https://peaceinkurdistancampaign.com/activities/womens-alliance-for-kurdistan-iraq-and-syria/
1. How the death of a Kurdish woman galvanised women all over Iran
2. Iran launches airstrike against Kurdish group in northern Iraq
3. Gunshots and blasts heard at Mahsa Amini protests in Iran
4. Iran’s repressive regime is being rocked by a song
5. Zhina Mahsa Amini: The Story of a Kurdish Woman in Iran
6. Webinar: The Kurdish Question in Iran After Amini’s Murder
7. Assasination of Nagihan Akarsel
8. Feminist journalist of Turkish origin gunned down in Iraqi Kurdistan
9. Women Life Freedom – the revolutionary call of the Kurdish Women’s Movement
10. Woman, Life, Liberty: A Slogan One Hundred Years in the Making
11. Meral Çiçek on Nagihan Akarsel and the origins of Jin, Jiyan, Azadi
12. Jîna ‘Mahsa’ Amini Was Kurdish And That Matters
1. How the death of a Kurdish woman galvanised women all over Iran
27 September 2022/The Guardian
When a young Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, died in regime custody 10 days ago, Kurdish corners of Iran were the first to erupt; their anger at leaders they say have long oppressed them had an incendiary effect in their towns and cities.
The death of the 22-year-old while on a visit to Tehran – allegedly for wearing her headscarf incorrectly under the country’s hijab regulations – quickly became a potent symbol of defiance for a minority group that had long harboured nationalistic ambitions, which rarely stayed hidden, and often eschewed the values of the country’s hardline leaders.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/27/how-death-kurdish-woman-galvanised-women-iran-mahsa-amini
2. Iran launches airstrike against Kurdish group in northern Iraq
28 September 2022/The Guardian
Iran has launched a deadly cross-border airstrike into northern Iraq to punish Kurds for their role in supporting demonstrations over the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman in Iranian police custody that are still rattling the Tehran regime.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/28/iran-launches-airstrike-against-kurdish-group-northern-iraq-mahsa-amini-protests
3. Gunshots and blasts heard at Mahsa Amini protests in Iran
10 October 2022/The Guardian
Gunshots and explosions were heard in the Iranian Kurdish city of Sanandaj on Monday as the protests over the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini continued to unfold across the country.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/10/gunshots-mahsa-amini-protests-iran-death-police-custody-kurdish
4. Iran’s repressive regime is being rocked by a song
6 October 2022/The Economist
The protests against the shah of Iran were in their infancy in the autumn of 1978 when Mohammad-Reza Shajarian, a famous singer, stirred the hearts of millions with a song called “Jaleh Khoon Shod” (“The dew turned to blood”). It became an anthem of the revolution that soon toppled the monarch. “Bring down the reign of madness,” he crooned.
https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2022/10/06/irans-repressive-regime-is-being-rocked-by-a-song
5. Zhina Mahsa Amini: The Story of a Kurdish Woman in Iran
23 September 2022/Washington Kurdish Institute
A 22-year-old Kurdish woman from Saqqez named Zhina Mahsa Amini died on September 16 after being arrested by Iran’s morality police for improperly wearing her hijab in Tehran on September 13. Amini fell into a coma during her arrest, and her family accused Iranian authorities of torturing her after the morality police released an edited video of the incident. Amini’s death sparked protests in Iranian Kurdistan and other cities in Iran. Protestors chanted “death to Khamenei” and “Woman, Life, Freedom.” Iranian authorities killed seven protestors and wounded at least hundreds. Iranian authorities also arrested thousands of civilians and activists.
6. Webinar: The Kurdish Question in Iran After Amini’s Murder
29 September 2022/Washington Kurdish Institute
Since the establishment of modern Iran, consecutive regimes have shared the same anti-Kurdish rhetoric. The recent murder of a Kurdish woman, Zhina Mahsa Amini, is one of many examples of the Kurdish struggle under the 43-year-old Islamic Republic of Iran. The Kurdish Region is facing particularly harsh crackdowns by the security forces, including killing civilians, arresting activists, blocking internet access, and imposing curfews and material laws on Kurdish cities and towns.
7. Assasination of Nagihan Akarsel
4 October 2022/Jineology
Our friend Nagihan Akarsel, Jineolojî Academy member and Jineolojî Journal Editorial Board member was martyred as a result of an armed attack in Sulaymaniyah at 9.30 this morning.
With anger and rage, we condemn this assassination, which is one of the recent political murders carried out by fascist and hegemonic powers against all women in resistance around the world. We call on the Kurdistan Regional Government to find the perpetrators of this murder as soon as possible. This attack is a continuation of the brutal murders against Yasin Bulut, Mehmet Zeki Çelebi and Suhel Xorşid. If this murder case is not investigated, the collaboration of the Kurdistan Regional Government will face the rage of the rising wave of our women’s revolution.
