'One the foremost writers and participants in the Kurdish women's
movement' - Harsha Walia
The Kurdish women's
movement is at the heart of one of the most exciting revolutionary
experiments in the world today: Rojava. Forged over decades of
struggle, most recently in the fight against ISIS, Rojava embodies a
radical commitment to ecology, democracy and women's liberation. But
while striking images of Kurdish women in military fatigues
proliferate, a true understanding of the women's movement remains
elusive.
Taking apart the
superficial and Orientalist frameworks that dominate, Dilar Dirik
offers instead an empirically rich account of the women's movement in
Kurdistan. Drawing on original research and ethnographic fieldwork,
she surveys the movement's historical origins, ideological evolution,
and political practice over the past forty years. Going beyond
abstract ideas, Dirik locates the movement's culture and ideology in
its concrete work for women's revolution in the here and now.
Taking the reader
from the guerrilla camps in the mountains to radical women's
academies and self-organized refugee camps, readers around the world
can engage with the revolution in Kurdistan, both theoretically and
practically, as a vital touchstone in the wider struggle for a
militant anti-fascist, anti-capitalist feminist internationalism.