Space Wars: How State Conflict Is Going Extra-terrestrial

SITUATION REPORTS - October 27, 2022

By Dr. Joanna Rozpedowski

The war in Ukraine has hastened the prospects of coming space wars. In an October 26 statement at the Thematic Discussion on Outer Space of the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Deputy Head of the Russian Delegation Konstantin Vorontsov warned that the use of outer space civil infrastructure facilities and commercial satellites in armed conflicts by the United States and its allies may make them legitimate targets for Russian retaliatory strikes. Taking advantage of the forum, the Russian Federation reiterated the need for international commitments regarding the weaponization and militarization of outer space to prevent a full-fledged arms race. Vorontsov expressed concerns over the US efforts to extend weapons systems in outer space “designed for the threat or use of force.” 

The remarks are in line with an earlier Sino-Russian February 2022 joint statement opposing plans to turn outer space into an arena of armed confrontation. For this purpose, both sides expressed the need to advance the Russian-Chinese draft treaty on the prevention of placement of weapons in outer space as well as to strengthen the role of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space as a platform for coordinating international cooperation and developing international space law. Likewise, the US State Department and NASA have spearheaded the Artemis Accords — or a non-binding declaration of principles and rules grounded in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty —  to ensure safe and transparent civil space exploration, and promote “peaceful cooperation in space exploration and scientific endeavors.”

Weaponizing Outer Space

Yet, the weaponization of outer space is ongoing. Countries around the world are making unprecedented commitments to civilian space exploration as well as its militarization. According to the Secure World Foundation’s 2022 Global Counterspace Capabilities report, “an increasing number of countries are looking to use space to enhance their military capabilities and national security” by developing a broad range of defensive and offensive dual-use technologies. In addition to active investments in counter-space programs by France, India, Iran, Japan, and North Korea, dominant players such as China, Russia, and the United States lead in the research, development, testing, and systems and weapons operationalization domains, enhancing the risk of future conflicts in space.

Graphic : Weapon Systems in Outer Space 

Copyright: Joanna Rozpedowski |

 Information sourced from the Secure World Foundation’s 2022 

Global Counterspace Capabilities report.

This raises several timely and legally difficult questions indirectly alluded to by the Russian UN delegation:

• Are Elon Musk’s SpaceX/Starlink satellite systems, which both the Pentagon and Ukrainian officials claim as vital for the communication of Kyiv’s army on the battlefield, participating indirectly in the armed conflict, and can they become legitimate targets for Russian retaliation?
• Should a non-state actor responsible for providing vital satellite infrastructure for both military and civilian use be regarded as a party to the ongoing armed conflict?
• In case of an attack by a state actor on a non-state actor satellite infrastructure, what ought to constitute a proportional response?
• Is it appropriate to extend international humanitarian law principles to conflicts in outer space? And if so, what rules of engagement (jus ad bellum and jus in bello) ought to prevail?
• Lastly, what are the international law limits on the means and methods used to wage war in space?

 

International Law Dilemmas

The governing international treaties on outer space which came into force in the 1960s and 70s are unequivocally vague on the prospects of military outer space activities, much less on prospects of an armed confrontation in space. Existing treaties are simply not fit for purpose. Technological developments have outpaced the legal community’s capacity to evolve existing international law guidelines as pertaining to the civilian-military nexus and the possibility of conflict situations in outer space. Any attack on vital mixed-use satellite infrastructure will require the active involvement of the international legal community and a rethinking of the remit of international criminal law and international laws of armed conflict or international humanitarian law regarding outer space objects and objectives.

The core international humanitarian law principles of distinction between civilians and combatants or civilian objects and military objectives, proportionality, and necessity constitute an established benchmark for assessing the legality of jus in bello conduct, impose the requisite limits on the use of force and are good albeit inadequate sources for analyzing inter-state conflicts, including those potentially extending beyond the terrestrial realm.

International law permits states to resort to armed force only in cases of self-defense or aggression requiring that parties to the conflict distinguish between civilian objects and military objectives and use force that is proportional or such that prevents an “incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.” States intent on attacking the satellite infrastructure of other states, therefore, would need to balance the military advantages sought and the prospects of damage and civilian losses related to it. Provided that the attack was not indiscriminate, the legal controversy might arise when, in the fog of war, it might become increasingly difficult to draw appropriate distinctions between private civilian satellite systems contracted to state militaries in order to help them achieve military objectives in an inter-state conflict and raising the question of whether a civilian satellite system contracted to a military entity in order to advance its military objectives in an inter-state conflict ceases to be a civilian object and as such is no longer immune from an attack by adversarial armed forces.

Creating appropriate legal instruments that would provide the necessary legal guidance on fundamental dilemmas of international law of armed conflict in outer space, illustrated by the above questions and express general principles of international law applicable to the extraterrestrial domain, is a sine qua non on the evolutionary path of modern-day conflicts. This will involve expanding the remit of existing institutional mechanisms for arbitrating legal disputes between state and non-state entities engaged in the space arms race and providing advisory opinions on urgent international legal issues while establishing a workable framework for space diplomacy.

Science diplomacy could net peace dividends in South China Sea

International oceanic collaboration is not unprecedented and might be the ticket for tamping down hostilities between US and China.

NOVEMBER 6, 2022
Written by James Borton

The South China Sea is a unique natural laboratory for ocean research and exploration. And yet, this rifted basin, dotted with atolls, coral reefs and islets, is mired in disputed territorial claims between China, Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.

It could be a gateway for oceanographic research, peace, and prosperity; instead, rising regional tensions and mistrust pose a grave threat to geopolitical and ecological security in Southeast Asia.

China’s leader Xi Jinping vowed at the Communist Party’s five-year national congress last month to pursue peaceful unification with Taiwan. Meanwhile, a growing number of policy experts and marine scientists believe that a network of marine protected areas, or MPAs, already provide the common ground in both cross — strait relations and in the South China Sea .

Tension between the United States and China is an obstacle to regional cooperation over marine cooperation in the South China Sea. But cooperation can and does address the softer issues, such as fisheries management and marine science research. MPAs offer the potential to build trust among nations, conserve biodiversity and sustain marine life.

More than 625 million people of the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations depend on a healthy global ocean. But coral reefs are dying as a result of an ecological catastrophe taking place in the region’s once–fertile fishing grounds. With reclamations destroying marine habitats, agricultural and industrial run-off poisoning coastal waters, and overfishing depleting fish stocks, marine biologists are vital for building a rules-based ecological approach to protect the environment and offset the threats to endangered species.

The China-ASEAN Plan of Action on a Closer Partnership of Science, Technology and Innovation (2021–25), a new mechanism for science–driven cooperation, offers a model. This agreement, along with marine environment–focused forums and workshops, are shaping a new South China Sea narrative about the ecological dangers of biodiversity loss, climate change, coral reef depletion, pollution, and collapsing fisheries.

“As scientists, we should rise above politics and focus on the bigger and more important questions central to humanity’s long-term wellbeing,” said Professor Nianzhi Jiao, an ecologist at Xiamen University, at a South China Sea forum held in Shanghai.

There are historical precedents for international oceanic collaboration. In 2014 scientists from the United States, Japan, China, South Korea, Australia, India and Brazil conducted tectonics drilling surveys in the South China Sea under the auspices of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP). The South China Sea Monsoon Experiment (1996–2001), initiated by China’s Ministry of Science and Technology, brought together scientists from Taiwan, Australia and the United States.

The collaboration chronicle includes the Joint Oceanographic Marine Scientific Research Expeditions conducted between the Philippines and Vietnam in the South China Sea (JOMSRE-SCS) from 1996–2007. The Philippines and Vietnam agreed last year to resume their joint marine scientific expedition, but COVID–19 delayed their mission.

Despite a history of conflict between China and Vietnam the two nations continue to observe the Gulf of Tonkin agreement, ratified in 2004, which ensures cooperation in fishing, hydrocarbon exploration and maritime security. Now their marine scientists and policy experts, increasingly worried about the environmental degradation in the South China Sea, are conducting workshops that offer a promising outlook for expanded marine protected areas that would bolster environmental security and use shared resources more equitably.

