‘Jin jiyan azadî philosophy is a self-defence’

 

Arjin Yuksekbag

 

ANKARA - Drawing attention to the necessity of self-defence against male violence, DEM Party Ankara Women's Assembly Spokesperson Nebahat Çalpan said: "The philosophy of Jin, jiyan, azadi is actually a self-defence. This situation has made the women's struggle collective. The self-defence move is very important for us. The way for us women to build our future is through this philosophy."

 

25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, is regarded as an important date to confront violence, harassment and discrimination against women all over the world and to raise social awareness against this situation. On this day, it is emphasised once again that violence against women is not only an individual problem, but also a structural problem with social, cultural and political roots.

 

The unique experiences of women in Turkey and the Middle East in this struggle have resonated around the world through self-defence and organisation movements. The Kurdish Freedom Movement and women's organisations consider violence against women not only as a physical threat, but also as a mechanism of ideological, cultural and political oppression. In this context, women have developed a collective consciousness and solidarity to defend themselves not only against physical attacks but also against threats to their identity, language and cultural existence.

 

In this part of our dossier, Nebahat Çalpan, Spokesperson of the Ankara Women's Assembly of the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), emphasised that the 21st century is “the century of women” and made evaluations on women's right to self-defence and the legitimacy of this right.

 

‘You have to defend yourself to exist’

 

Stating that self-defence should be turned into a way of life, Nebahat Çalpan said, "I think that self-defence should be considered as a life line, a concept with a moral and ideological dimension. Because we are well aware that building life, building it all-round, passes through a self-defence filter. While building a new future, we have to consider and build it on this basis. Self-defence is basically a matter of consciousness, organisation and action. 

 

The Kurdish Freedom Movement has also taken self-defence as a life line, ideology, moral and political consciousness. This can be considered as a struggle for self-existence in the war of existence and non-existence. Although self-defence at first seemed like a physical and bodily defence, it became a struggle for self-defence and a concrete resistance that started in four parts of Kurdistan. Because in order to exist, you had to defend yourself.

 

This self-defence was not something to be done unilaterally; it began to turn into a cultural, linguistic and honourable struggle. At this point, the Kurdish movement and Kurdish women created a paradigmatic reality that grounded self-defence as a right. Since the 2000s, the Kurdish women's movement in Turkey has made self-defence more legitimate. The political success of Turkish women has also had a very important impact on this."

 

‘The way for us women to build our future is through this philosophy’

 

Nebahat Çalpan stated that today self-defence is seen as a move towards self-protection in Turkey and said "While self-defence was perceived as a ‘murder’ twenty years ago in Turkey, today it is seen as a move to protect oneself, one's honour and freedom. Naturally, women's protection of their own freedom and dignity has also begun to take place on the basis of the right to self-defence. Concretely, women are now aware and conscious that they are integrated with the existence of self-defence. For this reason, an understanding of physical self-defence has developed. The physical self-defence workshops that have been opened everywhere have paved the way for self-defence and this has been a very positive step. When we compare the practice of women's self-defence ten years ago with the current practice of self-defence, we see a great improvement. This is one of the biggest steps in building a women's liberationist paradigm. In this way, it has become a philosophy that has spread not only to Turkey, but also to the Middle East and the whole world. We can even say the following: The philosophy of ‘Jin, jiyan, azadi’ is actually a self-defence. This self-defence move was a movement that resonated all over the world and made the women's struggle a collective one. This is a very important development for us. The way to build the future of women is through this philosophy. Because the state mind is a construction of the male-dominated system."

 

‘We keep saying that the twenty-first century is the century of women’

 

Stating that women in the 21st century shook the power of men, Nebahat Çalpan said: "Now, naturally, we are faced with a century that undermines the power of the state and destroys its objection. A gender, whose personality it ignored, suddenly began to shake its power. You know when we say that the 21st century is the ‘century of women’, this is not just a rhetorical expression; it is actually a statement that has a reality. In the 21st century, women began to shake the power of men. In the face of this power, she has begun to exist herself as she did in the matriarchal period of the first age and to revitalise this past. Naturally, the male-dominated mentality tried to punish this practice, which shook its power, with more oppressive and masculine methods.

 

Unification is the only way to legitimise self-defence

 

There is only one explanation for this: This is due to the shaking of male power. We see that we have entered the women's century from Rojava, the Kobanê Revolution and the struggle started by Mehsa Emini in Tehran, Iran. In fact, all of these started within a self-defence model. This self-defence has become a collective struggle that has spread all over the world, regardless of identity, based solely on the female gender. The self-defence movement, which spread from the Middle East to Europe and everywhere in between, developed in this way, and it was really a great move. There was only one way for women to protect themselves in this way or to legitimise self-defence: Women had to come together with the consciousness of common struggle, with one heart and one roof against the male-dominated system, and this was achieved.’

 

‘A very strong women's organisation is coming’

 

Nebahat Çalpan, noting that women should organise to prevent attacks such as violence against women, harassment and rape, said: "The policy of impunity has caused rapes to be so common and violence against women to increase so much. Because the state and the male mind are equal. The state has become a structure that paves the way for the legitimisation of this violence. As women, we say that self-defence is a right and we fight for it even though it has no legal basis. However, in the ‘women's century’ of the 21st century, self-defence will become a legitimised move after ten years. There is of course a way to prevent rape and harassment; we can do this by creating a collective line of struggle of women. Because a strong women's organisation is rising. This is a network of women's organisations coming not only from the Middle East, but also from Chile, Tehran and all over the world.

 

Today, even in a country like Afghanistan, which is ruled by Sharia law, the self-defence movement ‘jin, jiyan, azadi’ has emerged, which is a great thing. An organising move that will set an example for the next generation of young women has emerged. We are very hopeful about this. Although we are currently experiencing a problem of existence, women exist, will exist and will continue to exist everywhere. Self-defence is a cornerstone of struggle. It was perceived as a well-known milestone in our Kurdish freedom movement. We are taking over this legacy and taking steps on this path with a more progressive and stronger will."

 

‘Self-defence requires consciousness, organisation and action’

 

Explaining the effects of the Kurdish freedom movement on the women's struggle, Nebahat Çalpan concluded her speech with the following words: ‘We have defined self-defence as the conscious mobilisation of beings against threats to them. In fact, the Kurdish movement should be considered from this point. The Kurdish movement mobilised the act of being in the face of absence, that is, self-defence. This was not only a physical defence; it reached a great ideological, cultural and religious dimension. For every individual, society, group or system, the struggle for self-existence and continuity is through self-defence. There was no other way to move forward on this path, to exist oneself. Therefore, we had to mobilise self-defence. We owe a great debt of gratitude to the Kurdish freedom movement and the Kurdish women's movement in this regard. The basis of our ability to wage this struggle today, to defend ourselves in every field, lies not only in a physical self-defence movement, but also in a self-defence model against belief, culture, language and assimilation. Self-defence requires consciousness, organisation and action; it requires joint action in every way. Like air, water and bread, this consciousness must exist. This consciousness is becoming more and more firmly established and I am sure it will develop further.’