discoveries into account in their theories about socialism and communism. They themselves recognized this.4 It was only later that the insights gained from the Paris Commune of 1871 and archaeological research shedding light on communal life at the time of natural society made it clear to humanity that the commune is a central guideline for understanding democratic history. Towards the end of his life, Marx also understood this. The commune is the most natural and fundamental form of organization of the democratic socialist society. It can exist as a youth commune, or even a children commune, a women neighborhood commune or a student commune. Inside of the commune, each part of the society can become political and so develop the ability to organize autonomously, take decision and develop a system of life based on the necessities of each group or community. Also, it can develop the capacity to defend itself from physical, psychological, economical and any kind of attacks that are waged by the state and the system.
“The revolutionary must move among the masses like a fish in water.” – Mao Ze-Dong
Now it comes to us, what can we do?
Also for us young women the commune is the first structure in which we can organize ourselves. That is, in which we can become ourselves, discover our identity, build sisterhood, support each other, create the fundament for a democratic socialist system and most importantly, defend ourselves. If we want to become socialists and build up the way out of the actual world crisis, we have to think ourselves as a unity, as a commune; that means, we have to see ourselves as one. When a woman does not believe in herself, or does not see herself has valuable, it is also our responsibility to build this trust together with her. When a woman struggles with the question of whether she has enough strength or courage to be a revolutionary, we have to see ourselves in that question and together overcome any fear or obstacle. When a woman is harassed by a man on the street, or faces domestic violence in the family or in her workplace, we must feel this violence as it was against our own self. Now we know that when they attack one of us, they attack the identity of the woman as a whole and so they attack all of us. And so, the next time that we will hear a sexist song on the radio or we will see an advertisement on the street that portrays us as an object to sell on the market, we can find in ourselves and in our sisters the strength to reject this culture, reject this system; change the radio station, destroy that advertisement and organize together with other young women our own system, our own self defense. The world is changing, the youth is rising up everywhere and we are not alone anymore, there is a whole organization of women that has our backs and is ready to fight side by side with us for the building of a free society based on democratic socialism.
The next time that we will ask “Who will I become?” we have all the tools that are necessary to give the right answer to ourselves. As Fred Hampton, revolutionary leader of the Black Panther Party, once said: “if you are scared of socialism then you are scared of yourself”.
1Alexandra Kollontai, Letter to the Working Youth, 1922.
The new song “On the lands of Afrin” of the Internationalist Commune of Rojava and the Young Internationalist women is dedicated to the two woman revolutionaries Şehîd Hêlîn Qereçox and to Şehîd Ronahî Yekta. Both of them martyred in the struggle for freedom in North-East Syria.
The first of these operations was to make women the original house slave. This process involved terrible intimidation, oppression, rape, insults, and massacres. The role assigned to women was to reproduce the “offspring” required by the property-based system. Dynastic rule was very much bound to offspring. In this system, women were rendered absolute property. They were the property of and an honor for their owner to such a degree that they were not even allowed to show their faces to others.
Second, women were turned into sex objects. In all of nature, sexuality is related to reproduction. Its purpose is the continuation of life. Especially with the captivity of women, and most predominantly during the process of civilization, the main role given to men was sex and the distorted development and explosion of sexual desire. While the mating season for animals is quite limited (often once a year), men strive to extend it to a twenty-four-hour-a-day preoccupation in humans. Nowadays, women have been turned into an instrument of sex and sexual desire and a locus where the exercise of power is constantly tested on. The separation between homes, whether private or public (the brothel), has become pointless, because every place is considered a home and brothel, and each woman a private and public woman.
Third, women have been reduced to unpaid and unreciprocated laborers. They are made to do all the heavy work. Their reward is being obliged to become a little more “inadequate.” They have been humiliated so much that they have actually accepted their extreme “inadequacy” in comparison to men. They therefore wholeheartedly embrace the male hand and male domination.
