Iran intensifies violent crackdown on women

Omid Barin

DW

April 29, 2024

After a recent order from Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, "morality police" are increasing patrols, and women who refuse to wear headscarves are reporting more violent harassment and arrests.




Young women have been defying the Iranian regime's crackdown

Iranian authorities are stepping up street patrols in a renewed push towards suppressing women who refuse to follow strict Islamic dress codes.

Under a new campaign called "nour" or "light," endorsed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iranian "morality police" are out in force on so-called guidance patrols looking for women who refuse to wear the hijab, or headscarf.

One 25-year-old woman, who spoke to DW anonymously, said she was accosted on the streets of Tehran while on her way to university on April 20.

She said she was surrounded by dozens of police officers who demanded that she cover her hair, and when she resisted, they quickly resorted to violence, pulling out some of her hair and verbally harassing her as they dragged her into the van.

"At that moment, I didn't fully understand what was happening; I just knew they were beating me. Later, I saw that several parts of my body were bruised," she said.

As she was being beaten and harassed by police, the woman said she thought of the "Women, Life Freedom" movement, which started in September 2022 when 22-year-old Jina Mahsa Amini died after being taken into custody by the morality police in Tehran for allegedly improperly wearing a hijab.

Iranian women defy laws limiting their freedom  03:22

Amini's death was followed by the highest level of public unrest Iran had seen in decades, with thousands of people taking to the streets of Iranian cities in support of women's rights. Authorities used force to suppress the protests. A UN fact-finding mission estimates that 551 protesters were killed.

"I remembered Jina Mahsa Amini and other women who sacrificed their lives during the women's uprising for life and freedom, and I told myself I had to be strong," the woman said.

"I shouted loudly that my dress code is my own business. As soon as I said this, their insults and violence began," she said. The female officers called her a prostitute and told her that as long as she lived in Iran, she "must respect the laws of the country derived from Islamic commands."

The woman said she was taken into police custody, where at least five other women were also detained for not wearing a headscarf. She was released after several hours but was forced to sign a letter committing to following Islamic dress codes, and may also face further legal action.

A renewed crackdown on women in Iran

In recent weeks, there have been many similar reports on excessive violence against women circulating on Iranian social media. Many women have shared their experiences of police violence, arrest and fines.

Iran's legislative bodies, the Islamic Consultative Assembly and the Guardian Council, which sign off on laws, have recently been negotiating bills aimed at legalizing a crackdown on women who oppose the "compulsory hijab."

The resurgence of violence against women began after Khamenei's speech on Eid al-Fitr, April 10, the holiday that ends the month of Ramadan.

Emphasizing the necessity of compulsory hijab, he ordered actions against "religious norm-breakers."

Following this speech, the morality police increased street patrols. The calls for a crackdown also coincided with the large-scale Iranian missile and drone strike on Israel, and a surge of international concern over a widening of the conflict in the Middle East.

Mahtab Mahboub, an Iranian women's rights activist residing in Germany, told DW that the timing of the increased crackdown on women's rights, along with the heightened tensions with Israel, is not a coincidence.

"The issue of security lies at the core of the Islamic Republic's policies — external security through attacking the 'enemy,' and internal security through controlling the bodies of women and all sexual and gender minorities," she said.

She added that women and protesters "are seen as potential agents of rebellion who can challenge the compulsory value system" of the Islamic Republic.

People around the world, like these protesters in Berlin, supported Iran's Women, Life, Freedom movement

Image: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo/picture alliance

Osman Mozayan, a lawyer in Tehran, told DW that in recent days, many unlawful detentions have taken place.

"In some cases, women's bank accounts have been blocked, or their cars have been confiscated. Some students have been prevented from entering universities. Even some have been deprived of work. Their civil and civic lives are disrupted," he said.

"These individuals are mostly referred to the courts, and regardless of the verdict — conviction or acquittal — these punishments and restrictions imposed are irreparable," he added.

Iranians demand change

Many believe that the nationwide Women, Life, Freedom protests represent the most severe internal challenge since the Islamic Republic was formed in 1979.

However, the regime has never been willing to concede to the demands of the protesters, especially the removal of mandatory hijab obligations.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, who is currently in Tehran's Evin Prison, described the recent surge in violence against women and youth as a sign of "desperation" from the Islamic Republic.

Mohammadi said the new policy stems from the regime's "untreatable pain of illegitimacy."

'I will be living proof of the violent oppression in Iran'  03:45

A group of mothers who lost their children during the Women, Life, Freedom protests issued a statement recently condemning the "brutal and continuous repression by this misogynist regime."

