Preliminary communication
The Rojava Revolution: Women’s Liberation as an Answer to the Kurdish Question
Katarina Pavičić-Ivelja
; Filozofski fakultet Rijeka
Abstract
The following paper aims to analyze the historical background
of the current happenings such as the Kurdish endeavors towards
independence and the strengthening of feminist thought, as well as cultural and political circumstances which put into motion a series of events that ultimately lead to a radical change in the political and social climate of the present day Syria. In the midst of a civil war, the Kurdish people seized the opportunity to fight for their own sovereignty in northern Syria, or as it is known by the Kurds – Rojava. Rooted in the strongly progressive idea of Democratic Confederalism designed by a Kurdish nationalist leader and the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) founder Abdullah Öcalan, the Rojava Revolution is often deemed one of the greatest social experiments of our time.
Even though the implementation of Democratic Confederalism may be in itself enough to highlight the importance of this revolution in the context of today’s Middle East, what is of even greater significance is the blossoming of women’s rights in Rojava. Another one of Öcalan’s pivotal ideas, known as Jineology (the science of women) puts none other than women at the very center of the revolution. By observing the work of the all-female Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) it is clearly evident that the aforementioned ideology manifests itself in practice, not only in the battlefield, but in everyday life as well. In this paper I will try to provide an overview of the historical circumstances that allowed for a spark that started the fire of the Women’s Revolution within one of the most patriarchal societies and among one of the most repressed minorities in the world today and further examine the
significance of the current situation in Rojava.
Keywords
PKK; Kurds; Rojava; revolution; women; feminism; YPJ
Hrčak ID:
196080
URI
Publication date:
15.12.2017.
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