Dr. Weidong Yu, a senior researcher at the School of Atmospheric Sciences at Sun Yat-Sen University, says that “ocean science cooperation is the best way forward” to deal with climate change, extreme weather and marine ecosystems.

Since scientific evidence informs negotiations, fosters joint marine research and capacity building, ocean science is a diplomatic tool for peace building.

Science in diplomacy has been adopted by the Arctic Council, a leading intergovernmental forum, established in 1996. Composed of eight Arctic nations — including the United StatesRussia, and indigenous groups — it is a stellar example of science and technology-based collaborative research. The Council members have enacted several legally binding agreements that reinforce environmental protection and sustainability.

Dr. Paul Berkman, past director of the Science Diplomacy Center at Tufts and Fulbright Arctic Chair, said that the Arctic Science Agreement, signed in 2017, “reflects a common interest to enhance scientific cooperation even when diplomatic channels among nations are unstable.

While some policy experts believe that China’s embrace of science cooperation offers evolving evidence of what Beijing characterizes as their “peaceful rise,” others view the nation’s blue water ambitions and regional hegemonic actions in the South China Sea as a clear threat to every state in the region.

In the interim, claimant nations understand the urgency of creating mechanisms for ocean governance to prevent geopolitical battles over marine resources in the ‘Global Commons’. Given that this is an area where science and geopolitics converge, the path to agreement involves expanding scientific forums and collaborative problem solving — i.e., science diplomacy.

The consensus among environmental policy planners is that science diplomacy contributes significantly to conflict resolution.

One area of scientific consensus is in the expansion of marine protected areas to mitigate the collapse of fisheries in the region. Destructive fishing practices and climate change are major threats to coral reefs. China has more than 270 marine protected areas and its neighbor Vietnam has 12 under protection.

John McManus, a distinguished University of Miami biology professor and ecologist, has been promoting marine protected areas for over two decades. Together with Dr. Kwang-Tsou Shao and Dr. Szu-Yin Lin of Taiwan’s Biodiversity Research Center he co-authored a paper advocating the establishment of an international peace park in the South China Sea to better manage marine resources and reduce regional tensions.

This proposal bolsters a revived China–ASEAN Cooperation Framework, especially in workshops on marine environmental protection. With the largest fleet of marine research vessels deployed in the Indo-Pacific, China can help support fisheries for the benefit of all states with data sharing and by mapping ecologically sensitive areas.

Geopolitics is always at play in the contested South China Sea. While the Biden administration said that managing the Sino-American relationship is “the biggest geopolitical test of the 21st century,” Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) and the Ocean University of China (OUC) have been engaged in promoting research collaborations in deep-ocean and coastal regions in a changing climate.

Cooperative science activities do not have any effect on the status quo of the South China Sea disputes. But it does maintain hope for a solution to these disputes with confidence-building activities that keep all the parties engaged. The alternative is political deadlock.

For now, at least, scientific research can rise above the geopolitical noise of sovereignty claims.

Science Offers Peace-building Mechanism in South China Sea Dispute

OPINION - March 5, 2017

By James Borton & John W. McManus

Protecting marine environments and ensuring the ocean’s sustainability is a global issue that is vital for all life, and nowhere is this more important than in the South China Sea.

Extending across tropical and semi-tropical zones, this body of water offers an abundant and complex marine ecosystem.  However, the territorial claims among China, Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei in the South China Sea remain a serious threat to the political and ecological security of Southeast Asia. As such, environmental degradation remains at the center of South China Sea scientific policy conversations, and for an increasing number of policy shapers and scientists, there’s an urgent need to address acidification, biodiversity loss, regional impacts of climate change, coral reef destruction, and fishery collapses.

Enter science diplomacy. Defined by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) as science being used to inform foreign policy decisions, promote international scientific collaborations, and establish scientific cooperation to ease tensions between nations, science diplomacy is a widely accepted method that environmental policy planners use to contribute to conflict resolutions and, for several decades, has been adopted as a diplomatic tool for peace-building by many countries. During the Cold War divide, scientific cooperation was used to build bridges of cooperation and trust.

Science diplomacy is not a completely new approach to international relations, and, at the moment, has raised two important questions in efforts to successfully settle the South China Sea dispute, namely: Should we do it? And will it work?

The answer to both is, “yes.”

Science initiatives are more widely accepted as efforts to solve global issues that require contributions from all players in the international relations arena.

Science diplomacy helps directly and indirectly promote confidence-building among the parties involved in the South China Sea dispute, offering a much-needed strategic pause in rising regional tensions. The probability that science diplomacy can successfully manage the South China Sea dispute is quite high because of timing, creditability, and the potential for support from major powers. It offers more advantages than not in terms of economics, politics, social responsibility, and beyond. Most importantly, there’s already a rising tide of cooperation in the exchange of data and information, consensus on the value of marine protected areas, and an increase in joint research expeditions.

There are strong ties among scientists across Southeast Asia and China, partly due to a series of international scientific projects, conferences, and training workshops, such as those associated with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s South China Sea Fisheries Development and Coordination Program from the mid 1970s to the mid-1980s. Informal “Track 2” working groups and associated fieldwork throughout the 1990s and up to the early 2000s included many regional scientists and their projects aimed at promoting peaceful joint resource management in the South China Sea. The UNEP and Global Environment Facility sponsored a South China Sea environmental analysis and management project from 2002 to 2009, and efforts are underway to initiate a follow up project. Other such confidence-building activities are under discussion.

These proposed science collaborative measures are essential in the face of the rampant overfishing and coral reef degradation that has occurred across the South China Sea, in part because the conflicting territorial claims have made ecological analyses and management actions difficult. There are strong indications of impending collapses of fisheries and potential species extinctions. Given the fact that the South China Sea hosts a large proportion of known marine species, including threatened giant clams, sea turtles, and marine mammals, there is no time to waste.

The prospect of a fisheries apocalypse in the South China Sea should weigh heavily on all claimant nations, all of which rely on fish protein to feed a burgeoning population of roughly 1.9 billion people. Challenges around food security and renewable fish resources are fast becoming a hardscrabble reality for more than fishermen. In 2014, the Center for Biological Diversity warned that it could be a scary future indeed, with as many as 30 to 50 percent of all species possibly headed towards extinction by mid-century.

Nevertheless, it’s encouraging that Chinese scientists have been engaged in science diplomacy in polar regimes for the past three years. This includes cooperative fishing regulations research and especially their participation multilateral diplomacy efforts in the central Arctic Ocean. Although Beijing’s role is still limited, they are preparing to play a substantial role in good governance in the Arctic.

Despite the intractable SCS sovereignty issues, and difficulties in securing permissions for environmental field work, even in non-disputed areas, a focus among regional scientists on environmental protection and fishery issues may prove far less difficult than problems in the Arctic.

Science diplomacy seems quite affordable for all claimant countries. In fact, while it is hard to draw an exact comparison of the expenditures a government provides for other ways of solving the South China Sea dispute, science diplomacy would prove very cost effective. Because military and economic initiatives, especially the transformation of reefs into military outposts, unlike scientific ones, are often seen as the actions of one country protecting its sovereignty and is directly related to national defense, any non-state actor’s involvements are inevitably sensitive subjects and considered inappropriate.

The key is to encourage international scientific cooperation. Through joint marine research surveys, the region’s scientists can provide policymakers with the data and information they need to make informed and responsible decisions in the South China Sea.

Science initiatives are more widely accepted as efforts to solve global issues that require contributions from all players in the international relations arena. This not only makes science diplomacy-related initiatives financially possible, but also leads to broader dissemination of results and enhances their impacts on policy decision-making and capacity-building on the regional level.

Most SCS states have adopted marine protected areas to address present and future environmental issues, and there are plans to include areas that fall within disputed waters. Existing MPAs play important roles in the development of the marine economy; they improve the livelihoods of coastal fishing communities and also serve as an excellent directed science policy model. If sovereignty concerns could be set aside in treaties implementing freezes on claims and claim-supportive activities, as has been done in the Antarctic, these and other natural resource management tools could be used far more effectively to secure fisheries and biodiversity, and also to promote sustainable tourism.

