We are the women of Anatolia and Mesopotamia;
We have been living in the dark days of history. For decades the people of these lands, have been more and more oppressed. We have seen poverty, we have seen war, we have seen the ones who escaped and survived from the war of the states; but killed in the war of capitalism or patriarchy. We have seen our sisters tortured, stabbed, murdered, dragged naked, torn into pieces, burned alive.. We have witnessed our children, crushed and run over, we have seen Saturday Mothers asking for justice and we have seen the murderers trying to silence our mothers, by attacking them or arresting them. We have faced with many cruelties and we have resisted them all, and we will resist till the end.
We are the women of these lands, we have witnessed the fall of many states, many kings and many sultans.. While the history of “man” repeats itself, we are finding out and writing another history, the history of ours, the history of rebellion and resistance. We know the women, who have been fighting against patriarchy, we know the women whose hands on their hips, who are ready to clench their fists. Because we are all these women, and while we are creating another history, we create culture. It is a culture of empathy, understanding and solidarity. Excluding the relations of authority and obedience, this is a culture of responsibility, to have our lives in our hands, having our struggle for our freedom.
Sisters, comrades, our struggle is the struggle of the oppressed against oppressor. Any place where the hierarchy of power appears, there becomes a fighting zone. Any time when the oppressor uses the tools of violence, we don’t hesitate to resist and fight back. Fighting with the “seen” and “unseen” patterns of authority and patriarchy, we will be able to actualise revolution from now and here.
Wherever we are we know and understand each other, because it is same light glaring in our eyes, it is the same shout in our voice.
Your struggle and solidarity give us inspiration and strength.
Hold on to your struggle, so we will!
Anarşist Kadınlar
Anarchist Women of Turkey
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