IndyMedia - Vrij Media Centrum Nederland

Wanneer: 11/06/2016 - 21:14

“We don’t fight for death… we fight for life.”
An interview with Nisrîn Abdullah, YPJ Commander and spokeswoman

We are really happy to publish this interview conducted between Nisrîn Abdullah and two comrades of ours currently working in Rojava. This interview was sent to both ourselves and Leeds Friends of Rojava, who have also sent aid directly to the region. As part of our “3k in 31 Days” fundraising initiative we have provided these comrades with medical equipment for their work in the region. The interview provides an interesting look at the YPG/YPJ and its potential future and the progress of the feminist revolution within Rojava.

This short interview between YPJ Commander Nisrîn Abdullah and two anarchists from England who are currently living and working in Rojava took place in May 2016. It was conducted through translators, and while we have tried to maintain the original words and meaning as much as possible we have made some changes for clarity and ease of reading. Any mistakes or misunderstandings due to this are the interviewers’ alone.

When first setting up a women’s protection unit was there resistance to this happening, and if so how did the women involved in establishing it overcome that?

To understand the YPJ you have to understand the Kurdish women and our history. In Kurdish history women fighters are not new. We have had 28 revolutions and in all of them women have had important roles, and some of those women have became symbols for the struggle.

For example, there is the story of the Kurdish woman who was captured by an Ottoman general whilst she was fighting with the army against the Ottoman empire. She was beautiful and they wanted to make her a slave or marry her to the general. But once they captured her they took her to a place in Turkey in the north of Kurdistan and on a high bridge she asked to be granted one wish: to kiss the land of her father and grandfather and to say goodbye to her land. When she went to kiss the land she jumped from the bridge to kill herself rather than be enslaved. There are many stories like this in the history of Kurdistan.

Over the last 40 years a lot of women have joined the PKK in the northern and western areas of Kurdistan, and a lot of them have become martyrs. Before the YPJ, there was the YXK which was the unit of the youth of Kurdistan, which included both boys and girls.

The YPJ is not just an army – you have to see it in its wider context. Of course it is a defence force, but it is also a social movement with its ideologies and philosophies. If we didn’t have these ideas we wouldn’t have been able to make the revolution as it is now. That is why we don’t see ourselves as just soldiers.

Having said that, the YPJ have been involved in a lot of battles and conflicts – Kobanê is a well-known example. The battle for Kobanê wasn't just a fight against some terrorists – it was a big statement to the terrorists that whatever you do you will never deny us our place.

The YPJ and YPG also had a big role during the Sinjar conflict. More than 50,000 people were evacuated from Sinjar to Rojava, and this is a clear example of the ideology of the YPG and YPJ. In that time we saw that it was our responsibility to help – but it’s not just our responsibility, it is all of humanity’s responsibility, including women and the feminist movement. That is why we chose to sacrifice a lot to help the people of Sinjar.

The YPJ and YPG have their own rules and beliefs. We have a lot of respect for Abdullah Ocalan’s ideology and philosophy. Ocalan says, “If all the forces of the world come to fight us we will defend ourselves. Yet if we have all forces of the world we will not attack anyone”. It is these beliefs that have kept us on the right path.

Our longer strategy is to change the militaristic mentality. We want to change this mentality because for 5,000 years it has caused conflicts all over the world. This mentality has two aims; to obtain power and to colonise other regions. These are also the reasons that right now we can see in the world a lot of terrorist movements are growing up, one of them is Daesh.

From a demonstration in Finland. Photo by Rojava Puolesta
From a demonstration in Finland. Photo by Rojava Puolesta

It’s true that one of our goals is to defend our people and our land, but there are also problems for women that are not to do with fighting or war, but social and psychological problems. One of our goals is not just to organise an army, but also to organise women and the feminist movement in all of Rojava. We see this union between a lot of women in Rojava, between women of all different ethnic groups. So we are focusing a lot on the civil women’s movement not only on the fighters.

That’s why it’s not enough to say the YPG and YPJ are just an army. It’s more than an army – right now it's an international movement, and that’s why we are focusing on ideological training alongside military training, to organise ourselves more and more. So in all of the cantons we have a military academy which is for both military and ideological teaching.

We strongly believe that if you just fight without ideology, without developing your ideas and personality, your fighting will not be as good as it could be, and will not be done in the right ways.

Many formal militaries around the world started as informal militias in times of struggle and revolution, and then over time became structured national armies. Is there any conflict within Rojava and the YPJ/YPG about that? Do some people want a more formal and professional military structure, or do you think everyone wants the militia to stay as it is now?

This will be decided in the future between all the Syrian people. We will see what is the best thing to do about the army and choose that. However, we believe that people will not want a national and formal military. At the moment we have the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), within which the YPJ/YPG have many roles and are also the main leaders with this force, this is possibly the best solution for the Syrian army in the long term…

…so possibly a system of federalised militias as well as a federalised country?

Yes, at this time our goal is to achieve federalism in Syria and to choose what each federalist part wants for its own army, but that will be discussed in the future not now. Our important discussions and decisions are not about militias, but are about the philosophies behind these forces. For now the YPJ/YPG are for defending Rojava, and then the SDF for the other areas. And in the future we may have another army for other other things.

And within the militias how do you ensure that the power remains with the people of Rojava? Are there any checks in place in terms of accountability? Who holds the power and how do you ensure that decisions are made in a democratic way?

There are many things that happen to ensure this, and an important element is the system of voluntarism. The YPG/YPJ is a volunteer militia. In this volunteering it is the family that says that they want their daughter or son to be in the YPG; they can choose of course. The families of fighters all accept this army and they approve that their daughter or son wants to join the YPJ/YPG force.

This means that the people built the YPJ/YPG, because they gave their children to build this army. Also our economic sources until now and since the beginning are from the people. So the people believe that these forces are their forces because they built it up themselves. So the relationship between the YPJ/YPG and the people has passed democracy.

For example, my father taught me to be this woman in Kurdistan. Also my brother is a martyr of the YPG. When my brother died in the YPG, all of my family gave their blessing to his martyrdom and they carried his coffin.

The tradition here is usually that when the son dies his father goes to speak for him. But on that day my father said that I was his comrade so I should talk for him. And all the families in Rojava are like this, not only my family. There is a tradition that in each family when there is a martyr or someone dies, the family swear on their blood that they will follow them and the life that they chose.

This is our democracy.

full interview
http://www.weareplanc.org/blog/we-dont-fight-for-death-we-fight-for-life...