Secondly, science diplomacy is a safe and neutral approach to international relations for all governments. While economic or military cooperation requires strong consideration for signs of foreign policy direction, scientific cooperation is much more neutral, even in conflict-torn countries, since they can cooperate with each other in scientific projects “to affirm and to improve human life” without worrying about misleading the international community about their foreign policy orientation or invoking domestic anger because of shaking hands with the “wrong partners.”

Finally, science diplomacy serves essential needs in the lives of human beings. While other types of diplomacy tend to only solve issues at the state level, like sovereignty or territorial integrity, the science research cooperation in the South China Sea aims at a more “down-to-sea” approach, namely ensuring that fishers can fish safely, marine products for human beings are unpolluted, and marine resources are protected correctly.

Looking at science diplomacy from a broader perspective, it provides collateral benefits to resolving the South China Sea dispute. Last year, Fidel V. Ramos, the former president of the Philippines (1992-1998), and a member of the ASEAN Eminent Persons Group stated that environmental cooperation could promise to bring about “mutually beneficial efforts to improve tourism and encourage trade and investment, and to promote exchanges among think tanks and academic institutions on relevant issues.”

Science diplomacy offers a peace-building mechanism for South China Sea scientific advisors to demonstrate their roles as “resource analysts, trend spotters, science communicators, and applied-policy advisors.”

With natural resource politics steering the South China Sea narrative, science diplomacy offers the dual hope of protecting coral cathedrals, marine habitats, and fish species, and it can serve as a peace-building model for similar environmental conflicts elsewhere.

The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed by the authors are theirs alone and don’t reflect any official position of Geopoliticalmonitor.com.

Lebanon's 'zombie' banks are broke, but no one wants to admit it

Banks have shut their doors and the central bank is no longer buying dollars, leaving Lebanese in a state of despair and panic

People use ATM machines at a closed Blom Bank branch in 

Beirut 20 September 2022 (Reuters)

By Adam Chamseddine in Beirut
Published date: 6 November 2022 

Mahmoud Ramadan knocked on a metal gate sealing a bank’s entrance in Beirut’s Corniche el-Mazraa street to no answer.

The middle-aged Lebanese man stood back and scrutinised the heavy door separating him from a money transfer he urgently needed.

A sign hung on the gate read: “If you need to schedule an appointment, please call the following number.”

'No one dares to admit the bankruptcy of the entire banking sector, including the central bank, and that is why the circle will continue at a great expense to the economy'

- Mounir Younes, Nidaa al- Watan newspaper

“I was told that this branch was open, but no one is answering,” Ramadan told Middle East Eye.

Ramadan looked at the sign again, and said, with nothing short of resentment, “I want to receive a wire transfer, not a hair cut.”

It was not a strange scene to witness in Lebanon. Signs hang despondent on large doors announcing a change in the way banking business is now being conducted, adding even more strain on a population whose majority has been forced into poverty.

The only sign indicating that the capital’s banks are even operating are the queues that form at attached ATM machines at the beginning of every month. Or perhaps, one may accidentally spot a reinforced door opening just enough to let a customer in or out.

Since the start of Lebanon’s financial collapse in late 2019, banks have fortified their entrances with metal, gradually transforming what were once considered the pride of the Lebanese economy into what now resemble army barracks.

But in recent months, a spate of raids by angry, and mostly armed, depositors on several bank branches demanding their money, which has been trapped in the banking system for years, have led banks to take even more precautions.

When the state refused to provide them with protection, arguing that they are responsible for the safety of their own employees and clients, Lebanese banks announced an indefinite closure, limiting their services to appointment-based operations and ATM transactions.

A source at the Lebanese Association of Banks said that a decision was made that each bank will decide its own operational capacity and the number of branches that will conduct corporate operations.

“The ATMs will be the link between depositors and the banks, and clients’ urgent needs will be based on pre-scheduled appointments,” the source told MEE.
Zombie banks

The decision to operate in what has been seen as an arbitrary manner has raised the question about the economic and financial role the banks should be fulfilling in any stagnant economy.

Experts who may differ on the origin point of the crisis agree on one thing: The banking sector in Lebanon is in a state of paralysis.

Unable to provide loans, liquidity, or, at the very least, open their branches without risking raids by angry clients, banks in Lebanon have transformed into what experts are calling “zombie banks”.

Lebanon: What is driving the judiciary's recent actions against banks?

Read More »

Mounir Younes, the head of the economic weekly supplement in Nidaa el-Watan newspaper, believes that the way that the banking sector has been operating of late is a clear indication that “banks are no longer banks”.

“The selective bank closures have had no visible impact on the economy, which demonstrates that banks are no more than cash stores that provide money printed by the central bank: they no longer have any role in lending to the private sector nor in contributing to the economic cycle and growth,” he told MEE.

Younes said no Lebanese bank has yet admitted that they are in a state of default. The majority claims that the US dollar deposits they owe customers are in the central bank, while the latter says that it has no obligation to return that money in dollars. Instead, Younes added, the central bank is providing the banks with the deposits’ equivalent in Lebanese lira at rates it specifies in memos.

“This vicious cycle has been ongoing for the past three years, why?” Younes said.

“It’s because no one dares to admit the bankruptcy of the entire banking sector, including the central bank, and that is why the circle will continue at a great expense and damage to the economy, with augmenting inflation and the ongoing collapse of the local currency.”

Black Sunday

The Lebanese lira has been officially pegged at 1,507 to the dollar since 1997, but with the currency in free fall and multiple parallel exchange rates coexisting, the official rate has not reflected its true market value for years.

On 23 October, a week after the Lebanese lira's market value fell to more than 40,000 against the dollar, the Bank du Liban issued a memo declaring that it will no longer buy dollars on its Sayrafa platform. The central bank said that it will limit its activity on the platform to only selling dollars.

Experts saw the move as an attempt to strengthen the Lebanese lira, which had hit a new record low after it had stabilised at around 38,000 for weeks.

In a matter of hours, the dollar exchange rate dropped to 35,000, creating a state of chaos within exchange offices, and panic among citizens who follow the daily market rate in order to benefit from a profit margin when trading their dollars.

The memo that came as a shock to many was described by an exchange tycoon as “black Sunday”.

Lebanese banks close indefinitely as branches stormed by angry depositors

Read More »

“I had to turn off all of my phones. I just couldn’t listen to plea calls anymore from people begging to sell the dollars they had bought at a high rate to limit their losses after the rapid fall,” he told MEE on condition of anonymity.

But for the Lebanese, that Sunday was no more black than any other day on the country’s financial roller coaster that has pushed desperate people to take matters into their own hands.

Marwan, a bank employee who asked for his name to be changed, said what worried him the most during an armed holdup that unfolded at his branch was the situation getting out of control.

“It was evident from the start that this was an act of pressure and the depositor was seeking to squeeze whatever he can get out of the bank, but I felt agitated that the frustration was running too high,” he said.

Asked about what he felt working at a bank that has been accused of leaving people in ruins, Marwan said employees have also gotten the short end of the stick.

“We were all victims of this grand theft,” he said.

“I didn’t have any money in the bank, but I have many relatives whose life’s work was frozen in the bank I work in.

“I am a 50-year-old bank employee in a collapsed economy, what kind of job do you think I can have now?”

Dozens of ships carrying LNG linger around Europe’s coast

Tankers are carrying a combined worth of $2bn in natural gas and slowly sailing around northwest Europe and the Iberian peninsula.

A liquid natural gas (LNG) tanker ship being loaded up at 

Raslaffans Sea Port, northern Qatar

Published On 6 Nov 2022

More than 30 tankers holding liquefied natural gas (LNG) are idling just off Europe’s shoreline, the Financial Times reported, as traders are holding out for higher market prices.

According to shipping analytics company Vortexa, the ships are carrying a combined worth of $2bn of LNG, and are sailing slowly around Northwest Europe and the Iberian Peninsula.

“LNG vessels have been queued up outside European LNG receiving terminals, chasing what they expected to be the premium market for this LNG,” Felix Booth, head of LNG at Vortexa, told the newspaper.

“For now these vessels have incentive to hold positions” in anticipation that colder weather will increase demand for energy and in turn drive up prices, he said.

Another 30 ships are sailing across the Atlantic and are expected to join the tankers before the winter, data from Vortexa showed.

