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mashriq / arabia / iraq / imperialismo / guerra / comunicado de prensa Wednesday January 05, 2022 00:02 byVarias organizaciones anarquistas

El embargo, el corte de las fuentes de agua y los ataques aéreos contra civiles han sido algunos de los crímenes de guerra cometidos por el Estado turco fascista a lo largo de este año contra la Revolución en Roj*va.

Mientras enfrenta la crisis política y económica interna, el gobierno de Erdogan tiene que aceptar el fracaso de las operaciones militares en las montañas de Kurdistán, apelando al uso de armas químicas, frente a la resistencia de las guerrilleras y los guerilleros Kurdos de la revolución.

La intensificación de los ataques en el mes de octubre pasado, los volantes lanzados desde los aviones y los recientes movimientos de tropas amenazan con una nueva invasión de los territorios autónomos del Norte y Este de Siria.

En este delicado momento, queremos reafirmar nuestra solidaridad con nuestras y nuestros compañerxs revolucionarios y todos los pueblos de Roj*va y condenamos, una vez más, la ocupación de Roj*va, las múltiples agresiones y crímenes de guerra del Estado neofascista turco y sus aliados yihadistas, así como sus preparativos de guerra.

La Revolución de Roj*va, que está a punto de celebrar 10 años, y junto con las montañas kurdas libres, representa no solo una alternativa democrática de base y federalista para el Medio Oriente, sino para los pueblos del mundo.

En este siglo XXI de crisis económica, social y ecológica, en un mundo transformado en una junta de grandes poderes y capitales para la especulación financiera; la lucha y creación de proyectos de una sociedad diferente tienen un papel estratégico global. La revolución de Roj*va, con fuerte anclaje en la lucha de las mujeres, en la profundización democrática con amplia participación popular y la protección del medioambiente, es un ejemplo revolucionario de estos tiempos del cual los pueblos del mundo debemos aprender.

No es casualidad que desde sus inicios miles de personas se hayan levantado en todo el mundo en solidaridad con la heroica resistencia de Kobanê contra las fuerzas fascistas del ISIS.

ISIS, grupo criminal, oscurantista y fascista, cuya creación fue facilitada por la desastrosa intervención militar de EEUU en Irak, las financias y el apoyo de Arabia Saudita y que cuenta con el apoyo ideológico y táctico del Estado turco, y cuyos combatientes fueron reciclados como mercenarios para las invasiones de Afrin y Serekanyie, y que ahora se están preparando para invadir Roj*va como fuerza paramilitar del Ejército de Turquía.

La guerra que tiene lugar en Siria no es solo un conflicto entre áreas de influencia de diferentes potencias, sino de también es un conflicto entre proyectos de sociedad antagónicos. En Roj*va está en marcha un proceso revolucionario, en el que el pueblo kurdo y sus aliados son los protagonistas, con sus logros y limitaciones, pero un proceso de transición a una sociedad socialista que lucha contra todas las estructuras de dominación de la actual sociedad capitalista.

Mientras los pueblos del Norte y Este de Siria resisten y luchan, los pueblos del mundo debemos contribuir solidariamente y en apoyo a la misma por todos los medios necesarios, apoyando al pueblo kurdo y otros pueblos que se levantan contra la injusticia y la agresión imperialista.

Condenamos cualquier intento de agresión del Estado Turco o del que sea, hacia los pueblos de Roj*va y sus organizaciones y a su experiencia social y democrática basada en un fuerte protagonismo popular y de carácter confederalista.

¡ABAJO LA AGRESIÓN IMPERIALISTA TURCA CONTRA ROJ*VA!

VIVA LA RESISTENCIA DE LOS PUEBLOS DE ROJ*VA!

¡ARRIBA LOS Y LAS QUE LUCHAN!

★Lucha Anarquista (Roj*va)

★Coordinación Anarquista Brasilera (Brasil)

★Federación Anarquista Uruguaya (Uruguay)

★Federación Anarquista de Rosario (Argentina)

★Organización Anarquista de Córdoba (Argentina)

★Unión Comunista Libertaria (Francia)

★Embat -Organización Anarquista de Cataluña(Cataluña)

★Alternativa Libertaria / Federación Comunista Anarquista (Italia)

★Federación Anarquista de Grecia (Grecia)

★Roja y Negra - Organización Política Anarquista (Argentina)

★Organización Socialista Libertaria (Suiza)

★Die Plattform (Alemania)

★Acción Libertaria (Suiza)

★Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement (Nueva Zelanda)

mashriq / arabia / iraq / gender / non-anarchist press Wednesday August 11, 2021 17:51 byFidaa Zaanin

Palestine looks back on a long history of women organizing dating back to as early as 1917, as well as a vibrant history of women’s social and political participation in the country. Nevertheless, the coordinated feminist protests that took place on 26 September 2019 took some by surprise.

On that day, thousands of Palestinian women – some of them for the first time in their lives – hit the streets of 12 cities across the Occupied Palestinian Territories, as well as in refugee camps and the diaspora including a protest in Berlin and another in London, in response to a call issued by the activist group Tal’at to protest the rise in gender-based violence (GBV), most notably so-called ‘honour killings’, in Palestinian society. The demonstrators also denounced all forms of violence – be it from patriarchy, toxic masculinity, sexual violence, sexual harassment in the workplace, economic exploitation, local political exclusion, sexist laws, or colonialism.

