Author: Young Internationalist Women

  • PERSPECTIVE FOR EUROPE – APRIL

    PERSPECTIVE FOR EUROPE – APRIL

    Violence, rape and feminicide: our answer is organized self-defense!

    First of all we, the Internationalist Young Women Commune of Rojava, send greetings to all the young women in the world. In a sexist system that aims the domination of the whole world through the oppression and exploitation of the women’s bodies, cultures and values, the life of any young women is a resistance by itself.

    We are writing these perspectives while entering now in a new political historical phase. In the recently published calls of Rêber Apo he made clear that the women and especially the young women have to play a central role in the democratic transformation of the society, leading the people out of this situation of chaos and violence. In the calls, especially the ones that he addressed to the women for the 8th of March and later on to the youth, Rêber Apo affirms again that the young women have the knowledge, the emotions and the strength to play this important role.

    Now our question is: we, as young internationalist women, how much do we really believe to have the capacity to play this role? How much do we see ourselves as a leading force of change and creation? How much we recognize the perspectives of Rêber Apo inside of our lives and realities?

    In a time where the violence waged against humanity by the unmoral capitalist and imperialist forces is reaching its highest level without any limit, the democratic forces must take a strong stance in the defense of freedom and democratic values. In doing so, we must deepen and strengthen our understanding of the roots of the social and political problems that we are facing.

    The historical war against the young woman

    In order to be able to correctly understand the present we have to look at the history of the women. In the Neolithic time, before the system of central civilization, the important role of the women in the society reached its peak. Since the beginning of central civilization, we see how the system of hierarchy and class domination started with a violent oppression of the woman in order to become effective and spread around the world. Instead of playing her central and natural role in the organization of the society, managing the economy and building the life, the woman became the property of the man.

    We can find evidence of this process in the mythology of that time, in which the mother goddesses that before were represented as holy figures of free and natural life, began to be deprived of their role. The myth of Tiamat and Marduk symbolizes the violence of this process. Tiamat was one of the most important mother goddesses of the Neolithic time. Marduk, her son, killed her with three arrows. One inside her head, to kill her thoughts and values, one inside her heart, to kill her love and life, and one inside her uterus, to kill her ability to create life. After this episode, known as the first feminicide in the history of humanity, Marduk used her death body to create the earth and the sky. From this moment on a new culture was slowly built up – a culture of rape, killing and enslavement. Throughout the history, the dominant male mentality continued and developed itself, killing the ability of the woman to think, to love and to create life and using the women’s bodies, intelligence and emotions for its own interests.

    During the 16th and 17th centuries, in the building and the spreading from England and Netherlands of capitalism, this mentality reached a new level with one of the most violent attacks against women that ever happened in the whole history of humanity, the witch hunting. The witch hunting destroyed a universe of believes and practices that, embodyng the values of the democratic, healthy and free society, represented an obstacle for the developing capitalist system. Within this process it becomes clear that capitalism built itself up on sexism. As a consequence of this massive violence also the other women learned to be obedient and silent and to submit to the hard work and abuse of men in order to survive and to be socially accepted. This dynamic continued until today and expressed itself in many different ways. As some examples, as women we learn to not trust in ourselves, to not believe in our thoughts and emotions, to not follow our instinct and to not speak without permission. We learn that if we want to live a life that is accepted in the system we have to shape our mentalities and our way of seeing and understanding the world like the man do. Or we have to become like the man wants us to be, accepting his violence and his oppression and normalizing it. At this point we should ask ourselves: When we talk, when we act, when we laugh, how much are we doing it according to the spirit of the free woman? Or how much our thoughts, emotions and actions are still under the influence of the man?

    The sexist system’s oppression is organized worldwide

    It is especially our responsibility, as young women, to be aware of the whole structure of violence and rape culture that the system has enforced on the societies all over the world in order to make the woman weaker and unable to play her vanguard role in the liberation of the peoples. As Reber Apo said “until the rape culture will not be overcomed, the truth of society cannot be revealed in the fields of philosophy, science, aesthetic, ethic and religion”. The construction and dissemination in the media of hypersexualized models of femininity has intensified the problem, openly inviting sexual aggression and contributing to this misogynistic and rape culture in which women’s aspirations for autonomy are degraded and reduced to the status of mere sexual provocation. Also in the fields of music, art, cinema the woman is represented as the object to sell, to conquer, to utilize. The sex industry, which is run predominantly by male criminal organizations capable of enforcing slavery in its cruelest form, its one of the highest example of this.