LNG tankers in European waters have doubled in the past two months, as European countries filled their storage tanks to near their limits before the winter.

In response to Western sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has decreased gas supplies to some European countries.

In turn, these countries bought LNG as a substitution, but unseasonably warm temperatures have led to a reduction in heating demand, which in turn kept storage sites full and prices falling.

State of ‘contango’

Prices for natural gas in Europe have fallen back from their August highs, when they topped 346 euros ($343) per megawatt-hour.

But traders keeping their tankers offshore are counting on prices to increase in the months ahead, as colder weather sets in and lifts heating demand, releasing gas from storage.

This has led to the market being in a state of “contango”, where prices for delivery in the future are trading higher than for immediate delivery, the FT said.

A similar situation involving the oil industry occurred during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, when excess crude resulted in traders keeping their oil on ships as floating storage, waiting for prices to rise again.

Israeli Arabs fear the possibility of Ben-Gvir's role in forming government

Some believe that Ben-Gvir's remarks are part of a successful elections campaign and hope he would not act in extremes if chosen as public security minister, while others fear he would bring about war by offending Muslims and the al Aqsa mosque

Hassan Shaalan, Einav Halabi|

Many in Israel’s Arab population are conflicted over the possibility of Otzma Yehudit’s Itamar Ben-Gvir possibly being made Public Security Minister during the formation of the next government.

“Whoever calls Arab Israelis terrorists will not be accepted in our town,” Shuaa Mansour Masarwa, mayor of Tayibe – an Arab village located in center Israel – said on Ben-Gvir possibly entering office as Public Security Minister.

 
Itamar Ben-Gvir
(Photo: Amit Shanbi)

Ben-Gvir had marked the position since before the elections, and with Otzma Yehudit’s successful results, the scenario is worrying to the Israeli Arab sector.

Ben-Gvir’s remarks on the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem are worrying to Israeli Arab leaders. “al-Aqsa is the most sensitive subject for over a billion Muslims across the world. We already saw in the past the results of allowing Jews to enter it, and the riots that ensued whenever it came up on the news,” Masarwa said.

He added: “I hope the government will wake up and prevent provocations, the government isn’t formed yet and things could change.”
“I’m not sure the next government will agree to Ben-Gvir’s demands, especially as the ministry he want to lead has a major impact on Israeli society,” Masarwa said. “It’s hard to believe anyone in Israel’s Arab population will accept Ben-Gvir. His extremist opinions and ideology guided him in every role he undertook in the past.”


Shuaa Mansour Masarwa
(Photo: Motti Kimchi)

He added: “unfortunately the Arab legislators were mistaken when they toppled the previous government without a proper alternative, it caused a political catastrophe.”
Abed Albaset Salama, mayor of the Arab city of Qalansawe, also commented on Ben-Gvir. “If he continues to hold the same opinions on the al-Aqsa mosque, we’ll have war and an intifada. If Ben-Gvir becomes Public Security Minister we’ll learn how to treat him, we still don’t know his intentions.”

“In the past we saw that when Avigdor Liberman became the Defense Minister, after he made awful remarks against Arab Israelis he calmed down, I think It’ll be the same with Ben-Gvir,” Salama added.
An Arab mayor from the Galilee said that “Ben-Gvir belongs in prison, not the Knesset. He’s racist and a dangerous criminal. We saw how he pulled out a weapon and threatened civilians with it,” he said.


Abed Albaset Salama

“If he becomes Public Security Minister, I personally will not meet with him,” the mayor added. “Even if it means resigning from my post.”
Unease is also felt among Arab Israeli residents at Ben-Gvir’s possible position. Riad Amash, a resident Jisr az-Zarqa – an Arab village on the coast, also said he worries about Ben-Gvir’s possible future ministerial post.

“Ben-Gvir wants Jewish prayers in the al-Aqsa mosque, and must realize that it will offend every Muslim in the world. War will ensue and Israel will be in a tough position. I’ll fight for al-Aqsa and I’m not religious, if Ben-Gvir wants a war, let him try.”
Amash also said he believes Ben-Gvir is unfit to be the Public Security minister. “Talks before and after the elections aren’t the same, Ben-Gvir is a politician. He doesn’t scare us, and he might be more honest than any other politician in the last 30 years.”


Riad Amash
(Photo: Shamir Elbaz)
He added: “Maybe Ben-Gvir will change everything, although I don’t think he can stop the crime and murder rates in the Arab sector. I don’t think Netanyahu will put him in that role.”
Only a third of the residents of Umm al-Fahm, an Arab city in Northern Israel, cast their votes in the recent elections, and mostly voted for Arab parties. They too were surprised with the popularity and success of Otzma Yehudit.
Mohammad Agbaria, a resident of the city and a social activist, said that “the biggest fear is that Ben-Gvir will harm the al-Aqsa mosque, which will cross a red line. There will be dire consequences, and everyone in the government should caution him against his actions.”
Agbaria also said that Ben-Gvir might act the same as Liberman, and do nothing despite his remarks. “He also threated Israeli Arabs and did nothing. We’re worried, but not everything that’s said will end up happening.”


Mohammad Agbaria
(Photo: Shamir Elbaz)
He added: “MKs have a limit, and Ben-Gvir can’t do whatever he wants. He’s racist, calls for violence against Arabs and provokes conflict. I hope he won’t act like this when he becomes a minister. He might have plans to deal with crime, which is what the Arab sector wants.”
Ali Jabarin, a member of the Umm al-Fahm municipality, said “there’s no greater danger than giving Ben-Gvir the position of Public Security minister. It’ll be a mistake for Netanyahu to give it to him. How can a man who was criminally charged hold that position?”
He added: “criticism won’t come only from Israeli Arabs. Ben-Gvir is dangerous. He shouldn’t hold a position in the government. If he continues what he’s doing in al-Aqsa he’ll bring war, this is the most sacred place and harming it will bring tensions.”
Another Israeli Arab social activist said “Ben-Gvir’s attitude won’t change if he becomes the Public Security minister. His positions will cause more terror attacks in which Arab Israelis might participate because of their connection to al-Aqsa. The government needs to be careful and not allow Ben-Gvir to hold power because he will only serve to increase racism and tension.”
Yet another Israeli Arab activist from northern Israel added: “We all know Ben-Gvir is unfit for any position in the government. He became popular thanks to his drama, but didn’t contribute anything. He won’t be able to stop crime and murder in the Arab sector and will not work for what we want. If Israel wants peace, it needs to keep Ben-Gvir away from any position having to do with Arab Israelis.”


Ali Jabarin
(Photo: Shamir Elbaz)
Ashraf Omar, a resident of Kafr Kanna, said “Ben-Gvir has no place in Arab society. He’ll cause a war as the public security minister. We won’t accept him, and protest his arrival at our village. We saw how he supports those shouting ‘death to Arabs’.”
Samir Ismail, a resident of Nahf, added: “Ben-Gvir has no shame. He threatens people with a gun and demands to become the public security minister. We’re enemies to him, he hates us, and will do much worse as the minister.”
Former MK Yousef Jabareen, spoke after the election’s results were published. “We’re not afraid of Ben-Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich or Netanyahu. Our people are strong and we could challenge Ben-Gvir with Umm al-Fahm as the front line.”
Mohammad abu-Amad, secretary of the Hadash Arab party in Umm al-Fahm, said he was concerned with Ben-Gvir’s growing popularity. “We warned people and said ‘get out and vote’ because we’re afraid of the hard-right taking power, especially since Ben-Gvir doesn’t want us to be in Israel,” he said. “He doesn’t want us to raise the Palestinian flag, which is a symbol for every Israeli Arab.”

Study shows Kurds in Turkey think human rights situation worse than 90s

The results of a new study by Tahir Elçi Human Rights Foundation and Rawest show that Kurds living in different parts of Turkey believe that mostly Kurds, women, children and the poor are subjected to violations of human rights.

ANF
NEWS DESK
Saturday, 5 Nov 2022, 14:08

Tahir Elçi Human Rights Foundation and Rawest, a pollster focusing on the country's Kurdish regions, announced the results of their joint study, "Human Rights Perception of Kurds”, Bianet reported.

According to the report, the results of the study show that the Kurds living in different parts of Turkey believe that mostly Kurds, women, children and the poor are subjected to violations of human rights, while the most violated right is "the right to live."