"Women have no intention of returning to the past and do not allow themselves to be considered second-class citizens, letting the patriarchal government and society decide for them," the statement said.

Rojina, a journalist in Tehran who spoke to DW using a pseudonym, said despite the recent uptick in violence, she has not seen any change on the streets.

"Every day, many women can be seen in public with optional clothing. They have accepted that freedom requires a cost, and they are determined not to revert to life before the Women, Life, Freedom movement."

Feminist activist Mahboub is in contact with many women in Iran. She said the Women, Life, Freedom movement has "restored the lost self-confidence to women and reminded the entire society that the freedom of women and the most marginalized groups is the measure of society's freedom."

"Some women who still leave home without a hijab are courageously reclaiming their lost dignity. They insist that no one has the right to decide for our bodies," she said.

WOMAN, LIFE, FREEDOM

KURDISTAN 

Interview with Çiğdem Doğu, KJK: Questioning Male Hegemony and Becoming Oneself

In the quest to dominate society and woman the capitalist system has systematically removed us from ourselves, from our own identity. A person who knows oneself will also understand the system. Cigdem Dogu, a member of the KJK (Komelen Jinen Kurdistan, Kurdistan Women’s Community) Executive Council answers and poses questions on the struggle to get to know oneself as a woman and as a human being and explores “xwebun” the Kurdish Movement for Freedom’s concept of “becoming oneself”.

 Interview from 29 April 2024.

By Çiğdem Doğu

August 17, 2024

Source: Academy of Democratic Modernity


"To achieve “xwebun” is to be yourself, to be a comrade with women, to be harmonious with your society, identity and a free life." - Çiğdem Doğu | Image via Academy of Democratic Modernity



As KJK, we have a long history of struggle. The body and spirit of this struggle came to life with the principles of PAJK (Partiya Azadiya Jinen Kurdistane, Party of Free Women in Kurdistan). How do you evaluate these principles? And can we call this a struggle for “xwebun”?

We have fifty years of history since martyr Sakine Cansız joined the PKK, thirty-seven years since the establishment of our first women’s organisation YJWK (Kurdistan Patriotic Women’s Union), thirty-one years since the establishment of our first women’s army, twenty-five years since the first initiative of our women’s party, and nineteen years since our transition to the confederal system with KJK. The free women’s identity and approach created by Sakine Cansız, which met with Reber Apo’s (name used for Abdullah Öcalan within the Kurdish Freedom Movement) line in the PKK, has determined our history of women’s struggle for freedom. For this reason, in the words of Reber Apo, our women’s liberation struggle is the way, fight and identity of comrade Sakine Cansız. The women’s freedom march in Kurdistan has always been marked by Sakine Cansız’s life of struggle and love for humanity. We first learnt the truth of becoming oneself from her; her fighting personality that never bowed to fascism, colonialism or male domination, as well as her immense love for comradeship, humanity and free womanhood, and her modesty, guided us and gave us the strength and determination to walk on this path. Therefore, at all decisive points of our women’s liberation struggle, we encounter the truth of Sakine’s self realisation, her experiences and legacy – her trace.

Our Kurdistan women’s democratic confederal system emerged with the struggle of becoming oneself. It was developed at great cost. Tens of thousands of our female comrades have shed blood and sweat for this cause, and have revealed their identity as free women after struggling with immense adversity. Kurdish women did not theorise the reality of becoming oneself whilst sitting at a table. In the middle of the war, in the prison cells, on the streets, within the family, at school, at work, wherever they exist – they have experienced and theorised it with collective mind, collective heart, collective organisation and struggle – paying a price at each step. The ideology of women’s liberation and women’s partisanship emerged out of these experiences and heritage, revealing the principles on which the reality of becoming onself should be built. The women’s liberation struggle has been carried out in line with the five principles of PAJK (Kurdistan Women’s Freedom Party) and its Women’s Liberation Ideology; love for the homeland, free thought and free will, struggle, organisation, and ethics-aesthetics, all of which aim to instil a consciousness of selfhood among women individually and across the female gender. This struggle has passed through different epochs and phases, and has reached the stage of establishing women’s self-government in society. Such a struggle cannot be considered independently of the truth of becoming oneself.

1) How do you think the identity of “xwebun” has become an expression of Kurdish women and society?

