Glasgow's SNP, Roza Salih: fighting our way to freedom

Roza Salih, a political asylum seeker from Southern Kurdistan that found herself with her family in Glasgow, Scotland, she is now being involved in politics and many other humanitarian campaigns and issues, which were touched upon, among others, in an interview conducted by ANHA, that went as follows:

Roza Salih, a very warm welcome to you at ANHA

People want to know who is Roza Salih?

I was born in Kurdistan and I grew up in Scotland, I have been in Scotland for almost 22 years, I came to Glasgow as a refugees, Glasgow welcomed me and my family, it has been our home since then, now I want now to represent Glasgow and I would like to be in a leadership role in the Scottish Parliament.

My family has been involved politically and fighting for freedom and democracy in Kurdistan two of my uncles and my grandfather were executed by the Iraqi Regime,(Saddam Husain) one of my uncles was a Peshmergha fighter and died on Mountains as he was fighting and the other was imprisoned in the Abu Ghraib Prison for over 15 years, my family fought for the Kurdish rights that (my family political background) has always been with me. When I came to Glasgow I became very aware of the asylum situation both in Scotland and the UK, and I became very active from a very young age, I was 15, and I was studying at the Drumchapel High School, I campaigned for refugee rights our campaign was so successful that we ended child tension in the UK, so we had cross- party support, we were known as the Glasgow Girls that is very well known in Glasgow, Scotland and the whole UK. That inspired me very at a very young age to be involved in politics that made me study Law and politics at the University of Strathclyde, that is really in the heart of Glasgow as a very good university and I wanted to represent the university for this I stood for elections  and I won and represented 20, 000 students in 2013 and 2014. In the Strathclyde we gave the Honorary Life Membership to Abdullah Ocalan in 2014, that gave me a kind of inspiration to read about Abdullah Ocalan and where are my roots as a Kurdish person.

2014 was a remarkable year for me, there was also the Scottish Referendum so I was very actively involved in the university activities to make sure that students are registered and cast their voices because I was a pro –independence person, I became a Sabbatical Officer in the University Body to speak for the students who elected me. My campaign for equality and diversity came from the university, and the Strathclyde University became the first institution to offer asylum seekers scholarships to which I was very passionate, I wanted education to be inclusive, for everybody, and asylum seekers have then that opportunity.

I was involved in the Trade Union, then I want on for a local MP in Glasgow that created more opportunities for me to speak for the Kurdish people in the UK Parliament and make sure that the Kurdish voices are heard especially on Afrin, Kobane and many other aspects of Rojava Revolution and protecting Kurdish rights and standing for democracy in the Middle East and I have been involved in the SNP that wants independence and democracy for Scotland and now I am the first person on the Glasgow Region.

Journey from Kurdistan to Scotland 

My going to Scotland was a chance, from London we were dispersed to Glasgow through the emigration system, so it was all by chance but I am glad that that happened, because i see the similarities between the Scottish people and the Kurdish people.

How did you find your way to the SNP that is a nationalist party ?

I think I found my way in 2014, I found my way through the referendum, when the Scottish people had the opportunity to cast their vote and just to make sure that they do it in a democratic way and I get involved in that referendum and get inspired by the party.

Kurdish-Scottish Similarities and Differences

The issue for the Kurdish people is a very complex one, I mean Southern Kurdistan still seeks for independence, the ideology of Abdullah Ocalan is also asking for a kind of self-governance and autonomy so I think in many ways that is similar but we have different people we have different identity and we have different languages and we seek to govern ourselves.

The Kurdish people have a dream to become independent one day, that cannot go easily, but for the Kurdish people to have that we have to have democracy first, if we don’t establish democracy then there is no way for achieving independence, and what is great in this country-Scotland- where I live there is democracy, people have the right to cast their voice on a ballot paper that is very different to the Middle East where there is no democracy nor human rights for people there fight with guns that is opposite to here where people fight with their pens.

The 10-years old Syrian Crisis

I think the Syrian Conflict is very complex, it started with a peaceful uprising as a result of high unemployment and corruption as well as people asking for freedom from Bashar Assad that was turned into a civil war, that left many deaths and missing in addition to millions of refugees that is very catastrophic.