Fourth, women have been turned into the most refined of commodities. Marx calls money “the queen of commodities.” In fact, under capitalism, it is women who play this role. In the capitalist system the real queen of commodities is the woman. There is not a single relationship in which women are not on offer nor an area where they are not used. One difference is that although every commodity has an accepted remuneration, the remuneration women receive consists of nothing more than complete disrespect, including that brazen lack of shame called “love” and the nonsense that a “mother’s work can never be repaid.”
Em primeiro lugar, enviamos nossos cumprimentos às jovens lutadoras de todo o mundo. Começamos a escrever esta perspectiva em memória de todas as mulheres que foram martirizadas nos ataques vis das potências imperialistas no Curdistão, na Palestina e em muitos outros países. De seu sacrifício, tomamos força e determinação para continuar hoje a luta por um mundo justo, humano e livre. Nossa perspectiva mensal tratará da autonomia das mulheres. Por autonomia, entendemos a criação de espaços e estruturas exclusivas para as mulheres em todas as esferas da vida. Por que a organização autônoma é tão importante para as mulheres? Por que devemos sempre insistir em nossa autonomia e como isso nos levará à liberdade? Essas são as perguntas que responderemos nesta perspectiva com exemplos da história e da vida. Aqui, em Rojava, os debates sobre a autonomia das mulheres estão aumentando depois que as mulheres alevis e druzis da Síria solicitaram as perspectivas do Movimento das Mulheres de Rojava. No último mês, as milícias do governo jihadista de transição HTS cometeram graves massacres contra minorias religiosas em Latakia, Suweida e outras regiões da Síria. Esses massacres não devem ser vistos separadamente da violenta ofensiva que Israel e a Turquia, liderados pelos Estados Unidos e pela Grã-Bretanha, estão cometendo contra os povos do Oriente Médio. Assim como o terrível massacre cometido contra o povo e as mulheres da Palestina, eles querem fazer o mesmo contra o povo da Síria e contra todos aqueles que não se encaixam em seu plano imperialista. Sobre a situação atual, as mulheres de Rojava são muito claras: “Se não tivéssemos nossas estruturas autônomas de autodefesa, eles também teriam vindo atrás de nós. Por isso, encorajamos todas as mulheres sírias a se organizarem”. As imagens que chegaram recentemente de Suweida mostram como as mulheres começaram a se mobilizar e agir, e agora têm uma oportunidade concreta de construir uma estrutura de autodefesa autônoma. Elas perceberam que devem ser a força motriz para defender suas sociedades e acabar com a mentalidade jihadista masculina dominante. Mais uma vez, fica claro que somente a liberdade das mulheres pode garantir a liberdade de uma sociedade. Para alcançar isso, a organização autônoma é o primeiro passo fundamental a ser dado.
O mês de agosto significa comemoração das mulheres de Shengal
O mês de agosto começou com o aniversário do massacre de Shengal, que ocorreu em 3 de agosto de 2014. O Estado Islâmico massacrou a comunidade yazidi, matando mais de 10.000 pessoas. As mulheres foram especialmente afetadas pela crueldade do ISIS. Mais de 7.000 mulheres foram sequestradas e vendidas em mercados como escravas sexuais. Mais de 2.700 mulheres continuam desaparecidas. Depois que os guerrilheiros do PKK e as unidades de autodefesa YPJ e YPG chegaram a Shengal e lutaram contra o ISIS, foram lançadas as bases para a auto-organização da sociedade yazidi. A sociedade foi especialmente influenciada pela coragem e força das mulheres combatentes que lideraram a luta. Para poder se defender especificamente da violência sexista no futuro, os yazidis de Shengal criaram conselhos autônomos de mulheres e as unidades femininas de Shengal (YJŞ). Hoje, as estruturas femininas não apenas garantem a segurança física das mulheres yazidis, mas também são um local de educação comum e de busca de soluções para os problemas da sociedade. O Estado Islâmico tentou cometer um feminicídio total. Com a conversão forçada, as violações e os assassinatos, a existência das mulheres yazidis como um todo estava em perigo. Portanto, a auto-organização das mulheres de Shengal é hoje a maior defesa de sua existência.
