The Kurdish Women's Movement

Dilar Dirik

Description

'One the foremost writers and participants in the Kurdish women's movement' - Harsha Walia

The Kurdish women's movement is at the heart of one of the most exciting revolutionary experiments in the world today: Rojava. Forged over decades of struggle, most recently in the fight against ISIS, Rojava embodies a radical commitment to ecology, democracy and women's liberation. But while striking images of Kurdish women in military fatigues proliferate, a true understanding of the women's movement remains elusive.

Taking apart the superficial and Orientalist frameworks that dominate, Dilar Dirik offers instead an empirically rich account of the women's movement in Kurdistan. Drawing on original research and ethnographic fieldwork, she surveys the movement's historical origins, ideological evolution, and political practice over the past forty years. Going beyond abstract ideas, Dirik locates the movement's culture and ideology in its concrete work for women's revolution in the here and now.

Taking the reader from the guerrilla camps in the mountains to radical women's academies and self-organised refugee camps, readers around the world can engage with the revolution in Kurdistan, both theoretically and practically, as a vital touchstone in the wider struggle for a militant anti-fascist, anti-capitalist feminist internationalism.

Figures
Abbreviations and acronyms
Locations in Kurdish
Map
Acknowledgements
Preface
Introduction: The Kurdistan women’s revolution – A social history from below
PART I: HISTORY
1. Mapping the Kurdistan of women
2. The Kurdistan Revolutionaries
3. Berxwedan jiyan e! – The Diyarbakır prison resistance
4. Vejîn! – The first bullet
5. Edî bes e! – The dirty war
6. Towards women’s autonomy
7. International conspiracy and internal crisis
8. The battle for the PKK’s soul
9. Enter Democratic Confederalism
PART II: THEORY
10. ‘Struggling woman’: Ideology and identity
11. Building ‘democratic modernity’
12. Jineolojî: ‘A science of woman and life’
PART III: PRACTICE
13. Stateless society
14. Öcalan: Leader, prisoner, comrade
15. Revolutionizing love
16. Mothers
17. Self-defence
18. Martyrs
19. Prisoners
20. Education
21. Media
22. Ecology
23. Mexmûr: From displacement to self-determination
24. Bakur: Women against politicide
25. Başûr: ‘Freedom is more than the absence of dictatorship’
26. Rojava: A women’s revolution
27. Resistance or feminicide: Women against Daesh
28. Şengal: From feminicide to women’s autonomy
29. Kobanê did not fall
30. Life after Daesh: Women’s solidarity in Manbij
31. War and peace
PART IV: EMPOWERMENT OR REVOLUTION?
32. Two rivers, two freedom agendas?
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• Women's Studies
• Political Ideologies
• Political Freedom
• Human Rights
• Social Science
• Middle Eastern
• POLITICAL SCIENCE
• Sociologie, société et politique
• YPJ
• ISIS
• Partido de los Trabajadores de Kurdistán
• Kurdistán
• Turquía
• Irán
• Communism
• Syria
• Kurdish women
• Aupaluk Airport
• Isis (disambiguation)
• Kurdish
• Kurdistan Workers' Party
• Terrorism
• Middle East
• Kurdish people
• World
• Image and Scanner Interface Specification
• Parti des travailleurs du Kurdistan
• Abdullah Öcalan
• Turkey
• Communisme
• Kurdistan
• Iran

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 20 juillet 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781786807397
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

The Kurdish Women s Movement
Dilar Dirik is one the foremost writers, scholars and participants in the Kurdish women s movement. Her revolutionary work against all forms of state and social oppression and exploitation is unsparing in its truth-telling and expansive in its political orientation - a true people s historian from below.
-Harsha Walia, author of Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism
Read to feelthink and to embrace the memories of the historical struggle of the Kurdish sisters against the fascist and capitalist patriarchy. From the mountains, academia and daily life in resistance, their legacy walks towards liberation, healing and dignity.
-Lorena Kab nal, Mayan Ancestral Healer, Territorial Community Feminist and Community Social Psychologist
A compelling and thorough examination of the Kurdish women s movement. As a social history from below, it goes beyond the hype and reveals the radical roots of this movement.
-Dr Yara Hawari, writer, academic and political analyst
What should a women s revolution look like? With theoretical and political clarity, Dilar Dirik lays bare the thoughts and experiments of the inspiring Kurdish women who for decades have been setting examples to anyone fighting for a more equal world. This is an important book for everyone interested in revolution, gender equality, anti-fascist and anti-capitalist struggle.
-Alpa Shah, Professor of Anthropology at London School of Economics and award-winning author

