The second conference of the Network Women Weaving the Future was held in Berlin on November 5 and 6 under the motto “Our revolution: liberating life” and the slogan “Jin, Jian, Azadi.”
Hundreds of feminist activists and researchers from different parts of the world participated in this conference. On the right side of the main hall of the conference hung a large picture of Jina Amini, and on the other side, a picture of Nagihan Akarsel, a Kurdish feminist who was murdered in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq. A number of activists from the group “Feminists for Jina” attended this two-day conference and connected the voice of “Women, Life, Freedom” from the recent uprising in Iran with women’s liberation struggles in other parts of the world. In this picture, some of the people who died during the Jina uprising, as well as the feminists arrested in Iran, were exposed to the public by Iranian activists, and a statement about the recent protests in Iran was read in the hall.
This text began with a reference to the history of oppression of women and LGBTQIA+ individuals after the Islamic Republic came to power and a description of the recent resistance. It further described the struggles of the people in Iran, especially those in Baluchistan and Kurdistan, who have suffered the worst oppression and violence, and emphasized the need for transnational solidarity. It concluded, “Iran’s recent uprising can be understood as an astonishing achievement against dictatorships of the Middle East and the Global South. As women, LGBTQIA+ persons, and different groups of people in the Global South share the same histories of capitalist, patriarchal, and state violations, what first and foremost is needed is transnational solidarity. The solutions can not be found if we do not reveal the cooperation of states of Global North with Global South in silencing, suppressing, and colonizing bodies and lives of the people in the Global South. Only through acts of solidarity and echoing of each other’s voices we can fight to overcome state, patriarchy, and capitalism. We should end this darkness with our transnational and revolutionary resistance.
As a political prisoner in Iran, Keyvan Samimi wrote in one of his prison briefs: everyone, wherever they are, should take a step forward. For joining our revolutionary steps with each other, we shout Jin, Jian, Azadi. The conference’s organisers said that “since our first conference in 2018, we have been weaving the future to create World Democratic Women’s Confederalism. Our claim is big, but wherever we touch base, we have seen that this claim can become a reality. We have also seen that we can master a long road only through continuous organization. We must continue to share experiences and prepare for the patriarchal system’s new attacks on our bodies, freedoms, and minds. We must create paths, methods, and perspectives that can match the conditions, qualities, and needs of our age.“
At the end of their announcement, they stated, “In the last decade, the revolution in Rojava has shown that it is possible to struggle and build a different political and social system — a social alternative based on women’s autonomy in all areas of life. The struggles of women in places like Afghanistan, the US, Sudan, the Philippines, Latin America, and especially the current rebellions of women in Iran and Rojhilat (Eastern Kurdistan), illustrate once again that this century has the potential to be the century of freedom for women and all of society. This second conference paves the way for women’s collectivity and solidarity.”