As corajosas mulheres do Vietnã, como se chamam? Agosto também marca o início da Revolução de Agosto no Vietnã. Em 19 de agosto de 1945, o Viet Minh tomou a capital vietnamita, Hanói. Este foi o início de uma luta implacável pela liberdade e independência. Tanto na Revolução de Agosto quanto mais tarde na guerra de libertação do Vietnã do Sul, as mulheres desempenharam um papel fundamental. Mais de 1,7 milhão de mulheres lutaram no Viet Cong. Outras inúmeras mulheres realizavam tarefas organizacionais, trabalhavam como médicas e enfermeiras e realizavam tarefas de espionagem para a revolução. As corajosas mulheres vietnamitas seguiram o exemplo das irmãs Trung, que lideraram as revoltas contra a invasão chinesa nos anos 40-43 a.C. Além disso, as mulheres vietnamitas sentiam um forte apego pelo seu país e queriam libertá-lo a qualquer custo. Mas quem eram as combatentes e pioneiras vietnamitas? Por que hoje em dia mal conhecemos seus nomes? A primeira mulher comandante, Nguyễn Thị Định, foi membro fundadora da FLN (Frente de Libertação Nacional) e mais tarde liderou milhares de jovens mulheres na luta pela libertação do seu país sob o nome de Exército de Cabelos Longos. Sem dúvida, poderiam ser escritas inúmeras lendas e romances sobre essas heroínas vietnamitas, mas suas histórias passaram em grande parte despercebidas e não foram registradas. Isso se baseia na realidade de que, embora as mulheres tenham participado em todos os lugares com grande paixão e força, elas não se organizaram com suficiente força ideológica e autonomia. Elas lutaram com determinação, formaram suas unidades, mas todas com o objetivo da libertação nacional. Embora tenha havido alguns protestos e demandas por liberdade para elas como mulheres, não conseguiram nenhum resultado visível. Além de algumas reformas legais, a guerra do Vietnã poderia ser uma resposta à luta das mulheres?
“Você existe na medida em que está organizada”. Rêber APO diz: “Você existe na medida em que está organizada”. Isso é especialmente verdadeiro para nós, mulheres. Sem organização, nossa própria existência está em perigo. O exemplo de Shengal deixa isso muito claro. E no exemplo do Vietnã, também vemos que se organizar não significa apenas participar da luta política geral, mas deve ser uma luta das mulheres, com a libertação da mulher como eixo central. Caso contrário, a questão da libertação da mulher ficará relegada a segundo plano repetidas vezes. O que podemos aprender com as histórias das mulheres que nos precederam? Embora agora compreendamos a importância da libertação das mulheres, muitas vezes caímos nas armadilhas do patriarcado. Os ataques do patriarcado variam de um lugar para outro. Especialmente nos centros da modernidade capitalista, como a Europa, os ataques à nossa existência são muito mais abstratos e difíceis de entender. Por isso, na próxima parte da perspectiva, queremos expor algumas das mentalidades que carregamos inconscientemente dentro de nós.
A liberdade das mulheres vem depois da revolução (ou a reunião das mulheres vem depois da geral) Em muitas lutas de libertação nacional, a questão das mulheres foi descartada como uma suposta contradição secundária. Quando as mulheres nos processos revolucionários exigiam sua liberdade e autonomia, muitas vezes não eram levadas a sério. Talvez algumas reformas tenham sido discutidas, mas não houve uma convergência fundamental sobre o tema. As mulheres lutaram heroicamente nas guerras de libertação, mas depois voltaram para a cozinha. E muitas vezes eram discriminadas em suas próprias estruturas, às vezes até abusadas e violadas. Concordo que, em teoria, hoje entendemos que o conceito de “liberação da mulher após a revolução” não funciona. Mas esse padrão de pensamento muitas vezes nos persegue em nossa vida política cotidiana. Por exemplo, abandonamos rapidamente nossos projetos autônomos e nosso trabalho organizacional para dar prioridade a questões políticas gerais. Pensamos que, uma vez que o trabalho político geral na cidade ou na vila esteja indo bem, teremos a capacidade de pensar nas estruturas das mulheres. Masentão frequentemente nos deparamos com agressões e comportamentos sexistas. Vemos mulheres cujas opiniões não são levadas a sério, que não ousam expressar sua opinião em reuniões e debates. Mulheres que trabalham o tempo todo, mas cujo esforço mal é respeitado. Se analisarmos cuidadosamente, o sexismo é a raiz de todas as mentalidades de poder. Por isso, combatê-lo é a base de todas as outras lutas políticas. Em nossa vida política cotidiana, devemos considerar nossas estruturas femininas como a base de nossa organização e sempre dar prioridade ao trabalho das mulheres. Seguindo o princípio de que “libertar uma mulher das garras do patriarcado é uma revolução em si mesma”, devemos dar grande importância a cada um de nossos passos e nunca permitir que os homens nos digam que há coisas mais importantes do que o trabalho autônomo.