Imagine that you exist in a social, cultural and national reality that has pioneered the development of human history, but you have no name, no language, and no country. Yet, you have existed for thousands of years. You are the woman of an unnamed country that has been colonised by being torn apart. Identity-less women of an identity-less country. The Kurdish woman lived a reality in which the colonising states imprisoned her within the family and assigned the colonised Kurdish masculinity as a guard. She was in a situation where the colonial power and the male-dominated power jointly usurped her will, and she was de-identified twofold. This deep contradiction experienced by Kurdish women has also brought with it a great potential and quest for freedom.

In fact, it is very striking that when the PKK began to emerge on the ground in Kurdistan, the mothers and young women embraced it readily, and began to see and feel their own existence and future reflected in it. The fascist Turkish state had no tolerance for even hearing the word “kurd”; its only reflex against the phenomenon and concept of kurdishness was – and still is – massacre, oppression and violence. Therefore, to speak of kurdishness at that time meant facing the most severe oppression, and it required a great deal of courage, especially for women, to move towards such an awareness and to attempt to fight for the cause. It was in this environment that Sakine Cansız took the lead and set a brave and conscious example in terms of the participation of women and mothers.

Women began to find themselves within the PKK reality. Until the third PKK congress in 1986, there was no specific evaluation or women’s organisation formulated. In general terms, the theoretical approach did not go much beyond the framework drawn by real socialism. However, Reber Apo’s practical approach was to involve women without hesitation in any work, and to develop more original sites of organisation to strengthen the involvement and development of women. The third congress, the formation of a women’s organisation called YJWK in 1987, and the development of an analysis of women and family in Kurdistan in the same period, marked a turning point in our women’s struggle. The process that followed developed step by step.

Women moved towards a more authentic and autonomous organisation both in the guerrilla and in society, becoming more competent at every step.

Our women’s struggle came to life as the women’s army, women’s organisation, women’s liberation ideology, women’s party, and democratic confederalism of women in the form of specific and autonomous organisation within the scope of the general organisation. In 2008, this culminated in Reber Apo’s conceptualisation of “Jineoloji” as the science of women. All these processes, which we have very briefly summarised, were the processes in which women in Kurdistan recognised, discovered, and realised themselves. In other words; in our struggle, women have progressed and continue to advance on the path of becoming themselves, of self realisation, with their self-defence, organisation, struggle, love and defence of the homeland, the power to think freely and produce politics, and their consciousness . Of course, this struggle will continue as long as the male-dominated system and individuals exist. It will continue until all women and the society in Kurdistan, the Middle East and the world are liberated.

The women’s revolution taking place in Rojava today is the most concrete and visible manifestation in the social sphere of the struggle to become oneself. Here, the democratic nation project and the democratic confederal style of organisation come to life as direct democracy. And within this system, women endeavour to occupy a space in all areas of life. Through co-chairing, through equal representation of power, women articulate themselves and implement decision making power in every area of life, while developing their unique and autonomous organisation within society. From economy to health, education, ecology, justice and self-defence; women play a role that strengthens and democratises both their gender and society as a whole. Currently, candidates are being selected and preparations are being made for the municipal elections that will take place in May. While Kongra Star enters these municipal elections in alliance with the PYD, it determines its candidates through primary elections. Women themselves choose the female candidates in the primary elections, which is a very important example and model. Women determine their own female co-mayor candidates, while electing the co-mayors, which will foster self-governance. They are chosen based on women’s principles and criteria.

The reality of becoming oneself which has emerged for the Kurdish woman is the acquisition of a meaning and identity with its own unique and autonomous organisation. This identity both defends itself and wages struggle, and most importantly, is utilised in establishing a free life. It is not only a theoretical, philosophical and ideological concept – it is a reality that is lived in the most meaningful and beautiful way.

2) How do you evaluate the identity of Xwebun and its links with the philosophy of “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi”?

The philosophy of “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi”, in which the phenomena of life, women and freedom are considered holistically, requires a deep understanding. After the execution of Jîna Emini by the Iranian regime, these words gained a universal echo, embedded in the wave of struggle sweeping across the world. It became our common voice, our word. Because of the depth of its meaning and liberating power, because it touched women and men in search of freedom, because it impassioned consciousness and hearts, it rippled across the globe.

