Jineology Academy member Elif Kaya evaluated Abdullah Öcalan’s emphasis on the communal woman in terms of freedom and social transformation, noting that since the 1990s, and even earlier, Öcalan revealed a significant level of liberation within Kurdish women by grounding his analysis in the critique of women’s enslavement. In the message he sent to women on 8 March, he said that a culture of free womanhood had been created and that women had drawn closer to this culture, but added, “you are still managing with only ten percent of the freedom culture.”
Below is the third and final part of Elif Kaya’s interview with ANF.
The first part can be read here, and the second here.
When we consider Abdullah Öcalan’s observation that a “culture of free womanhood has been created” but that only ten percent of it has been put into practice, what kind of stance, consciousness and life practice would define a woman who has reached one hundred percent freedom culture?
Freedom is the idea and action of becoming ourselves, of searching for and discovering who we are. To make progress in freedom is only possible by answering who we are and who we are not. In other words, without developing the knowledge of who we are, we cannot take steps toward freedom. As I mentioned earlier, it is not easy for people who have been so far removed from being themselves, who have been alienated from their own existence, who live under the constant threat of rape, to become free. Because they cannot even imagine the existence of another world, let alone think of it. They consider the world to be limited to what they have experienced. For example, the phrase we hear from many women, ‘He is your husband; he both loves and beats’, expresses this very reality. It reflects a mindset that is distant from the understanding that violence cannot exist alongside love, that where violence exists, life is being destroyed. A mentality emerges that normalizes an abnormal relationship, making it appear acceptable. In a sense, we can call this an internalized or accepted form of slavery.
The search for freedom begins with the willingness to write one’s own destiny
It is for this reason that starting, first in the mind, the search for who we are and who we are not is essential. The search for freedom, in a sense, begins with the willingness to write one’s own destiny. Years ago, Abdullah Öcalan described this process as ‘women’s archaeology.’ Just as archaeological excavations uncover traces of past lives through meticulous work, he proposed women’s archaeology as a method for women to get to know themselves and to answer the question of who they are. Because knowledge of one’s own existence and the ability to define that existence is the fundamental condition for beginning the struggle for freedom. For this reason, Jineology has, for some time now, embarked on a search for knowledge that will define women’s existence, almost like digging a well with a needle. It is trying to find ontological and epistemological answers to the question of who we are.
In fact, throughout history, women have always had their own search and their own resistance. This search has never come to an end. Today’s freedom-seekers continue their struggle with this tradition of resistance. Especially in the last two centuries, the global rise of the feminist movement has created an important culture of refusal and self-definition within this tradition. However, it must be said that the feminist movement’s effort to construct a free life has not been as strong as its acts of refusal. Because of this, it has remained one-sided and weak in terms of generating a social change and transformation that would encompass all of society.
Yet, as Öcalan expresses, the rebellion of woman, the ‘first and last colony,’ has a quality that forces every form of colonization to be questioned. Because all forms of slavery were built upon women’s enslavement. Ending the slavery of the one at the very bottom transforms all slave-based relations. For this reason, the struggle for women’s freedom is not limited to the liberation of women alone. It must be a struggle aimed at eliminating the colonialism imposed on the entire society and even on nature itself.
The freedom culture was created by the Zîlans who turned every trace of despair into resistance
Throughout Abdullah Öcalan’s half-century-long freedom struggle, women’s freedom has always held a central place. His determination that society cannot be liberated unless women are liberated is crucial in this regard. By subjecting women to historical and social analysis, and by waging a comprehensive struggle that led to the ideology of women’s liberation, efforts were made to create the conditions for freedom. Kurdish women, through half a century of struggle, effort and sacrifice, created the culture of the free woman. From Sakine Cansız to Bêrîtans who threw themselves off cliffs rather than surrender, from Bêrîvans who mobilized an entire people into uprising (serhildan), to Zîlans who rejected helplessness and transformed every particle of existence into a remedy, this freedom culture was built through the labor of thousands of women. Through this struggle, women destroyed the walls of fear and despair drawn around them and created the means and possibilities of becoming free. Today, the Kurdish Free Women’s Movement stands in a place that inspires women across the world and all the oppressed. Because the Kurdish women’s struggle for freedom has shown how even those considered most powerless can bring about profound change and transformation through the consciousness of freedom.