The joint study has been carried out through face-to-face meetings with 1,363 people in Istanbul, İzmir, Adana, Mersin, Diyarbakır, Mardin, Van and Urfa.

The study revealed that the participants aged over 30 expressed that the recent period and 90's are similar with respect to the situation of human rights in Turkey. The average of the participants' scores has been 3,84 for today, while 3,94 for 90s. This shows that the weight attached to human rights has dropped behind that in the 90's.

What comes to your mind when you hear "human rights?"

The interviewees were first asked the question: "What comes to your mind when you hear the expression "human rights?" 33 percent of the interviewees responded saying "justice," 24 percent "rights and freedoms," and 10 percent "law." Those saying "the right to live" and "welfare" were 5 percent each and those saying "women's rights" and "education" were 4 percent each.

"Rights are not given by the state, they exist naturally"

Every 9 out of 10 participants indicated that humans had rights originating from being human and more than 83 percent believed that "a state is not entitled to grant rights, that the rights existed naturally."

Human rights are being violated

79 percent of the interviewers answered the question about whether human rights were being violated in Turkey, saying "yes." 8 percent said "no" while 13 percent said they did not have an idea.

Right to life being violated in Turkey

72 percent said that the right to live was the most important human right. "Freedom of expression", "right to live" and "women's rights" were the three mostly violated rights, with 63, 60 and 53 percent of the interviewees indicating them as the mostly violated human right respectively.

"Kurds and women subjected to violations of rights most"

The researchers also asked about the groups that are mostly subjected to violations of human rights. 67 percent responded saying the women, 61 percent the Kurds, 19 percent the poor, another 19 percent the children and 13 percent saying that the unemployed were mostly subjected to violations of human rights.

Ethnic identity is the most important cause of discrimination

According to the participants, "ethnic identity" is one of the most important reasons for being subjected to discrimination. 50 percent of the interviewers said that ethnic identity was a reason for discrimination, while those saying that gender was a reason for discrimination followed next with 15 percent and those saying that religion and religious sect followed next, with 7 and 6 percent respectively.
39 percent of the participants said that they had been discriminated against for some reason in their lives until now. 52 percent of those who said that they had been subjected to discrimination also said that they were HDP voters.

The state was mentioned as the institution causing human rights violations the most. Participants listed the men, the media and the companies next for causing most human rights violations. The family was also listed among the institutions violating rights.

Human rights not getting better

73 percent of the participants thought that the situation of human rights has gotten worse in Turkey in the last 10 years. The ratio of those who thought that human rights got better in this period was only 9 percent. 15 percent of the interviewers thought that the situation of human rights has been the same in the last ten years.

"Lifting parliamentary immunity a violation"

73 percent of the participants agreed that "all are equal before the law, independent from gender, language, religion, political view, ethnic identity," while 7 percent disagreed.

Those who disagreed with the statement "The legal system in Turkey is treating everyone equally" were 51 percent.

72 percent agreed with the statement "that the cases not being concluded for a long period of time is a violation of rights."

67 percent agreed that "that torture of prisoners was a violation of human rights no matter what their crimes are."

The idea that "lifting parliamentary immunity is a rights violation" was accepted by 58 percent.

57 percent agreed with the statement that "the legal processes concerning unidentified murders in the 1990's are not being carried out fairly."

Again, 61 percent of the participants did not find the appointment of trustees to the municipalities just.

"Education language should be dual"

76 percent agreed that "men and women should be equal in all areas."

70 percent disagreed that "men should receive a higher wage than women even when they do the same job," while 44 percent disagreed that "the state should shut down associations of homosexuals."

While 72 percent agreed that "it is a violation of a child's rights that children younger than 16 should work," 56 percent agreed that "it is a violation of human rights that children have to read the national oath."

65 percent agreed that "it is a violation of rights that the Turkish children in Germany cannot receive education in Turkish," while again 65 percent agreed that "it is a violation of rights that the Kurdish children in Turkey cannot receive education in Kurdish."

62 percent of the participants in Kurdish majority cities agreed that "the education language should be dual, both Turkish and the mother tongue, while 45 percent agreed with this in the west provinces."

French trade unions protest detention of Kurdish media journalists

In France, trade unions are protesting against the detention of nine journalists from Kurdish media organizations in Turkey.

ANF
PARIS
Saturday, 5 Nov 2022, 

In France, trade unions are protesting against the detention of nine journalists from Kurdish media organizations who were arrested by the Turkish authorities in Ankara, Istanbul, Van, Amed, Urfa and Mardin and have been in prison for a week.

They had only done what is the task of all media workers: reporting on abuses in their country and informing the public about the policies of the authoritarian Erdogan regime, explained the umbrella organization of autonomous trade unions Union Syndicale Solidaires and the interest group of French journalists from the Television industry (Syndicat National des Journalistes de France Télévisions, SNJ) in a joint statement.

"We call on the Turkish authorities to release all detained colleagues immediately."

The journalists arrested are Diren Yurtsever, Deniz Nazlım, Selman Güzelyüz, Berivan Altan, Hakan Yalçın, Emrullah Acar, Ceylan Şahinli, Habibe Eren and Öznur Değer. They work for the news agencies Mezopotamya (MA) and JinNews, which report frequently and in detail on the war crimes committed by the Turkish army in Kurdistan, including the use of chemical weapons. The authorities see this as “propaganda for an illegal organisation” and accuse the journalists of "terrorism". When they were arrested, the journalists were beaten, insulted and humiliated, and in prison they had to endure degrading strip searches. The male journalists are isolated from their fellow prisoners and held in solitary cells.

"This operation followed the previous wave of arrests in June 2022," said the Union Syndicale Solidaires and SNJ. At that time, 16 journalists were arrested in Amed. They remain in detention without any charges being brought against them.

“The free Kurdish press is the one that most often put the pen to the wound. It consistently refuses to comply with the orders of those in power,” said the French unions. The French associations also criticize the law passed by the Turkish parliament in mid-October against the dissemination of so-called false news. Anyone who spreads “false or misleading” reports can be punished with up to three years in prison.

Union Syndicale Solidaires and SNJ call the regulation a "censorship law" to silence opposition media. "Under these circumstances, we reiterate our support for the independent media under attack by the Turkish authorities and call for the release of all imprisoned journalists. We don't forget you. The free press cannot be silenced.”

International Women's Conference to kick off in Berlin at the weekend

Songül Karabulut, Preparatory Committee Member of the 2nd International Women's Conference, said that they would not just deal with a system analysis, but also discuss ways and means to get rid of the current predicament.

MUHAMMED KAYA
BERLIN
Friday, 4 Nov 2022

The ‘Women Are Shaping the Future Network’ will hold the 2nd International Women's Conference under the motto "Our Revolution: Liberating Life" at Berlin Technical University on November 5-6. Almost 800 women from 41 countries are expected to attend the conference.

Preparatory Committee Member Songül Karabulut spoke to ANF about the conference and pointed out that the women's revolution would pave the way for a more free, fair, ecological, and democratic life against the capitalist modernity system.

How are the preparations going on?

Our preparations are already completed. We are starting the registration process as of Friday (Nov. 4). The establishment of language cabins at the university will also be completed today because there will be simultaneous translation in 8 languages. Technical equipment will be installed. From 06:00 on Saturday, we will be present at the university. We'll start the conference at 09:00.

Why was the motto “Our Revolution: Liberating Life” chosen?

We are manifesting our philosophical approach. Women's liberation or women's revolution is to liberate life in general. When we were thinking about it, there were no mass protests or women-led uprising in Iran. The iconic motto 'Jin, Jiyan, Azadi' (Woman, Life, Freedom) of the protests in Iran has made the motto of our conference visible to the world once again. We think that the women's revolution will pave the way for a more free, fair, ecological and democratic life against the capitalist modernity system. We argue that the women's revolution will offer solutions to all the problems of capitalist modernity. We have consciously chosen this motto because women's liberation will naturally lead to liberation of life against the existing system of exploitation.

As you know, as the Kurdish Women's Movement, we declared the 21st century as the century of women in line with our leader's vision. Apart from theoretical-philosophical insights, the recent developments also confirm that our motto is relevant and in line with the Zeitgeist.

