Category: Women
Women’s freedom, or women’s liberation, is one of the three main pillars of the Rojava Revolution and the stateless self-governance model of the Autonomous Administrations of North and East Syria (AANES), as well as the Kurdish freedom movement more broadly, which initiated the revolution.
Women’s liberation is the most central pillar of the Kurdish freedom movement, and it is no exaggeration to say that the Rojava Revolution is a women’s revolution. There are many elements of the new system of radical democracy which have been created to build up women’s autonomy and freedom, such as the co-chair system, women’s co-operatives, and autonomous women’s councils in every democratic structure at every level of the system.
This is a strategy based on a historical understanding that patriarchy was the first system of oppression, developed more than 5,000 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia, and that all other systems of oppression such as race, class, imperialism, colonialism and slavery, as well as capitalism and the state itself, all have their roots in patriachy – the rule of men and enslavement and subjugation of women.
In the articles below, you can find information about women in North and East Syria, their lives, co-operatives and communal economy projects, and how the new system aims to build up women’s confidence and autonomy. There are also articles about women’s lives, livelihoods and struggles for liberation in the regions of southeastern Turkey known as Bakur by their largely Kurdish populations.
Developing the Women’s Economy in East Aleppo with a Cleaning Products Workshop
Members of the Women’s Association for Training and Awareness Raising in the Baydeen neighbourhood in eastern Aleppo have opened a project for the production of cleaning products in order to develop the women’s economy and to create jobs for as many women as possible, to help them become independent and self-reliant. Women in eastern Aleppo lived through terrible
Women are Building and Improving the Communal Economy in North Syria
Many members who participated in The First Conference of Women’s Economy in North Syria mentioned that women are increasingly participating in economic life, building and improving the communal economy, which in turn benefits society and helps meet people’s needs. 150 delegates participated in the conference from both Kobane [Kobanî] and Jazira [Cizîrê / Cezîre] Cantons, and also from Manbij [Minbic /
Creating a participatory system of economic democracy in Rojava
Out of repression has emerged one of the world’s most interesting experiments in democracy. And by democracy, what is meant is not the formal capitalist variety of elections every few years in which consumption of consumer products is substituted for participation in societal decisions. Surrounded on all sides by hostile forces intent on destroying them,
