{"id":2213,"date":"2026-01-22T21:25:51","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T18:25:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jineoloji.eu\/en\/?p=2213"},"modified":"2026-01-30T01:37:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T22:37:30","slug":"defending-rojava-is-defending-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jineoloji.eu\/en\/2026\/01\/22\/defending-rojava-is-defending-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Defending Rojava is Defending Women"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zeryan Asya, Jineoloji Academy<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Seeing what is happening in Rojava right now is painful; takes your breath away; immobilizes you. It is a shock that we are experiencing, and many people are asking themselves, \u201chow could it have been so rapid? How is it possible that from one day to the next the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria is attacked and its territories halved?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In reality, the process of attacking the Revolution of North and East Syria began many years ago, since the first experience of Democratic Confederalism was born. North and East Syria no longer exists today, but Rojava still exists. The government’s Jihadists, supported by all hegemonic forces (USA, Israel, Turkey, Europe) have invaded and taken all the territories of North and East Syria that, according to their point of view, belonged to them – the parts mainly inhabited by the Arab population, such as Tabqa and Raqqa. But we also know that in those cities, people had begun to self-administer, especially women, to create their institutions and autonomies. Both in Tabqa and in Raqqa there were various women’s structures, such as “Zenobya”, which was dedicated to helping women free themselves through work, education, and mediation with the family, or the Jineoloj\u00ee centers that, through research and education work, allowed women to rediscover themselves – to know their own history and their role in society. It was precisely these institutions that were the first to be attacked and destroyed. Like the library created by Jineoloj\u00ee in Aleppo, named after our dear friend Nagihan who was killed by Turkish secret services in Southern Kurdistan, frequented by young people and women to study and be together, burned by the jihadist forces of the Syrian government.<\/p>\n

There are many examples of how the attack of recent days strikes women first and foremost. Their now dead bodies are desecrated, thrown down from buildings, their faces are trampled, their braids \u2013 symbol of Kurdish women who fight \u2013 are cut and displayed as trophies. Women are forced again to wear the black burqa. They are threatened with rape, beaten and humiliated, and all of this is filmed and put on media. The return of the Islamic State has become a reality, from being only a threat that instilled fear.<\/p>\n

But let’s try to understand what type of attack this is, what it is attacking, what can change and how we can defend the Revolution.<\/p>\n

The mentality that leads to attacking this revolution is not new, and even less isolated. It is a mentality that was born thousands of years ago; a mentality that represents the domination of some over others, that needs to break the strength of women to self-organize. It represents the sense of supremacy that must make itself visible, speaking through videos to generate fear in people, to lead them to think that one cannot resist such an attack, and to break the hope and will of women and peoples. It is a disgusting mentality, which considers women’s bodies as a trophy to be displayed in public. This mentality is represented by a caste – untouchable, murderous – that can afford to commit atrocities because they have the approval of States and hegemonic forces. And this caste represents the paradigm of capitalist modernity, set against the paradigm of democratic modernity – of those who resist wars, dream and attempt to build a freer life.<\/p>\n

These forces are attacking an idea, which materializes in the body of women. For years we have spoken of the Rojava Revolution as the Women’s Revolution. In the meantime, the Autonomous and Democratic Administration of North and East Syria was created, which took control of not only the territories mainly inhabited by Kurdish people, but also territories inhabited by Arab populations. In that territory, as in all the Middle East, the land does not belong to a single people, or to a single nation, and precisely for this reason the birth of nation-states – fixed and incapable of truly encompassing all differences but only of assimilating them – has created wars that today have reached such a level of violence as to cause genocides and massacres.<\/p>\n

The Women’s Revolution is something extremely practical. It is not idealistic; it is not past; it is not a utopia for the future, but is concrete and present. We can also call the Women’s Revolution the Communal Revolution, because it does not only concern women, but all of society, and the clash between the two paradigms is between the two ways of living; between two ways of being a society. On the one side, free and communal life; on the other, life represented by power, the State, patriarchy and fear.<\/p>\n

This type of life is asserting itself more and more throughout the world. We have seen it in the genocide in Palestine and Sudan; the war in Ukraine; in Venezuela and many other places, and it can also be seen in the depression that pervades Western society… the goal is to make societies afraid to react, to immobilize them. It is precisely in North and East Syria that we can see this clash between those who want to establish a life under the control of power and hegemonic interests, and those who instead have created a free, communal life, based on women’s values. Once again the Kurds, and all the varied peoples of Rojava, are giving us the example that another life is possible. It can be built.<\/p>\n

What is happening today in Rojava is an enormous threat, especially for women, but also for anyone who wants to build a free life. Women in the Autonomous and Democratic Administration of North and East Syria over the last 12 years, have built their autonomy; taken back their existence; have liberated it and have thus allowed all of society to live with the values of peace, anti-patriarchy and justice. Women’s institutions, that are interwoven with the general institutions of society, have a fundamental role to play in all areas of society. There have been many difficulties, and there still are, but the women of Rojava teach us that through self-awareness, will and organization, things can be changed, and we can liberate society and life. Once again, this is precisely the point that the new Syrian government and its pro-Turkish Jihadist gangs want to attack – the model of life centered on the liberation of women. In the Third World War, in a Middle East torn apart by sectarian conflicts and between hegemonic powers, and for all the States of the world, this model of life is a threat. It gives concrete hope that another life is possible if we can fight for it, and goes against the needs of the masters of war and genocides, whose aim is to annihilate; to deprive life of meaning. For this reason, once again, we must defend this Revolution and all that it represents. We must defend the peoples of Rojava, because they have taught us much, and continue to teach us much during this resistance for existence. We must defend Women and the communal life that is created around her!<\/p>\n

Resistance is life!<\/p>\n

Long live the resistance of Rojava!<\/p>\n

Jin Jiyan Azad\u00ee!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zeryan Asya, Jineoloji Academy Seeing what is happening in Rojava right now is painful; takes your breath away; immobilizes you. It is a shock that we are experiencing, and many people are asking themselves, \u201chow could it have been so rapid? How is it possible that from one day to the next the Autonomous Administration […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2214,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academy-of-jineoloji","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jineoloji.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jineoloji.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jineoloji.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jineoloji.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jineoloji.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2213"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jineoloji.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2304,"href":"https:\/\/jineoloji.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2213\/revisions\/2304"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jineoloji.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jineoloji.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jineoloji.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jineoloji.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}