For years, we chanted the slogan “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi” on the mountain tops and in the guerrilla areas and blessed our struggle with these meaningful words. With the Rojava revolution and then the murder of Jîna Emini in Rojhilat (East Kurdistan), this slogan began to pour like a flood, breaching every dam and cascading into a wider-reaching terrain. Because these were the words and voice of freedom, of true love, of those who wanted to overcome all falsehoods and artificialities, and to reach the truth. It was filtered through a process of struggle on the ground in Kurdistan that is very difficult to explain and describe. This philosophy manifested and blossomed in the mountains, on the streets, in the prisons, in the cries of women and children of evacuated villages, in “serhildans” (uprisings), in the battle cry of Beritan (1) on the cliff edge, in the spirit of Zilan (2) in the Dersim square, in the last words of thousands of young women and men. Moreover, this energy could not contain itself, it could not stop at its borders – it began to surge beyond its confines towards new lands to form new synergies. This deluge continues to flow in the most valuable way.

Because this philosophy expressed being, or Xwebun, in Kurdistan, Xwebun is also the other, the other with its power of social relationship, its communality. Therefore, as Xwebun becomes Xwebun, it attains a dialectic that meets the other, completes itself with the will of the other, re-creates itself, in a constant process of creation. While Reber Apo described the human as the incomplete god, he also described god as the completed human. The incomplete human-being always wants to make themselves whole; what they actually seek is to do so with life, society, human beings, nature, women and men, with their free will. The dialectic of Xwebunisation instigates this feeling and consciousness in human beings, and at the same time, this feeling and consciousness advances the search for organisation and struggle in order to will. It incites the feeling of struggle against that reality which destroys the will, which oppresses, exploits, falsifies, distorts and conceals freedom and truth. This statism and its weapons are killing my ability to become myself, and my process of Xwebun with my national, gender, religious, cultural, linguistic and social identity. If the main obstacle to me being me is the forces of power that are enemies of life and freedom, then the first thing I must do is fight against this obstacle. This is where the reality of women, the fundamental subject of life and freedom, comes to the fore. Because life, will, freedom and intrinsic nature were decimated by destroying women first. A life without women has no meaning, no freedom, no naturalness, beauty or simplicity.

Consequently, in order to make sense of life, to freely be yourself, to be become oneself, it is necessary to fight for life and freedom by placing women’s freedom and struggle in the centre. This necessity applies primarily to women, but men will also find themselves in this position. Life will be meaningful and beautiful as society develops the dialectic of the free and meaningful relationship between the sexes with the actualisation and liberation of women and men’s identities. I would like to point out, again, that to be capable of this requires a great determination to struggle, to organise, a love for humanity; drinking the sweet and real syrup of society-humanity, not the poisonous syrup of the powers that be. Its beauty lies in experiencing how it feels to develop the strength, courage and consciousness to overcome the limits set for us. In Reber Apo’s words, it is hidden in the risk of “a fight worthy of Prometheus”, in cultivating the courage to walk on the edge of cliffs, in the power to transform fight into love and love into fight. Not with the touch of the magic wand of fairy tales, but with the love of struggle, with the dialectic of “hebun-zanabun-xwebun” (existence, knowing, and becoming oneself), we can overcome the poisonous ‘seductive’ life of the powers, capitalist modernity, and realise the construction of free women, free men, free society, and develop our symbiotic relationship with the already free nature. We can create brand new synergies.

3) Is it possible to create a free individual, a free woman and a free society without the identity of “xwebun”?

Being natural, that is, being truly oneself, is a very important, existential characteristic of every being in nature, in every living creature as well as in human beings, both men and women. In the plant and animal kingdoms, there is not a problem of being oneself, of “xwebun”. They have not been corrupted by the ruling fictional analytical intelligence – although their existence is endangered by its effects. Some species are heading towards extinction, but apart from some over-domesticated animals, they are not distanced from their own existential structure, degraded, or assimilated.

In the structure of human society that is neither hegemonic or dominated by masculinity, this degradation does not exist; sociality is the self, which preserves and develops its naturalness with its moral and political structure. As a matter of fact, the remains of the Neolithic period tell us clearly that the initial structure of society preserved this naturalness. All these remains, albeit in different geographies, show that the natural social structure does not have the characteristics of exploitation, power, perpetual wars, domination such as oppression, or inequality. It also shows that the relations between men and women are not characterised by domination, violence, inequality and a lack of freedom. We understand that these societies and the individuals living within them are themselves in all their naturalness, they are in “xwebun”. That is to say, the primary character of the human and society has a moral and political structure, and with this structure, it is itself, there is no deformation or degradation. Sociality, and the continuation of the physical existence and metaphysical structure of the individual within this sociality, is also linked to this character.