    The brutality of the attacks on women is often so extreme that it seems devoid of any utilitarian purpose. The goal is again to terror and to make the woman feel powerless. Such violence cannot emerge from the daily life of any community, it is systemic violence. It is planned, calculated and executed with the greatest guarantee of not being punished from the nation- state.

    We’re witnessing an escalation of violence against women, especially in those parts of the world – sub-Saharan Africa, Abya Yala, Southeast Asia – that are richest in natural resources and are now targeted by commercial enterprises, and where the anti-colonial struggle is strongest. The capitalist powers, through the Third World War, are determined to turn the world upside down in order to consolidate its power, which was weakened in the 1960s and 1970s by the anti-colonial, feminist and anti-apartheid struggles, and that is again under a great threath nowdays thanks to the uprisings of the youth all around the world and to the Jin Jiyan Azadi Revolution. Once again, their goal cannot be achieved without attacking the women, who are directly responsible for the reproduction and the defense of their communities.

    The increasing militarization of the countries through the propaganda of war and national security, the building of new military bases and infrastructures, the strict connection between universities and war industries, the number of armed men legitimated by the state such as private domestic guards, commercial security guards, prison guards, gang and mafia members, and soldiers in regular or private armies, plays a central role in forging increasingly dominant man mentalities in the society. In this way violence becomes indivisible in every aspect of the life, and also individual male violence becomes the response to women’s more assertive demands for autonomy and freedom. The expression of this mentality is the growing number of women killed in their houses by their partners, on their place of work, in school, in the streets. For how long can we, women from all the countries, accept this violence? For how long we will continue to stay silent when the sexist system enslaves us and destroys our lands and societies?

    Enough! We organize our own self-defense

    Against these organized attacks of the system, our first step to defeat this violence is to organize ourselves. In doing so, we have to come together and become ourselves as young women, we must develop our own will and ways to protect ourselves from the attacks of the system through self defense. We must never forget that we are in a time of war and as a consequence also the resistance must be organized on several fronts, in all the fields of the life. The decision of women to react, break our isolation and join with other women is crucial to the success of our goals. Such an objective, however, cannot be achieved if we as women do not acquire the resources we need to be independent from the system of men, not just in a physical and economical way, but also in our thoughts and mentalities. so that we will not be forced to accept degrading and dangerous working conditions and family relationships in order to ensure our survival. Starting from this point, we will together develop the capacity to find solution and strategies that can serve the building and the defense of a life in freedom and coexistence for all the people. When we as women are a united front, we become a force of creation for a new way of life, a new culture based on the principle of the Democratic Society. For every woman killed by this dominant male system, we must organize together our strength and our will, we must build structures where we can live in a communal and autonomous way, we must organize self-defense courses, a system of education to understand the reality of the system and its attacks against us, we must create a sociality that is based on love, respect and dignity. We must start a global offensive to liberate ourselves and bring the world out of the chaos created by the system.

  • THE Age OF MEDIA WARFARE – PART 1

    THE Age OF MEDIA WARFARE – PART 1

    The war that ist fought today is not just using classical methods anymore. In order to weaken the individual and the society, there is a strategical manipulation of mind and thoughts going on. With Media Warfare the system is attacking us, without us being aware of it.

    But as Rêber Apo says, that greatest technology is the human being itself. With the right revolutionary methods, we as women and youth can build an alternative and connect to the truth of humanity again.

    These evaluations of Lêgerîn Artemetan, member of the PKK Youth Commitee, are taken from the documentary “The Age of Media Warfare”.

  • “We were like comrades”

    “We were like comrades”

    We sat with Yade Emel and talked with her about the life of her daughter Şehîd Zîn Jinda who fell şehîd in the regions of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (Rojava) a year ago today on 22 January 2024.

    Şehîd Zîn proves to us that the connection between mother and daughter, comrade and comrade, land and revolutionary, society and warrior, is stronger than death. We send our thanks to Yade Emel for sharing this message with us.