The struggle of the Kurdish women’s movement also encompassed social transformation
One of the significant distinctions that emerged from the experience of the Kurdish Free Women’s Movement is that it developed a struggle that also encompassed social change and transformation. In other words, they advanced their struggle with a perspective that approached life in its entirety. In this context, the Kurdish Free Women’s Movement carried out both conceptual, theoretical work and institutional, organizational work simultaneously. The co-chair system that is now implemented in every field is, in fact, a rebellion against thousands of years of unequal relations and an attempt to rebuild life on the basis of freedom.
But if we ask to what extent its importance is understood and how successfully it is implemented, we cannot say that it is applied strongly. Abdullah Öcalan’s statement, ‘you are content with only ten percent of the culture of freedom,’ expresses this reality. In other words, very important possibilities and opportunities have been created for freedom, but we are still far from using them as a whole. We use only a very small part of them; we do not aim for their entirety.
Kurdish women have reached a level that is more organized than ever before in history, that possesses the power of self-definition, that has institutionalized itself in every field, and that is capable of transforming the system. Yet we are still far from courageously putting this potential into practice. Perhaps fears, old habits, and an unwillingness to take risks appear as obstacles that prevent more effective results.
The possibility of achieving women’s freedom one hundred percent is only possible within a communal and free sociality where exploitation, domination and hierarchy do not exist. For this, greater organization and an escalation of struggle are necessary.
When Abdullah Öcalan says, ‘to win history, it is necessary to reveal the communal woman,’ and when he says, ‘there can be no socialism, one cannot be a socialist without women’s freedom,’ he shows that women’s freedom is the foundation of all freedoms. How, then, can the consciousness, lifestyle and system of social relations that define the communal woman be explained?
Abdullah Öcalan says, ‘what is social is historical.’ For this reason, he emphasizes the importance of knowing history in order to understand the present. Of course, knowing the initial, original state is not enough on its own. But to understand today’s problems, to produce solutions and to ensure that relationships are built on the basis of freedom, it is important to know the history of development. This also expresses revolutionary effort.
I have tried to explain through which relationships exploitation developed historically. Abdullah Öcalan says, ‘to win history, one must reveal the communal woman,’ because the place where history was lost is the dissolution of communality that developed around woman. For this reason, he stresses the importance of beginning with woman.
The sociality formed around women was shattered by the intervention of the patriarchal killer
The liberation of women means the removal of domination and exploitation over women. This, in turn, signifies the liberation of all social relations alongside it.
Socialism, as a concept, may have been defined in recent centuries, but its essence and spirit lie in the first form of sociality that developed around women. This balance was shattered by the intervention of the patriarchal killer. The culture of the patriarchal killer, the male-centered structure of power, extended into civilization and capitalism, while the communal sociality shaped around women weakened and survived only as fragments into the present. To return to a communal society, the absolute first condition is the freedom of women and the rebuilding of their sociality. At the same time, this is only possible if men cleanse themselves of excessive power and develop a respectful, equal and free relationship with women.
How does one become a communal woman? In fact, a woman can reveal her sociality to the extent that she answers correctly the question of who she is. Woman is the creator of communality and the one who forms its values. If women can overcome the culture of sexual domination, coercion, violence and confinement imposed upon them, then the possibility of revealing the communal woman can emerge.
Today there exists, within the half-century-long Kurdish Freedom Struggle, an important communal experience that has been developed. For years, communes were formed in the mountains, in prisons, in villages and in cities, and the struggle was waged through them. Without the spirit of commune, could people who come from different cities and regions stand shoulder-to-shoulder and fight together? Could they risk giving their own lives in order not to leave the body of a comrade behind? Could they become Zîlan, Zinarîn or Asya? They could not. In other words, what exists here is a very pure and intense spirit of communality, a tradition. And it is through this tradition that women continue their struggle today.
Women create the communal woman by acting together
Communality means becoming one and whole while embracing differences. The unique and autonomous organizations that women build in every field are expressions of the communes that have emerged. By thinking together, acting together and organizing together, women are constructing the commune and, on this basis, leading social transformation. Under intense war conditions, they establish their own villages, parks, cooperatives and academies. In a sense, they create the communal woman by acting collectively. But we must work more, further develop and expand the struggle. Because the system we confront fights with thousands of years of tradition, institutionalization, mentality, values and power behind it. For this reason, we must continue the struggle through greater solidarity, deeper organization and a deeper understanding of our own knowledge.