The catalyst of this newly formed feminist movement was the killing of Israa Ghrayeb, a 21-year-old Palestinian woman, by her family members in the West Bank. Women’s mobilizations are not uncommon in Palestine, nor was this mobilization unique or the first of its kind. Yet such strong and coordinated mobilization was definitely a somewhat unusual recent development, and could be attributed to the strong feminist discourse that has linked social and political issues in turbulent times, as well as a general rise in violence against Palestinian women.

The mobilization came after years of what many observers regarded as a stagnation in the women’s movement, and an increased marginalization of women’s voices and concerns in the Palestinian national struggle. The action developed without the organizers resorting to traditional methods of mobilization – specifically, without the resources and networks of the women’s organizations directly affiliated with the established Palestinian political parties. The Tal’at group is independent, meaning that, unlike other Palestinian women’s organizations, political parties and formal institutions have no control over it nor the tools and tactics they use.

A Glimmer of Hope
The Tal’at mobilization began as an urgent action under the slogan of “No Free Homeland without Free Women.” It swiftly captured widespread attention: locally among wide sections of Palestinian progressive circles and Arab feminist groups, and internationally among several feminist collectives in Latin America and the United States.

The activists involved successfully overcame military checkpoints, geographical fragmentation, and physical borders. Organizers managed to reach out to different individuals and groups in different cities via their own channels and social relationships. Some knew each other as political and social activists prior to the mobilization, while others met for the first time. Organizers used social media as their primarily mobilizing tool. In several cities, they also hung up posters.

For some Palestinian women, the mobilization represented a glimmer of hope that a better and more just future for all in a free Palestine could be possible. Although it was met largely with praise, optimism, and a great deal of support and solidarity, mostly due to its progressive feminist discourse and firm stance against all forms of oppression, an expected backlash came from conservative and reactionary Palestinians who reject feminism outright and view it as an imported, purely Western ideology with the goal of destroying family values and tearing apart the Palestinian social fabric, as well as from Palestinians who believe that women’s liberation can only be achieved later, after national liberation, plainly stating that women’s dignity and lives are for now not a priority.

Diverse Experiences, Diverse Discourses
Tal’at opened a new window of opportunity for Palestinian women hoping for real social and political change to make their voices heard and place a progressive feminist agenda at the core of Palestine’s national emancipation – an agenda that aspires to entrench liberation as a value in all aspects of life. Tal’at also sparked an online conversation among Palestinian women about feminism – the notion itself, what can or cannot be included under feminism, and lastly what it means to be a feminist in the Palestinian context today.

With regard to the last question, a discussion took place around what kind of allies and supporters are welcome within a Palestinian feminist movement. Based on that discussion, attempts made by some Israeli women’s groups to join Tal’at were rejected. Affirming that being a feminist in Palestine today means having total control over the feminist narrative, Tal’at issued an official statement, explaining in detail why such attempts will always be rejected. Important debates also unfolded among women and activists around feminist discourse in Palestine. The debates I observed were healthy and refrained from speaking of Palestinian women as a monolith, instead recognizing their diverse social and political backgrounds.

Acknowledging such diversity leaves room for articulating the lived experiences of Palestinian women, as shaped by their locations and identities and as subjects of multiple layers of oppression. Such diversity extends to the realms of women’s needs, concerns, expectations, and dreams. Many came to realize that for any Palestinian autonomous women’s organization or feminist organization to emerge, it would need to recognize those differences. Without doing so it would be just another futile attempt that benefits only some at the expense of others, and would not take us further toward full liberation.

That said, it is practically impossible to depict all feminist discourses and agendas on the ground, or to cover all the diverse viewpoints and attitudes of Palestinian women who identify as feminist. This is a very complex undertaking, as the field is still insufficiently investigated. Moreover, terms such as “feminism,” “feminist discourses,” “intersectionality,” and “patriarchy” only recently became more common in the public sphere and in conversation.

However, there is clearly a diverse range of feminist discourses and various strands of feminist and women activism which have emerged organically, for the simple reason that this system of structural violence impacts them differently, and the ideas and discourses they develop over time are based on their own concerns. Those diverse feminist discourses agree on several salient points and intersect around central questions, such as national liberation, political participation, femicide, women in the labour market, and women’s reproductive health and rights. They differ, however, in the lens they use and the strategies they employ to understand and engage with those questions.

Conservative Feminism
In a culturally conservative society like Palestine, religious teachings and beliefs still have a powerful influence on how people structure their everyday lives, and feminist and women’s rights discourses are no exception. The widespread conservative feminist discourse in Palestine views religion as a point of reference for its demands, and a standard what is acceptable and what is not. This conservative feminism is largely confined to what is socially acceptable, and its goals are usually limited to legal reforms such as pushing reforms that protect the rights of women to inheritance in accordance with Islamic law, and protecting this right against threats such as fraud and manipulation.

This discourse generally avoids any issues that are deemed to violate Islamic teachings, such as a woman’s right to appear in public without a head covering, to travel without a male guardian’s approval, sex work, or the right to sexuality. These issues, combined with patriarchal social norms, limit conservative discourse and set a very low bar for demands when compared to the other mainstream feminist discourse, namely the secular discourse.

Nevertheless, this conservative discourse – since it is less in confrontation with society and the system – is granted space to safely campaign without being demonized or targeted, in contrast to what happens to their secular counterparts. The conservative religious discourse around feminism or women’s rights has also opened up discussions over the right to education, access to healthcare, the right to work, disability rights, matters related to the so-called “personal status law,” and violence against women.