First published 2022 by Pluto Press
New Wing, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 1LA
www.plutobooks.com
Copyright Dilar Dirik 2022
The right of Dilar Dirik to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7453 4194 1 Paperback
ISBN 978 0 7453 4193 4 Hardback
ISBN 978 1 78680 738 0 PDF
ISBN 978 1 78680 739 7 EPUB



This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental standards of the country of origin.
Typeset by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England
Simultaneously printed in the United Kingdom and United States of America
This book is dedicated to Sakine Cans z, Fidan Do an, and Leyla aylemez, three Kurdish women, who were cold-bloodedly murdered in Paris on 9 January 2013. In their person, I commemorate all women who struggle against all forms of oppression, exploitation, and injustice.
Contents
Figures
Abbreviations and acronyms
Locations in Kurdish
Map
Acknowledgements
Preface
Introduction: The Kurdistan women s revolution - A social history from below
PART I: HISTORY
1. Mapping the Kurdistan of women
2. The Kurdistan Revolutionaries
3. Berxwedan jiyan e! - The Diyarbak r prison resistance
4. Vej n! - The first bullet
5. Ed bes e! - The dirty war
6. Towards women s autonomy
7. International conspiracy and internal crisis
8. The battle for the PKK s soul
9. Enter Democratic Confederalism
PART II: THEORY
10. Struggling woman : Ideology and identity
11. Building democratic modernity
12. Jineoloj : A science of woman and life
PART III: PRACTICE
13. Stateless society
14. calan: Leader, prisoner, comrade
15. Revolutionizing love
16. Mothers
17. Self-defence
18. Martyrs
19. Prisoners
20. Education
21. Media
22. Ecology
23. Mexm r: From displacement to self-determination
24. Bakur: Women against politicide
25. Ba r: Freedom is more than the absence of dictatorship
26. Rojava: A women s revolution
27. Resistance or feminicide: Women against Daesh
28. engal: From feminicide to women s autonomy
29. Koban did not fall
30. Life after Daesh: Women s solidarity in Manbij
31. War and peace
PART IV: EMPOWERMENT OR REVOLUTION?
32. Two rivers, two freedom agendas?
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Figures
1. YJA Star guerrillas from Rojava and Bakur, building a new camp in the mountains. Xiner . May 2015
2. Guerrillas admiring the decoration of the venue for the first Jineoloj conference. Xiner . May 2015
3. Newroz celebration in Amed, attended by thousands of people, including international delegations. Amed. March 2015
4. Ilham (see Chapter 26 ), member of a mal a jin (women s house) in Qami lo, with a photo of Abdullah calan edited to go with the Kongreya Star logo. Qami lo. July 2015
5. YJA Star guerrilla with an z d child after the protest to commemorate the first anniversary of the genocide. Mount engal. August 2015
6. Martyr s memorial centre of the Mexm r Refugee Camp. Mexm r Refugee Camp. May 2015
7. A guerrilla bookshelf with translations of international works on history, sociology, and political science, as well as the movement s own literature. Qend l. April 2015
8. Kurdish women performing traditional songs with drums (known as daf or erban ) as part of the activities to host the World Women s March. M rd n (Mardin). March 2015
9. Guerrillas taking a break during the first Jineoloj conference in 2015. Xiner . May 2015
10. Seventh conference of the People s Assembly of Mexm r Camp. Mexm r Refugee Camp. May 2015
11. Centre of the Revolutionary Youth Movement. Mexm r Refugee Camp. October 2015
12. KJA-led 8 March International Women s Day celebration in Amed. Amed. March 2015
13. The launch of the World Women s March of 2015, with feminist delegates from around the world. Nis b n. March 2015
14. Protest to condemn the Turkish state s violence in the aftermath of the collapsed peace process. Sil man . September 2015
15. Kurdistan and PKK flag alongside each other on top of a PKK institution in Kirk k, a short drive from territories that were Daesh-held at the time. Kirk k. September 2015