Compared to 2018, when the first conference was held, how do you evaluate the current situation?

In 2018, there were very serious women-led uprisings around the world. They were mainly about greater women's rights. For example, in Latin America, millions of women took to the streets against anti-abortion. Violence against women was a serious topic. In the Middle East, the Rojava Women's Revolution, led by the Kurdish Women's Movement, and women's self-defence exerted a serious influence across the world. Later, the global epidemic emerged, and women's struggles were also negatively affected by it. The Third World War has recently reached the borders of Europe. Following the Russia-Ukraine war, the contradictions are getting deeper and deeper. Governments are cracking down on citizens. That is, the pressures of capitalist modernity and nation-states towards the people are much more intense.

Afghanistan is very important to us. Afghanistan was handed over to the Taliban by the United States. The first thing they did was to oppress women again, to push them out of all areas of life, to suppress them. Afghan women continue to resist despite all the pressures. Afghan women announced that they were inspired by the Kurdish Women's Movement.

Now, there is a similar situation in Iran. Under the leadership of women, the motto 'Jin, Jiyan, Azadi' has emerged very clearly again. The struggle of women is gradually turning into a social struggle. Now, various segments of society, religious and ethnic groups, sexual differences are all chanting this slogan to express that they see their own freedom within the freedom of women. In this sense, the women's revolution has become more evident in 2022 than in 2018. Therefore, we will not just deal with system analysis during the conference, we will also discuss ways to get rid of the current predicament. We will pose questions like how we can fulfil our responsibility better and how we can generate the needed organization and struggle tools. We will discuss how to reach a common mentality and a common point of view. The conference aims to provide a response to the current situation.

How can those who cannot attend the conference follow it?

TV channels Jin TV and Stêrk TV will broadcast our conference live. Apart from that, we will also broadcast it live via the Internet. We want everyone to follow this conference. We live in the age of the Internet; distances don't matter anymore.

International Women's Conference in Berlin: “It is time to take responsibility for the future"

The ‘Women Are Shaping the Future Network’ holds the 2nd International Women's Conference under the motto "Our Revolution: Liberating Life" at Berlin Technical University on November 5-6.

ANF
BERLIN
Saturday, 5 Nov 2022

The 2nd International World Conference on Women began in Berlin today. Around 700 women and other oppressed genders from all over the world have travelled to Berlin to participate in this powerful and revolutionary coming together.

In terms of content, the conference started with a deep examination of the Third World War as well as the resistance against it. Specifically, it was about the struggle against the highly armed capitalist patriarchy. Meghan Bodette of the Kurdish Peace Institute moderated and posed the following questions to the first session: What can the revolutionary liberation struggle of women and other oppressed genders do in this age of pandemics, wars, violent land grabs and ecological crises? The oppressive capitalist patriarchy continues its war against women and all other oppressed genders, developing ever new methods and strategies to break women's resistance and trying to hide all the contradictions of the system. How are women and other oppressed genders around the world currently resisting this capitalist patriarchy and what does it take for this movement to gain strength?

In the first part of the panel discussion, Nilüfer Koç, member of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK), and Mariam Rawi from the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) spoke about state violence against society as well as women and the means of oppression - dominant masculinity.

"Now is the right time to shape the future"

Koç stressed that now is exactly the right time to talk about how we as women should shape the future. “After all, what is happening around us right now is nothing less than World War III - even the US, NATO, etc. agree on this. But as women, we should not make the mistake of thinking of war only in military terms. There is a war that is not named as such: since the beginning of patriarchy, feminicide has been a war and an inherent part of capitalism. Military wars are only masks to disguise the relations and origins of the problems. That is why it is so necessary to find alternatives in this century. We as women need our own ideology - that of women's liberation,” said Koç and called for engagement with women's movements that are actively fighting for peace. She said that equal principles are needed to work together and create a global connection between women.

Koç went on to discuss the current crises, the hegemonic claims of the states and the resulting wars and competition. She mentioned collaboration at this point to destroy alternatives, such as in the fight against the Kurdish freedom movement and the attacks on Kurdistan. “At this moment, the oppressed have the chance to contradict and resist. In Iran, this is currently visible again. Behind the slogan "Jin, Jiyan, Azadî" (Woman, Life, Freedom) is a decades-long struggle that shows: if we are organised, we can win battles. In Kurdistan, we show that this is possible. It is time that we as sisters take responsibility for the future. Woman, Life, Freedom! That's how we will win."

"Women are proving that they are writing the history of the revolution”

Mariam Rawi then spoke of Afghanistan as a place where the most brutal religious fascists are currently ruling. She impressively described the tragedy that is taking place under this Islamist fundamentalist mentality. This is a force directed against women. Atrocities and women's suffering are the order of the day under this regime. Women are not recognised as human beings, but are reduced to child-bearing machines, she said.

However, Rawi also stressed that the Taliban were not alone, but linked to the institutions of capitalist states, such as the CIA. She gave a brief outline of the history of this cooperation. For example, she said, "women's rights" were used to legitimise the intervention after 2001, but even if today there is talk of its failure, in fact everything went according to the imperialist plan. Today, the country is on the verge of collapse, yet Western governments maintain relations with the Taliban: strategic interests are far more important than the fate of Afghan women and men, she noted.

But, she continued, people have also learned: values can only be fought for by the oppressed themselves - and then they will no longer be taken away. She went into detail about the work of RAWA: for more than 40 years they have been raising awareness of injustices and clandestinely organising women. For their work, the organisation was recently awarded the Sakine Cansiz Prize. "We were very happy about that."

Rawi concluded by saying, "We hope that the network of solidarity will become stronger and stronger. We swear by the blood of the struggling women to continue their journey. Women are proving that they are writing the history of the revolution."

Ecocide: overcoming domination, dispossession, oppression

The second part of the morning was dedicated to the destruction of nature and was entitled "Ecocide: overcoming domination, dispossession, oppression: the subordination and colonisation of nature and the ruthless appropriation and exploitation of resources". Here, Lolita Chavez from Feministas Abya Yala from Guatemala and Ariel Salleh, a sociologist and ecofeminist from Australia spoke.

From Abya Yala to Kurdistan

Chavez started her speech by lighting a fire and spoke words of gratitude for the earth, the cosmos: "This is our fire, our feminist fire, from Abya Yala to Kurdistan." She positioned herself against the war in Kurdistan and the use of chemical weapons, saying they were defenders of life.

She told of the occupation of indigenous territories, the exploitation and violence of criminal networks and terrorising structures. She stressed that these were also financed by Europe and its institutions: "We are here, telling you in your eyes: you are part of it." She spoke of the war that the extractivist companies were waging against them because they were holding their worlds against them, alternatives that were possible in their territories.

"Stop transnational corporations where they are born"

Chavez also denounced feminicide and called for justice. As feminists from Abya Yala, she said, they would work together, weaving autonomy and self-determination, but also sharing their wisdom. "We are not ashamed when they say we are witches. We stand by our spirituality. We are against ideologism because in our territories we decide."

Chavez ended her speech with two appeals. One, she said, was that there was now no time to delay the important project any longer: "Let's form these feminist networks and weave feminism from below!" Secondly, she called for, "Stop transnational corporations where they are born! Extractivist corporations are the wrong answer to global warming. And we will stop them!"

Overcoming dualist thinking

Ariel Salleh began her presentation by addressing the Rojava revolution, describing it as ecofeminist. She stressed that feminism and ecology denote a common struggle and are intertwined. She called for a struggle to be waged against the perpetuation of constructed dualisms and associated dissociative linkages. “The created dualistic thinking, for example between human beings and nature and linked to that of man and woman, not only limits our possibilities, but also leads to negative consequences, e.g. by portraying one side as inferior or opening the doors to colonialism. Humanity, reason, production are diametrically opposed to nature, chaos, reproduction and dominate them. This hierarchy is institutionalised in patriarchy. A lot of energy is needed to maintain male domination, which means alienation from life itself. Ecofeminists know about this connection with violence against women, and Abdullah Öcalan is also aware of this,” she said, and concluded by talking about successful ecofeminist struggles and emphasising her solidarity.