  • Music video: No to Execution, Yes to Free Life!

    Music video: No to Execution, Yes to Free Life!

    Sharifeh Mohammadi, Warishe Moradi & Pakhshan Azizi have been sentenced to death and are now in the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran, Iran. The Iranian regime wants to silence the voice of Kurdish women, and to crush the ongoing “Jin Jiyan Azadi”-Revolution.

    We as Young Internationalist Women send our voices and strength from Rojava to the Evin prison resistance. We will always stand side by side with Warishe, Pakhshan and Sharifeh and all the revolutionary women fighting in the prisons.

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  • Rêber Apo: It’s necessary to approach every day as 8th of March

    Rêber Apo: It’s necessary to approach every day as 8th of March

    This is the first part of an interview with Rêber Apo and women comrades at his academy in Syria on 8th of March 1998. On this legendary day the Women’s Freedom Ideology was declared. In this way the Apoist women took a historical step towards freedom. A concrete perspective for the ideology, organization and struggle of all the women of the world was created.

  • FROM THE DECLARATION OF RÊBER APO TO THE 8TH OF MARCH

    FROM THE DECLARATION OF RÊBER APO TO THE 8TH OF MARCH

    PERSPECTIVES FROM THE YOUNG INTERNATIONALIST WOMEN COMMUNE OF ROJAVA –

    “I convey my greetings to all those who believe in co-existence and who look forward to my call.” -Rêber APO

    On the 27th of February in Istanbul the delegation that reached the prison island of Imrali read the historic declaration of Rêber Apo, in this way giving not only to the peoples of Kurdistan, but to all the women and resistant societies of the world, the manifesto for Peace and Democratic Society. From Rojava to Bakur, hundreds of thousands of people gathered in the squares and streets to share this meaningful day together, showing the indissoluble union between the people of Kurdistan and Rêber Apo, which has continued uninterrupted for more than 50 years. These are days we will never forget, each of them is marked by profound change and constant transformation.

    The Party of Free Women of Kurdistan (PAJK) also received a letter from Rêber Apo, in which he is greeting all the women and the youth of the world, emphasizing from the beginning of the letter that the key to success is in our hands, in the hands of the women. Serokatî clearly outlined and expressed once again his perspectives for our future, paving the way for the next steps that we must take for the achievements of freedom and truth.

    The several centuries of war and destruction that for too long have characterized the history of humanity and of every living being are coming to an end. All the women, the societies and the lands in which we are living are facing a big time of chaos, but we will find a way out through commitment, dedication and love for the struggle, that as young women will put in practice in order to create with our hands and our minds a new future. Feminicide, rape and violence against women have reached unacceptable daily rates and especially now, in the middle of the Third World War, our self defense must be even stronger especially towards the psychological and special warfare that the sexist and statalist mentality act especially upon us, women and youth. When the level of physical war is less intense then the attacks of the special and ideological warfare are used in the front line. This is a tactic of the system that we must be aware of. For this reason it is very important for us young women to not fall in the trap of thinking that the system stops its violence when less visible. Through ideological warfare the system weakens the society so that the physical war becomes less visible, but still we are living in a dimension of warfare and for this it is important for us young women to not let go our self defense. But how can we recognize and defend ourselves from ideological warfare? We should firstly bring the question of freeing ourselves on the top of our interests. If we will not feel enough the necessity of freeing ourselves as a consequence of this also our will for struggling will lack. We must rebuild our will of being free women and refuse, in our mentality and in our actions, the condition of slavery, exploitation and subordination in which the sexist system places us.

    Rêber Apo said this already thirty years ago. The woman must focus her work on the Women’s Liberation, on building the Women’s Revolution. The answer to the question of freedom lies on this clear principle. We cannot continue to remain indifferent to the housewification of our mothers, our sisters and comrades that, because of the millennial patriarchal system, are chained to works and lives that enslave them, making their essence far from their own nature. Rêber Apo in the letter describes “the democratic communalist process as the contemporary expression of mother-woman sociality”, claiming that the resocialization of the role of the mother-woman is central and necessary for the transformation of the democratic family and society. Unless we dismantle the rape culture imposed upon the matriarchal society, the full truth in philosophy, science, ethics, aesthetics and religion cannot be achieved and these categories will continue to be used by the system as a tool against us.

