When I return from Rojava I am enraptured by the visions of the squares
on TV, with hundreds of thousands of demonstrators in defense of themayor removed by Erdogan in Istanbul, the impressive jets of water from
the fire hoses of the riot police against the boys and girls. The city
of Damascus, in Syria, is also at the center of tensions and conflicts;
with the end of the Assad regime, a new government was self-proclaimed
and the interim president of Ahmed al-Sharaa signed a constitutional
declaration of 53 articles focused on Islamic fundamentalism.
The minority communities in Syria (not accepting it) have asked for it
to be rewritten. Mazloum Abdi, commander in chief of the Syrian
Democratic Forces (SDF) has expressed criticism against the
authoritarian regime of Ahmed al-Sharaa and against the constitutional
declaration.
In this overheated climate with trepidation I decide to accept the
invitation launched in the appeal by the women's organization Kongra
Star and Syrian women. Many are the thoughts that assail me, including
concern for the latest news on the incursions committed by Islamic
militias against Arab, Kurdish, Yazidi women who are captured, raped and
barbarically killed. In flight I meet three other Italian women in a
delegation to Rojava. We cross the barren and arid land of the plateau
part of the Fertile Crescent where the most ancient civilizations in
history were formed.
After exhausting checks and checkpoints we get into an old van, the only
vehicle authorized to cross the Tigris River on a rickety wooden pier.
We are welcomed by the representatives of Kongra Star and among the
reassuring looks everything melts away.
Kongra Star is a confederation of women's organizations (in Syria the
name Star refers to the ancient Mesopotamian goddess Ishar). We enter
their headquarters where they tell us about their work and how the
Kongra Star council works, a structure present both in the city and
outside Syria. They accompany us on the tour together with our guide and
a young girl who translates and helps us in conversations in the
Kurmanji language, the dialect spoken by the majority of Kurds in
Turkey, Syria, Armenia and Azerbaijan. We are together when we meet the
two co-presidents of the municipality, who tell us that they deal with
family problems but also with any violence, especially gender-based
violence. Sometimes the problem is solved, other times it is deeper and
other structures intervene, such as the MaleJin.
I shook hands with many women, all involved in social organizations, and
visited places and realities of women who work and create fabrics and
textiles in cooperatives, but also presidents of the party of free life
in Kurdistan, PYD. I spoke with women from the Arab community. We were
also welcomed at the Academy of Art and that of Education. We spoke with
the commanders of the YPY women's army who say: "one of our goals is to
try to eliminate and overcome all sources of injustice and oppression".
Unique, unforgettable moments. All these structures have a single goal:
to take care of the needs of society. Inspired by and mostly following
the new social contract of the administration, 134 paragraphs inspired
by democratic confederalism, the important experiment implemented in
Rojava based on some pillars such as Radical Democracy practiced in all
aspects of life (economy, justice, education, health, instruction).
Political decisions are the result of the participation of the Canton
Councils, the Provinces and the cities, based on what emerges from the
various social organizations and the needs expressed in the popular
assemblies. Everyone, but really everyone, participates in political
choices and everyone contributes to the change of society: ensuring full
coexistence between the peoples, beliefs, ethnic groups present in the
region: Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians, Yazidis, Turkmen, Armenians.
The other important pillar is the liberation of women and society, from
the model of state and capitalist civilization, overturning every
violent domination of the human being over other living beings
(anthropocentrism) and of the male gender over the female gender
(androcentrism). The aim is to create a society free from sexism,
whether that which comes from the traditional patriarchal society or
that which emanates from the commodification of women or from sexist
religious interpretations.
We talked about the ideology of Jineolojî, translated: jin woman and
loji which comes from the Greek logos, that is, word/knowledge/science.
Jineolojî is a science that, in Democratic Confederalism, aims to
reinterpret the themes, economic, historical, religious, social sciences
and all other fields, from a female perspective that, starting from its
origins, analyzes with intelligence and emotional capacity, civilization
and the male predominance that underlies it.
This is what comrade Heval tells us: "The role of women in the
resistance is particularly important to maintain the life of local
communities including the equal participation of women in all areas of
life", and continues: "women in history have remained distant from their
identity, for having suffered greater violence. It took a path of
awareness to be an active part of the revolutionary process". For nine
years the figure of the woman has been an active part within the
councils and committees, with more than 50%, sits in decision-making
positions, and every institutional office, from the local to the
provincial level, is presided over by both a man and a woman. All this
required training and transformation of the "mentality". A place where
only women live and built by women, following this idea, is the city of
one jin war, further down Rakka.
Several times during the discussions by our delegation, the concern
emerged that everything could be eliminated by the jihadist forces that
dominate Damascus; not seeing future prospects, one can fear that
everything that has been implemented in 14 years of construction within
society, will be destroyed. Without hesitation the answer was: "Women do
not give up. We will continue to move forward with the democratic
confederalism implemented in Rojava".
For this reason, sharing their experience, tenacity and unity, because
the defense of their freedoms concerns the whole society, against all
injustices, against all oppression, against all violence and abuse,
throughout the world. It is an uncertain time, now that women in Rojava
have become the pioneers of social change, have created structures
within communes, councils, defense, academia, economy and justice in
northern and eastern Syria, after the interim president of Syria Ahmed
al-Sharaa appointed a woman as Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, the
first woman and only Christian in the transitional government, without
any consultation. Without any hesitation the answer was: "We will work
on it, women are determined in their answers, our role must be
respected, and our identities built around a collective idea in strength
and beauty, for a free life together for themselves and for the entire
community".
This is reiterated in the appeal of the leader of the Kurdistan Workers'
Party, the PKK, Abdullah Öcalan, for peace and a democratic society,
launched from his prison cell where he has been locked up since 1999 in
Imrali in Türkiye. An appeal in which she asks the Kurdistan Workers'
Party to dissolve and lay down its weapons, opening up new hopes and an
impetus to the peace process throughout the Middle East. This has had
positive repercussions on the international scene. The statement also
highlights a criticism of real socialism: "You cannot be a socialist
without women's freedom (...) The main thing is to fight the mentality
(...) There is violence, exploitation, incest, rape, and girls are
vulnerable to being killed (...) The women's issue is much deeper than
the Kurdish issue. The women's issue is even more central than the
Kurdish issue. We have only made small progress in this regard. The
culture of war and conflict is mainly directed against women. The
destruction of this culture is the driving force of our struggle. The
spirit of this period is democratic politics and its language is the
language of peace. The Call for Peace and Democratic Society is at the
same time a Renaissance for women. (...)."
Reber Apo did not focus only on current politics but on long-term work
and also on internationalism.
We look at each other and understand how much and how each of us can
bounce the message requested by the various women we met, that is:
the revolution in Rojava is a project of liberation of society, it is a
story of struggles and victories against a system of domination and
competitiveness and oppression. I repeat some statements: "the
resistance of women continues and does not stop. We will repel with our
lives every attack, in defense of the territory, especially of the dam
in Tishir guarded every day by more than 200 people together with the
forces of the Syrian army Sdf and the YPY, because the dam is life;
every comrade even if hit by the drone continues and will continue, for
the life of the people, for everyone for the rights acquired".
It is a responsibility to report this experience: it is not only their
hope but a desire that I make mine. The international scenario must take
charge of the continuation of the path experienced in Rojava. For a
different system, for a hope for the future of every human being. We
cannot remain indifferent to this message.
Virginia Dessy
https://www.sicilialibertaria.it/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
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