Stand in solidarity with the women of Rojava at the Oakland Women’s Strike

Mesopotamia Solidarity Bloc
5pm
March 8th
Oscar Grant Plaza (14th and Broadway)
Jin, Jiyan, Azadî!
Women, Life, Freedom!
-slogan of the Kurdish women’s movement

Women have historically been—and continue to be—integral to our collective resistance against capitalism, fascism and patriarchy. As Women—all women, however we choose to identify ourselves—we are the agents of our own liberation. We have raised our fists, and learned that only by taking part in the making of revolution will we have a voice. In struggling against the patriarchal capitalist system we follow in the tradition of the thousands of women who went on strike in the textile mills of New York on March 8, 1857.

Women around the world have to work for low pay in factories and workplaces, they have to endure rape, physical and verbal harassment in the streets. This is also the case In Mesopotamia, but as many women struggle in silence, there is a roar arising from Rojava that has been heard by women the world over. It’s message: in resisting, we begin to become free. By launching a “Women’s Revolution,” the women of Rojava, an majority Kurdish autonomous region in Northern Syria, have shown the world that a women’s revolution is not a fantasy. As they struggle for their own freedom under the banner of the YPJ, they are setting an example for women around the world. Let’s learn from the liberated women of Rojava, as the women of Mesopotamia have learned to resist from their sisters like Leyla Qasim, Sakine Cansiz, Emma Goldman, Comandante Ramona, Rosa Luxembourg, Angela Davis, Clara Zetkin, and the many, many women who have taken part in the rewriting of history..

The women of Mesopotamia are succeeding in creating a vibrant, diverse revolution within the Kurdish Freedom movement because their fight for freedom has become a part of their daily lives. We challenge ourselves to do the same and to stand shoulder to shoulder with our sisters not only in Mesopotamia, but anywhere women struggle, from the jungles of Chiapas to the streets of Oakland.

Because they are winning. And we can win, too.

Resist! Become Free! Destroy the Patriarchal Capitalist System!

Your Rebellion is Our Rebellion!