"Making Invisible Work Visible”

Concluding the first session, the third part focused on "Making Invisible Work Visible: The survival of the system is based on women's bad and unpaid work." This addressed the question: how can we base our class struggle on the principle of women's liberation to fight the foundations of capitalist exploitation? Women in class struggles have developed a view that the class hierarchy and the state are built on the exploitation of women's bodies and services. Under current capitalist conditions, women's labour is even more exploited and made even more invisible.

Abolish the system, not the human being

Genevieve Vaughan, an Italian American peace activist, feminist and philanthropist, made it clear in her lecture that the capitalist economy of the last centuries must be fundamentally abolished. “In order to push for a radical change of the economic system, we would have to understand unpaid labour as the standard of the system and paid labour as its deviation. Only then would we be able to see how women's bodies are exploited in capitalist patriarchy. Humans are the only species that cannot sustain themselves, but only stay alive by caring for each other. The maternal gift, she said, is invisible in the capitalist economy. This gift includes the creation of life and care, she noted.

Misogyny has historically kept women out of science and this has laid the groundwork for always developing models that would have voids in their analysis. We have to realise that we don't want the system to survive, we want our human species to survive. And our species consists of humans, who are neither Homo Economicus, i.e. profit-oriented, nor Homo Sapiens, i.e. knowledgeable, because we do not know who we are. The human being is a homo Donando, a giving human being.

Real security does not come from capitalist patriarchy

"Azadi means freedom in many languages" - with these words Kavita Krishnan, feminist activist of the All India Progressive Women's Association, began her contribution. She made it clear that in patriarchy the word security is used as a code for control and exploitation of women. To illustrate this situation in the system, Krishnan gave various examples from India and China to illustrate this shift in terms as a strategy to oppress women. In one example, she discussed the situation of young women who are recruited to work in factories of multinational companies. The managers promise the families that their daughters will work in safety, while their wages are only paid after three years. Even their mobile phones are partly taken away from them. Krishnan asked what kind of security is actually at stake. The security that should be at stake, she said, is one that should give protection from employers. The employer, however, becomes an ally of the family by de facto restricting women's freedom and preventing them from forming relationships with men outside their caste, from organising themselves, etc.

Krishnan stressed how important it is for feminist solidarity to be critical of supposedly anti-imperialist regimes. We must not close our eyes just because regimes claim to be anti-US. The same regimes, she said, understand LGBT struggles and feminism as Western values to be fought against.

The first session ended with an engaging Q&A session and many powerful expressions. There were repeated slogans and applause from the audience.

Women's Conference in Berlin: The desired life will not come through miracles but a revolution

The second day of the international women's conference in Berlin is dedicated to the political prisoners who are imprisoned because of their struggle for freedom and who cannot participate in the exciting debates.

ANF
BERLIN
Sunday, 6 Nov 2022, 18:51

At the Technical University in Berlin, the international women's conference "Our Revolution: Liberating Life" of the network "Women Weaving Future" continued on the second day. The first day of the conference concluded with a concert by the Kurdish musician Yalda Abbasi.

The second day of the conference was dedicated to political prisoners. "We want to remember all political prisoners. There are many women who cannot be with us today because they are imprisoned for their struggle for freedom. The price they pay is their own freedom," the welcome address said.

KJAR: The women will not leave the streets

At the beginning of the programme, a video of the Community of Free Women of Eastern Kurdistan (KJAR) was shown in which a KJAR representative expressed her conviction that the revolution in Rojhilat (Eastern Kurdistan) and Iran would be successful: "A dictatorial regime has been in power for 43 years, that is enough. The women in Iran and Rojhilat had to live like slaves in society." The fascist regime could only be overthrown by women's hands, she said. The KJAR representative pointed out that women had been deprived of their freedom and systematically disenfranchised, among other things, by being forced to wear headscarves. “There are hundreds of women who have been raped, imprisoned or attacked with acid, but they hold their heads high. The women went to the barricades and would not leave the streets. Especially the Kurdish population continue the uprising so that the Kurdish woman, Jina Mahsa Amini, who was murdered by the Iranian morality police, is not forgotten. The slogan "Jin, Jiyan, Azadî" (Woman, Life, Freedom) is based on the legacy of decades of resistance in Kurdistan and destroys the ideology of the Iranian state. Men have also joined the protest and stood up together with women to fight against the state in which they see no hope,” said the KJAR representative who greeted the participants of the conference on behalf of the women of Rojhilat and wished them all success.

"From the balconies to the barricades"

The first session on the second day of the conference was moderated by Rahila Gupta, a freelance journalist and Southall Black Sisters activist from the UK. Rahila began by explaining that she had looked at Abdullah Öcalan's reading list, which included many feminist writers such as Judith Butler.

"How can the fragmentation of class, nationalism, religion caused by patriarchal mentality be overcome and how can we become independent of the thought structures of the male-dominated system?" the moderator asked, explaining that women's struggles would risk being reincorporated into the system unless a real alternative paradigm was developed - one based on intellectual and theoretical critique and capable of truly overcoming the limitations of the system.

The title of the session was "The life we dream of will not come through miracles, but through revolution" and was a quote from Abdullah Öcalan. The question of the session was "How do we get the women from the balconies to the barricades?" Part of the success of the Kurdish movement, she said, was based on the fact that activists went door to door to talk to everyone about what society should look like. The civil war in Syria created the right conditions for a "revolution within the revolution" in Rojava and it is important to reflect that the second wave of feminism was a significant foundation for Öcalan's work.

Women's revolution in Sudan

The first speaker was Shahida Abdulmunim from the Gender Centre for Research and Training in Sudan. The revolution in her country is also being made by women, said Shahida, explaining that for 80 years, since the beginning of the dictatorship in Sudan, women have been in the forefront of the resistance. In 1990-1999, almost only women were on the streets, fighting against the Bashir regime and celebrating great successes. During the 2018 uprising too, she said, women were prepared and led the struggles. They fought against toxic masculinity and patriarchy, the speaker explained. Abdulmunim noted that she herself was on the streets and was one of the participants in the revolution; 70 per cent of the people on the streets were women. These women came from 50 different groups and had to unite.

The patriarchal resistance and the state tried to weaken this movement, among other things, by appointing a woman to represent the movement. Three women became part of the government congress, but they were not representatives of the movement. Many laws were changed to the disadvantage of women. Shahida compared these laws to those of Iran. She said that 5000 women were in prison in Sudan for political reasons. “The regime even finances itself from the fines that women have to pay. The aim of the regime is to exclude half of the people in Sudan from political life. In my opinion, the hijab is not only a scarf, but prohibits women from participating and living in society.”

Shahida concluded: "What we wear, what we want, where we go, whether we wear a hijab or not, is not a religious issue, it is a political issue. We have to fight the regimes in our countries. We are fighting against neoliberalism and patriarchy, and we want to liberate our countries, to liberate ourselves!"

The Kurdish movement is one of the strongest democratic movements in Europe

The second speaker was Kurdish sociologist and author Dr Dilar Dirik, who began her speech by commemorating the journalist and Jineolojî researcher Nagihan Akarsel, who was murdered in Sulaymaniyah, Southern Kurdistan by the Turkish secret service MIT.

Dirik said that one has to talk about fragmentation on the global level. At the last conference, she said, there was talk about women's organising increasing, but at the same time there was also an increase in racist, fascist movements. “The Trumps, Erdoğans, Bolsonaros are the result of fascist movements, they represent the naked face of capitalist patriarchy. Liberalism is being imposed on the emerging women's struggles and "pinkwashing" is taking place in the face of NATO violence. Even their own movements are being appropriated by neoliberalism and made a product of capitalism. The capitalist system itself uses the image of women in struggle and tries to take over feminist movements.” Dirik asked, "What kind of resistance is allowed and which is criminalised? The Kurdish movement is a good example of this.”

“How, for example, did Daesh, the so-called "Islamic State", grow stronger and develop? This is an important question for the women's movement, so that something like this does not happen again.” With regards to the World Cup in Qatar, the speaker asked why no one was talking about the fact that the Islamist Al-Nusra Front was being co-financed by Qatar. Qatar, she said, is also at the forefront of supporting the Taliban.

