Kongra Star steps; Palestinian Woman

An ideology that brought together women of different races and components, she is an Arab of Palestinian descent who takes a seat among the masses of women joining under the banner of the Kongra Star, on the anniversary of its 17th founding.

15 January, 2022 05:26

QAMISHLO, SLAVA ABDUL RAHMAN

Mona Yusuf, a Palestinian woman who displaced with her family to Syria in 1946, married a Kurdish man in 1992, and by her husband became acquainted with the Kurdistan freedom movement.

With launching of the July 19th Revolution 2012 in Rojava and North and East Syria, Mona Yusuf, aged 40, joined the ranks of the revolution, exceeding the traditions and customs that controlled on all women’s life aspects, even stripping them of the will, as well as the masculine mentality under the influence of the global capitalist system.

The family from which Mona Yusuf's husband came, like millions of Kurdish families, lived because of the regime of government of that period, yet it had activities, even if they were secret at the time; Within the Kurdistan freedom movement. This contradiction was not confined only to the family. Mona Yusuf, mother of 3 young women and 3 young men, experienced the same contradiction as a result of her superficial knowledge of the movement, knowing only that the movement was fighting for freedom for oppressed peoples.

Finally, the Women's Revolution, in the sense of the Rojava Revolution and North and East Syria, removed all the contradictions experienced by Mona Yusuf, thanks to the leader and democratic thinker Abdullah Ocalan, who put forward the cause of women's liberation.

Women, in Rojava and North and East Syria, began organizing themselves according to the thought and ideology of liberating women, and began forming women's institutions of their own gender, including the Kongra Star, or the former Star Union.

New Old Kongra Star

The Star Union, founded on 15 January 2005, is a women's organization active in NE Syria, Lebanon, Southern Kurdistan and a number of European countries, later renamed the Kongra Star, during its sixth conference. Kongra Star of a Democratic Confederation representing women and fighting for women's freedom and the right to equality in Rojava and Syria.

The Conference itself is organized on the basis and principles of fundamental will and Autonomous Administration with all women from different peoples, and its organization and struggle is based on the science of free life (the science of women or Jineolojî), in which Jineolojî transcends mental colonization and develops the consciousness of women, free life and sexual struggle.

Kongra Star or Ideology

The Star Union “ Kongra Star “embraced, Mona Yusuf in 2014, and took over the department's functions after receiving intellectual training courses, in the occupied area of Serêkaniyê /Ras al-Ain, in turn seeking to raise awareness among women and unlock customs and traditions around their necks.

At first glance, Mona Yusuf didn't believe what she's done. This is the first time she's given a training course at the Academy of Democratic Society on the history of women and the science of women. "I couldn't believe I could do it, after all that contradiction I was living through," she adds: "I am a Palestinian woman. I knew nothing about your customs and traditions. I lived in cochlear on my own within the house. My biggest concern was to do homework. I thought no further."

‏Mona Yusuf sees the Kongra Star as the motherland of all women. "A biological mother gave birth to us, but it was the Kongra Star that raised us ideologically, organizationally, and how women can realize their rights and build a moral, political and just society, in the form of a large democratic family with all segments of society in all its components to live in peace and equality."

‏Women's History

Mona Yusuf received 15 days of intellectual training during her career as a member of a commune in Ras al-Ain city before being occupied by the Turkish occupying state on 9 October 2019. "Then I remembered the stress that I was living through, the violence that I experienced without knowing, the ambivalent feeling that was exploding, I felt an inexhaustible energy, and that this struggle was similar to what I experienced and lived in Palestine. I was also exiled because of my nationalism, I am Arab, and the homeland where I lived, and everyone was calling for the Palestinian cause.

Mona Yusuf compares the curriculum taught in Damascus Government schools with the courses at the academies of the Democratic Society in North and East Syria. "The curriculum was limited to achieving degrees and, therefore, to obtaining a job from which to earn a living during the three stages of study. We read about the geography of Syria, the geography of the Arab world and even the geography of the world, but the history that we received in our training was about the history of women, the history of peoples. These lessons showed us the facts that we didn't know before. We became aware of the realities of the dictatorial regimes that, from time immemorial, sought to obliterate the identity of women and robbed them of their freedom, their effort and their role without realizing in society. "

And I wondered why the Kurds were marginalized and their indigenous identity, "Why no one was talking about the history of this people, the Kurdish issue was just in the slogans and in the outlines of the time, but on the ground there was nothing, I lived through suffering in Syrian territory as a Palestinian, everyone was calling for the Palestinian cause and they saw it as the cause of the Arab world, but on the ground they didn't even give me the Syrian identity, until I was prevented from moving between Syrian areas, and I was banned from hiring, even if I studied and got degrees, then my goal in life was to marry and have children and raise them, I had no more goals. "

‏Follow up: "Classes at the Academy opened up deep horizons and thoughts, as it was a qualitative turning point in myself, but I wonder, why didn't that thought spread? And why is this history forgotten? Why the struggle of these people for 40 years has been kept secret, I have seen so many things that have not been inconsistent with what I have received in training, and that is what has brought me to my attention, and I have tried with all my struggling ability to be an effective human being within this thought. "

Mona Yusuf's character, of Palestinian origin, changed before and after she joined the Kongra Star, saying about the dialogues that sometimes took place between women members. "It worked so well for me, I was doing discussions at home, in the community, in the commune, I was affected by so many women in the neighborhood, and they came to express their opinions so frankly, that thought fulfilled so many of my dreams, that I was hoping to build a free, democratic society with all the components, that I was Arab, and I joined the movement to the extent that I forgot from which I, Arab, Kurdish or Syriac I belong."

Mona explained that her greatest difficulty was the masculine mindset of society, which did not accept that women should work outside the home, especially in the early years of the revolution. Now the situation is very different. Awareness has increased, as we see thousands of young women in the ranks of the Women's Protection Units (YPJ).

Kongra Star accepts the Women's Protection Units (YPJ) as a women's defence organization and considers itself the primary responsibility for the development, promotion and development of this defence organization, as stated in the Kongra Star General Charter.

It is also a new and unique launch and an unprecedented step. There is no women's organization in the world that reflects on the spirit, personality and privacy of women. Many women's organizations in the world were founded, but in essence were under the influence of the capitalist system.

In conclusion, she said that the society I aspire to needed time to build, and hoped that "I would make greater use of my energy and potential and make a wider start to reach all women. Our aspirations are great, but there are important and key things, namely, to get rid of the Turkish occupation and to have recognition of AANES."

She called on women to contribute more to the dissemination of the democratic nation's thinking and to take a focused curtain conference to resolve all their issues.

T/S

ANHA