Meet your host, Virginia and understand why she jumped at the chance to join a delegation of women journalists to north-east Syria. This first episode features activists from Kongra Star, an important women's organization, talking about the fall of the Assad regime and their impressions of the new government in Damascus. We also meet representatives from a neighbourhood commune, the most basic building block of civil society in north-eastern Syria. Notes: Prison Radio Show Interview with Lauren Aarons: https://prisonradioshow.libsyn.com/july-16-2024-full-show Syrian Network for Human Rights: https://snhr.org/blog/2025/04/09/1562-deaths-including-102-children-and-99-women-as-well-as-33-medical-personnel-recorded-in-march-2025-in-syria/ Syrians for Truth and Justice report on the killing of civilians, including children, around Kobane/Tishreen Dam area: https://stj-sy.org/en/syriakobani-new-evidence-on-the-killing-of-22-civilians-half-of-them-children-in-january-and-march-2025/ Leila Al-Shami and Robin Yassin-Kassab, Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War FLOC, "To Make Many Lines, To Form Many Bonds – Thoughts on Autonomous Organizing" in https://www.liesjournal.net/volume2.pdf Resources List from the study group on Kurdish history and the Kurdish women's movement: -Cambridge History of the Kurds. Ed. Hamit Bozarslan, Cengiz Gunes, Veli Yadirgi. Cambridge University Press, 2021. p. 893-919 -The Kurdish Women's Movement : History, Theory, Practice. Dilar Dirik. Pluto Press, 2022. "Towards Women's Autonomy " (p 42-49), "Revolutionizing love, Mothers, Self-defense" (p 99-125), " Rojava : A Women's Revolution : Resistance or Feminicide " (p208-251), and " Empowerment or Revolution " (p 301-314) -Revolution in Rojava : Democratic Autonomy and Women's Liberation in Syrian Kurdistan. Michael Knapp, Anja Flach and Ercan Ayboga [trans. Janet Biehl]. Pluto Press, 2018. Part 5 (p61-83), Part 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, (p133-136) and 8.11 (p158-163) -The Kurdish Women's Freedom Movement : Gender, Body Politics and Militant Femininities. Isabel Käser. Cambridge University Press, 2021. The PKK : A Woman's Party? (p42-65), and The Mountain Life (p97-129) -The Art of Freedom : A Brief History of the Kurdish Liberation Struggle. Havin Güneser. PM Press, 2021. Lecture II (p37-84) -"The Women's Movement in Rojava. " https ://mesopotamia.coop/the-womens-movement-in-rojava/ -Open Letter to the Public by the Jineoloji Committee Europe https://jineoloji.org/en/2021/05/10/open-letter-to-the-public/ Audio: Çay at the Women's Front : https://womensfront.com/ The Women's War : https://www.thewomenswar.com/ Women and War : A Feminist Podcast : https://www.buzzsprout.com/1921783 Websites: Rojava Information Center. "Rojava : A Timeline. A Historical Overview of North and East Syria." https ://rojavainformationcenter.com/background/rojava-timeline/ Rojava Information Center. "The Rojava Revolution – A Decade On (Part I)." https ://rojavainformationcenter.com/2022/07/10-years-of-the-rojava-revolution-much-achieved-still-much-to-come/ Website of Jineolojî. https ://jineoloji.org/en/ Website of the Kurdistan Solidarity Network. https ://kurdishsolidaritynetwork.wordpress.com/2016/11/06/the-womens-movement-in-rojava/ Website of Women Weaving the Future Network. https ://womenweavingfuture.org/ Andrea Wolf Institute of Jineolojî Academy. "Killing and Transforming the Dominant Man." January 2021. https ://jineoloji.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Killing-and-Transforming-the-dominant-man-booklet-en-compressed_compressed.pdf "How to Preserve the Autonomy of Northeast Syria." Fabrice Balanche for the Washington Insitute for Near East Policy. March 15, 2022. https ://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/how-preserve-autonomy-northeast-syria "Reflections on Antisemitic content in Öcalan's The Sociology of Freedom." https :// social-ecology.org/wp/2021/07/antisemitic-content-in-sociology-of-freedom/ Episode Credits Voice credits: Tawinikay. Zoo Parking, Andrea Figueroa and a few anonymous friends Music credits: Theme music is from Koma Şehîd Hêva Ya Şehba available online at https://jintv.net/ku/posts/post1729280299/ and interlude and outro music is from Shahriyar Jamshidi https://shahriyarjamshidi.bandcamp.com/album/my-sunset-land-rojava