Dilar Dirik went on to say that it is necessary to get out of the discourse that Turkey is a rogue state and should be excluded from NATO. “Rather, Turkey is an integral part of NATO. Knowledge production should not be left to the states. The German Foreign Minister, who adorns herself with the slogan "Jin Jiyan Azadî", actively supports those forces that attack women. The propaganda of the Western states is so powerful that many people do not even know how many crimes NATO commits, which wars it finances and which are waged in its name. Of course, it is always easier to criticise countries that are not in NATO and to declare them the enemy.”

Dirik explained that the Kurdish movement is also one of the strongest democratic movements in Europe. Despite massive criminalisation, it is able to organise protests across Europe in a very short time, she added. “It is not possible to understand the fragmentation of the protests if fascist movements are only analysed locally. Women's movements worldwide should not only deal with the cultural problems of their own nations. Rather, it is necessary to ask how the government of one's own country is involved in the creation, financing and building of Islamist, fascist organisations worldwide.”

The conference, she said, is a good example that women can organise without the state - freely and autonomously. In conclusion, Dirik demanded that the movement must radicalise itself and overcome liberalism. Likewise, it must fight to ensure that its own slogans are not stolen by the system.

Feminism as the rebellion of the oldest colony

The second part of the session was titled "Feminism - the rebellion of the oldest colony and what lies behind it". Rahila Gupta posed the question: "What has been the role and contribution of feminism to the struggle of women in the past and present? What are the causes of the obstacles that feminism faces? How can feminism adopt an anti-system stance?"

The situation of women in Yemen

Dr Anjila al-Maamari from the Centre for Strategic Studies in Support of Women and Children from Yemen explained that Yemen is located in the south of the Arabian Peninsula, on the border with Saudi Arabia, which makes Yemen a geostrategically important place. Anjila thanked all the women for coming together at the conference and explained how difficult it was to get in and out of Yemen. The women's revolution will always continue, she said. “Yemen has been at war for eight years, so the human rights situation is very difficult. 20 million people are threatened by the war. There are four million refugees, most of them children and women. The issue of sexism is very entrenched and it is difficult to be a woman in Yemen. Every fifth woman has psychological problems. Women have been fighting a long social battle to be able to participate in political and social life. It is clear that there are a lot of restrictions for them.”

“Half of Yemen's population of 25 million people are women, but there is only one woman in parliament. There are 30 male representatives in the ministries and only one female. The UN is not doing enough, although women are very involved. Women are also underrepresented at peace conferences like the one in Geneva. There is no political will in the system to bring women into the political arena. Among other things, women are not allowed to go out on the streets without male accompaniment. There were also no women present at the discussions on a political solution in Stockholm. However, women must be present when laws are developed to assist women. The current government was formed in April 2021. There is not a single woman in the government. It is completely male. To make this invisible, only a few women have been appointed to committees. In contrast to the 1962 revolution, in which most of the activists were men, women were in the front row in the 2011 revolution, which was a big change.”

Argentina: Ni Una Menos

Next to speak was author and activist Marta Dillon from the "Ni Una Menos" movement in Argentina. At the beginning of her talk, loud chants rang out in the hall to show solidarity with the movement: "Ni una menos - vivas nos queremos!". Marta Dillon prefaced her talk by saying that she had brought with her the love of various women fighters from Abya Yala who defend their land every day against neoliberal-capitalist extractivism while facing the terrorist violence of the state. In doing so, Marta made visible that from Abya Yala to Kurdistan, there is struggle everywhere and all revolutionary women's struggles against capitalist patriarchy are interconnected worldwide.

Ni Una Menos was formed in 2015 to take to the streets as an intersectional feminist movement against feminicide and to make visible patriarchal violence linked to capitalism and colonialism. Only in this way, said Marta Dillon, can patriarchal violence and its most definitive form, feminicide, be properly addressed. The "Ni Una Menos" movement places itself in the tradition of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo and all the struggling women during the dictatorship in Argentina and thus sees itself as part of a feminist struggle that also opposes state terror, which is partly responsible for the exploitation and oppression of women. The movement is an amalgamation of different groups and identities that take to the streets for the life and memory of women and transpersons who have been victims of feminicide. They make visible that feminicides are never private, but always a political issue that affects everyone in society. After this movement grew bigger and bigger in Argentina, but also in many other countries that joined this impulse, a political strike was called by Ni Una Menos in 2016. The strike serves as a tool to make visible the exploitation of women and their work, bodies and care. The strike made clear that women are robbed of their life-time by capitalist patriarchy. Marta Dillon said that women were reclaiming this lifetime through autonomous feminist organising with each other. The international women's conference, she said, is an example of this. The strike was a means of further tightening the net between the struggles, which the Kurdish women's movement had invited at the conference. In conclusion, Marta Dillon summarised her demands in a trend-setting way: We need a feminism that distinguishes itself from conservative and liberal feminism. Only with an intersectional understanding of capitalist patriarchy can women liberate themselves. The patriarchal state owes women and colonised people the life in freedom to which they are entitled.

Sociology of Freedom and Jineolojî

The first speaker in the third part of the session entitled "Sociology of Freedom and Jineolojî" was Elif Kaya from the Jineolojî Centre Europe. She explained the role that Jineolojî will play in transforming the values, experiences and knowledge that emerge from the women's revolution and enter social culture. "An intellectual search based on an alternative paradigm can make the values of the women's resistance the basis of the revolution," Elif said, also remembering Nagihan Arkasel, who worked at the Jineolojî Centre in Sulaymaniyah until her assassination. Elif greeted the women from Abya Yala and the political prisoners and introduced the question: "What is the difference between Jineoloji and other feminisms? What paradigm guides us?"

“Scientific approaches cannot answer this question. The basis is the sociology of freedom. The revolution focuses on the change of the social. Every revolution is connected with freedom. After revolutions, more conservative paths could also emerge, as for example in Iran at the time. This revolution did not have freedom as its basis and therefore also led to the murder of Jina Amini. Sociology was founded in the 18th century to understand society after industrialisation, but it took a positivist direction. These sciences are not suitable for understanding the social. Metaphysical aspects have been left out. The sociology of freedom offers a way out and opens up a holistic horizon. Multiplurality is the basis for this. A connection between sociology and history is being re-established.”

Elif explained that in 2017, scientific work began in Rojava to explain the ideological basis of the revolution. “This is how the Jineolojî works, for example through the publication of books. Positivist science hides women's knowledge, while Jineoloji places this knowledge at the centre and establishes the role of women and their visibility. Jineoloji rejects patriarchal knowledge production. The slogan "Jin Jiyan Azadî" establishes the connection between knowledge and women's lives. Knowing who we are and where we want to go means developing practice. Science must develop solutions to existing problems. Jineolojî is a young science that makes it possible to present women's perspectives, but also passion and hope. The concept of Xwebûn ("being oneself") means to stand against one's own alienation with the roots of knowledge.

Liberating people from the grip of patriarchy

The next speaker was feminist activist and philosophy professor Jules Falquet from France, who addressed the question: "What do we mean by liberating people from the grip of patriarchy? What does liberation from gendered forms of power relations and the definition of women and men by overcoming gender mean? What are the building blocks of a philosophy of life that will change and transform social relations?"

Jules recalled Bertha Cacerés, Rosa Luxemburg and all the other murdered revolutionaries, and said of her own life story that she was rather privileged, as a woman-born, white French woman, from a country that was the third largest exporter of arms in the world. “Politically, I try to fight against colonialism, sexism and capitalism. I see myself as a feminist and lesbian in the sense of Monique Vitti and try not to be a "woman" anymore, that is, to escape oppression. I lived in Abya Yala in Ecuador from 1992-94 with ex-guerrillas when the Zapatista movement was rising. I also lived with a Kurdish fighter and participated in the 1st Zapatista Congress, and co-founded a feminist lesbian network. I am an activist, but very interested in scientific methodology.”

The activist said it was interesting that young and enthusiastic women were present as well as experienced militants, including many racialised women. “This is different from the past and says a lot about the knowledge that is being generated. The power of the new demands also lies in this. The struggles under the slogan "Jin Jiyan Azadî" also include looking at the dimension of social reproduction. Women, and especially migrants from southern countries, are in key positions for this.”