Author: Young Internationalist Women

Dear friends,

A few weeks ago I arrived here in the autonomous administration of North-East Syria. What I already saw in this short time impressed me a lot. That’s why I wrote this letter for you, to share what I was able to learn.

Before I made the decision to come here, I had been thinking about the revolution here for some time. But what I learned most in the first weeks here was that no matter how much you read about how an democratic social system could look like, what revolution and what life outside the state system means, you only understand the extent of it when you experience it in all the small details. Or at least my imagination was not enough for that. The reality here is too different from that of my life in Europe. But since not everyone has been here, I want to share these impressions with you in this letter. And I also want to share these little details that are slowly making the extent of the revolution clearer to me.

When I came here, I had already read in the news that a vigil was taking place at the Tishreen Dam. But to be honest, I didn’t understand why people were doing it. From the beginning, the people there have been terrorized with drones and war planes from the Turkish state. Twenty-four people have already been murdered and 221 have been injured. The resistance is very present everywhere, which is why I have been able to talk to many people about it. Tishreen is a topic in almost every family we visit. Whether old or young, politically active or not, significantly more people than before are concerned with the political situation at this time and speak about it. Through these encounters I can now better understand what this is actually about.

If the resistance in Tishreen breaks and Turkey (with its proxy group SNA) expands its influence, significantly more people’s lives will be in great danger than those currently at the dam. That is why hundreds of people from all parts in the region are setting out to join the resistance. They organized that the different cities and regions travel there one after the other to keep continuous watch. Many old women and men went, which really impressed me, but of course the youth is present too. During the day, the people mainly dance with each other. The people are protected by the SDF, who are fighting against the SNA and Turkey a few kilometers west of the dam.

I think a crucial difference between the society here and in Central Europe is that the people here have an idea of what is worth fighting for and how it is possible to reach it. This has been built up here over the last 50 years with painstakingly detailed work. That is the reason why it was possible to successfully start the revolution twelve and a half years ago and to maintain until today. The special thing about this revolution is that it is carried out primarily on a mental level. People discuss, talk, educate each other and thus build an understanding of what democratic and free values are and how they can be lived by. Even if the path to freedom means that brothers, sisters, children, parents and friends have to give their lives, which of course nobody wants, society sees the necessity and its responsibility to take this path.

When I arrived, my friends told me about a demonstration. The people organized it to express solidarity with the vigil at the Tishreen Dam and to protest against the attacks on the civilian population. They said that entire schools had closed at the time of the demonstration in order to join it. I found that very impressive. Of course, it was about the future of all of them, which is why one can say: “Yes, of course they’re all going,” but the same was true for the Fridays for Future demonstrations in Europe, for example. This shows how society here has managed to get closer together, despite the fact that (especially here) so many different ethnicities, religions, political orientations, family affiliations… still live together. And of course this process is far from complete, but big steps have already been taken.

Some cars also drove to Tishreen from our town. When they returned, the street in front of the entrance to the town was completely full of people who were waiting excited for those returning to give them a proper welcome. It became clear how broad the support for the action is in the society. And so even more people became also part of the resistance of Tishreen.

A few days later was the commemoration of the friends from our town who were murdered at the dam. This was another very touching event. Dozens of cars came to the hospital. The entrance was crowded of people who wanted to say goodbye to the friends. And the square in front of the hospital was also completely full. The coffins were accompanied to the car with shouts. Most of the time we shouted: “Şehîd namirin!”, which means that the martyrs are immortal.

When I talk to people in Europe about how the Kurdish Freedom Movement deals with the Şehîds (martyrs), many do not understand. For some it sounds as if they are celebrating the fact that people have fallen. But this impression does not fit together with the reality. If you live in a reality in which your own culture is existentially attacked and you defend yourself against it and oppose genocide or assimilation, it is almost inevitable that not everyone will survive. A life of assimilation in which you give up your identity, your culture, your historical heritage is not a dignified and free life. You have to find a way to deal with this reality, even if losing a person is of course one of the worst experiences. That is also the reason for the resistance, to build a free society in with no one as to become a martyr. But if you do not find a way to deal with the grief, it will take away your strength and ultimately lead to you not being able to defend yourself successfully. The strategy in the Kurdish Freedom Movement is to always keep in mind what the friends gave their lives for. That they did it for a cause that has meaning and a goal, and they commit themselves, promise, that they will continue on this path so that no friend has given their life in vain. Because they have not. Every life that can be protected is tried to be protected. But in a world of genocide and assimilation, that can not mean preventing every death. Because then you have to give in to your opponent, which in turn leads to assimilation and genocide. Keeping this in mind helps to become aware of reality and to be able to deal with the pain better. Because the martyrs friends do not want us to become powerless from grief either, they just want us to fight for justice and freedom with even more force and determination.