One heated, ongoing debate in Gaza specifically revolves around changing the laws concerning child custody and child visitation rights, with the goal of at least adopting the same law as it is applied in the West Bank. In Gaza, divorced women lose their custody rights once their children reach the age of seven (for boys) and nine (for girls). In most cases, they are also denied the right to visitation as a punishment, and may not ever see their children again. Meanwhile, in the West Bank, child custody for women lasts until the age of 15 for both boys and girls, with better regulations regarding visitation rights for both parents.

The debate around child custody was sparked in June 2020 by the murder of 20-year-old Madeline Jarab’a, who was killed for getting in touch with her divorced mother. One month later, the ten-year-old Amal Al Jamaly was killed by her father following disagreements between him and her mother. This pattern of killings encouraged women and mothers, most of them divorced, to start a campaign demanding justice by changing the law. Today the group encompasses around 1,500 women, who have already organized media campaigns, a petition, and protests in front of the legislative council, chanting and holding written banners with Quranic verses and hadiths (traditions of the Prophet Muhammad) concerning the regulations of familial relationships during marriage and after divorce.

Secular Feminism
At the opposite end of the spectrum, a secular feminist discourse led by a broader network of women’s rights activists and groups can be observed. The demands raised within this discourse go further, and its protagonists are keener to challenge social norms and patriarchal structures whether religion, domestic patriarchy, or structural violence from formal institutions. Both reformist and radical tendencies can be identified, including feminists who are liberal, left-wing, or who are opposed to political Islam.

Violence against women and ‘honour crimes’ are top of the agenda here, as well as the politicization of women’s bodies, sexual abuse, harassment in the workplace, economic exploitation, the hijab, freedom of movement, women’s reproductive health, employment rights and legal reforms, changing the penal code, governmental protection for women, tougher laws, and ensuring that laws are in compliance with ratified international treaties such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

A Younger and Bolder Generation
Part of this secular discourse is a newly-emerging younger generation that identifies as feminist and does not shy away from the term out of fear of backlash. Tal’at is one example of this generation, while another is the queer-feminist organization Al Qaws with headquarters in Jerusalem and offices in Ramallah, Haifa, and Jaffa. In Gaza there is #MeTooGaza, focusing mainly on sexual harassment and honour crimes.

This younger generation is clearly bolder and has a more nuanced understanding of the patriarchal system, power relations, gender dynamics, and how all systems of oppression are linked both in theory and practice. Its level of understanding can largely be attributed to social media and thus access to information, whether in relation to feminist theory, schools of feminism, or worldwide feminist struggles. It goes without saying that the #MeTooGaza group is heavily influenced by the global #MeToo movement.

There is a clear distinction between these groups and an older generation of women activists who may themselves be aware of gender inequalities, but nevertheless are only involved to a limited extent. The older generation are affiliated with established Palestinian political parties, which have sometimes restricted their feminism in praxis and held them back politically. A member of the General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW), the main official institution that represents Palestinian women within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and which therefore represents Palestinian women from all political parties, explained the following in a personal interview:

Women in the GUPW and all Non-Governmental Organizations associated with it, have to prioritize the interests of the party over the interests of women. They have no choice. If the men in the political party see an issue that concerns these women as a non-priority issue, then, it will not be a priority on those women’s agenda… Women representatives from political parties within the GUPW, would only prioritize supporting and helping women who are members of their same party.

The topics discussed online in younger feminist circles, on the other hand, go beyond heteronormative feminism: they discuss sexual orientation, gender identities, and gender transitioning. They open up conversations about reshaping gender roles at home, where inequality begins and becomes normalized, as well as debates around pleasure, emotional labour, sex work, marital rape, abortion rights, intersectionality, and male control over women’s bodies and sexuality. They are also more vocal about sexual harassment and sexual abuse in the private sphere. In a society that considers everything around sexuality and sexual expression as taboo, this is significant.

The emerging young feminist generation is fully aware that addressing social questions, such as the oppression of women, is also a political question. They are accordingly critical of neoliberal practices such as the depoliticization of “collective women’s concerns” via NGO-ization, which then become co-opted into donor-driven projects with deadlines, as happens all too often in Gaza and the West Bank. That is one reason why Tal’at publicly distanced themselves from this kind of, in their eyes, superficial feminism, stating they were a totally independent Hirak (movement), as many women had lost faith in pro-women NGOs and their agendas.

The emerging feminist generation is also critical of the reformist tendencies among the secular feminist discourse and refuses to ignore the patriarchal nature of the political system, while rejecting the idea that the feminist agenda should be limited to superficial changes that only benefit elite women. For instance, they do not cherish changes that can be leveraged in the service of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and help the PA to improve its public image.

This generation does not simply accept scratching the surface of the problem by appointing more women within PA structures, recruiting women for the police, limiting political participation to acts of engagement within the system, and using the tools of the system such as having more women in the government. This generation clearly views the PA and its institutions as part of the patriarchal system responsible for violence against women and reproducing violence against marginalized groups, and which thus needs to be dismantled in the process of full liberation. There are of course women’s rights activists who disagree with that assessment, and view the PA as an important actor that cannot be omitted from the equation.

A Discourse in Flux
Looking back at the feminist discourse and activism that was visible in Palestine five years ago, it is clear that a certain maturity has emerged in today’s discourse, and it continues to change, even if slowly.

The discourse has become more nuanced: new topics are gaining more space, as seen in contemporary discussions of issues such as the intersection of class and women’s oppression, the importance of producing feminist knowledge in Arabic, and even topics like black abolitionist feminism.

In addition, matters that are considered taboo like sex and sexuality are being discussed, even if in smaller circles or online. Nevertheless, those conversations are not yet mainstream, and perhaps take place only in private progressive feminist groups.