With the five thousand year old male-dominated system, this naturalness has deteriorated and started to cease. When we consider that for five thousand years the histories of democratic civilisation and hegemonic civilisation have continued to flow like two forks of a river, we see that the forces of democratic civilisation have tried to preserve their original structure on the one hand, and on the other hand, they have suffered deterioration. However, we know very well from the legacy of liberatory and moral resistance that has been left to us that there has not been total destruction or total surrender to the forces of the ruling hegemonic civilisation.

Although the forces of capitalist modernity insist on destroying this heritage, and they attack women, peoples, and the oppressed, they cannot and will not be destroyed. The energy of resistance, like all energies, is indestructible. The river of democratic civilisation has carried and continues to carry us in the spirit of life, freedom, courage and resistance. For this reason, women, peoples and oppressed groups as the forces of democratic modernity are taking action in every region of the world against the forces of capitalist modernity.

Especially in our era, the forces of capitalist modernity attack on the basis of destroying the truths that make a human human, society a society, and even nature nature, without recognising any limits and measures. It is trying to remove man from being human, society from being society, nature from being nature, and life from being life. It separates women and men from their own nature. It tries to evade them of their human identity. The foremost need is to regain our social and human nature, and for this, it is necessary to overcome the capitalist system, its policies, its state and non-state methods of attack, its ideological structure that distorts the truth and effectively separates us from our nature, and to develop alternatives.

How can we build a life worth living, a free life, if we cannot analyse what this capitalist system – the hegemonic male system – has made us lose? How it deceives us, and how it builds the reality of a false life and relationships? How can we be ourselves if we cannot develop as meaningful human beings, meaningful women and men who seek a meaningful life, with its organised and combative dynamics? How can we meet our truth, the truth of becoming oneself? For this reason, as you stated in your question, the construction of free women, free men and free society cannot be realised without the search for oneself. And one cannot be oneself without the struggle to build free women, free men and free society. In today’s world, where the doomsday bell tolls, the struggle to save humanity, nature, women and men can only be possible by confronting the reality of the capitalist system, which spreads poison and death, which gives birth to violence at every moment, and by attaining the eternal divorce from it.

When we consider it from the female dimension, it is necessary to see the intoxicating poison offered by the system like a sweet syrup to women under the guise of freedom and equality, and to vomit it up and break away from it. Questioning, in every aspect, the hegemonic male system and male individuals who have become the servants of this system, recognising the obfuscations and tricks that create the illusion of freedom: breaking away from male domination is the basis of the struggle for becoming oneself. The reality of women who find and recreate themselves, who can be themselves, can develop the power to transform both society and men from the power of change they create in themselves. It can expand the capacity and values of living together and pave the way for free individuals and free relationships. As we increase this struggle, the space of the hegemonic male system, the capitalist system, will narrow – and the capacity for free life, free women and free men will expand. The revolutions of our age have to develop in such a way. For this reason, it is of great importance that every individual who opposes this system and seeks emancipation develops the struggle and expands the areas of freedom wherever and whenever they are. The more each person increases their own struggle for becoming themselves, the more male domination and the ruling system will regress and collapse.

4) How can the identity of “xwebun” create bonds between women in terms of internationalism? And what is your call to the forces opposed to the system in this regard?

In our age, we see that a struggle that develops locally can quickly become universal, leading to regional and global effects. We have seen this clearly, especially in the unfolding women’s struggle, in the mobilisations, in the rapid convergence of the slogans and results. The women’s struggle finds and affects one another, whether we physically recognise each other or not. Women’s resistance quickly leads to a collective energy and synergy. It is noteworthy that during periods when the women’s struggle intensifies and radicalises, the dominant male system implements its strategies and tactics, and the intensity of struggle is dispersed and interrupted. While the pre-coronavirus pandemic period was a time in which the women’s struggle was radicalised and peaked in a universal sense, an atmosphere was created with the pandemic in which everyone was confined to homes, where all kinds of relationships posed a threat of death through the virus, and women’s organisation regressed. The confinement of every woman at home intensified male violence and created a situation where state authority and control became completely dominant. After the pandemic, there was a discontinuity in the activism of women’s movements. There was a pause in co-operation.

