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Title: The Revolution is Female
Author: Abdullah Öcalan
Date: March 9, 2010
Language: en
Topics: anarcha-feminism, decolonial feminism, feminism, Ocalan
Source: https://internationalistcommune.com/the-revolution-is-female/][internationalistcommune.com]] [[http://www.freedom-for-ocalan.com/english/hintergrund/schriften/ilmanifesto.htm

Abdullah Öcalan

The Revolution is Female

Thinking and writing about the issue of women, means calling into

question all of history and society. The reason for this is the

unprecedented scale of the systematic exploitation of women.

From this viewpoint, the history of civilisation can be defined as the

history of women’s losses. During the course of this history – the

history of God and his servants, of Lords and serfs, of Industry,

Science and Art – man’s patriarchal personality established itself. This

was a loss to society as a whole; the outcome was a sexist society.

Sexism is both an instrument of power and at the same time a weapon,

that throughout history came to be employed permanently in all systems

of civilisation. Actually no social group has ever been exploited

physically and psychologically to the same extent as women. The variety

of forms of the exploitation of women is conspicuous. A women produces

descendants. She serves as free labour. The jobs nobody wants to do fall

upon her. She is an obedient slave. She is the permanent object of

sexual desire. She is an advertising device. She is valuable

merchandise, indeed she is the queen of all wares. She builds the

foundations upon which a man can produce and reproduce his power as a

continuous instrument of violence. We can accurately describe the

5000-year history of civilisation as a “culture of rape”.

In the Age of Capitalism, sexism was employed particularly perfidiously

as an ideological instrument. Capitalism, which took over from sexist

society, wasn’t satisfied with using women simply as free labour in the

home. It transformed her into a sex object, turned her into merchandise

to be offered up for sale on the market. Whilst a man can only sell his

labour, a woman is physically and psychologically entirely for sale. In

this fashion the most dangerous form of slavery comes into being. The

system assigns a strategic role to the dominance over women in

connection with the spread of exploitation and power. As the traditional

repression of women expands, every man becomes a partner in power. Thus

society is overwhelmed by the syndrome of total power expansion. Women’s

status bestows on patriarchal society both the feeling and the concept

of boundless domination.

To consider woman as the biologically incomplete sex, is pure ideology

and a product of the patriarchal mentality. This doctrine is an integral

part of the whole scientific, ethical and political effort to present

this status as normal. It is sad that women themselves have become used

to taking this paradigm for granted. The naturalness and sacred

inviolability of this supposed inferior status, which various peoples

have subscribed to for millennia, is just as valid for women and moulds

their thought and behaviour. Thus we must always bear in mind that no

ethnic group, no class, no nation has ever been as systematically

subjected to slavery as have women. The history of women’s slavery has

yet to be written and the history of freedom is still awaiting its

authoresses.

Through the fact that women grew used to slavery, a hierarchy was

established and the way was opened for the enslavement of other sections

of society. Slavery of men came subsequent to the slavery of women. The

difference between slavery based on gender and the slavery of a class or

a nation is that as well as far-reaching, subtle repression it is

guaranteed through emotionally-loaded lies. It was slavery of women

throughout society that paved the way for all other forms of hierarchy

and state structures. This was disastrous not only for women but also

for society as a whole, apart from a small group of hierarchical,

statist powers.

That is why any path leading to a profound criticism of the patriarchal

ideology and its dependent institutions was passed over. One of the most

important building-blocks of this system is the family as an

institution. The family is a small state conceived by men. The meaning

of the family throughout the whole history of civilisation lies in the

strength bestowed on it by the rulers and the state apparatus. The

orientation of the family towards male dominance and, through that, its

successfully-attained function as nucleus for statist society guarantee

that women carry out limitless, unpaid work. At the same time they raise

children, meeting the state requirement for a sufficient population and

serve as role models for the spread of slavery right across society.

If we don’t recognize the fact that the family is a micro-model of the

state, a competent analysis of middle-eastern society is impossible. Man

in the middle east, having lost all along the line, takes it out on the

woman. The more he is publicly humiliated, the more the resulting

aggression will be focused against the woman. The man, helpless and

enraged because he can’t defend himself from his society, behaves like a

tyrant in the family and turns violently against wife and children. With

the so-called “honour killing”, the man who allows his values to be

trampled in society, tries to take out his rage on the woman.

Regarding middle-eastern society, I must add that the traditional

influences of the patriarchal, statist society have in no way melded

with the influences of more modern forms of western civilisation, but

rather form a conglomeration that can be compared to a Gordian knot.

Analysing the concepts of power and domination with reference to man,

turns out to be extremely difficult. It is less the woman who refuses

any change, than the man. Abandoning the role of dominant male would

leave the man feeling like a ruler who has lost his kingdom. So we must

show him that it is precisely this hollow form of domination, that keeps

him from freedom and makes him a reactionary.

Such analyses are more than just theoretical observations, because they

possess existential meaning for the Kurdish struggle for liberation. The

freedom of the Kurdish people can be viewed as inseparably bound to

women’s freedom, which is why we organised ourselves accordingly. If our

aspiration to freedom has not been defeated despite the attacks by

imperial powers and local reactionary forces, a large, invaluable share

of the credit is due to the Free Women’s Movement and the awareness that

it brought about. In our opinion there can be no free Kurdistan without

free women.

This philosophical and social viewpoint is by no means a tactical

political manoeuvre to draw women into the struggle. Our aim is to

construct a democratic society, during which process men will undergo a

change. I believe that in the analysis of our experience of struggle to

date we have come to comprehend spoiled, dominating, oppressive,

exploitive man in the patriarchal society. This was the most adequate

answer that I could find regarding woman’s striving for liberation: get

hold of patriarchal man, analyse him and “kill” him. I would like to go

a step further. I will dare to redesign man with a peace-loving

personality. Classical man will be analysed and “killed” to smooth the

way for love and peace. In this sense I consider myself to be a worker

in the struggle for women’s liberation.

Contradiction between the sexes has a 5000-year history and constitutes

the fundamental struggle of the 21^(st) century. Women are putting up

vehement resistance. It is thanks to this struggle that the problem is

apparent today. There have been some outstanding female personalities in

history who left a mark through their lives, their thoughts and their

actions. This opposition by women shows us something: without the

struggle against the patriarchal ideology and morals, against their

influence on society and against patriarchal individuals, we cannot

achieve freedom in our lives, nor construct a true democratic society –

so socialism cannot be put into effect. People aren’t just longing for

democracy, they want a democratic society without sexism. Without

equality of the sexes, any call for freedom and equality is pointless

and illusory. Just as peoples have the right to self-determination,

women should determine their own destiny. This is not a matter that can

be put aside or postponed. On the contrary, in the setting up of a new

civilisation, women’s liberty will be essential in establishing

equality. In contrast with the experiences with real socialism and in

national struggles for freedom, I believe that women’s liberation is

more significant than the liberation of classes or nations.

From the experience of our struggle I know that women’s fight for

liberation has to face extremely strong opposition as soon as it enters

the political sphere. However, without victory in the political arena,

there can be no lasting achievement. A victory in the political arena

doesn’t mean that women will seize power. Quite the opposite, the fight

against statist and hierarchical structures means creating such

structures that are not state-oriented but lead to a democratic and

ecological society where the sexes will be free. Thus not only women but

humanity as a whole will win.