Silence and Complicity around Honour Killings
Gender-based violence and what are often known as ‘honour crimes’ are the two main issues haunting women in Palestine. Both are usually swept under the rug as ‘private matters’ and ‘personal issues’, in line with a rhetoric that views such horrific violations as individual cases, not as systematic crimes. Women who speak up or complain are regularly shamed for doing so.

There are no reliable statistics around honour crimes and violence against women. Many incidents go unreported. Recent years, however, have seen a spike in publicly reported crimes on social media. According to women’s rights organizations, 35 women were killed in Gaza and the West Bank in 2020 – but even this figure is only an estimate. Many cases are registered as ‘honour killings’ because the family or the perpetrators feel no shame over what they did. However, other killings get registered as “suicides” or “accidents” as a way to close the case quickly and avoid public scrutiny.

The notion of ‘honour’ behind these ‘honour’ crimes is highly vague, yet is the main declared motive for those killings. There is no catalogue listing the behaviours that supposedly stain a family’s honour and thus deserve the punishment. It could be innocuous acts ranging from not sticking to the expected code of morality, maintaining a Facebook account, receiving a phone call from a co-worker, talking to a stranger, or coming home late. This vagueness is tied to the idea that women must preserve their chastity, in line with the dominant religious laws and social patriarchal norms in Palestinian society. Additional pressure is put on unmarried women, as society attempts to control their sexuality and ensure their ‘virginity’. Women who adhere to social norms and religious laws are categorized as ‘good’ women, while those who do not are regarded as ‘bad’.

Honour crimes are also used as a cover for crimes committed on other grounds, such as the right to inheritance or the right to choose a partner. Perpetrators know very well that, if they claim they committed the crime on grounds of defending the family’s honour, they will receive a reduced sentence – or no punishment at all. Even when women are fortunate enough to have the access and privilege to report threats and abuse, their complaints are usually dismissed by police. This behaviour on the part of police or hospital staff is not merely an individual problem: those institutions and employees are guards of the patriarchal system; they, too, are part of the problem.

Reporting sexual harassment and abuse is not an easy process. Due to the widespread stigma associated with sexual abuse, women are often afraid to seek justice. When they do, they are subjected to a long process that violates their bodies through medical examinations, thus adding to their trauma. Women accusers are expected to prove that the incident really happened and navigate a number of bureaucratic hurdles. More often than that, the process ends with the abuser walking away and justice not being served.

As a result, women refrain from speaking out about rape and sexual harassment perpetrated by relatives and family members. They stay with their abusers since governmental institutions and laws offer no real protection. In Gaza, for example, there are two women’s shelters – one run by the government and one belonging to an NGO. Neither provide real solutions. According to testimonies from women who have been to them, the NGO-led shelter still uses traditional patriarchal ways of dealing with cases, such as male mediation and tribal interventions. The governmental shelter is much worse: women are shamed and blamed for what happened to them, and workers uphold the very same conservative social ideology that subjected women to violence. Rather than find the refuge and protection they seek, women at the shelter find themselves negotiating with patriarchy instead.

Social Media: A New Battleground
The patriarchal structures and social norms of Palestinian society not only permit and normalize violence against women, but also prevent them from seeking justice. This is coupled with the complicity of formal institutions that reinforce and reproduce violence. They provide legal loopholes, allowing the abuser to get away with crimes or receive reduced sentences. Essentially, the whole system is designed to protect abusers.

Women and girls have lost faith in the system, and constantly question the ability of these institutions to provide them with safety and protection. All of this has pushed them toward thinking of new ways of making their concerns public, using social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, hoping these would provide them with some protection.

In the case of Israa Ghrayeb, if it were not for the videos and conversations that were leaked to social media, which later sparked outrage leading to a huge campaign demanding justice and investigation under the hashtag #JusticeForIsraa, the crime would have gone unnoticed, and Israa would have been just another victim, another number.

Similarly, in the case of Madeline Jarab’a, if it had not been for individual feminist efforts, no one would have known what had happened and that a girl had been killed. In the face of public feminist pressure, her father was arrested but later freed, due to a legal loophole that allowed the next of kin to pardon the perpetrator, who in this case was the father himself.

In August 2020, two young women from Gaza went live on Facebook to speak out about physical abuse by their family members in separate incidents. This unprecedented event defied social restrictions concerning violence against women being a private matter. Alaa Yasin, one of the two girls, went to the governmental shelter in August 2020, and told me: “[i]n the first week people working in the shelter were nice to me, in the second week things were getting worse, they tried to take my phone, push me to go back home to my abusive family, it was like a prison, not a place for safety and protection.” She eventually managed to leave for Egypt.

One month later, on 17 September 2020, another young girl took to Facebook and Instagram to speak about being sexually harassed by her father and other family members. If there is one thing families fear, it is such issues being made public, where they might harm the family’s reputation.

Because of the lack of direct action on the street around these crimes, recently we can observe more Palestinian feminist groups emerging on social media, disseminating information about feminism and women’s rights, speaking up about crimes against women, and building networks. They are initiating campaigns like #MeTooGaza that tackle sexual harassment, while the relative anonymity ensured by the internet provides them with safety and protection in a conservative society. At the very least, these groups allow women to share their stories and heal together. They also allow women to discover new ways of supporting each other, which is something that is not possible outside of the virtual world.

Social media has allowed feminists to communicate directly with each other and building support systems online, where survivors and victims know they are not alone in their struggle. This use of social media platforms by feminist groups has also attracted a backlash in the form of online misogynist threats, cyberbullying, and blackmail. This has opened up a conversation about what tactics can be developed to fight such attacks and keep feminist groups and individuals safe.