As women, what will establish us as a real strength is to create possibility of uniting with women of every culture, every belief, every language on the basis of being themselves, achieving “xwebun”. As the women’s identity that emerges in its own space, in its own locality, meets with other women’s identities, other women struggling for becoming themselves, by struggling for this unique true identity, by developing and strengthening it, our power will grow. In this way, we need to develop a ground where every woman-to-women movement can both preserve its identity and meet in the identity of a broader women’s organisation. Only by developing such an organisation can we resist the global domination of the hegemonic male system, its policies and wars, and develop our alternatives. And we argue that this must take the form of a democratic confederal organisation of women. The more we can integrate women’s organisations in a democratic confederal bond, the more our network of relations and our organisation will grow. If we can develop the system of women’s self-governance, women’s communes, women’s assemblies, women’s academies and communal economies greater within the geographies where we live, and if we can elevate this confederal organisational power towards regional and worldwide unity, then we will be more successful. A women’s reality that cannot govern itself, that cannot develop its own system of life, economy, health, education, law, media, culture, art, science and faith, cannot survive the violence of hegemonic masculinity and the massacres that are implemented in different forms. It always experiences a state of victimisation, of always being a victim. To the extent that we prevail over what makes us powerless and defenceless, that which makes us prisoners of this system, we can create our own alternative and build a free life, free women and free men with the understanding of democratic confederal organisation.

My call is based on meeting with all women comrades in this organisational model that will unite and increase our power. Both strengthening ourselves in our own locality – through the democratic confederal style of organisation – and integrating with the women of other geographies through the democratic confederal style of organisation could be the main approach to save us from the apocalypse of our age. Discussing this issue more, putting it on the agenda and taking concrete steps will be very important in terms of amplifying the legacy of women’s resistance and carrying it to future generations.

To achieve “xwebun” is to be yourself, to be a comrade with women, to be harmonious with your society, identity and a free life. It is to live in the moment with history and the future, with combativeness and production intertwined in each moment towards a free life. It is our human obligation to weave women’s love in the most beautiful patterns with women’s comradeship, to imbue it and animate it with life’s most beautiful colours. Whether we know each other or not, I greet with love and respect all my women comrades whose hearts are beating for freedom and being themselves, and I wish success for women in their quests for victory.


References

(1) A female guerilla fighter who chose to throw herself of a cliff rather than fall into the hands of the enemy forces.

(2) A member of the Kurdish Freedom Movement who committed an action against a military parade in Dersim, Kurdistan.


Çiğdem Doğu

Cigdem Dogu is a member of the KJK (Komelen Jinen Kurdistan, Kurdistan Women’s Community) Executive Council.

How Gen Z is using social media in Iran’s Women, Life, Freedom movement

A woman cuts her hair during a protest against the death of Iranian Mahsa Amini, in Istanbul, Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

THE CONVERSATION

Published: December 19, 2022 

Iran’s attorney general recently indicated that the country’s morality police had been disbanded after protests calling for the country’s hijab mandate to be lifted. However, the government has not confirmed the attorney general’s remarks and local media have reported that he was “misinterpreted.”

The uncertainty over Iran’s morality police comes after several weeks of protests that started after the death of 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa (Zhina) Amini. Amini died in the custody of the morality police on Sept. 16 after being arrested for allegedly breaching Iran’s mandatory hijab law.

In the first three months of the protests, demonstrations have taken place in almost all of Iran’s 31 provinces. People in 160 cities and 143 universities have taken part in demonstrations against the mandatory hijab laws. Many Iranians living abroad have also taken part in protests.

These protests are part of a long history of women’s rights movements in Iran. But what makes this movement different is how young women are tapping into social media to elevate their own agency and challenge the country’s patriarchal laws.

Women’s rights movements in Iran

Iran has witnessed multiple protests since the 1979 revolution. But the Women, Life, Freedom movement has launched a new generation of young women to the forefront of the movement.

The first wave of women’s rights movements started more than a hundred years ago with the constitutional revolution in Iran. Many clerics and religious figures were opposed to such a change at the time. Although the constitutional revolution aimed to establish legal and social reforms in Iran, conservative elements “frequently made political use of "Islam” to erect obstacles to women’s demands for equity.“

After the Islamic revolution in 1979, many women’s rights, such as the family protection law, secured before the revolution were suspended.

Since April 1983, the mandatory hijab law has been enforced on all women in the public sphere in Iran. The third wave of women’s rights movements started after the 1979 revolution and various campaigns such as "one million signatures” have demanded gender equality in Iran.

Women, Life, Freedom

The latest feminist movement in Iran has changed the equation. Those taking part in the Women, Life, Freedom movement have used social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to amplify their message.

Campaigns like the #GirlsofRevolutionStreet and #WhiteWednesdays are a few examples of hashtags that have been used to mobilize young women on and offline against compulsory hijab laws.