There are a lot of dimensions to that, one of these is that foreign powers have been involved in the region mostly for their own interests, Iran, Russia, Turkey, Gulf States and America and Europe and so on, money and weaponery were sent and many people were involved that led to extremists like ISIS that was seen by the international community as a major threat, the Kurdish people were fighting ISIS and very extreme ideas and Kobane was a big battle, we here organized demonstration for Kobane we created t-shirt in solidarity with Kobane to defeat ISIS that was s symbol of hope really for the Kurdish people to defeat ISIS and I think the Kurdish people have done that but the dynamic that the Kurdish people fight for self-Governance and rights stood out in the region I think the Kurdish people did not fight Assad, I think that the UN has also failed to initiate peace talks in the region, the UN has agreed recently to free and fair election in the near future that hopefully would bring hope to the people of Syria.

The Kurdish Dimension in Rojava

In my opinion, the Kurdish people have to defend their own rights and they had to look at what is beneficial for them because they are in a situation where Turkey is attacking them-occupation of Afrin and other north eastern Syria areas- and the Kurds do not have many friends at all because they are surrounded by a lot of enemies and what every kind of peace talks and give protection to our identity we want to take them, the Kurdish people had no choice and they had to take that opportunity, and that, to me as a Kurdish people living in Scotland, I think they took the best course of action for the future of the Kurdish people.

Turkish green light into Rojava

A lot of economic interests and capitalism play key roles in that, this gives a kind of silence to atrocities, killings and murders and all the cruel stories that we hear regarding Turkey's doings even reporters and journalists are being killed for reporting the true stories. I am up to date with the situation I think the international community have taken no proper action against Turkey because they have a lot of interests especially with refugees, we have seen Turkey threating the European countries that it will open the border for refuges to cross into Europe and this how the Turkish politics works, it is threatening and manipulating people and that is why they are very good at and they have done that with the international community, with Germany and that is the problem to which we need more friends in Europe to speak up for the Kurdish people and that entails a key role to be played by women in Europe in support of the revolution because it is a feminist one.

The Rojava Revolution and the Scottish people

The Scottish people see that the co-presidency and the commune system of neighborhood where people are actually making decisions in these communes and neighborhoods that are very inspiring where people are involved in direct democracy, the social revolution in Rojava has been looked at highly both in Scotland and Europe because of this different approach that created a kind of autonomy  in northern Syria that makes a system that works for the people instead of repeating previous administrations and try to achieve something new that is hopeful for the future.

The Rojava Feminist Revolution  

As a Kurdish person living in Scotland, I have been inspired by the bravery of the Kurdish women in playing a big part in the revolution from fighting ISIS and all aspects of the society they are involved in such as the health and teaching sectors and many others, I think all this have been very inspiring and gave me courage to look up on those women and that I could be a voice over here, and the equality has inspired me as a person, but the feminist revolution is so much bigger has played a very key part in the international community. The Kurdish Revolution in Rojava has become a kind of inspiration that women have been playing such a key role in this revolution and promoting gender equality that is key for the Kurdish women that are being trying to fight fascism and also calling for equality at the same time and trying to restore the key role of women in society that is exactly what those women have been trying to do, and I think they have achieved this in Rojava, where they been trying to be active in all arenas of life that is a credit for the women in Rojava that is not a revolution rather an women revolution. We have seen other revolutions in other countries but they did not have the element of women were half of the population is being ignored, and of course you cannot have a revolution when half of the population is ignored that is inspiring for the Rojava women where they are making a difference.

The situation in the Imrali Island Prison

I was actually a part of the virtual Imrali Delegation that happens every year as a kind of raising awareness of the situation in Turkey and for me as a delegate there has been an eye-opening that shows the conditions in Turkey. As a political prisoner, even as a prisoner,  Ocalan does not have any rights, I mean we don’t really know what is going on he might been tortured we have seen his lawyer being arrested for protecting his rights, so the cruelty goes on and on even against the Kurdish people because of his ideology, and really just for being Kurds, the cruelty and violations against human rights and democracy has escalated and women tights have stepped back and there has been a lot of concerns about the Istanbul Conventions of Women Rights, many women have not given protection that Turkey is asking for, there are a lot of the like issues in Turkey to which the international community have done little, they have not done much at all that is very worrying becuase the democratic confederalism developed by Ocalan that is born in Rojava, this model is very important because it asks for cooperative production and gender equality and equality in general for all people the model that gives a lot of hope to people in Rojava to which Turkey is very afraid of the idea that the people in Turkey could benefit from this. That is why Turkey is very concerned to which Turkey ought not to be afraid but due to the corruption in Turkey and the people there see this, and one day they will wake up to that, hopefully one day democracy will prevail in Turkey overall, Turkey is not taking the right roots and there will be consequences for it's actions, we have seen at the end democracy wins.   

On the Newroz Day !

Newroz piroz be, I hope that one day we will be free, and keep going the fight, we will get there.

L.A.

ANHA    

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZF45945en5g" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>