    This five thousands years old system has to be brought to an end. With the tools of the Revolution and the Women’s Freedom Ideology of Rêber Apo, we are breaking the chains of the oppression day by day: from Abya Yala to the Middle East and from Asia to Africa, we are connecting our struggles in order to achieve freedom. Women must no longer be sexualized or live according to the sight of the man, we must live according to our deepest desires and clean them from the contamination of the system. How can we regain our will and achieve our goals? We have to start from our emotions. Serokatî approaches emotions with profound respect. We must define, educate and learn from them in the same way as Rêber Apo does. In this way, we can deepen our politics and continue to develop the self-defense of our thought and our rights. The more we can keep our feelings, emotions and instincts alive, the healthier and stronger our minds will be. From here, we rebuild our aesthetic, without the dictates of the fashion industry and the digital media that only cause division, competition and lack of confidence among young women. Our aesthetic represents the opposite: strength, unity and proudness of being part of this Revolution and being the vanguard, we are the ones who hold the tools to rewrite the history. A militant personality, a militant woman, takes on herself all these responsibilities knowing that despite the difficulties a solution will be created together. The needs of this historical time call for a spirit of sacrifice, struggle and courage in the name of our people and our land, with whom we have always resisted together, through moments of joy and pain. Our priorities must be organize and understanding the society in order to build up peace and a free and Democratic Nation. The statalist system without society cannot survive a day, but a free and democratic society can flourish again once the oppressive system will be defeated.

    Now, the 8th of March is forthcoming and this year great tasks and responsibility are in front of us. We firstly want to commemorate the tragic Triangle Fabric Fire that happened on the 25th of March 1911. On this day, 123 women and young women lost their lives while working in the fabric. The doors of the fabric were previously been blocked to prevent the workers from taking more breaks during the work and because of this they could not find a way out from the fire. In memory of this tragedy every year millions of women go out on the street on the 8th of March, to rise up their voices and struggle for a life in dignity. With the call of Rêber Apo this year we want to give even a stronger meaning to this day. The way has been opened for us to create a new possibility for the struggle and it is now our turn to give a strong answer. It is not the time to be afraid, neither the time to doubt or to stop. With the example of the great resistance of Pakhsan Azizi and Warishe Moradi in the Evin’s prisons in Iran. With the example of Şehîd Sema, that on the 21st of March in 1980 set her body on fire to protest against the sexist oppression and create a bridge between the 8th of March and Newroz, a bridge between the liberation of the Woman and of the Land. And with the example of Alina Sanchez, Şehîd Legerîn Ciya, that from Argentina went all the way to Kurdistan to join the Revolution and build up part of the health system in Rojava, that still today is saving thousands of lives. These women and many others are our references for the continuation of the struggle of today and of our future. This year we will rise their voices again with proudness and strength. It is our time to take all the courage, the creativity, the dynamism, the love and the determination that as youth and women we have and bring the struggle for the freedom and the coexistence of peoples on a new level.

    The success or unsuccess of the attacks of the system depend on the strength that we, as democratic forces, dedicate in our self organization and self defense. Training, education, building autonomous structures, work and an independent thinking, are all tactics of our liberation strategy. We must never think that this is enough, but we always have to push ourselves forward for the struggle. The spirit of Internationalism and Apoism, through the organization of women from every corner of the world, is giving solutions and answers to the problems of the society and nature. Is the capitalist and sexist system that for 26 years has physically imprisoned Rêber Apo in the walls of Imrali, walls that this year will finally be thrown down. Being militants of Rêber Apo means believing in our creative capacities and constantly being able to change and transform ourself according to the required necessities. In this historical time the most creative personalities will be the one that will succeed. We must believe that we are up to the task that Rêber Apo shared with us and we must give all our efforts in the struggle and in the defense of the Women’s Freedom, the Democratic Society and our Land. Even deeper our focus has to be on the Woman’s Liberation and on the building of strong, organized and free personalities.

    We salute with respect once again all our Martyrs and women who continue to resist, never losing hope and believing in the strength of the Revolution.

