On March 8 - emancipatory women's struggles worldwide should unite and strengthen themselves. Just the right place to make a collective announcement to the patriarchal reality, says YPJ commander Tolhildan Raman.
On the occasion of International Women's Day on March 8, Tolhildan Raman, a Commander of the Women's Defence Units (YPJ, Yekîneyên Parastina Jin) spoke out in favour of building a strong women's liberation movement worldwide.
In an interview with ANHA, Raman said that March 8 is a women's day of struggle whose roots can be found in the proletarian women's struggles of the 19th and 20th centuries; “This day is a fought space in which the women's struggle should unite and strengthen itself worldwide in order to resist all existing relations of domination and oppression. The result of this struggle will be the liberation of all women in the world.”
"For us, every day is March 8, because this day is for the women who fight for their freedoms and rights. This is what we do. Women's liberation and resistance are not something that can be limited under the circumstances. Our struggle is an ongoing process. Because our belief in change in order to create a free society is growing day by day. We will continue to fight until March 8 becomes a day when all women in the world are free," Raman said.
"The times we live in were written with the blood of women who resisted oppression and sacrificed their lives for freedom," the YPJ commander continued; “The strength for their resistance was given to the YPJ by the culture of the Mother Goddess of Mesopotamia, who have been considered as life-givers since the prehistoric and early cultures of Mesopotamia. This fertility of the Mother Goddess is still today our source of strength to sustain the struggle for a free woman and free society."
Tolhildan Raman stressed that women are the greatest victims of the attacks on North and East Syria; "Ever since the YPJ responded to these attacks, whether they came from the ISIS or Turkey and its Islamist allies, and defended the women of the region, the rush to our ranks has been increasing every day. We have been able to observe with enthusiasm that the women of the YPJ are now seen as a symbol of dignity worldwide.”
In this sense, Raman called on all women of the world to give a collective message to the patriarchal reality and to strengthen their struggle against exploitation and oppression. "We in the YPJ will continue our resistance with the gun. You women out there must fight your emancipatory women's struggles with your voices."
