Solidarity statement from the women’s movement of the UK to the women’s movement of Rojava and Northeast Syria from KSN-Jin
On 23 June we lost three friends in an attack on a gathering of women activists in Northeast Syria. Though we had never met them, and they lived in a region far away from ours, we were united by our common struggle for women’s lives. For devoting their lives to the fight against patriarchal violence in all of its forms, they were targeted by a Turkish UAV drone (unmanned aerial vehicle) strike as they met together in a village outside of Kobane in Rojava. Among the dead is Zehra Berkel, member of the co-ordination committee of the women’s movement of Northeast Syria, Kongreya Star as well as Amina Weysi, the 60 year old woman in whose house they were meeting, and political activist Hebun Mele Khelil.
On the same day, the Women’s House (Mala Jin) in Basirah, Deir-ez-Zor, was targeted by a mine detonation and suffered material damage. The Women’s Houses, a huge achievement of the women’s revolution, were set up by the women’s movement of Northeast Syria as centres for community restorative justice and defence of women’s rights. These attacks come days after Turkey launched a series of air strikes targeting several areas in Iraqi Kurdistan in which women are guaranteed equal political representation and rights, including the Maxmur refugee camp and Sinjar, where the Yezidi community faced a genocide by ISIS in 2014.
These women have given their lives in fighting for the freedom of all women, including ours. Their struggle will live on with all our efforts to overcome patriarchy, capitalism and the state. With their deaths, we promise to continue their fight in the work we do to dismantle patriarchal systems wherever we find ourselves.
Women suffer patriarchal violence in many forms. These attacks show that women organising together pose such a threat to the dominant male’s system that those who seek to uphold it resort to calculated assassinations such as this. In order to defend ourselves against these attacks, we must organise together as women and oppressed genders and build autonomous organising structures. We invite all who are seeking to build a global movement against patriarchy and for gender liberation to get in touch so we can discuss taking action.
We call on women across England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland to raise their voices in remembrance of Zehra, Amina and Hebun, and in solidarity with Kongreya Star women’s movement.Long live the resistance of women who organise, struggle, and seek freedom!
In love, rage and solidarity,
- Kurdistan Solidarity Network Jin (autonomous women*s structure of KSN)
- Merched Undod https://undod.cymru/en/ (Women’s Structure of the Welsh Radical Independence Movement)
- Brighton Feminist Anti Fascist Assembly (BFAFA) https://www.facebook.com/BrightonFeministAntifascistAssembly/
- Bristol Sisterhood https://www.facebook.com/BristolSisterhood/
- International Women’s Day Edinburgh (IWDE) http://www.facebook.com/IWDEdinburgh/
- Women’s Strike Assembly https://womenstrike.org.uk/
- Feminist Anti-Fascist Assembly https://www.facebook.com/FAFassembly
- Unity Sisters https://unitycentreglasgow.org/
Unoliaeth gyda Kongreya Star a menywod gogledd ddwyrain Syria
Echddoe, collasom ni tair cyfaill mewn ymosodiad ar gyfarfod o ymgyrchwyr yng ngogledd ddwyrain Syria. Er nad ydym ni erioed wedi cyfarfod a nhw, ac yr oedden nhw yn byw mewn lle pell, rydym wedi ein uno gan ein brwydyr gyffredin dros fywydau menywod. Am rhoi eu bywydau i’r frwydyr yn erbyn trais patriarchaidd ym mhob ffurf, caswon nhw eu targedu gan ergydiad drôn Twrceg wrth iddynt gyfarfod gyda’i gilydd men pentref tu allan i dref Kobane yn Rojava. Ymysg y meirw yw Zehra Berkel, aelod o’r pwyllgor cydlynnu mudiad y menywod Gogledd Ddwyrain Syria Kongreya Star, yn ogystal ag Amina Weysi, y ddynes 60 oed a oedd piau’r tŷ ble yr oedd y cyfarfod, a hefyd yr ymgyrchydd gwleidyddol Hebun Mele Khelil.
Ar yr un diwrnod cafodd Tŷ’r Mwenywod (Mala Jin) yn Basirah, Deir-ez-Zor, ei dargedu gan ffrwydriad sylweddol a chafodd yr adeilad ei chwalu. Mae’r tâi yma – Tâi y Menywod yn lwyddiant anferthol fel rhan o chwyldro y menywod. Cawson nhw eu sefydlu gan mudiad y menywod yng ngogledd dwyrain Syria fel canolfanau am gyfiawnder adferol a man i amddiffyn hawliau menywod. Mae’r ymosiadau yma yn dod rhai dyddiau ar ôl i Twrci lawnsio cyfres o ymosodiadau awyr yn targedu sawl ardal yn Nghwrdistan sydd yn rhan o wladwriaeth Irac. Yn yr ardaloedd yma mae menywod yn cael sicrwydd o hawliau, cynrychioldeb a safleoedd gwleidyddol cyfartal, gan gynnwys gwersyll ffoaduriaid Maxmur ac ardal Sinjar, ble mae gwynebodd cymuned y Yezidi hil laddiad gan ISIS yn 2014.
Mae’r menywod yma wedi rhoi eu bywydau yn brwydro dros ryddid holl ferched y byd gan gynwnys ein bywydau ninnau. Bydd eu safiad yn byw ynom ni i gyd a’n ymdrechion ni oresgyn patriarchaeth, cyfalafiaeth a’r wladwriaeth. Gyda eu marwolaethau, yr ydym yn gwneud addweid i barhau eu brywydyr yn y gwaith yr ydym yn ei wneud i ddiddymu systemau batriairchaidd ble bynnag yr ydym yn canfod nhw.
Mae menywod yn dioddef trais patriairchaidd mewn sawl ffurf. Mae’r ymosodiadau yma yn dangos bod merched yn trefnu gyda’i gilydd gymaint o fygythiad i system y dyn dominyddol bod y sawlsydd yn ymdrechu i’w gadw yn ei le yn fodlon llofruddio mewn gwaed oer. Er mwyn amddiffynein hunain yn erbyn yr ymosodiadau yma, rhaid i ni drefnu ein hunain fel merched a rhyweddau sydd wedi ein gormesu gan adeiladu strwythurau ymreoliaethol. Rydym yn estyn gwahoddiad at bawb sydd yn chwilio i adeiladu mudiad rhynglwadol yn erbyn patriarchaeth a drosrydfeindiad rhwedd i gysylltu a ni fel allwn ni drafod gweithredu.
Rydym yn galw ar fenywod ar draws Lloeger, Cymru, yr Alban ac Iwerddon i godi llais er cof am Zehra, Amina a Hebun, ac mewn unoliaeth gyda mudiad menywod Kongreya Star.
Hir fyw chwyldro y menywod sydd yn trefnu a brwydro dros ryddid!
Mewn cariad, gwylltineb ac unolieath,
- Kurdistan Solidarity Network Jin (strwythyr mewnywod ymreolaethol KSN) https://kurdishsolidaritynetwork.wordpress.com/
- Merched Undod https://undod.cymru/en/ (merched Undod – mudiad annibyniaeth radicalaidd Cymru)
- Women’s Strike Assembly https://womenstrike.org.uk/
- Brighton Feminist Anti Fascist Assembly https://www.facebook.com/BrightonFeministAntifascistAssembly/
- Bristol Sisterhood https://www.facebook.com/BristolSisterhood/
- International Women’s Day Edinburgh (IWDE) http://www.facebook.com/IWDEdinburgh/
- Feminist Anti-Fascist Assembly https://www.facebook.com/FAFassembly
- Unity Sisters https://unitycentreglasgow.org/
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