  • Rêber Apo: The role and mission of Young Women in the Democratic Nation

    Rêber Apo: The role and mission of Young Women in the Democratic Nation

    This is a a shortened version of an evaluation of Rêber Apo (Abdullah Öcalan) about the role and mission of Young Women in the Democratic Nation, in all the different parts of live.

    Capitalism is actively hostile to young women. Thus, it tries to numb the young woman, to make her incapable of acting and to make her invisible as a part of society. Capitalism forces young women into a dream world, one where they can get and achieve anything, to live out relationships freely and to dress as they wish. They are crushed and suppressed in dreams of marriage. The phase in which the woman is most productive and her urge for freedom is greatest is her youth. The young woman wastes all her energy in this phase in fleeing from the man’s tight grip and taking precautions against his traps. The traps of the man and the strict understanding of honor cause the young woman to spend the most beautiful time of her life far from the idea of a free woman, and instead living in fear. The mission that the exploiting capitalist system imposes on the young woman is to have no mission. This means that the young woman has great revolutionary potential, and because of that there is an attempt to suppress this potential. The problem is not the honor for which thousands of women have been murdered, nor the weakness, uselessness, ignorance or fragility that are attributed to her.

    It is precisely in the midst of these fascist attacks that our historical consciousness will urge us to develop a solution through a concrete analysis of concrete conditions. The solution of Democratic Modernity enables the young woman to fulfill her mission as a vanguard of the revolution. In order to achieve this, she must form the social, moral and political system that matches with her own values ​​over time. According to this, the young woman must define her identity, her goal, her principles from what she rejects and what she accepts, and raise the flag of revolution to realize our social revolution. Democratic Nation means that the moral political society builds its own will through self-governance. At the core of the young woman’s identity is a resistant and militant spirit. She has a lively, empathetic identity and is open to new things. She wants to take revenge on the existing order of life and thus liberate herself. In the establishment of the Democratic Society, it is the young woman who brings about a personality change in herself and participates in the struggle, thus guaranteeing that the man and the society will be changed more quickly in a revolutionary way.

    Change through education

    To ensure this change, she must insist on organizing education within the Democratic Nation. For education, she is the pioneer. Therefore, she must create alternatives in every sphere of life through which she no longer needs the educational institutions of the system and can lead her own educational and consciousness-raising work. Education does not happen only between four walls, under a roof or in a school. The young woman can transform any place, be it a house, workplace, street or anything else, into a place of education and gain and share consciousness in these places with free platforms for discussion. Therefore the first and most important task of young women is to destroy the existing educational system.

    Organized action

    In order for the young woman to defend the values of women and the values of society, she must take becoming guerilla and self-defense as her only goal. For this, she must be able to react and organize against any attacks she encounters in all areas of life (such as harassment, rape, violence, psychological pressure). The reigning system very often attacks the young women with different methods, visible as well as hidden. Especially the media and social media are important tools here. Therefore, the young women must question everythingin the existing system and show their reflexes in an organized way. In addition, she should be able to defend herself at school, on the street, at work, i.e. in each of her life situations. She must participate in life according to her mission as a vanguard, and put this mission into action.

    It is up to the young woman to shatter the perception created by capitalism about her and her people and thereby find new political ways and methods and fulfill her mission in politics. She must use her own creativity and revolutionary nature in politics. Her political struggle should be based on the needs of the people. She should also develop joint actions and organizational work in the anti-fascist struggle with peoples, youth organizations and young women around the world who are resisting as she is. For this, diplomatic works must be brought forward.

    Diseases of the system

    In order to overcome the diseases of the capitalist system in people’s feelings, bodies and mentalities, a holistic, alternative health system must be created. The reason why many diseases today have no cure is because the diseases are produced and spread by the capitalist system itself. The capitalist system does not actually want to find a solution to the diseases, so it builds a mentally ill individual, and prevents a healthy society. In building an alternative health system, the individual with all the emotions, thoughts and character must be seen as a whole. Moreover, contrary to the perceptions created in society, it must be explained that any problem can be overcome with the the will of people. This, and the destruction of the pathological social order, is one of the inescapable tasks of the young woman. Social values and our moral strength are the greatest medicine against the mental illnesses of capitalism.

