“The women’s village of Jinwar is part of the institutions of the revolution that has developed and supported by women’s organizations. The women’s village is the concrete example of free and democratic life and the self-defense of women. Jinwar is an example of the democratic life against the jihadist ideals which has been imposed by the so called new government on women and the different communities and peoples living in Syria.
Jinwar is a solution against violence and genocide based on the values of women’s liberation, democratic community life, ecology, friendship of peoples and religions.
The Assad dictatorship has come to an end. But now different forces fight to gain power over Syria, over the land and the people. The groups attacking Rojava and other parts of Syria are Turkish-backed gangs that seek to conclude what ISIS couldn’t. With weapons and training from turkey and other Western countries they attack our towns and villages, massacring the people, once again they have forced thousands of families to flee, leaving children without homes, food and schools.”
Life in Jinwar has also changed. Families fleeing Manbij and Sheba, for the second time since Turkey occupied the Afrin region in the 2018 war, were here for a few days – resting and recharging before moving on. These were days in which bread was baked non-stop, medicine and food were distributed. Some of the families and children told of the atrocities they had to experience when the Turkish jihadist forces invaded their neighborhoods and executed family members and friends in front of them. As far as their future is concerned, as well as that of the almost 200,000 other refugees, there are still many question marks. Despite the great willingness of society, which has taken action everywhere to help people, almost everything essential for life is missing.
Where in the EU the deportation of people back to Syria is already being discussed and everyone is referring to the situation in Syria as “a new beginning”, here people are being forced to flee every day. Turkey is attacking everywhere, and new operations have been announced. There is actually no safe place for people. This uncertainty also affects life here in our village. The effects of Turkey’s long-standing war of aggression are being felt and sleeping places, food, medicine are scarce and opportunities to offer people security are hardly realizable.
In the clear night sky, these days the drones mix under the stars – their whirring disrupts the silence of the night, only interrupted from the sound of the bombs that detonate nearby. In Jinwar it is clear to everyone, here “resistance” means life.
This life continues, day by day, between hope and concern, between normality and a state of emergency. Jinwar is one of the examples of self-organization and resistance of women in Rojava, against violence, feminicide and for a free and self-determined life. The houses here, built from the clay of the earth here, in which people are lived and learned, the Sifa Jin, a natural hospital and the garden with vegetables and flowers are seeds of the growing change.
The women here are determined. Determined to fight for the children to go back to school to learn in their own language and grow up with the values of democracy and freedom of women. Determined to build up something beautiful that is full of life.
In their statement, Jinwar’s women call upon all women and peoples in the world to raise their voice. Now the time has come to fight for Rojava. Because life that is being built here is an example of the whole world.
