Statement to the Uruguayan Anarchist Federation
We, Kongra Star, the women’s confederation in Rojava send our revolutionary greetings to the Uruguayan Anarchist Federation and congratulate the 65 th anniversary of their struggle. Your 65 years of struggle means 65 years of resistance. It gives us hope to see that the revolutionary struggle of the FAU continues, even though it was difficult under the military dictatorship and the great waves of repression. We know that the FAU faced many difficulties and its members were imprisoned or even martyred. Even more, you have recognized the need to continue your struggle against the enormous exploitation and oppression.
Today, the capitalist forces of modernity are waging an all-out war against all forces of democratic modernity that oppose oppression and exploitation. The great monopolies of power and economy have destroyed the economic and ecological life of many societies. The peoples of Uruguay, as well as the Kurdish people and other peoples throughout the world, have suffered from the terrible oppression of the international powers. We commemorate the glorious resistance that has been carried out in Uruguay since the beginning of the colonization.
Since the advent of patriarchy and capitalist civilization, which we do not consider separate from each other, there has always also been the history of democratic civilization. On this line of democratic civilization, people and especially women, who are the most oppressed by the system, have revolted against it. The oppressive system that has reached all spheres of life and consists of numerous hierarchies and power accumulations from the big nation states to the smallest cell of oppression, the patriarchal family, ensures that no human is untouched and uncontrolled. Opposing this radically also means opposing any form of hierarchies and power monopolies. We recognize the great contribution anarchist struggle and theory has made in questioning the hierarchies and oppression of the statist system. So we also consider FAU as one of the democratic forces fighting for equality and democracy against capitalism based on patriarchal foundations. It will be crucial to all liberation struggles
to realize, that it is not possible to reach an egalitarian society without centering the struggle for women’s liberation.
The Anarchist Federation intends to build an alternative to the current status quo through its activities
and has contributed in the past to internationalist liberation struggles and build strong ties in Latin America. In Kurdistan, too, the Kurdish freedom movement has waged a struggle against fascism, patriarchy and capitalism that has lasted more than 40 years. In this struggle, the organization of autonomous women’s structures played a key role, recognizing that the enslavement of women is the historical basis of all forms of oppression.
The establishment of autonomous women’s structures created the possibility for women to create a new, free self and become pioneers in the struggle for freedom in society. Kongra Star was also born out of this power and spirit, and has played an active and important role in the women’s revolution in Rojava and northern and eastern Syria. There today, under the paradigm of democratic confederalism, which allows equal and autonomous participation of women and all social and ethnic groups in the autonomous administration. In our struggle, we have become aware that besides the brave resistance of the military forces, international solidarity is one of the strongest weapons against the occupying states. The fact that patriarchal systems will always oppose freedom means for us that it is necessary to organize ourselves to defend ourselves against them. Resistance wins where it is organized; where concrete, sustainable structures of self-defense are built. It is important that women also organize autonomously in self-defense and other structures. We are convinced that the attitude of the united forces of the revolutionary forces for freedom, their resistance and organization will determine the character of the 21st century and the course of our history.
We are confident that peace and a just world will prevail and that the goals of your revolution will be achieved. Therefore, these years of experience must become a continuation of the resistance and increase the international spirit of our struggle. Considering this, we want congratulate all members of the FAU again on 65 years of anarchist struggles, with the internationalist spirit that connect us.
Revolutionary Greetings from Rojava
Kongra Star