News Center- The 2nd International Conference held in Berlin, Germany, by the Network Women Weaving the Future ended after announcing the conference’s final declaration. At the conference, the women announced the formation of the “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi: Women’s Weaving the Future Network” and called on all women to join the network for “Women’s revolution” and unite in order to struggle together.

800 women from 41 countries attended the conference. The fifth session on the second day of the conference, women spoke about “Jin, Jîyan, Azadî: Why a Supranational Women’s Organisation? What Is the Proposal for Women’s World Democratic Confederalism?”

“It's time for women's freedom”

The last session of the conference was moderated by Havin Güneşer, engineer, journalist, women’s rights activist, and spokesperson of the Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan-Peace in Kurdistan International Initiative.

In her speech, she said that Jin, Jiyan, Azadi (English: Women, Life, Freedom) is not only a slogan for them but also their philosophy. “The architect of this slogan also wrote the philosophy of freedom. This person is Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan. Mr. Öcalan, who was taken captive in the operation launched by the NATO, has been isolated for 24 years. The freedom of Mr. Öcalan is also our freedom. It’s time for women’s freedom. Despite the pandemic, people and women have been waging a struggle against oppressive regimes. Women must participate in all spheres of life,” she said in her speech.

The emphasis on joint struggle

Haskar Kırmızıgül from the Kurdish Women's Movement pointed out the ongoing attacks on women and nature in her speech. “We should discuss how we can strengthen our struggle. The women’s revolution is not a revolution that is suddenly formed or destroyed. In this period when modernity is in its deepest crisis, it attacks women the most. If women do not resist against it, they will be annihilated. Women’s struggle is a struggle for existence. For this reason, women agree on many principles. The more we get stronger, the more they get weaker. For this reason, joint struggle is a must for us.”

“Our problems are same”

Montes Jovita Mataro from the International Alliance of Women in the Philippines emphasized the importance of women’s international solidarity in her speech. She said that women could achieve a successful struggle by uniting.  

Boushra Ali, member of the Democratic Women’s Coalition, MENA Region, said in her speech that the problems faced by women may differ from each other in every country, but the solution of these problems is common.

 

The representative from Gemeinsam Kaempfen (Struggle Together, Germany) noted in her speech that they and Kurdish women have been struggling together for years and that they have been carrying out activities in North and East Syria.

Final declaration

After the speeches, the women announced the final declaration of the conference.  In the final declaration, the women draw attention to the importance of the joint struggle. Some parts of the declaration are as follows:

“While we are holding our conference, the slogan ‘Jin, Jiyan, Azadi’ has been echoing all around the world. Women rise up all over the world to make the 21st century a century of women. We live in very dark times but we are on the verge of a new environment.

The capitalist system is dragging our world into the 3rd world war for its own interests by causing conflicts, ecological destruction, pandemics, labor exploitation and violence. Women from five continents are affected by this war. We object to this situation! We declare to the whole world once again that we take responsibility for stopping this situation and for a freer and fairer life for all.

We are now in the time of women. The most important response to this time is to perpetuate the joint struggle, unity and solidarity network of women. We announce the “Jin, Jiyan, Azadî: Women Are Weaving the Future Network”. We will draw a road map according to discussions we made during the two-day conference. We call on all women to join the network for “Women’s revolution” and unite in order to struggle together.