Listen here to our daily update:
Dear friends, comrades and sisters,
We are writing to you from Rojava, the heart of the women’s revolution, where humanity is being defended. Today is the 7th February and here is our daily update
The situation here remains very serious.
Talks are ongoing regarding the implementation of the ceasefire and integration agreement, which was concluded on January 30th between the structures of the Autonomous Administration and the Syrian Transitional Government.
However, concrete steps to ease the siege of Kobani are still lacking.
While the talks continue, so too does the organization of self-defense. The people of Rojava are firmly resolved to defend their achievements and their lives.
For three weeks now, 600,000 people in Kobani have been suffering from shortages of electricity, water, food, and medical assistance. The humanitarian situation is catastrophic.
In recent days, talks have taken place between the Kobani Autonomous Administration and the state administration of the Aleppo region, in which Kobani is located.
In a statement, the Kobani Autonomous Administration has assured them of its continued full readiness to implement the agreement and called on the government to do its part and take the necessary steps. The Syrian Transitional government have not withdrawn their troops. The siege continues. It is threatening lives and it is threatening a breakdown of the ceasefire if the STG does not hold to their side of the agreement.
The Syrian Transitional government is also continuing to insist on calling Kobani ‘Ayn al-Arab’. The Ayn al Arab is the arabic name meaning the ‘source of the Arabs’ which completely contradicts that it is a Kurdish majority city. Calling in Ayn al-Arab contracdicts fact and reality.
While the siege continues despite the ceasefire agreement, heavy military activity has been observed at the border crossing to the Turkish city of Suruç for the past nine days. Tanks are being amassed, trenches are being dug with excavators, and military positions are being established. Digging continued yesterday as well. It very much looks like they are preparing for war.
In todays update we wanted to provide some background information to this border.
The Turkish-Syrian border stretches across the country in the form of a gray wall covered in barbed wire. On the Turkish side, it is heavily militarized with watchtowers, mines, and thermal imaging cameras.
It is almost an absurd sight, as it is immediately obvious that it is utterly out of place.
It is painful to see that it divides what was once one. In Kobane and Suruc, as well as in Qamislo and Nusaybin, it divides cities and neighborhoods. Many families have been separated by its construction.
The wall was built in 2015, but the course of this border originates in 1923 with the Treaty of Lausanne, when, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the major European powers divided the territories among themselves. Its course was aligned with the railway line that transported the exploited resources from the Middle East to Europe. Thus, it was determined by economic interests and not by the realities of society.
This border clearly illustrates the long history of borders drawn by white men with straight lines through the mountains and plains of the Middle East, borders enforced through wars and genocide.
And what is happening today clearly demonstrates that this history is not merely a thing of the past, but is very much present.
Furthermore, it is in the interest of the hegemonic forces, led by the economic interests of the USA and NATO, to destroy the potential for resistance and renewal of the system that exists in the Middle East through its cultural diversity and societal values.
President George Bush clearly articulated this at a G8 summit in 2004 when he presented the “Great Middle East” project, which directed the military activities of the USA and its allies, both previously in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and currently from Iran to Palestine to Syria.
The goal is to fully integrate the Middle East into the capitalist market.
What the Rojava Revolution defends is an alternative that is not based on dividing state borders. It is a social system where cultural diversity can lead to creativity instead of conflict. All voices are heard; every religious, cultural, and ethnic minority is organized and part of the political process. Of course it is not perfect and mistakes happen, but the aim of the ongoing revolution is this.
We can see almost everywhere the desire of states and right wing politics to try and homogenise. Trying to destroy anyone considered different. To try and make us see others as a threat to ourselves. Our fights against this anywhere in the world, are deep connected, sharing enemies and sharing our desires for the future, for all to be free. This is why we say the women’s revolution is for all women and all who desire a free life. Our struggles, our pain, our revolutions, our fight for freedom are woven together, if we have the courage to see it.
In recent years, it has become increasingly clear how women, in particular, are taking the lead in overcoming cultural and ethnic divisions. Through their shared struggle for liberation as women, they find unity, discover that they are fighting against the same patriarchal obstacles, and thus encourage the rest of society to find solutions through truly democratic processes.
Yesterday in Haseke, a meeting took place between the new governor, Nûredîn Îsa, whose position was one of the points of the new agreement, and local authorities. Delegates from Arab tribal groups, religious communities, and self-governing bodies came together. This demonstrates how, despite the strong attacks aimed at sowing division among Rojava’s cultural diversity, it is resisting.
The STG doesn’t just threaten the kurdish population but all ethnic and religious minorities in Syria. Last night a young man in Swuiada was killed y a rocket attack on his village by the interim government.
In the besieged city of Kobani, hundreds of women demonstrated today, demonstrating their strong will to continue defending the revolution and their very existence. The march began at Free Women’s Square.
In her address to the demonstrators, Xenaf Xelîl of Kongra Star recalled the women’s resistance against the so-called IS in Kobani 11 years ago, saying:
“The women repelled the occupiers and conspirators. They showed the world that women have the power to bring about change.”
With these words, I end today’s message.
Revolutionary greetings from Rojava
