Women Defend Rojava interviewed Naima Mehmud, co-chair of the Mala Jin (Women’s House) in the canton of Heseke. They talked with her about the work of Mala Jin and how it is influenced by the current Turkish state’s invasion and war and the recent Covid-19 pandemic.
Syrian Free Women’s Foundation works for women in every part of life. The foundation has recently begun to work for the education of women and children.
The only prosthesis workshop in the autonomous region of northeast Syria is located in a village near Qamişlo. Eight dedicated employees take care of tens of thousands of war-disabled people, and the need is enormous.
Over the past thirty years, instructor Dorşîn Akîf told us, women participated in the Kurdish freedom movement, first as fighters, then in women’s institutions. Three years ago Kurdish women produced Jineolojî, or “women’s science,” which they regard as the culmination of that decades-long experience.
At the academy in Rimelan, students are first given a general overview of Jineolojî, “the kind of knowledge that was stolen from women” and that women today can recover. “We are trying to overcome women’s nonexistence in history. We try to understand how concepts are produced and reproduced within existing social relations, then we come up with our own understanding. We want to establish a true interpretation of history by looking at the role of women and making women visible in history.”
Three women bake local bread in their “Tandoor House they opened in Çêwlig to have economic freedom. The Tandoor House become the hope for women living in the city and the people of the city prefer to buy bread made by these three women. Zehra Ataoğlu is one of three women and she tells us how they decided to open their bakery.
When Raqqa was liberated four years ago, the city was largely in ruins. The streets were covered in rubble, its citizens were largely displaced, and tens of thousands of mines and IEDs that were left by ISIS littered the city, posing a huge risk to the safety of both security forces and civilians. The education system of the city had been utilized by ISIS to brainwash the people, including children. Services were nonexistent after months of warfare. The status of women in the city had been abysmal under ISIS rule. Raqqa’s society had to be rebuilt from the ground up.
In a time of deep despair, human and ecological crisis, the example of Democratic Autonomy in Rojava has created hope, and given new inspiration to people in Syria and the Middle East. In fact, a lot of people in other parts of the world have become a part of this process and are connecting it to the struggles in their own regions. Despite all the shortcomings and numerous obstacles during the last decade, we have learned that the democratic confederal organization of society can fulfill many spiritual and material needs of society. We have learned that democratic transformation is a continuing process, which requires constant societal and self-reflection. Our achievements are not assured forever, if we do not protect and advance them.
The founding conference of the Coalition of Civil Society Organizations in Northeastern Syria was held in the city of Qamishli.
Nûdem organisation
Aleppo Intellectuals House opened a library to contribute to the ideological and cultural development of the people. Some 500 books about politics, culture, society and history found their places on the shelves.
In Deir ez-Zor, more women have taken part in decision-making at all levels since their city was liberated from ISIS. The women of the city have become stronger since the foundation of the Women’s Council.
Beginning just three years ago with only two women, the Kibele Cooperative run by Kurdish women in Urfa has almost 50 members today and is run using a co-presidency system.