In an authoritarian context where women’s bodies are being policed, social media has empowered young women to express themselves online. They learn they can be influencers and agents of a movement under the slogan Women, Life, Freedom and challenge conservative religious and patriarchal values that have been enforced onto their daily lives through education, media and policing.

Social media became “an antidote to state violence and its suppression of facts.” Protesters are using social media to connect with one another, vocalize their demands, highlight their bravery and civil disobedience tactics and show the government’s brutality.

Baraye by Iranian musician Shervin Hajipour has become one of the anthems of the protest movement in Iran.

Social media has provided a new generation of young Iranians the ability to detach themselves from the patriarchal rules of the government. Generation Z, who have grown up in the social media era, are able to educate themselves on gender equality and engage with global feminist movements online.

This includes learning about the values, beliefs and challenges that women are facing all over the world and the ways these challenges can be highlighted and addressed using online platforms.

The #MeToo movement raised awareness worldwide about the sexual abuse and violence many women continue to face. In Iran, #MeToo was more focused on ending the taboo on talking about sexual assault and violence, and increasing awareness about the issue. The movement started in the country after female journalists shared their experiences of being harassed while on the job. Many other women soon went online to expose the harassment and abuse they had experienced.

Social media has made it easier for Iranians to tap into global feminist movements and enabled feminist activists to tell their own stories. Generation Z, as the progressive leaders of the Women, Life, Freedom movement, are making their demands clear both online and offline and challenging the barriers toward achieving women’s liberty in Iran.

Author

Farinaz Basmechi
Doctoral Student, Feminist and Gender Studies, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa

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.”

SYRIAN KURDISTAN









Kongra Star: Together, we are writing a new chapter in the history of resistance

Kongra Star released a message of solidarity on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, saluting every woman who stands up against injustice: “Let us make this century the century of women’s freedom and empowerment."


ANF
NEWS DESK
Thursday, 21 November 2024, 15:19

The Democratic Political Alliances and Relations Committee of the Kongra Star, the umbrella organization of women in North-East Syria, sent a message of solidarity to women's movements and feminist movements around the world on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, November 25.

The message released by the Kongra Star Democratic Political Alliances and Relations Committee on Thursday includes the following:

“To all women’s movements and feminist movements around the world,

On this day when women’s voices unite to defend their dignity and their right to a safe and free life, we write to you with a spirit of resilience and struggle.

On November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, we wholeheartedly salute every woman who stands up against injustice – whether in her home, on the streets, behind prison bars or on the front lines of resistance. We salute the women who are defending freedom all over the world: from Palestine, where women are resisting the brutality of occupation, to India, where they are fighting for equality, from war-torn Sudan, where women are bearing the brunt of conflict and injustice, to Iran and Eastern Kurdistan, where women are holding up the flag of resistance despite oppression.

Systematic violence against women stems from the patriarchal mindset, which is at the root of all forms of violence – be it exploitation, forced occupation, enslavement or massacre. Therefore, the fight against this violence must aim to overcome the patriarchal system itself. This system, which is reinforced and perpetuated by the state, continues to reproduce violence against women at all levels.

The patriarchal system wages a special kind of war against women. Targeting their achievements and hard-won rights, it seeks to incorporate women’s movements into its framework, depriving them of leadership and denying them true liberation.

We live in the shadow of an undeclared Third World War in which women are the main targets of a multi-layered struggle that threatens their existence and seeks to silence their voices. The Third World War is not just a military conflict, but a systematic war that is directed against life in all its aspects. It destroys culture, nature and fundamental human values. Faced with this global threat that endangers our existence as individuals and peoples, it is our duty as women to oppose this organized violence that is directed against life, identity and hope.

Under the slogan “With the philosophy of women, life, freedom – protect yourself”, we stand today in Rojava and in North and East Syria and affirm that the present moment calls for unity and increased solidarity among women. It is now more important than ever for women’s movements worldwide to unite and build self-protection mechanisms to counter the attempts of oppressive forces.

The women’s revolution in Rojava/North and East Syria is an evolving process that continues despite numerous challenges. This revolution, in which women are an important and leading force, is under constant attack – especially from the fascist Turkish state, which positions itself as the enemy of women and aims to crush this movement striving for freedom and equality. They want to destroy everything we have built, but we know that a revolution led by women is a revolution that cannot be defeated. It will continue until its goals are achieved.

