These are the Women, of the YPJ, the ones who kicked ISIS’ butt so that our troops did not have to. These are the women written about in Gayle Tzemach Lemmon’s NY Times best-seller, The Daughter’s of Kobani: a story of Rebellion, Courage and Justice, the book Hillary and Chelsea Clinton purchased the option to make into a TV series. These are the people Wes Enzinna wrote about in a cover story for the NY Times Magazine Section back in 2015, titled, A Dream of a Secular Utopia in ISIS’ Backyard.”
These are the people that I wrote about right here, shortly after reading Enzinna’s article, in a post titled, “The Most Important Ideas You Never heard of: Kurdish Rojava & Egalitarian, Ecological Revolution.”
These are the women who were attacked by a Turkish drone in their car, on a major highway, after presenting at this conference described here.
This morning, I received a text with the following tragic news:
Incredible-yesterday turkey killed with a drone attack 3 YPJ members, including commander Jiyan Tolhildan, who were presenters and participants at the women’s conference and were leaving the event in their vehicle in the evening. The attack took place right outside Qamisio city on a major road.
Jiyan was featured in a documentary that you can link to here.
Illusionists and sleight-of-hand artists know this to be true:
“Energy goes where focus flows.”
Right now, our focus is on Ukraine.
Ukraine is a tragic story. And while we are all horrified by the war crimes inflicted by Russia, Turkey is massacring civilians in Syria. Turkey is ethnically cleansing Kurdish and Yazidi people in Syria, while no one is looking.
On July 21st, the Syrian Democratic Council put out this statement on the recent massacre of Zakho, in which “at least nine civilians including women and children were martyred….”
Because Turkey is a member of NATO, they have leverage. Recently, A major concession Turkey demanded before adding Sweden to NATO was to have it stop granting asylum to Kurds from this area.
Yet, Turkey is using ISiS veteran fighters to massacre Kurds, Arabs and Yazidis to ethnically cleanse North East Syria.
And NATO, because we are fighting the good fight in Ukraine, has decided it necessary to throw Kurds and Yazidis under the bus.
I have written many times here that “The enemy of your enemy is not always your friend.” The United States supported the Syrian Democratic Force (SDF) while it was convenient, while they were taking down the Islamic State. But even Fox News — Fox News!!! — published an article today that recognizes that Turkey President “Erdogan’s threats of invading Syria could lead to Islamic State resurgence.”
As I wrote in my piece here back in November, 2015:
Yet, a revolution has its moment. Whether it is the Arab Spring, or the Occupy Movement, or Ten Days That Shook the World, there is a time when a spark hits some kindling and a time, or place, ignites. Whether the flame becomes strong, or withers without additional fuel, or gets put out, violently, always remains to be seen.
Ever since The Former Guy gave Erdogan the green light, Turkey has repeatedly invaded and occupied Syria to massacre, terrorize and ethnically cleanse North East Syria, using ISiS troops that escaped into Turkey to avoid capture.
Now they are so confident that no one is watching and that no one cares, they even used a drone to kill presenters and participants of a conference, on a major road. This is clearly an act of war and an act of terror, just one of many in the area.
Because we either are looking elsewhere, or just don’t care.
Ukraine’s national anthem begins, “Ukraine is not yet dead….” It is a defiant beginning to an anthem. ‘Not yet...” is an ominous phrase, and it’s a poignant acknowledgement of a history.
If Rojava ever decides on an anthem, I hope it is able to defiantly proclaim the same.
Saturday, Jul 23, 2022 · 8:34:59 PM +00:00 · David B
UPDATE: DK member BMScott shared, in the comments, A Statement from the YPJ General Command. Up top, it starts:
YPJ General Command: We will avenge our comrades against Turkish occupation and its spies
The General Command of the Women's Protection Units YPJ affirmed the revenge for the leading female martyrs who were targeted by the Turkish occupation, and said: This attack will not be able to make us retreat in any way, but will only strengthen our hatred towards the Turkish state, calling on the women of north and east Syria to join the ranks of the struggle.
If you get a chance, please watch the documentary on Jiyan Tolhildan, that I linked to above.
And thank you all for your recommendations. As many of you note in your comments, the Mainstream Media does not generally cover this struggle.