16. Photos of Sakine Cans z (Sara), Fidan Do an (Rojb n), and Leyla aylemez (Ronah ), and Clara Zetkin and Rosa Luxemburg, above a statue of Mother Mary, at the Ishtar Women s Academy in Rojava. Rimelan. July 2015
17. Members of the Young Women s Movement in Rojava in one of their centres. Qami lo. December 2014
18. A group of wounded and disabled YPJ fighters being looked after by their comrades. Am d . December 2014
19. Billboard honouring Ivana Hoffmann, a Black German revolutionary from Germany and the first internationalist, who lost her life in the fight against Daesh in Rojava. Qami lo. July 2015
20. Martyr s cemetery on Mount engal, partially still under construction at the time. Mount engal. July 2015
21. Founding conference of the engal Women s Assembly. Mount engal. July 2015
22. Protest commemorating the first anniversary of the genocide. Mount engal. August 2015
23. A YPJ- engal fighter among the young women and men guarding the protest to mark the anniversary of the genocide. engal. August 2015
24. A makeshift living area at the Newroz Camp, D r k (al-Malikiyah), Rojava. November 2014
25. An HPG guerrilla with Mother Qadifa (mentioned in Chapter 16 ), an z d woman from Rojava and a community organizer at the mal a jin (women s house) in Tirb spiy (al-Qahtaniyah). Mount engal. August 2015
26. Xens , co-founder of the engal Women s Assembly and mother of B r van engal, sitting next to her son while discussing something with YJA Star guerrilla fighter zg r. Mount engal. August 2015
27. Ruins from the battle of Koban , a short walking distance from the Turkish border. Koban . May 2018
28. A street sign named after fighters who died fighting against Daesh on this spot. Koban . May 2018
29. Members of a women s commune. Koban . May 2018
30. Guerrillas visited by a Peace Mother, watching an HDP rally ahead of the general elections in Turkey. Qend l. June 2015
31. View overlooking Sur district of Diyarbak r (Amed). Sur, Amed. January 2015
32. Street art in Rojava, portraying YPJ martyrs Av sta Xab r, Bar n Koban , and Ar n M rkan. Near Qami lo. May 2018
Abbreviations and acronyms
AANES
Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria
AKP
Adalet ve Kalk nma Partisi (Justice and Development Party)
ARGK
Art a Rizgariya Gel Kurdistan (People s Liberation Army of Kurdistan)
BDP
Bar ve Demokrasi Partisi (Peace and Democracy Party)
CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
DEHAP
Demokratik Halk Partisi (Democratic People s Party)
D KH
Demokratik zg r Kad n Hareketi (Democratic Free Women s Movement)
DTP
Demokratik Toplum Partisi (Democratic Society Party)
ENKS
Enc mena Ni timan ya Kurd li S riy - Kurdish National Council in Syria (KNC)
ERNK
Eniya Rizgariya Netewa Kurdistan (National Liberation Front of Kurdistan)
FSA
al-Jaysh as-S r al-Hurr (Free Syrian Army)
HADEP
Halk n Demokrasi Partisi (People s Democracy Party
HDP
Halklar n Demokratik Partisi (Peoples Democratic Party)
HPC
H z n Parastina Civak (Civil Defence Forces)
HPG
H z n Parastina Gel (People s Defence/Protection Forces)
HPJ
H z n Parastina Jin (The Women s Defence/Protection Forces)
HRK
H z n Rizgariya Kurdistan (Kurdistan Liberation Forces)
ISIS/ISIL
ad-Dawlah al-Isl miyah (Islamic State (of Iraq Syria/Levante), referred to as Daesh throughout the text)
JITEM
Jandarma stihbarat ve Ter rle M cadele (Gendarmerie Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism Organization)
KADEK
Kongreya Azad Demokrasiya Kurdistan (Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy Congress)
KCD/DTK
Kongreya Civaka Demokrat k (Turkish: Demokratik Toplum Kongresi) (Democratic Society Congress)
KCK
Koma Civak n Kurdistan (Kurdistan Communities Union)
KDP/PDK
Partiya Demokrat a Kurdistan (Kurdistan Democratic Party)
KJA
Kongreya Jin n Azad (Free Women s Congress; later reformed after the ban as Tevgera Jin n Azad TJA (Free Women s Movement))
KJAR
Komelgeya Jin n Azad n Rojhilat Kurdistan (Society of Free Women of Eastern Kurdistan)
KJB
Koma Jin n Bilind (High Women s Cou