One of the five principles of the Ideology of Women’s Liberation is Organisation. According to this principle, organisation is what connects individuals with the collective, ideas and objectives. Organising means taking responsibility for one’s individual life, but also for the life of the collective, as both are closely interlinked and cannot be separated. Our comrades have understood that without organisation, systems of oppression cannot be overcome.
It was on this principle that Kongra Star was founded in 2005 (at that time known as Yekitiya Star). Kongra Star was established with the aim of raising awareness, organising and mobilising women in Rojava, the predominantly Kurdish region within Syria, and served as the cornerstone that drove the early stages of the Kurdish women’s revolution in 2012. Later, it would also become the driving force behind the liberation and self-organisation of all women, regardless of their community, within the territory of the DAANES. Kongra Star served as an example and inspiration for the creation of Arab women’s organisations (Zenobia), which struggle for the self-determination of Arab women.
Kongra Star began its work during the Ba’ath regime, organising Kurdish women in towns and villages, working from the grassroots up, visiting every home and every family. Many women in the organisation were imprisoned, fined and assaulted during this period; yet they did not abandon their goals. When the revolution broke out in Rojava in 2012, the women of Kongra Star took on a leadership role, driving the takeover of institutions and the self-organisation of resistance committees. After the revolution was consolidated, Kongra Star has continued to work towards the establishment of Democratic Confederalism and the advancement of women’s liberation in the region. One of the main methods for achieving these goals is through the women’s communes and committees in the region.
The organisational foundation of the DAANES (Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria) system is the commune. These are the guarantors of grassroots democracy. A commune is made up of residents from the same street, neighbourhood or village, depending on the area and the population. The members of a commune discuss and make decisions collectively to improve their living conditions in line with the community’s needs, whether material or intellectual. Several communes come together to form a municipal assembly; several municipalities form a province; several provinces form a canton; and several cantons form a region. In this way, the system can grow without being constrained by state borders, but rather by adapting to social and geographical realities.[1]
The autonomous women’s communes replicate the general mixed-gender system, but focus their efforts on developing rights, freedoms and opportunities for the emancipation of women in their community. They participate, on the one hand, in women-only meetings and, on the other, in the women’s committees of the general communes. Kongra Star plays an important role in these assemblies, organising and connecting the interests and needs of women across different villages, towns and regions. This dual role ensures, on the one hand, the participation and development of proposals from a women’s perspective and, on the other, that women’s positions and needs are heard and taken into account. Furthermore, for this very reason, another important aspect of the organisational system in Rojava is the co-presidency model, which is implemented at all levels of administration and ensures that all representative positions are always held by one woman and one man.
The practical work of the communes is organised into committees covering different areas of life; these are set up according to the needs of the community. The committees cover Politics, Social Justice, Education, Self-Defence, Local Government and the Environment, Economy, Diplomacy, Art and Culture, Health, Media, and Social Affairs. Kongra Star, in turn, also replicates these same committees to strengthen and support those in the communes from a women’s perspective.
The commune system, like that of the entire DAANES, is a living, evolving entity. On the one hand, it is shaped by events in the region, particularly attacks, the economic and political blockade, land invasions and the environmental crisis. On the other hand, the system is evolving and changing through practice itself, via the method of criticism and self-criticism, and the tekmil [2] is adapting to the current and social needs of the moment they are going through. The structure of the communes is the main political and organisational commitment of a revolution that challenges the nation-state system and promotes the autonomous and responsible lives of its individuals.
Current situation: the dismantling of women’s structures and grassroots democracy
With the takeover by the Syrian interim government, led by Ahmed Al-Shaara and the HTS factions (Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham – the renamed branch of Al-Qaeda in Syria), the commune structure in the Arab regions has been dissolved. Most women’s communes, committees and institutions have been shut down. Office buildings and premises associated with women-only organisations have literally been destroyed. Slogans proclaiming women’s equality and freedom have been erased from the streets. The few organisations that have survived are operating under severe repression.
In the case of the predominantly Kurdish territories, these bodies continue to operate, but it remains to be seen under what conditions they will be able to continue their work and to what extent they will be recognised. Among Kongra Star’s demands are the preservation of the co-presidency system and women’s institutions, meaningful participation by women at all levels, and the recognition of women’s rights in the new constitution.
These demands by Kongra Star stand in stark contrast to the stance of this interim government, which systematically excludes women from positions of responsibility and has failed to include gender equality in the provisional constitution.
For all these reasons, the support of women’s organisations around the world is crucial in defending the gains of the women’s revolution and pressing for the respect of the rights and freedoms of women in Syria.
[1] Andrea Wolf Institute; Woman, Life, Freedom, Volume 2; p. 177
[2] https://rojavaazadimadrid.org/tekmil-un-instrumento-de-reflexion-de-rojava/