Fighting Patriarchy and Colonialization
Compared to Saudi Arabia’s strict guardianship laws, one could almost get the idea that male guardianship does not really exist in Palestine or the rest of the Arab world. That would be a mistake. Palestine definitely has an informal male guardianship system that is held up and reinforced by society and formal institutions, even if the Palestinian Basic Law states otherwise. Women are often prevented from enrolling in a university, having a job, going for a walk, visiting friends, choosing their partner, or traveling without a male guardian’s approval.

In one instance, women who tried to leave Gaza via the Rafah Border Crossing, all of whom were over 18 years old, were appalled when border guards asked them to call their “male guardian” in order to receive consent for their travel. On 14 February 2021, the Higher Sharia Court Council in Gaza issued a circular prohibiting unmarried women of all ages from travelling without their male guardian’s approval. After public pressure and campaigns, they are said to be revising the circular. That being said, even if it is revised, informally women would still be asked to call their male guardian or risk being returned to Gaza and denied crossing.

The conservative norms prevalent across Arab society provide Palestinian feminists with more than enough social ills to address, but not all of their problems are home-grown. After all, the oppression of Palestinian women cannot be understood outside of the context of the structural violence of the Israeli occupation. The violence Palestinian women are subjected to every day cannot be separated from the reality of Palestinian society as a whole.

Israeli policies and the dispossession of Palestinian bodies and lands for decades also includes gendered violence against Palestinian women, while at the same time the harsh political and economic realities caused by the occupation play a role in reinforcing violence within Palestinian society. For instance, Palestinian women holding Israeli citizenship are subjected to different forms of violence, where Israeli institutions deliberately reinforce patriarchal kin unit structures at the expense of women’s lives under the pretext that this violence is a cultural specificity of the Arab community. Meanwhile Palestinian women in Gaza have little control over their lives, living under a tight Israeli-Egyptian blockade. Uniting these distinct experiences, however, is the occupation.

The same feminist activists who oppose structural patriarchy in Palestinian society also fight against colonialist policies. In doing so, they risk arrest and torture in Israel jails, being searched and humiliated at checkpoints, surveillance, having their freedom of movement taken away from them, being besieged, blackmailed, and denied access to healthcare services, and even having their right to self-determination taken away. As this younger generation of feminists emerges, it rejects the rhetoric of prioritizing national liberation and side-lining feminist discourses, instead arguing that the liberation of the homeland and the liberation of its women go hand in hand.

From Scene to Movement
The list of challenges feminists and organizers for women’s rights face in Palestine is indeed long, beginning with their difficult position wedged between domestic patriarchy and foreign occupation. Although key driving forces behind building a social movement, such as injustice and oppression, are strongly present, reality continues to impose limitations on their ability to engage in political struggle. When building a feminist movement, geographical fragmentation can pose a huge obstacle.

The lack of resources and infrastructure also poses enormous challenges that affect the ability to mobilize and organize, and hinder the building of a strong feminist movement by making the process of growth much slower. This are compounded by other negative factors like frustration, demoralization, the constant backlash from conservative forces, or the threat of being harmed for organizing under political banners. All these dynamics weaken any attempts made by Palestinian women to launch collective feminist action of any kind.

There have been incredible efforts to build a feminist movement in Palestine in the past years, as the local discourse develops and shifts and feminist groups seek to alter the status quo. That said, what we have today is a Palestinian feminist scene, not a movement. Tal’at, for example, has gathered momentum, but whether it will be able to persist and establish continuity is anybody’s guess.

However, all the recent efforts, as well as how women and feminists are engaging with them, clearly show that there is a thirst for change, and a desire to fight for gender justice and liberation. To build a feminist movement in and for the future, feminists need to redefine the political space and reclaim public space, and not confine women’s presence only to national emergencies. We need to rethink organizing and develop new organizational models suitable for the socio-political and cultural context in Palestine in order to be able to conceptualize a broader vision of our collective liberation.
mashriq / arabia / iraq / imperialism / war / opinion / analysis Wednesday July 14, 2021 05:57 byMelbourne Anarchist Communist Group

The Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group’s solution to the oppression of the Palestinians is the same as for oppression everywhere. The problems of capitalism can only be solved by workers’ revolution.In Palestine, that means defeating Zionism and replacing it with the No State Solution, a society of libertarian communism that operates on the basis of consistent federalism.

The dust has settled on the latest Israeli attack on Gaza, but the fundamental position remains. Israel continues its slow process of ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem and on the West Bank, while failing to demolish the military capacity of Hamas in Gaza. And yet, the situation is not stable.

Protests in Jerusalem and on the West Bank exploded on 6 May, when Israeli authorities moved to enforce evictions of Palestinians from the Sheik Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem. Israeli law allows Jews who fled during the war over the establishment of Israel to reclaim their property, but prevents Palestinians from doing the same. The double standard in Israeli law is deliberate. It’s what being a “Jewish State” is all about.

The #SaveSheikJarrah protests started in Jerusalem, but then swept the West Bank and into the territory of 1948 Israel.They grew in intensity and police and military violence against them increased.Fascist mobs chanting “Death to Arabs” rampaged through Palestinian areas of Israel’s cities. They were often protected by the police while they did their violent work.

As Palestinian resistance deepened, it became more organised, but stayed out of the control of both Fatah and Hamas, the two main capitalist parties of the occupied Palestinian territories. A strike wave developed. Israel was under massive pressure and its propaganda machine had no targets.

