SHENGAL - Stating that no one will protect a woman who cannot protect herself, Nûda Berîvan, one of the YJŞ commanders, said: “We cannot resist only with weapons. We want to change the mentality in society and show that women can succeed."

 

“We realized that no one will protect a woman who cannot protect herself. We have the strength to fight." These words describe the brutality inflicted by ISIS in Shengal on August 3, 2014, and the change created by women who are seen as "objects" that men must protect during wars. Nûda Berîvan, one of the Êzidî women who embraced the struggle by saying "Never again", is just one of the Êzidî women who illuminated the darkness created by the male world by being reborn from the ashes. Berîvan, who is now one of the commanders of Shengal Women's Unions (Yêkineyên Jinên Şengal-YJŞ), on the one hand, strengthens their defense and organization, on the other hand, Êzidî women and those in defense who are struggling to save the women who are still captive in the hands of ISIS and to change and transform the male-dominated mentality in the society. Berivan spoke to Mezopotamya Agency (MA) about her role.

 

REBIRTH

 

Stating that the male-dominated mentality was dominant in Shengal before, Berîvan explained the change experienced with the struggle as follows: “We were not organized, after joining YJŞ, we got to know our identity and enemy better; however, we also realized our power. We saw how strong we are with YJŞ. We had an ordinary life before. We lived in a society where the existence and voice of women were not accepted. Women could not express their opinions freely. We were always under the authority of our father or older brother. They didn't even see us as an entity. That's how we accepted it because society imposed this on us. Societies are still governed by a male-dominated system. Our aim is to show the Yazidi community that there are women too and to prioritize this. We are still facing a genocide. Each time the aim was destruction. We must be a bulwark against the private war being waged against our existence, our culture and our identity. We must protect ourselves and society so that this culture does not disappear because we, women, are the representatives of culture and belief."

 

THE PURPOSE IS TO SAVE WOMEN FROM ISIS.

 

Emphasizing that one of their aims is to save women from the hands of ISIS, Berîvan said: “Thousands of women have been rescued from the hands of ISIS so far. There are still many women waiting to be rescued. We are fighting to save them. All our effort and struggle is to save Êzidî women from the hands of ISIS. On the other hand, we are making serious efforts to ensure that these rescued women take part in society. We will strengthen our fight to ensure that not a single woman is left in the hands of ISIS. Returning the rescued women to their land gives strength. The return of women is a new revival. We have a duty and responsibility to expand our power. We will not allow another edict to survive. We believe in ourselves and our power. We will protect women and our people until the end."

 

'WE MET THE PHILOSOPHY OF LEADER APO'

 

Stating that defense has always been seen as a man's job, Berîvan said: "This mentality in society gradually began to break down with the establishment of YJŞ. When it comes to defense, men always come to mind. There was an approach as if women existed only to serve. After the massacre in 2014, we came across Leader Apo's philosophy and we are here too, we can protect ourselves. We also created this idea in society. We are the pioneers in new construction. We have a female military force. We don't need men to protect us. We protect ourselves with our strength and will. Society's view of women has been distorted to some extent. Just as we made our existence accepted, we also made our power accepted. Unless women protect themselves, no one will." 

 

'WOMEN PROTECT SHENGAL'

 

Drawing attention to PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan's "Women's libertarian, democratic, ecological" paradigm, Berîvan said: "Leader Öcalan thinks of the destruction of the male-dominated system in women's freedom. No one will protect a woman who cannot protect herself. A women's army was established with the ideas and philosophy of Leader Apo. Women organized their power. We have been protecting Shengal for 10 years. As YJŞ, since the massacre, we have seen and understood that no one will protect a woman who cannot protect herself. We saw this in Mr. Öcalan's philosophy. The strongest response to the attacks after the massacre was given by the women's defense union. We turned our anger into military defense. We proved that we can resist any attack with our military power. It is the woman who leads the society and protects its land. Women have become the will and power of society. For this reason, they want to silence women by raping and killing them. The male-dominated system sees women's organization as a threat because organized women scare men."

 

'OUR EFFORT IS FOR EQUALITY BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN'

 

Drawing attention that the philosophy of "Jin, jiyan, azadi" has spread all over the world, Berîvan continued as follows: "The struggle that was intended to be destroyed was resurrected with the philosophy of Mr. Öcalan. This philosophy had a great impact on Shengal. Mr. Öcalan's philosophy was built step by step. As YJŞ, we are organized with this philosophy. Our military forces and institutions have grown with this philosophy; however, we need to be more organized and put up a greater struggle. Our effort is to ensure equality between men and women. We cannot stand against it only with weapons. We need to stand against it with our thoughts and philosophy. As we are women's defense force, we will keep alive the idea and thought put forward by Mr. Öcalan. We believe that we will succeed by strengthening our will and defense."

 

MA / Zeynep Durgut