{"id":14743,"date":"2018-03-08T12:17:08","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T12:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=14743"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:59:07","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:59:07","slug":"unite-solidarity-women-afrin-middle-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=14743","title":{"rendered":"Women rising up"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A collective platform of women and women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s organisations in the UK launched this week to raise awareness of and campaign against the Turkish invasion of Afrin, an area of Northern Syria. The Women’s Initiative for Peace in Afrin UK, which uses the hashtag #womenriseupforafrin, aims to work with political parties, international and human rights organisations and trade unions to achieve peaceful solutions to the conflict.<\/p>\n

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There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been little reporting in the UK of the Kurdish-led feminist revolution taking place in Afrin, part of the region of Rojava also known as the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria (DFNS), against which the Turkish army and affiliated jihadist gangs launched a war of aggression in January.<\/p>\n

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The women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s movement of Rojava \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Kongreya Star \u00e2\u20ac\u201c is part of a female global resistance against all forms of oppression, exploitation and killing of women and girls on account of their gender. It is organised on grassroots, directly democratic principles and puts racial inclusivity and equality and women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rights front and centre.<\/p>\n

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It has been born amid the slaughter of hundreds of civilians by the Turkish army.<\/p>\n

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The women of Kongreya Star say the war being waged against the people of Afrin, which is a relatively peaceful region full of refugees from the Syrian civil war as well as a large Kurdish population, is a war on women, a direct attack on the women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s revolution and the leading role of women in the construction of democratic structures there.<\/p>\n

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Many of the refugee women and children have been subject to sexual violence by ISIS, while the many local Kurdish women have been key in the fight against the barbarism of the Jihadist group. Yet it is they who are now being targeted by the Turkish state.<\/p>\n

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Recently, a barbaric video emerged of Turkish state-backed fighters mutilating the body of Bar\u0102\u00aen Koban\u0102\u015e, cutting off her breasts and setting her body alight \u00e2\u20ac\u201c an act that illustrates the woman-hating and inhumane nature of her attackers.<\/p>\n

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Although Turkey is a NATO ally, little pressure has been exerted by the West to withdraw from Afrin. Yet this cross-border invasion by the Turkish state, cynically labelled \u00e2\u20ac\u015bOperation Olive Branch\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 (the olive tree is a symbol of peace, freedom, and fertility in the Middle East) is a violation of international law, the Women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Initiative for Peace says.<\/p>\n

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It aims to actively engage the media to keep Afrin on the press agenda, to provide solidarity and support for the women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s resistance there and to exert pressure on western governments, including the UK government, to take urgent action to prevent civilian killings and other war crimes.<\/p>\n

Its demands include:<\/p>\n