STRUGGLES

example, [Figen points to someone near
her] her niece and nephew are fighting
there. Amed and Kobanê are the same for us
– there is no difference.
CW: What is the reaction ofmen in daily life to
the women’s movement here?
have started to work on themselves. There
will be an evolution ofthe mind here in
twenty years. We believe that.
CW: Is male violence and sexual violence against
women a problem here in Amed? Do you selforganise
to tackle this problem?
The men also follow Öcalan's ideology and
in theory, there is no problem with men. But
in practice it's different, and that’s why we
are trying to educate them. They can’t think
beyond the patriarchal and capitalist
system. Because ofreligion, and because of
capitalism, they resist.
For example, the men don't want the copresidency
system [the system where every
important role in an organisation is
performed by both a man and a woman] like
we do. But they can’t say anything because
they know it's the correct way. But
something patriarchal that's inside ofthem
ensures that they don’t like this.
With regards to politicians, women have a
right to criticise male MPs. Both women
and men decide upon the male
representatives, but only women choose the
female representatives.
CW: Are women prevented from coming to the
academy by men?
Some men are scared ofwomen’s power and
they know that ifwomen come here they
will become more empowered. We are
trying to form a relationship with the
women directly, not with their husbands or
fathers, and bringing them to the academy.
Ifwomen get power, they will learn to say
no to men. But we have more problems with
elderly people, whereas the younger men
59
In the KJA all ofus have different work to
do. In the youth movement especially, they
teach selfdefence. Ifa woman comes here
and tells us about violence, we take her to a
structure which can protect her or support
her, i.e. to lawyers, or to a safe house. We
give her education to empower herself. We
need to train the male mind not to use force
and rape women.
CW: Is it possible to educate men?
Ifyou are talking about men from the HDP
party, they come to us and want education.
There are 9,000 men in the party. We share
our ideas and information with them,
rather than teach.
We have councils, the party, municipalities
and unions in Bakur, so there are a lot of
different structures that we can reach. For
example, in this street there is a common
council [grassroots assemblies ofthis kind
have been set up all over Bakur], so they ask
us for education and we go there and we
speak with them. Or, for example, the
[HDP held local] municipality asks us to
come and speak to men working within the
municipality.
CW: Is the work that you’re doing part ofthe
process ofdemocratic autonomy?
democratic autonomyin bakur