A autonomia começa na maneira como abordamos a vida Uma vez, uma jovem visitou uma guerrilheira curda com muita experiência. Naquela época, devido às circunstâncias, ela vivia sozinha como uma mulher com um grupo de guerrilheiros em uma academia. A jovem observou a guerrilheira e viu que às vezes estava sentada com seus companheiros e contava histórias, e outras vezes ela ficava sozinha. Às vezes, ela discutia e ria com os homens, mas, dadas as atitudes incorretas de companheiros do sexo masculino, ela lhes deu respostas francas e marcou seus limites. Ela estava sozinha como mulher, mas nunca se tornou dependente da atenção dos homens. A jovem perguntou a ela: “Como você pode viver sozinho com esses homens?” A guerrilheira riu e disse: “Não estou sozinha, tenho um exército inteiro de mulheres atrás de mim”. O que podemos aprender com essa história é que a autonomia começa em nossos pensamentos e sentimentos e pode se desenvolver e se fortalecer com a organização. Uma organização forte das mulheres nos dá o valor de nos afirmar e adotar uma posição firme diante dos comportamentos errados dos homens, mesmo quando não estamos fisicamente com outras companheiras. A autonomia das mulheres não é apenas algo físico. Trata -se de se sentir como mulheres e sempre sentir a força de outras mulheres em tudo o que fazemos. Podemos superar rapidamente qualquer incerteza, reagir com confiança diante de comportamentos sexistas na vida cotidiana e dar respostas fortes. Nem sempre precisamos esperar a próxima reunião autônoma ou o próximo treinamento autônomo para expressar e defender nossa identidade como mulheres. Embora as possibilidades nem sempre permitam, devemos sempre nos ver como uma frente unida e sempre ficar juntos e confiar um no outro.
Mais importante do que nunca, auto -organização Queridas jovens revolucionárias,
Sejamos socialistas, marxistas, anarquistas, ambientalistas, democratas, combatentes de classe ou defensores da cultura, somos mulheres! O que nos diminui em nosso trabalho político são ataques patriarcais internos. Portanto, uma estrutura autônoma das mulheres nunca é um emprego extra ou carga dupla, mas a solução para combater o patriarcado. Obviamente, a organização das mulheres não pode usar sozinha. É por isso que você sempre precisa oferecer uma perspectiva sólida no exterior. A autonomia nunca pode ser uma maneira de escapar do confronto com os homens. Essa abordagem nos levaria longe da realidade. Espaços autônomos são espaços de luta. Eles são os lugares onde nós, como mulheres, nos conhecemos e expandimos nossos pontos fortes. Neles, vemos as mulheres como pioneiras. São lugares onde podemos encontrar soluções para todos os diferentes problemas sociais e políticos. Aqui, em Rojava, as mulheres estão construindo sua autonomia em todas as áreas. Das comunidades de mulheres, conselhos de mulheres jovens, movimentos culturais de mulheres, comitês econômicos da mulher, cooperativas femininas, unidades de defesa de auto -defesa das mulheres e associações esportivas para mulheres. Portanto, as mulheres em todas as áreas da vida, em todos os órgãos políticos, têm seu próprio poder e contribuem com sua própria cor. Aqui eles se conhecem, constroem vínculos sólidos entre eles edão um ao outro o que precisam para desenvolver personalidades fortes: respeito mútuo, amor e uma forte luta comum.
