In solidarity with our colleague and artist Zehra Doğan and with the people of Rojava, we are publishing her following open letter. It highlights the ongoing attacks and severe violence currently affecting the population of the Kurdish self-administered region of Rojava, carried out by the Syrian army and Islamist militias.

Zehra Doğan is an award-winning artist and journalist. Her works have been exhibited, among other venues, at Tate Modern in London, the Berlin Biennale, and most recently at the 7th Berliner Herbstsalon ЯE:IMAGINE: THE RED HOUSE, where several exhibition spaces were dedicated to her work. She was imprisoned in Turkey for nearly three years after one of her paintings depicted Turkish military vehicles as scorpions in the city of Nusaybin, a site of conflict between Turkish and Kurdish forces. After the Court of Cassation ruled that her conviction had been based on an error of judgment and new arrest warrants were issued, Zehra Doğan was forced into exile. Since 2021, she has been an artist in residence at the Gorki.
 

Call to Cultural Institutions in Germany: SOLIDARITY WITH ROJAVA!

The people of Rojava are fighting a war for civilization in Syria. It is a battle against jihadist fanaticism, the barbarism of ISIS, and regime aggression—a fight for enlightenment, progress, freedom, and the liberation of women from patriarchal oppression.

The pluralistic democratic society built in Rojava since 2012, which is based on solidarity and has transformed a formerly feudal region, is under acute threat. 

Since January 6th, the so-called »Syrian National Army«, consisting of ISIS and similar jihadist structures, has launched a systematic offensive against the Autonomous Region of Rojava, starting from Aleppo. The Kurdish people, who pushed back ISIS through determined military resistance, now face attacks from forces that disregard international humanitarian law and commit grave human rights violations. Before the eyes of the world, freedom fighters are being beheaded, women are being murdered and their bodies thrown from roofs, houses are being looted, and corpses are being burned. It is not only the population but a model of a new society — one that could serve as a blueprint for the entire region — that is to be extinguished.

Should this attack succeed, it would not only affect Kurds but also Alawites, Druze, Christians, Yazidis, and secular Muslims in the region—and above all, it would pose an immanent threat to the women’s revolution resisting the patriarchal system. There is a danger that the region will once again be surrendered to ISIS and its ideology. In this sense, Rojava’s existential resistance—waged through the risking of lives and the building of barricades, as well as through the documentation of barbarism via film and painting—is not only the resistance of the Kurds, but the resistance of humanity, civilization, and art itself.

In light of this situation, political silence effectively amounts to indirectly condoning ISIS and comparable actors.

For years, art and cultural institutions in Europe, and particularly in Germany, which define themselves as »spaces for critical thinking«, have opened their doors to the Kurdish freedom movement, the Rojava revolution, and its artists. Panels, exhibitions, and performances have been organized to document their struggle and showcase their work.

Today, it is more urgent than ever that these institutions support the resistance, stand in solidarity with Rojava, and make concrete contributions.

Possible acts of solidarity include:

• Reviving past programs related to Rojava.

• Organizing fundraising campaigns and solidarity events.

• Hosting online formats with cultural actors from Rojava to bring their struggle into the public focus.

• Developing joint projects with artists from Rojava.

• Publishing statements by art institutions that clearly commit to the women’s revolution in Rojava and the resistance against this repressive ideology.

We are open to support and cooperation with all cultural institutions and artists in Germany to implement these efforts. A clear stance in favor of the freedom struggle today will not only empower the people of Rojava but also contribute to pushing back patriarchal fundamentalism in the region, liberating women, and democratizing society.

Contact:
officeforpoliticalartaffairs@gmail.com

News from the region:
https://rojavainformationcenter.org/
https://english.anf-news.com/ 

Donations:
https://heyvasor.com/de/spende/