France, Alternative Libertaire AL #248 - Experience: The
success of the movement of Kurdish women (fr, it, pt) [machine
translation]
Kurdish women, highly visible in the resistance against Daech, have emerged in the
international news. The bourgeois media, which are occasionally raved about the beauty of
the fighting, have generally reduced their action in the armed struggle. However, the
movement of the Kurdistan Women deserves to be told more. ---- Kurdish liberation movement
took off in the 1970s, a period of strong social struggles, and strong influence of "real
socialism" - that of the Eastern bloc. At its founding in 1978, the Kurdistan Workers
Party (PKK) aspired to the foundation of a socialist nation state[1]. ---- Kurdish women's
movement[2] was born and developed within the liberation movement. In the early years,
because of the social conditions, there were few women in the movement. But the women and
the PKK have not made any concessions to the social, and persevered in their efforts to
organize politically. Thus in 1989, in Nusaybin, a popular uprising was led by women.
In the 1990s, the analyzes developed by Abdullah Öcalan on the family, women and freedom,
have led many women to join the guerrillas led by the PKK. At that time, the repression of
the Turkish state was yet at its height, and the army systematically employed torture and
rape against women activists.
The armament, guarantee of freedom
The massive entry of women into the PKK has resulted in a qualitative and quantitative
progress. It was in 1993 that were created the first units of female fighters and in 1995,
the Union of Free Women of Kurdistan (Kurdistan Yekitiya Azadiya Jinen). While in the
feudal Kurdistan, women begin their meal when the male is completed, the arming of women
by the PKK is politically a leap forward. They are now fighting in their own name or in
the shadow of men, neither by imitating, but self-organizing and bringing forth a sex
consciousness.
In 1999, the Freedom Party of Women (YAP) has emerged, reflecting the gender awareness
among women, and the refusal to postpone the solution of women's problems in the
post-revolution.
In 2005, the PJA took place in a cross-border organization, the Gathering of Women (KJB)
extending over the four parts of Kurdistan - Turkey, Syria, Iran, Iraq - and even beyond.
The purpose of the KJB is to put women at the forefront of building a democratic,
ecological and committed to freedom of genre. The challenge is overcoming the patriarchal
and statist social system.
In the revolution Rojava
The main goal of the women's movement is the construction of a democratic system,
ecological, focused on women, as part of the revolution of gender and ideology of freedom
of women.
Since the proclamation of democratic autonomy of Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) in July
2012[3], women's councils were created in the three townships to enforce the female
perspective in the revolution. At the same time, with the co-supervision system[4], they
create an unparalleled experience in the world today.
The issue of sexual freedom
Sexual freedom is part of debate topics that must be understood in the context of colonial
oppression in Kurdistan, the construction of a military PKK guerrillas and the terrible
repression of the 1990s Everything context strongly constrained the exercise of individual
freedom.
Thousands of women and girls were raped by Turkish soldiers. In response, the PKK has made
efforts to ensure that women are no longer stigmatized raped in the population. The
position is very clear: that the body of a person suffered reveals nothing of his
personality, one must consider only his ideas, thoughts, relationships. When a woman is
the victim of an "honor crime"[5], the militant PKK claiming his remains and ensure that
it is buried by the women themselves. In feudal Kurdistan is a revolutionary act.
Finally, in a society where polygamy is common, the PKK has banned the membership of men
with multiple wives, positioning itself clearly against women experiencing violence.
Besides, officially, no couples in the PKK. It is commonly said that the bonds of love
activists and militants are the ones they wear "the party and the people."
The freedom to give birth or not
About abortion, the principle that guides the Kurdish women's movement is: "This is my
body, this is my decision" . The important thing is the choice of the woman and whatever,
activists support it. But in the PKK itself, once again, the armed struggle imposes
specific conditions. Also, the party made it clear to young fighters: do not get married
and do not have children.
The woman can not be reduced to his mother. But in the context of resistance, being a
mother of a fighter or a guerrilla fighter has a special significance. In the PKK, they
cluster within Mothers for Peace, one of the strongest party organizations. They built,
from maternity and through their children, both dynamic and meaningful political collective.
Turn men
The change wrought in men is perhaps the greatest success of the women's movement. The
presence of at least 40% of women in each governing body is the most striking example.
Obviously this was not without difficulties. Between 2002 and 2005, at the time of
DEHAP[6], on the pretext of some political setbacks, many women were excluded from the
party. In reality, it was the partisan crowd with a firm line against male domination.
Activists, however, did not surrender.
In 2011, the year of the foundation of the HDP[7], the lack of women served as a pretext
for an over-representation of men in the nominations for elections. Activists protested
effectively, and now, if the number of women is not enough, we let the empty chair. To
change men, do not leave them no choice, different methods were used. And if a sexist
candidate for election, activists are calling for boycott. This deters persevere in their
attitude.
As these examples show, the fight against patriarchy means at the same time fight against
his fellow men. Vigilance is required. Moreover, every man who joins the party is training
on gender. This is to make them aware that the emancipation of men is linked to that of women.
Female revolution Rojava is the culmination of forty years of experience. Now, where the
women are, even when they are only two, they organize non-mixed way to fight.
Arin Mirkan
Arin Mirkan is the collective pseudonym chosen by the editors of this article, the
Collective solidarity activists Kobanê women. This is a tribute to Arin Mirkan, YPG
fighter fell to Kobanê October 5, 2014.
[1] This is no longer the case. The PKK renounced founding a nation state to claim a
confederal autonomy of Kurdistan over the existing state borders. Read Libertarian
Alternative November 2014.
[2] The editors of this article translated the expression kürt kad?n Hareketi by "Kurdish
women's movement." Although the singular is used, it does not have the same connotation in
French essentialist.
[3] Read: "Rojava a new Chiapas? " Alternative Libertaire in November 2014.
[4] The social contract Rojava instituted a systematic parity in all political
responsibilities: a man, a woman, at all levels. We find this "co-leadership" in many
municipalities in Kurdish Turkey.
[5] That is to say murdered by one of his relatives, often with the complicity of the
wider family, whose honor is "unclean." The concept of "honor" is linked to the control of
women's sexuality.
[6] The People's Democratic Party (DEHAP) is the ancestor of the current Peace and
Democracy Party (BDP), which takes more than 100 municipalities in Turkish Kurdistan.
[7] The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), which has 27 deputies in the Turkish
parliament, a coalition including the Kurdish left, feminists, environmentalists, trade
unionists, LGBTI, various socialist parties, NGOs, representatives of ethnic and religious
minorities.
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