In December 2019, indigenous and Zapatista women hold their second “International gathering of women who struggle”. The situation in North and East Syria prevented delegates being sent from Rojava, so a solidarity video message was sent from the women’s movement Kongra Star, on behalf of the women in North and East Syria, to the Lacandon jungle.
As the indigenous and zapatista women announced in the invitation, this year the gathering will be focused on the topic of violence against women and the common struggle against it:
“So we want you to come and make your denunciation, not for a judge or a police officer or a journalist, but so that you may be heard by another woman, by other women, by many women who struggle. That is how, compañera, sister, your pain will not be yours alone but will unite with other suffering, and from that suffering comes not only a very big and deep pain, but also a rage that serves as a seed. If that seed is cultivated with organization, then pain and rage can turn into resistance and rebellion, as we say around here, with which we stop waiting to see if we’re going to be personally affected and we start to do something, first to stop the violence against us, and then to win our freedom as women.
That is our experience and our history as women, as peasant women, as indigenous women, and as Zapatistas. Nobody is going to give us peace, freedom, and justice. We have to fight, sister and compañera, fight for and wrest our freedom from the ultimate Ruler.
That is why we say this focus on violence against women is not only to denounce it, but also to say what we are doing, what we have done, and what we can do to stop these crimes.”
Read the full invitation here: https://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2019/09/21/invitation-to-the-second-international-gathering-of-women-who-struggle/