    Stars of resistance

    There are women, like Sema and Viyan, who turned their bodies into bombs against the colonialists, who crossed the borders of militancy in revolutionary struggles against those who wanted to endanger the ideological line of the revolution. There are women, like Berîtan, who are the vanguard of revolutionary resistance, fighting against the feudal, patriarchal collaborators and against surrendering. There are women like Axîn, Faraşîn, Jiyan, Serhildan, Hebûn, Zeryan, Zelal, Yildiz, as well as thousands of other young women whose names cannot be listed, who resisted against the occupying forces in the self-government resistances to their last drop of blood based on the ideology of women’s liberation. They all became symbols of resistance against the statist, patriarchal mentality within history. Today, the flag of these young women is passed from hand to hand. The young women must understand well that the revolution of women will lead to the success of the social revolution, and that they should make it their only goal in life to be a vanguard for the mentality of the Democratic Nation and the construction of the system of Democratic Confederalism with the Women’s Revolution.

  • The most beautiful thing on earth: Living with Rêber Apo

    The most beautiful thing on earth: Living with Rêber Apo

    → Video below

    Şehîd Gulbahar Gulhat was a young women from Elih, North-Kurdistan, who joined the ranks of the Guerilla in 1991 when she was 13 years old. After five years living in the mountains of Kurdistan she went to the Academy of Rêber Apo (Abdullah Öcalan) in Damaskus, Syria. After seeing education at the Academy she returned to the mountains, and fought with great passion and courage until her martyrdom in 2007 in the mountains of Gabar. In this text she talks about her experience with Rêber Apo, and the impact that he made on her.

    “In this moment, when I am sharing my memory with Rêber Apo (Abdullah Öcalan), different feelings are developing in my heart and mind. Maybe I am not able to speak about every moment, but as far as I can, I will share these moments that I have lived in the most natural way.

    It was 1996 when I went to the Academy of Rêber Apo. I was amazed when I saw Rêber Apo for the first time. Because the hegemonic system had always created a picture of a violent leader in our minds, I too had dreamed Rêber Apo very different. So how a leader is in the power system, I also dreamed Rêber Apo to be like this. This is why when I saw Rêber Apo for the first time, I was very surprised. Indeed, Rêber Apo was very humble. When Rêber Apo welcomed us I saw the difference between Rêber Apo and the despotic leaders I had imagined for years. When Rêber Apo said; “Friends, let’s get up and go eat some food.” Then I said to myself “Am I dreaming?”. From Rêber Apo’s eyes sparkled such a love that it brought me into a special excitement and enthusiasm. When Rêber Apo held the meetings and discussions for comrades who will go to the mountains, you saw in his eyes how much it affected him. When Rêber Apo used to ask questions to each one of us, he saw how emotional and overwhelmed we got, and on that basis he shared his analysis and thoughts about us. At that time I was thinking a lot and I said to myself; “How does Rêber Apo understand our views and emotions so fast?”. I was very impressed by Rêber Apo’s approaches, humbleness and awakeness. When Rêber Apo analysed the first day of education, his method to understand personalities really caught my interest. At that time I had inner conflicts. Some comrades who came to the mountains having spent time with Rêber Apo, used the name of Rêber Apo for their own interests. They had a life and an approach that was not fitting that of a cadre. But I see now that Rêber Apo’s approaches towards cadres are not like this. At that time I told myself, what naive people we are, we do believe everyone. At that moment Rêber Apo asked me: “Comrade what do you think?”. I shared the conflicts in my mind with Rêber Apo. Rêber Apo told me: “Indeed bravo, in such a short amount of time, you saw these realities, very good.”

    When I played football with Rêber Apo I realized that one must be very self-controlled and disciplined. because when we played football, for Rêber Apo, it was not a game, but a war. In this way, he analysed and tested our personalities, to see how active, initiative and careful we were. He was also criticizing our style of giving orders. I also noticed through that game, how small mistakes are not something easy. Rêber Apo always told us: “Believe in yourself in everything you do”.