8. Feminist journalist of Turkish origin gunned down in Iraqi Kurdistan
4 October 2022/Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the murder of Nagihan Akarsel, a Kurdish magazine editor and influential feminist advocate, who was gunned down outside her home in Iraqi Kurdistan on 4 October, becoming the fifth Kurdish person of Turkish origin or critic of the Turkish government to be attacked in this autonomous region in northern Iraq in the past year.
https://rsf.org/en/feminist-journalist-turkish-origin-gunned-down-iraqi-kurdistan
9. Women Life Freedom – the revolutionary call of the Kurdish Women’s Movement
12 October 2022/Bella Caledonia
The slogan, Women Life Freedom, has spread outwards with the protests, but what does it mean to those who created it? Through internal struggle and debate, and the powerful words of its undisputed leader, Abdullah Öcalan, the Kurdish Freedom Movement has put women’s freedom at its core. This is a very different sort of freedom from that envisaged by liberal feminism, which worries about individual success. The Movement wants nothing less than fundamental social change. Their radical feminism does not demand a place for women in our hierarchical ‘civilisation’, but an end to hierarchy itself, and its replacement with those mutually supporting community structures that have been increasingly pushed to the margins. When it seeks to end toxic masculinity, it also challenges the structures of dominance and power that have come to be taken for granted at all levels – from family roles to the state. It puts forward a different way of thinking about the world, where wellbeing is valued over financial wealth, and mutual aid over competition, and where human society is seen as part of the natural world and not it’s master.
https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2022/10/12/women-life-freedom-the-revolutionary-call-of-the-kurdish-womens-movement/
10. Woman, Life, Liberty: A Slogan One Hundred Years in the Making
4 October 2022/New lines Magazine
Of all the videos to surface from the Iran protests following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini on Sept. 16th, one in particular has caught the public imagination. In this short clip, we see a large gathering of people around a bonfire when a young woman dressed all in white enters the circle energetically, whirls toward the fire almost joyously and halts in a dramatic pose before throwing her headscarf to the flames. The crowd cheers ecstatically.
https://newlinesmag.com/argument/woman-life-liberty-a-slogan-one-hundred-years-in-the-making/
11. Meral Çiçek on Nagihan Akarsel and the origins of Jin, Jiyan, Azadi
10 October 2022/Medya News
At times it is hard to keep up with the fast-moving developments in the Kurdish issue, and particularly in the last three weeks this has been especially true, with Kurds in Iran taking part in general strikes, taking to the streets and in some places taking control of towns in uprisings sparked by the brutal killing of a young 22-year-old Kurdish woman, Jina Amini, by the so-called ‘morality police’ of the Iranian regime.
Meral Çiçek on Nagihan Akarsel and the origins of Jin, Jiyan, Azadi
12. Jîna ‘Mahsa’ Amini Was Kurdish And That Matters
4 October 2022/Novara Media
In 1852 the 35-years old women’s rights activist Tahirih Ghoratolein was executed by the Iranian regime in Tehran for two things: her Bábí faith and unveiling herself. Her last words were: “You can kill me as soon as you like, but you cannot stop the emancipation of women.”
Peace in Kurdistan
Campaign for a political solution of the Kurdish Question
Email: estella@gn.apc.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/peaceinkurdistan1/
Contacts Estella Schmid: 07846 666 804 & Melanie Gingell: 07572 430903
Patrons: John Austin, Baroness Blower of Starch Green, former GS NUT, Prof Bill Bowring, Julie Christie, Noam Chomsky, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Maggie Cook, UNISON women activist; Prof Mary Davis, Lord Dholakia, Simon Dubbins, UNITE International Director, Jill Evans, former MEP, Desmond Fernandes, Lindsey German, Convenor STWC, Melanie Gingell, Christopher Gingell, Prof Dr. Michael Gunter, Secretary-General, EU Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC), Rahila Gupta, journalist, Nick Hildyard, policy advisor, Dafydd Iwan, Former President Plaid Cymru, James Kelman, Bruce Kent, Jean Lambert, former MEP, Dr Les Levidow, Open University, Elfyn Llwyd, John McDonnell MP; Aonghas MacNeacail, Scottish Gaelic poet, Mike Mansfield QC, David Morgan, journalist, Doug Nicholls, General Secretary, GFTU, Dr. Jessica Ayesha Northey, Sinn Fein MLA Conor Murphy, Dr Thomas Jeffrey Miley, Kate Osamor MP, Margaret Owen OBE, Ali Gul Ozbek, Former Councillor and Mayor of Haringey; Gareth Peirce, Dr Felix Padel, Maxine Peake, actor, Dr Thomas Phillips, Liverpool John Moores University, Trevor Rayne, writer, Joe Ryan, Bert Schouwenburg, International Trade Union Adviser; Tony Simpson, Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, Stephen Smellie, PIK Trade Union Liaison Officer, Jonathan Steele, journalist, Steve Sweeney, journalist, Gianni Tognoni, General Secretary Permanent People’s Tribunal, Dr Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, Dr Federico Venturini, Associate Researcher, University of Udine, Italy; Dr Tom Wakeford, Dr Derek Wall, Julie Ward, former MEP, Kariane Westrheim, Chair, EU Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC); Hywel Williams MP.