Hamas to the rescue

It was Hamas that came to Israel’s rescue.The developing mass Palestinian insurrection was threatening to render them irrelevant. Hamas sought to counter that by launching a rocket attack on Israel, starting on 10 May. This was an engraved invitation for Israel to send its air force on murderous bombing raids against Gaza. Transferring the struggle onto the military plane was part of the plan.(Readers should note we do not equate the terrorism of Hamas with Israeli State terror. Israel’s violence is systematic, institutionalised and on a far greater scale.)

Hamas and Israel succeeded in their objective.They undercut mass political action by the Palestinians and converted them into passive spectators of a military conflict from which they were excluded. Israel was once again flattening Gaza with its air force while Hamas fired rockets, whose inaccuracy rendered them almost random, into civilian targets and perhaps the occasional military one.By the time of the 21 May ceasefire, the steam was gone from the mass struggle. It subsided soon afterwards. The status quo had been re-established, for the time being.

Zionism

The oppression of the Palestinians is a product of the Zionist colonisation project that created Israel and continues to build settlements on the West Bank and force Palestinians out of East Jerusalem.Until World War II, it was a minority political philosophy amongst Jews and, of these, only a minority favoured the establishment of a Jewish State. The majority position of Zionists then was a binational State for both Jews and Arabs in Palestine.

After World War II, Zionism gained the support of a majority of Jews.The Nazi Holocaust had not only killed six million European Jews, but, for many survivors, destroyed faith that anti-Semitism could be eradicated.

Israel was created in 1948 and 700,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes in the atrocity that became known as Nakba.As a Jewish State, Israel is not the State of all its citizens. Rather, it is the moral and political equivalent of a White Australia or an Islamic Republic. Despite a veneer of equality, its Palestinian citizens are systematically discriminated against by a web of laws. Palestinians in the occupied territories are treated as unwelcome obstacles who are expelled when circumstances allow and their land is assimilated into Israel.

The Palestinian struggle

In the early days, the struggle of the Palestinians against Zionist colonisation was conducted under largely traditional leadership. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, leader of the Palestinians in the 1930s, was a bloodthirsty bigot who spent the majority of WWII collaborating with the Nazis in Germany. The Palestine Liberation Organisation, founded in 1964, initially adopted armed struggle, but shifted after a couple of years to a strategy of building support among capitalist States.

The First Intifada ran from 1987 to 1993 and marked the entry of the Palestinian masses into the field of struggle for the first time since the 1930s. It consisted of strikes and demonstrations which, until close to the end, adopted a deliberate strategy of avoiding lethal violence, despite the intense violence of Israel in trying to suppress it.The Intifada was marked by general support for the PLO political position, but a determination to maintain its organisational autonomy. It culminated in the Oslo Accords of 1993 and 1995.

Hamas was formed at the start of the Intifada, growing out of the Gaza branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.It gained popularity as Palestinians became disillusioned with the results of the Oslo Accords.It was the primary force behind the Second Intifada of 2000-05.Its signature tactic at the time was suicide bombing of Israeli civilians. This destroyed the peace camp in Israeli politics and led to a massive shift to the right in Israel. It was militarily ineffective and a political disaster.

Since then, there has been a strategic stalemate, with inconclusive Israeli attacks on Gaza in 2008 and 2014.Palestinians started to become disillusioned with Hamas while continuing to deepen their distrust of Fatah, who have degenerated into corrupt collaborators with Israel. This year’s conflict has restored the reputation of Hamas to some extent, but has not changed the underlying situation.

Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement was launched in 2005 when the Second Intifada petered out without result.It was consciously set up by a wide range of civil society organisations as an alternative to armed struggle and outside of the control of both Hamas and Fatah. Its aim is the achievement of a democratic, secular State in Palestine, where Jews and Palestinians will live as equals.Taking its inspiration from South Africa, it proposes civil boycotts of Israel, disinvestment from Israeli companies and from companies doing business with Israel and the imposition of sanctions on Israel by other States.

This movement has been growing in strength ever since. Accordingly, the BDS movement has become the target of most of Israel’s propaganda abroad. Its key argument is that the return of the Palestinian refugees would lead to Jews being outvoted and Israel’s nature as a Jewish State being dismantled. According to Israel, this would be anti-Semitic, but the Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group disagrees. The return of refugees is a universal right and majorities achieved by ethnic cleansing are indefensible.People everywhere should live in freedom and equality, so the discriminatory basis of the Israeli State is also illegitimate.

We defend the BDS movement against Israel’s propaganda, while also criticising them. We do not oppose the boycott aspect of the movement, but BDS relies for its main strength on the prospect of getting capitalist governments and corporations to put pressure on Israel. This hands control to the capitalists over what sort of society will exist in Palestine. The outcomes would not be favourable to the Palestinians.

The road forward

For the Palestinians to achieve freedom, many things need to change. Firstly, a political movement needs to develop that can prevent Hamas derailing mass struggle as happened in May this year. Attacks on civilians, whether through rockets or suicide bombs, unite Israel, driving the working class into the arms of their exploiters.

Second, the labour wing of the BDS movement has to develop strongly, with a special focus on preventing the export of weapons and military equipment to Israel or their import from Israel. Port workers in Livorno in Italy refused to load a ship they believed was going to carry weapons to Israel. This was an excellent action and should serve as a model for workers worldwide.