    When we played foodball Rêber Apo suddenly shouted and said: “Comrade, be careful, you were close to stepping on an ant. Take that ant away from here”. I was so surprised at that moment, I asked myself how Rêber Apo saw that ant. I noticed Rêber Apo’s higher awareness towards the surrounding and the life. This awareness of animals meant that I got really angry against our approaches towards animals.

    Of course, there were many things that caught my attention and influenced me in Rêber Apo’s personality. For example, Rêber Apo’s style of education was very different. In Rêber Apo’s way of life, even a very small approach was a subject of education. He deeply instilled in people the need to educate themselves. As a result, people naturally saw the need to educate themselves.

    I was very young then, so I was very feudal and closed. In order to overcome this feudalism, Rêber Apo educated me in very different ways. At times, he used different methods to change me. For example, one day Rêber Apo was playing football, and I brought him a bottle of water. Rêber Apo, in the midst of so many comrades, opened the bottle of water and poured it on my head. I was so angry that I couldn’t say a word and I turned red. I was very affected and my pride was very broken. After this moment, Rêber Apo called me and discussed with me. He said to me, “Don’t get me wrong, I am criticizing you this heavily and pushing you for your development “. You are young, brave, beautiful and hardworking. However, some of your characteristics are getting in the way. This is especially the case with conservatism. Feudalism was necessary for you until a certain point, because you lacked knowledge, you protected yourself with these approaches. But from now on, this is no longer necessary. I gave you knowledge, you developed, and now I am giving you a mission. You are open to developing, and I won’t let this characteristic suffocate you. You are the most beautiful women in the world. I educate, beautify, and liberate you. Even if you will give up, I will never give up. Because I have devoted all my time to women’s freedom. But most of you don’t know that.”

    Rêber Apo always called me “Gênco” , that is, the young. When Rêber Apo called me the young Gulbahar, I was very happy.

    When I went new to Rêber Apo, I could not read and write. Rêber Apo told me, “I will teach you to read and write”. When Rêber Apo saw that I had learned to write a bit, he gave me a text and said, “Work on it, you will read it out loud to us in the morning”. I worked on it, but I said to myself that Rêber Apo would forget it because he had a lot of work to do. When we went to education the next day, Rêber Apo called me and asked me to read. I read that text at least ten times. I was so excited and I sweated a lot. Rêber Apo commented to me, ‘When someone learns something new, if he or she is not sweating for it, they don’t know its value. You sweated for this text, and I hope you won’t stop learning. From that day on, learning to read and write became my greatest ambition. I was deeply affected by this incident. Because I saw that there is nothing you cannot learn in the life of PKK, if you only have a will and an effort.

    One day we went to the football ground again. After the two teams were made, we started playing. Every time a comrade was going to Rêber Apo’s legs to take the ball. And every time I was also taking the ball back from him. Rêber Apo saw that I got really angry with this comrade. This is why he came to me and said; “People can provoke you very easily and you are fighting with pride. True, people should not accept to lose or to be unorganized, but not as you being blind. I do not accept this blindness. I am surprised, how you have not been martyred in the war until now. These words from Rêber Apo took my morale and I could no longer play. So Rêber Apo told me; “Go shoot the ball.” I went and I shot a goal. Rêber Apo told me; “It’s very good to believe in yourself. You should organize and practise this feature. For a woman these are pleasant qualities. “

    I was very impacted. I said to myself how did Rêber Apo make me reflect so much, with a football. After that I started a deep reflection. When I was supposed to go to the the mountains, Rêber Apo told me; “Nothing can influence you because you are very headstrong. But you need to make war against your feudal characteristics, your exaggerated pride and your blindness. If you do not struggle with them, they will bring you into many difficulties. Don’t fall Martyr so fast. I can never accept, comrades who see so much education here and go to the mountains and fall Martyr fast. When I hear the news of a martyrdom, it hurts me a lot. Every time a part of my soul goes. Don’t be egoistic and also think of me. I educate you to live and create life.” As the hour of saying goodbye approached, I cried a lot. I hugged Rêber Apo and tears ran out of my eyes. Rêber Apo told me; “What happened? It seems like you think that we will be separated from each other”. For around five minutes I laid my head on the shoulder of Rêber Apo, Rêber Apo just laughed and talked. But until we left the tears didn’t stop coming out of my eyes.

