STRUGGLES

Averyserious women's revolution
byJo Magpie
I spent two weeks in Rojava during March 2016, entering as part ofan
invited women's delegation ofactivists and journalists. Two friends and I
spent about a week visiting women's justice, education, economic and
defence structures, a health centre, academies, schools, and coordinating
bodies in many cities around the region. We spent the second week
participating in the daily life ofa space set up for international people by
the TEV-DEM.
I have had great difficulty describing my experiences in Rojava. The questions I am posed
inevitably come from a different basis ofreality, a different paradigm, than the answers I
attempt to formulate.
Aside from questions about how dangerous our journey was, people generally ask variations
ofthree main questions: “Is it really feminist?”, “How many people are involved?”and “How can we
help them?”—but what I have witnessed is more than can be contained in an answer to any of
these questions, and even an admirably well-meaning statement such as, “I want to support the
Kurds in their struggle for independence”is, to me, inherently flawed. It misses the point, firstly
that there are Arabs and people ofother ethnicities involved in the movement, and secondly
that the movement doesn't want you to help it, it wants you to join it.
Above: Women in the Mala Jin (Women's House) in March 2016. A picture ofSakine Cansiz adourns the wall. Photo
by Jo Magpie.