Thirdly, and most importantly, workers need to rise and overthrow the sheikhs, the Ayatollahs and all the other tyrants that plague West Asia and North Africa. Egypt is the most important country in this process. Over twice as populous as any other Arab country, it shares a border with Israel and currently assists with enforcing the starvation blockade of Gaza. Egypt has a large working class which has engaged in repeated militant strike movements, most recently in 2011 during the Arab Spring. The workers’ movement must purge anti-Semitism from Egypt and other countries in the region.Anti- Semitism serves as a lightning rod for the tyrants. Not only is it ethically wrong, but it captures and safely dissipates class anger that should be directed at the tyrants themselves.

A workers’ revolution in Egypt would split Israel along class lines. It would place immense pressure on Israel by strategically boycotting trade with it and by relieving the blockade of Gaza. It would also create an example of a better society which would appeal to the class interests of workers in Israel – including Jewish workers currently committed to Zionism.And, without national unity, the Zionist project will unravel.

The Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group’s solution to the oppression of the Palestinians is the same as for oppression everywhere. The problems of capitalism can only be solved by workers’ revolution.In Palestine, that means defeating Zionism and replacing it with the No State Solution, a society of libertarian communism that operates on the basis of consistent federalism.

THE ROAD TO JERUSALEM RUNS THROUGH CAIRO

Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group

*This article first published in ‘The Anvil” (Vol.10/No 3, May 2021 - June 2021) newsletter of the Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group.

mashriq / arabia / iraq / imperialism / war / press release Friday June 18, 2021 04:38 byInternational Delegation for Peace and Freedom

The UCL participated in the European delegation to observe the Turkish war crimes in Iraqi Kurdistan.
This delegation is taking place at a time when Erdogan is received at the NATO summit. His formal meeting with Macron does not hide his objective, which is obviously to legitimize his illegal invasion of Iraq, and to obtain from NATO a blank check to continue his military campaign.
His pretext: to eradicate the PKK, a "terrorist organization" according to the Council of Europe's blacklist.
His strategy: to intimidate European nations, to maintain bombings, military pressure and destruction of crops in Iraqi Kurdistan, to force Mahmoud Barzani's KDP to collaborate openly with him, against its brothers and sisters in Kurdistan.
At the time of publishing this information, the conference of the delegation has been prevented by the KDP, the hotel where it is held is surrounded by the military, and our comrades have been sent back to France after interrogation by the police of the KDP, traitor to the Kurdish cause.

We, as a delegation from all over Europe, have come to Kurdistan aiming for peace and freedom. Politicians, academics, human rights activists, syndicalists, journalists, feminists and ecologists from over ten countries wanted to get direct impressions of the situation and stand up to end the war and destruction. With 150 persons we wanted to establish a dialogue with the members of parliament of all parties and visit non-governmental organizations in order to contribute to a dialogue between the different Kurdish political actors.

The invasion of the Turkish military violating international laws is without doubt unacceptable. However, we are sadly witnessing that the international community of states remains inactive against this, and does not insist on the compliance with the international codes and human rights.

The Kurdish Regional Government prevented the delegation from establishing dialogues with most political actors in South Kurdistan. Organizations we wanted to visit were intimidated so that they would draw back from their already planned meetings. A huge part of the delegation couldn’t arrive in Kurdistan. 25 people have been deported so far, or are about to be deported. At least 27 people were held at Düsseldorf airport in Germany and banned for their departure.

We are outraged by the illegal deportations of our international friends, which were carried out by the Kurdish Regional Government, and the travel bans on the grounds that these people “appeared to be political” without a clear legal basis. Free media coverage and engagement of civil society are components of every vital democracy and has no reason for repression.

In order to support peace, we have spared no pains and been welcomed in South Kurdistan. We have been provided trips to see cultural, religious and historical places and invited to open a conversation with Baba Șeix, the highest religious representative of the Êzîdî community. In the Êzîdî refugee camp Șarya, which had to suffer from a big fire about a week ago, we spoke to the people that are especially affected by the war, displacement and destruction. The friendship and hospitality we experienced from people living here warm our hearts, and motivate us even more to hold on to our goal. We are here to be in solidarity with the Kurdish people and with all ethnic and religious groups of Kurdistan.

We’re internationalists, and don’t represent any Kurdish parties or specific political movements. We’re standing against the colonization of Kurdistan by the external states. We are not here to stand against any Kurdish parties. Quite the contrary, we want to support a dialogue between all different views. It is not about a Kurdish problem, but aggression coming from the Turkish state and Turkish military directed at the local people and nature of the Kurdish regions. Creating a problem, even an armed conflict, between Kurds out of this is a big trap as well as a danger for the peace and future of the whole Middle East. It’s our urgent wish to warn all Kurds on this, and call for establishing and continuing dialogues. A political solution must be found and it’s necessary to stand together against external threats. Therefore our demands are:

Everyone willing to join the delegation who was rejected, arrested or deported at one of the airports is to be set free and to be granted permission to join the rest of the delegation.
All Kurdish political actors should return to dialogue with each other.
We call for all international humanitarian organizations and political institutions to support a peaceful solution. The Turkish state military must immediately withdraw from the whole region.

The Kurds have the mountains, but today they also have friends. All friends of Kurds are being called on to rise, spread the message and contribute to peace process doing our own share.

International Delegation for Peace and Freedom in Kurdistan

Erbil, 12.06.2021

mashriq / arabia / iraq / imperialism / war / press release Friday June 18, 2021 04:28 byInternational delegation for Kurdistan

We – nearly 150 politicians, human rights advocates, journalists, academics, members of parliaments, political activists, ecologists, and feminists from all over Europe – have been closely following the dangerous developments resulting from Turkey’s attacks on South Kurdistan (North Iraq) since the 23rd of April 2021. As a result, we have gathered in Erbil today and decided that we must speak out.