This call is a renewed commitment to the path of struggle – a pledge to work hand in hand to create networks of support and solidarity that challenge oppression and ensure that women’s voices remain powerful and unyielding. We pledge to stand with every woman who stands up against injustice, every woman who resists oppression, and every woman who demands her rights in a just society and a dignified life.

As Kongra Star, we know that protecting the women’s revolution requires strengthening independent organizations and self-defense mechanisms. We believe that this moment is a historic opportunity to forge a global alliance that resists all attempts at subjugation and highlights the fact that the voice of women is stronger than the forces of darkness.

To all revolutionary women, to all women who cling to their dreams despite oppression, and to all who confront violence in every corner of the world, we assure you that you are not alone. Together, we are writing a new chapter in the history of resistance, striving to build a future where women’s freedom and dignity are inviolable rights.

Let us continue the struggle, strengthen our unity, and make this century the century of women’s freedom and empowerment.”

YPJ Central Headquarters for Women’s Protection inaugurated in Heseke

“As we approach November 25th, women need the knowledge of women’s science and defense more than ever. Without knowledge, struggle, and protection, we cannot safeguard our existence,” said YPJ General Commander, Rûhalat Afrin.


ANF
HESEKÊ
Thursday, 21 November 2024

The Central Headquarters for Women’s Protection was inaugurated with a grand military ceremony attended by the mothers and families of martyrs, leaders of the Syrian Democratic Forces, Asayish forces, representatives of the Autonomous Administration, the Star Congress, Women’s Core Protection Forces, along with our Armenian and Assyrian comrades, as well as fighters and leaders of the Women’s Protection Forces (YPJ).

During the fourth conference of the Women’s Protection Units, one of the most significant decisions made was to rebuild anew. Based on this decision, the Central Headquarters for Women’s Protection was inaugurated in a military ceremony that began with a moment of silence in honor and respect for the martyrs of the freedom revolution. General Commander of the Women’s Protection Units, Rûhalat Afrin, delivered a speech during the ceremony.

In her speech, Rûhalat Afrin congratulated Leader Abdullah Öcalan, the martyrs of the revolution, and all peoples, women, and fighters. She stated: “Important decisions were made at the fourth conference of the Women’s Protection Units. One of these decisions was to centralize the operations of women’s protection. All women urgently need to organize themselves against all forms of occupation, violence, and oppression. They must unite under the banner of defense and, with the philosophy of ‘Women, Life, Freedom,’ strengthen themselves in all areas of defense.”

Rûhalat Afrin also highlighted the efforts of the revolution’s martyrs, saying: “In the 13 years since 2011, we have witnessed hundreds of heroic epics. The struggle and sacrifices of the martyrs have stood firm against occupiers and have established a tremendous legacy for women and martyrs. Women must organize and protect themselves based on this great legacy.

We are currently experiencing a third world war at its highest intensity in the Middle East. In the face of this war, we must adopt a strategic perspective on the tasks of defense and protection. With women leading the way based on self-defense principles, all peoples must organize themselves and fulfill their responsibilities.

As we approach November 25th, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, women need the knowledge of women’s science and defense more than ever. Without knowledge, struggle, and protection, we cannot safeguard our existence.”

She further explained the role of the Central Headquarters for Women’s Protection, stating: “The headquarters will undertake the mission of protection for all components of northeastern Syria and all women. On this basis, women will be organized under the umbrella of legitimate defense. In this context, we will share our experiences and knowledge with women in the Middle East and worldwide. We will escalate the struggle to protect the values and gains of the revolution, regardless of the cost.”

In conclusion, Rûhalat Afrin addressed the increasing internal and external attacks, particularly the growing threats from ISIS mercenaries, Al-Nusra, and the occupying Turkish state in recent times. She stated: “We will prepare ourselves at all levels and intensify our legitimate resistance until we achieve certain victory. On this basis, we call on all women and peoples to join the ranks of steadfast resistance.”

After the military ceremonies, celebrations began, where mothers of martyrs, including the mother of martyr Jindar (Hamida Koti) and the mother of martyr Khabat Turkman (Khola Mohammed), spoke. They congratulated all women on the inauguration of the Central Headquarters for Women’s Protection and emphasized that women of all ages would take on the mission of protecting the homeland.

Messages of congratulations were read during the celebration, and the cultural group Hilal Zirîn (Golden Crescent) stirred enthusiasm with their beautiful and heartfelt performances. The celebration concluded with the traditional dances of the brave female fighters.

WE NEED SUCH A MOVEMENT IN AFGHANISTAN AGAINST THE TALIBAN