YPJ-Star: Today Is Our Day, Organize!

Women fighting with the YPJ in the resistance in Kobanê have spoken to JİHNA about the importance of their movement and the upcoming actions planned for November 25th on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women according to a new piece appearing in Özgür Gündem

As the women of the YPJ continue their resistance against ISIS and their supporters in Rojava, major demonstrations are planned for Amed (Diyarbakir), Wan (Van) and Colêmerg (Hakkâri) in North Kurdistan The women of the YPJ told JİHNA that they were not only fighting against ISIS, but for the liberation of women everywhere. They made call  for women in Kurdistan and around the world to unite in solidarity, saying “Our struggle is against male hegemony. Let us organize.”

Show Them Your Will

Dalya Ömer, a member of Yetkîtiya Star and the Council Board of the Democratic Society Movement (TEV-DEM), said that the struggle which was being waged in Kobanê under the leadership of the YPJ was also a struggle against the mentality of male hegemony. She made this call to women who would come to the border at Pirsûs (Suruç): “We are calling on women everywhere to come together and struggle against all forms of violence against women, in the same way that we Kurdish women have come together against the attacks of ISIS. We thank everyone who is already resisting against this violence.”

Zilan, a YPG fighter who has for years advocated on behalf of women who are abused in society, said “what is being experienced here in the emergence of women’s representation and their will. This is the principal along which we wage our struggle. The war that has been waged against the YPJ here is in fact the same way war which is being waged against women all over the world. The ISIS attacks which have taken place here are designed to break the will of women. We too are struggling against this.” Zilan went on to call for women around the world to participate and commemorate November 25th, saying “I call on everyone to take part in these actions and to put the will of women forward.”

We Have Taken Up Arms Against Barbarity

Agirî Yılmaz, another fighter with the YPG, said “In the mentality of ISIS women are deficient. They cannot fight. However when they hear the shouts and calls of the YPJ women they leave their positions and their weapons and they flee. They are afraid to fight against women. They tell themselves ‘let me die fighting a man, not a woman.’ This comes from their conception that women cannot do anything. But our conception is of women who organize themselves, manage themselves and are organized.” Agirî Yılmaz made it clear that they did not make this call, from the,women of Kurdistan: “Today is our day. If we do not do this then all of our labor will be denied. It will all be like five years ago. We are not only taking up arms and fighting. We are not in love with weapons, and we won’t be recognized this way. We are in love with our ideas. We are in love with our freedom. But there is a savage enemy facing us. We are forced to take up arms. We took up arms so this barbarity does not go on. For this reason we making a call that goes far beyond picking up weapons. We need to organize in every sphere and to do our share.”

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