So, it is with one united voice of moral clarity, that we wish to unequivocally condemn the Turkish Military’s ongoing occupation of South Kurdistan and stand in solidarity with the people of South Kurdistan and Kurdish resistance forces in the protection of their homeland.

In April, the Turkish state initiated a new, wide-ranging military campaign in South Kurdistan in the regions of Matina, Zap and Avashin. Heavy battles continue in these regions, with the Kurdish guerrilla forces fiercely resisting this illegal invasion. These large-scale attacks target not only the Kurdish guerrilla forces, but also the achievements of the Kurdish people, with the aim of occupying South Kurdistan. To date, the response to these attacks on the international level has unfortunately been muted. Seizing on this silence, the Turkish regime has put in place their plan to occupy all of Rojava (the region of North and East Syria) alongside South Kurdistan. In so doing, Turkey is determined to ethnically cleanse this vast area – 1400 km long – from North-West Syria to the Iraqi-Iranian border. At the same time, Turkey is waging a drone war against the Maxmur refugee camp, a gross violation of international law. Connected to this policy of ethnic cleansing, the Turkish military also hopes to depopulate the Sinjar region, home of the Yazidis—and thereby achieve what ISIS could not.

Since the summer of 2012, the Kurds of Rojava and North East Syria have been working hand in hand with local communities of Arabs, Assyrians, Turkmens, and Armenians, having led a revolution together that established an Autonomous Administration that is democratic and empowers women. In response, Turkey has used jihadist militants to directly attack these areas of Rojava including Afrin, Azaz, Jarablus, Sere Kaniye and Gire Spi (Tal Abyad), in the hopes of occupying and destroying the achievements of this women’s-led Administration. During these ongoing occupations, Turkey has engineered demographic change, systematic rape, and enslavement of women, causing mass displacement of the large Kurdish and other civilian populations, as part of their strategy to Turkify and eventually annex these lands.

And the issues are not only abroad. In fact, the latest example of Erdoğan’s unrelenting hostility towards Kurdish political and social gains derives from within Turkey itself, and his attempt to shut down the People’s Democratic Party (HDP). This is the latest step in a years-long campaign against the HDP – a progressive alliance of Kurdish, Turkish and many other democratic parties, organizations, and individuals – which has led to the imprisonment of over ten thousand HDP members.

Unfortunately, the Kurdistan Region (KRG) and the Iraqi government have done little to stop Turkey’s occupation attempt. In particular, it has been disappointing for us to see how Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) officials have even tried to legitimize the Turkish occupation. Whatever Ankara’s economic pressure might be, the KDP must not allow itself to be turned into a Turkish proxy, as the consequences of this war can be grave for all of Kurdistan and the region.

The world must also recognize that Turkey is attempting to carry out a genocide against the Kurdish people. And it is only the Kurdish resistance movement which is preventing the full occupation of Kurdistan and annihilation of the Kurd’s political rights. The current armed resistance in Zap, Avashin and Metina has turned Kurdistan into a stronghold of defiance, not just for the Kurds, but for all the people in the wider region threatened by Turkish neo-Ottoman expansionism. To this end, Turkish President Erdoğan has made no secret of his ambition to restore the lost glory of the Ottoman Empire by reconquering its former territory.

As such, parallel to Turkish military campaigns against the Kurds in Syria, Turkey, and Iraq, Erdoğan has meddled in various conflict areas, including Libya, Artsakh/Azerbaijan, Yemen, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, Somalia, and Lebanon. Connected to this, are his threats against many nations, such Greece, Cyprus, Armenia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and France.

We must also recognize that Erdoğan’s regime has a long track record of funding, arming, and supporting the Islamic State (ISIS) and various other similar violent jihadist groups, using them officially and unofficially as proxy forces to augment the Turkish state’s reach abroad. During the recent conflict in Artsakh involving Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey, Erdoğan sent hundreds of jihadist proxy fighters from Syria to support Azerbaijan and has also sent these fighters to Libya to participate in the country’s protracted conflict. Through these actions, Turkey is violating the sovereignty of other countries, and spreading its mercenary terrorism throughout the globe.

Erdoğan is well aware of Turkey’s unique geopolitical position and exploits it to his advantage. He knows that his military, the second largest in NATO, is a formidable force and bulwark for the ‘West’. So, the Turkish state, under his rule, continues to openly and systematically defy international law and violate human rights conventions. Turkey continuously violates sovereignty of many countries. Meanwhile, NATO, the United Nations, the European Union, and the Council of Europe all respond with deafening silence. But the international community must be driven by morality not geo-strategy. And their failure to challenge Erdoğan’s authoritarianism and war crimes, effectively gives him permission to continue his military aggression. In turn, it also makes them a partly responsible conspirator in his ongoing destruction.

We therefore proclaim an international initiative DEFEND KURDISTAN Against Turkish Occupation!

In order to achieve an immediate stop of the Turkish attacks on South Kurdistan and a withdrawal of all Turkish troops and Islamist mercenaries we demand the following:

★ Stop the Turkish occupation, demographic change, instability, and ethnic cleansing campaign in South Kurdistan.

★ Stop the destruction and exploitation of Kurdistan’s nature.

★ No complicity of international and regional powers in the Kurdish genocide.

★ Support of all Kurdish parties, institutions, and people for the guerrilla’s resistance and their united stance against the Turkish occupation.

★ No to Erdoğan’s neo-Ottoman expansionist project throughout the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean.

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