But now back to the commemoration. At the same time, of course, many were sad that their friends are no longer physically with us. I always have to think of the mothers, the siblings and the children of the martyrs. That makes me sad. But now it makes me angry. How it is possible that there are people who sit in offices and think that it is a good idea to attack and kill people and then even people just for dancing. Why do they have to intervene? Why don’t they accept that the people here what to live in a free democracy? Why don’t they accept the women’s liberation? The people don’t do anything dangerous, but try to live together peacefully!

Several speeches were given at the cemetery, by the “Council of the Families of the Martyrs”, by relatives of the martyrs and by the “Democratic Islam” organization. They were all very powerful and touching. In the speech from the “Congress of Democratic Islam” it was very nice to see how critically they deal with their own religion and are now trying to return to the actual democratic values. This was very clear in their speech.

During the commemoration all the shops in the city were closed and even if people did not come to take part in the ceremony, they at least came out of their door to pay attention from there. I think it shows very nicely how people respect and consider each other.

A few days before we had already been to the hospital because a friend from Tishreen had been brought here for an operation. He had been injured in several places by a bomb that had exploded two meters away from him. It was absurd to see people so close who had been exposed to bomb attacks.

What impressed me a lot in the hospital building was that the walls were covered with pictures of Şehîds. It was another small thing, but it made clear that something is different here. Signs or monuments have also been erected on some streets and squares to commemorate the fallen.

The design of the streets is in general also very different. The walls of the various institutions organized by the society are often painted with colorful pictures depicting traditional motifs, such as people playing instruments or mythological figures. On other walls you can read graffiti like “Bijî berxwedana Rojava!” (Long live the resistance of Rojava!) / “Bijî berxwedana YPJ/ YPG /QSD!” (Long live the resistance of the People’s Defense Units/Women’s Defense Units/ Syrian Democratic Forces!) /… In the place where I grew up, you are surrounded by advertising on the streets and graffiti culture is unfortunately losing its political background more and more. It is a small thing, but it shows that here it is not a state that has the power to shape the cities, but that power has been taken over and shared by society. The influence of capitalism, which is trying to suppress more and more meaningful and political culture, is also less here. It also shows how present the philosophy of the Kurdish Freedom Movement is, which has such beautiful and great potential to find solutions for peace. We know these slogans that you can read on the walls here from other places in the world too. They are shouted at demonstrations, but where I come from they are otherwise given little attention and even at the demonstrations some are repeatedly banned because they propagate “terror”. But who is causing terror here? The Kurdish people? Or the Turkish state, which puts politicians and journalists in prison and tries to take over more land outside the territory which they already had occupied and murders civilians to do so, with weapons from many countries including US, UK, Spain, Germany and France, and a war permit from the US?

One last thing before I’ll come to an end. The initiative for the revolution came primarily from Kurdish society, but over time more and more cultures and religions have joined the self-government. Today, Armenians, Assyrians, Alevis, Ezidis, Turkmen, Christians (Orthodox, Protestant, Catholic) and Muslims have built a unity in diversity here. They all stand side by side on equal terms and everyone is allowed to live their cultures as they wish. In practice, this means that during the day you first hear the imams from the mosques and then the church bells of the various churches. But many different cultures also bring with them many different holidays, which means that shops, schools and workplaces are closed much more often. When one culture has a major holiday, all the others also stop working. This has the nice side effect that everyone gets to know each other’s cultures better.

There are still a lot of things to say, but for now I think it is enough. If something was unclear and you have questions or you are interested in other topics, you are welcome to write to us by email. (younginternationalistwomen@riseup.net)

We send you many revolutionary greetings!

Bijî berxwedana Tişrînê! Bijî berxwedana Rojava! #WeAreTishreen

Your friends from the Young Internationalist Women’s Commune of Rojava