“We should think about November 25th, World day for the elimination of violence against women, as an opportunity to organize ourselves, enlarge our alliances, our actions… and stay together” with these words and spirit the KJK embraces this day.
A message from women to women, to not let ourselves being discouraged by the level of patriarchal violence that we can see everyday around us, but to raise and struggle even more for our freedom and the freedom of the whole society. As Reber APO says that a free woman means a free society and a free man.
But to understand what violence actually is we have to ask ourselves elementary questions to understand what we are fighting against. So we have to ask:
What is violence, which kind of violence are we subjected to ? Do we always recognize it ? And what to do ?
Along history and across different geographies, patriarchal mentality has assumed different forms, changing its shape but not its essence. Under the name of modernity and progress, liberalism has promised freedom, parity with men and success, but in reality it has engaged on a new phase of special warfare on women. What today is propagandized as freedom, as liberty, hides the deepest forms of violence, oppression and manipulation of women.
Every day, as women, we are experiencing objectification, sexualization, attempts to convince us to sell ourself off, our body, our work, our time, is our choice, is “freedom”, to convince us that success is the way to happiness, especially if achieved through competition with other women. Every day this mentality tries to break our social fabric, devaluate our traditional knowledge, everyday there are women experiencing domestic violence, inside the so-called “romantic” relationships, physical, psychological, sexual, economical, institutional and political violence, until the unbelievable number of femicides that are happening daily. These are the logical consequences of this system, we need to recognize it, even when the States are trying to show themselves as active in the fight against violence on women, we have to recognize that their actions actually aim to deepen women’s oppression, through marginalization and manipulation. At the same time the narrative of “the violent man” as “the black sheep”, the exception, and women as naturally powerless in front of this violence, is carried on. All of this with the aim of creating a perspective without alternatives for women, and normalization in the general society. A spiral in which the illusion of changes is created, while leaving the reality of violence untouched, and its dynamics repeating themselves. Revealing the intrinsic violence of this system shows very clear that we cannot expect anything from the States, we cannot wait for others to save us, we cannot live our individual life, hoping that “carrier” success will “safe” us from violence, hoping that another day will pass by without being physically harassed, psychologically abused or economically exploited. This is not the life we deserve, that any woman deserve. We should not believe in the lie of individual freedom, but understanding that no woman can be free until there are still women suffering from oppression and violence.
On the contrary, only we, as women, can free ourselves, coming together and organizing ourselves. Only knowing our history, that has never been written, knowing our strengths and shortcomings, we can defend ourselves from the violence within toxic-“romantic” relationships, workplace, family and the State. Against the total war of the patriarchal state system we have to engage on a total-resistance. Only coming together we can struggle against this system of dominations and build alternatives for a free life.
In this time of intensification of war, of the Third World War, the violence perpetrated on women is the most intense. On a global level, the struggle between on one side the patriarchal system and on the other the democratic forces has continued its path. While the first had fed ongoing wars, created new ones, and supported the rise of fascist governments (Russia- Ukraine, Israel-Palestine, Afghanistan, Turkey, Belarus, Italy…), the second have supported and organized the resistance, among the society.
In this framework, women are rising around all over the world, showing once again how their role, among the democratic forces, is the most decisive to achieve real social changes, how their methods are at the same time radical, creative and lively. Because of this, the system of States and corporations targets and tries to repress them in particular.
They try to silence women, to close them back in the house, in violent relationships, and when this is not enough, when women still raise their voice, the power structures call them crazy, witches or terrorists, closing them in mental clinics and prisons, or killing them. Sometimes the murder is the “lover”, sometimes the State, but the root is the same. They try everything to stop the struggle of women, but they don’t know that for us, women are like seeds, source of life, hope and resistance. We will continue to struggle, for every woman, for those who came before us, for those who are still oppressed, and to build a free life for all.
“The problem of violence on women is a men’s problem, it’s patriarchal mentality. If they don’t change their mentality, this problem cannot be solved. That’s why we will organize seminars in school, offices, factories, work places.” has told us Jiyan, from the young women’s organization. In North East Syria, among many other initiatives, a week of seminars for men about the topic of violence has been organized. At the end of this week, the men who participated will make together some artistic performances to talk about fighting patriarchal violence. “They have to collectively reflect on it and push other men to start changing too.”
The perspective, energy and self confidence of these young women are a great source of moral and hope, an example of how the chain of oppression can be broken, and on which basis a different life can be built.
Today, and every day to come, we will turn our anger, the fear and sadness that the system tries to use to stop us, into strength and self-defense. We will do this for all the women, against all form of violence.
Internationalist Commune of Rojava,
25/11/2023