Çiğdem Doğu, a member of the Community of Free Women of Kurdistan (KJK), spoke to Yeni Yaşam newspaper about the impact of the “Peace and Democratic Society” call on the women’s struggle.

Doğu emphasized that the distancing of women from communal life means the death of sociality itself and said, “Woman means society. Woman means life.”

Doğu added, “Where society has died, the voice of women has been silenced. Through the approach of Abdullah Öcalan, by building distinctive and autonomous women’s organizations, we have carried forward both the social struggle, the struggle for socialism, and the Kurdish national liberation struggle. Developing an autonomous and distinctive women’s organization has revealed, in a remarkable way, the dialectic between society and women. Because what kills sociality is the male-dominated mentality.”

She also said, “I see being organized in a distinctive and autonomous way as an invaluable principle. We also have our own organization, which is like our own space. It is of great importance that women live together in a communal, distinctive, and autonomous manner.”

Women must create their own convention

Çiğdem Doğu stated that after the annulment of the Istanbul Convention, women’s movements must establish their own. Doğu said, “A convention that says no woman will ever be killed again; a convention that says our children will never again be murdered. If you do not have your own form of organization and solidarity, there can be no reflex to respond. We are facing state and police violence. We have lived through, and continue to live under, a heavy form of fascism. A strong struggle could not be waged against it. Why? Because there was not enough organization and no agendas were created.”

What kind of organization?

Doğu underlined the need for a genuine and autonomous model of organization and said, “When we speak of organization, we do not mean just any organization, it must be distinctive and autonomous. We discuss this from the perspective of all socialist and anarchist movements. Can we overcome this massive male-dominated system with a classical civil society structure? Can we transform a structure that kills, rapes, and breaks the will every day? No. Therefore, the form of organization must be communal.”

Distinctive and autonomous women’s organization is essential

Çiğdem Doğu stated that the KJK functions as a women’s confederal system, built through communes, women’s assemblies, and women’s academies. Doğu said, “We operate with a strategy focused on enabling women to build their own self-defense within society, and we are organized accordingly.”

Doğu continued: “In the new phase, one of the main points that Öcalan refers to as criticism, self-criticism, and transformation is precisely this and he firmly bases it on communalization. The place where this communalization truly becomes the will of both women and society is where the dagger is finally pulled from the woman’s back.”