    Truly, there are many things you can say. But the ones that I can say for now are these. Indeed my heart burns. Now, I think about how much I was worthy of the reality of Rêber Apo. I didn’t participate in the way that he expected me to.. For this I now give effort to complete and finish the things I did by half.

    When I came to the mountains, I was confronted with all the positive and negative evaluations that Rêber Apo gave me. So, I gave a very strong struggle so that I could overcome my shortcomings. Now my greatest hope is to see Rêber Apo once again and embrace him with my heart.”

  • What does revolution acually mean?

    What does revolution acually mean?

    Dear friends,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    We send you many revolutionary greetings!

    Bijî berxwedana Tişrînê! Bijî berxwedana Rojava! #WeAreTishreen

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

  • YOUNG WOMEN JOURNALISTS ARE UNSTOPPABLE

    YOUNG WOMEN JOURNALISTS ARE UNSTOPPABLE

    Modern warfare is strongly linked to propaganda through the media. With lies in the media, the hegemonic powers try to intimidate, discourage and twist the truth. In order to cover up war crimes, journalists are often deliberately attacked. Its aim is to isolate the reality of the war from the outside world.

    In the year 2024 alone, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) recorded 122 murders of journalists. Of those, 77 — more than half — were in the Middle East. These are just the official numbers. It must be assumed that the actual number is much higher. The high number is no doubt heavily influenced by the war in Palestine. Most of the killings were caused by Israeli airstrikes. Many of the attacks also killed family members and children of Palestinian journalists. But other parts of the world, particularly Sudan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Ukraine and Mexico, also have high numbers of murdered journalists.

    A fact that is not widely reported in the international media is that in 2024 alone, five Kurdish reporters and truth-seekers were killed in targeted airstrikes by the fascist Turkish state. These targeted attacks had not been carried out by crude artillery, as in many of the other cases, but were explicit executions by advanced war technology of a NATO state. This shows how much the Turkish state, but also NATO, are afraid that the truth of the war in Kurdistan will come to light. Because the journalism of Murad Mîrza, Gulîstan Tara, Hero Bahadîn, Cîhan Bilgin and Nazim Daştan told the truth about the war crimes that the fascist Turkish state commits in Kurdistan day after day.

    It should also be mentioned that, in the official numbers, 14 of the 122 journalists were women. Women work in journalism with a different perspective. The rate of sexual crimes, rape and abuse in war zones is extremely high. Because every war is based on a patriarchal mentality. Therefore, women who document the truth about such patriarchal war crimes, but also the great resilience of women and the people, are targeted.

    Amun Abdullahi Mohamed from Somalia, Maria Vilma Rodriguez from the Philippians and Hanan Adam from Sudan were all killed in targeted attacks by faceless men. The attacks on the Kurdish women Gulîstan Tara, Hero Bahadîn and Cîhan Bilgin were also planned and targeted. This shows that the attacks on women journalists are motivated by a male mentality.

    The sexist system of domination does not accept women who set out on the path of truth. Because women’s reports unmask it in all its brutality. Our responsibility is to channel our anger at these atrocities and to also set ourselves on the path of truth. Nowadays, the camera is like a weapon. Those who master their art can achieve world-changing successes. Therefore, as young women, more than ever before, we should feel the responsibility within us and, whether with pen, camera or microphone in hand, follow in the footsteps of these courageous young women.

    It is the women of the Middle East who carry out their missions as seekers of truth, who risk being arrested or murdered because they know how valuable accurate reporting is. Especially in North Kurdistan (Turkish-occupied) and East Kurdistan (Iranian-occupied), thousands of women journalists are behind bars for their work. Furthermore, women in journalism are often persecuted and threatened. But this is no reason to be discouraged, it is an encouragement to their comrades, and all the more to us, to continue the fight for the truth. The Kurdish journalist Awaz Elî, was injured in a Turkish drone strike in Tishreen, North-East Syria on January 8th, 2025. Just a short time after her treatment she was laughing and showing the victory sign into the camera. The dynamism of these young women journalism in particular is unstoppable, and therefore a fundamental pillar in the fight against the propaganda and media war all over the world.

Young Internationalist Women