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Title: Mexmûr
Author: Hêlîn Asî
Date: November 5, 2018
Language: en
Topics: refugees, autonomous zones, democratic confederalism, Syrian civil war, Komun Academy
Source: Retrieved on 2019-10-10 from https://komun-academy.com/2018/11/05/mexmur-from-forced-displacement-to-autonomous-life/

Hêlîn Asî

Mexmûr

Mexmûr (Makhmour) located in the triangle between Mosul, Kerkûk and

Hewler in Northern Iraq/South Kurdistan, is a place where over 10.000

Kurds from Southeastern Turkey/North Kurdistan, especially from the

Botan Region, found refuge. The people, who fled the war of the Turkish

state in the early 90s, stayed in different camps temporarily before

reaching Mexmûr Camp 20 years ago, which is supposed to be formally

protected by the United Nations and the Iraqi Government. 20 years ago,

this place was nothing more than a piece of desert, without trees,

plants or access to clean water. Almost everyone at the camp claims that

in the beginning, there was nothing but scorpions and snakes in the

desert and that many people, among them children, had died from the

living conditions. Although the camp is supposed to enjoy protection

from national and international institutions, when it comes to the

building of the foundations for living, it is the people of Mexmûr

themselves whose spirit, confidence and power built all the houses,

schools, academies, cooperatives, hospitals and institutions for the

people. Many of those, who came here as children back then, are now the

workers, mothers, teachers and thinkers holding society and life

together. As a group of activists from Europe, we visited the camp in

the summer of 2018.

Rarely one can see a place where the reality of the Kurdish people is

reflected as well as in Mexmûr. The camp tells the story of war and

resistance in Northern Kurdistan on one side, and the struggles and

rebellions of South Kurdistan and West Kurdistan (Rojava) in the past

few years on the other side. The people of Mexmûr have seen war and

oppression caused by the Turkish state, as well as having been active

part of the resistance of the Kurdish people against it in the 90s.

While their villages were destroyed by the state, because they refused

to collaborate with the state against the guerrillas, the people of

Botan led popular people’s uprisings (serhildan). They have experienced

attacks by ISIS/Daesh in 2014 and responded with the legacy of organized

physical and mental self-defence of the peoples and the Kurdish freedom

movement all over Kurdistan. Now, their social, political and economic

structure represents an answer and a solution for the crises caused by

colonialism, capitalism, nationalism and patriarchy. As one woman from

the women’s assembly put it: “This camp exists because the people here

reject the capitalist and nation-state system. This is the reason why we

were expelled from our homes. And that’s why nobody here decides against

our system and decides to leave the camp, because they already have

decided against the capitalist system 25 years ago.”

The systems that oppressed the Kurds in all parts of Kurdistan for many

decades amongst other things rely on the idea of dependency of people on

a higher instance, a state. The only possible radical response against

this is a system which is detached from any state presence or

intervention, a system which is for the most part self-governed by the

people and where all pillars of life are built up and shaped by society

itself. And to fight against a system, which oppresses young people and

women in particular, it is also essential that the youth and women fight

and take part in the very heart of the resistance. This reality became

clear to us as soon as we arrived in the camp.

Just some footsteps away from the place we stayed in was the youth

center. On our first evening we were invited there to a culture and

poetry event organized by the youth of Mexmûr. People at the camp

repeatedly emphasized that the youth, especially young women, were

incredibly creative, active and talented in the realm of literature,

arts, music and other handicrafts, despite having limited opportunities.

Every artistic and creative space was filled by the energy and spirit of

the youth. We felt this when we visited an art studio, which was full of

paintings by the young people of Mexmûr, expressing the reality of war,

rebellion, nature and women in Kurdistan. The same energy was felt when

young women showed us their handmade scarves and bracelets. When we

invited them to come over in the evening, they brought dozens of friends

just within a few hours, dancing, playing their instruments and singing

songs of resistance with us. When experiencing all of this, the role of

the youth and young women as part of a transformative, revolutionary

process became so much more evident. At the same time, one also realizes

what it means for young people to grow up in the reality of capitalism,

which, while pretending to be the center of individual liberty, leaves

no space for young people to freely develop to their full potential in

an environment based on isolation, damaging dependency, pressure and

violence. If anything, the current system does the very opposite, it

exploits all kinds of creative energy and action, which could eventually

turn into rebellion and could potentially tear down the mask of

capitalism. It makes us lose a huge part of our ability to transform

ourselves and society, a huge part of our ability to even believe that

another life is possible and that we all could be the makers of a

revolution.

Another driving force of change is the women’s movement. Every woman in

the camp is connected to the women’s assembly, which is named after the

Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar and was founded in 2003. From what they told

us about the history of the camp, one could see that women have built

the base for many of the achievements of Mexmûr over the last 20 years.

Besides their experience in fighting against sexist traditions and false

beliefs as well as in resisting the nationalism of the Turkish state,

their knowledge and consciousness of their own history is another

remarkable part of their resistance. Becoming reconnected with history,

especially as women, is one aim of Jineolojî, a radical women’s science

that criticizes positivist and rationalist science and instead creates a

science that analyzes the hidden history and reality of women and

resisting societies. Jineolojî, a combination of the Kurdish term for

woman, jin, and the Greek term logos, means ‘women’s science’ and stands

at the center of the theoretical and scientific struggle of the Kurdish

women’s movement, for instance at the Martyr Jiyan women’s academy in

Mexmûr. ‘5000 years ago, women became the first colony. Since then, the

reality and identity of women have been buried in darkness. What is this

darkness? It is different ideologies, like sexism or religious

fundamentalism. What we try to do through Jineolojî is to bring women’s

reality to light again’, says one member of the Ishtar women’s assembly.

Ishtar women’s assembly does not only work in the sphere of science and

education, but also has autonomous committees for health, economy,

media/press, self-defence, culture, society and more. With all

committees and their own perspectives as women, they permanently keep up

with all women in the camp, the communes, the autonomous young women’s

assembly and the general people’s assembly of Mexmûr. It is a place

where people constantly stay connected, not only to solve and discuss

current problems and questions of the communes. The assembly should not

be understood as a mere formal venue for social and political

organization, but as an organic sociality. After all, all of its members

are at the same time family, friends, neighbors and comrades.

In its members’ own words, the Ishtar women’s assembly aims to build an

‘ethical-political society’ based on the liberation of all genders. Also

taking into account the ways in which capitalism has tried to turn

people into passive, numb objects, building an ethical-political society

implies becoming active, political subjects again, to be in motion, to

embody the flow of change of an uprising society which breaks the chains

of a 5000-year-old oppressive system. This reality could be seen in the

work and efforts of the youth, in the women’s assembly and in all

institutions.

The teachers working in the academies and schools make their own

schoolbooks and even teach subjects like Jineolojî.

The self-governed hospital started as a small tent 20 years ago, and now

it provides adequate health care every day for everyone in the camp. In

a joint effort, the hospital and the health committees of Mexmûr already

started other projects as well, such as a center for autistic children.

The cooperatives, which are at the center of the economic system of the

camp, offer their groceries and goods without being orientated on

profit, but to cover the needs of the communes only. The economy

committee, which states that their aim is to communize the economy, is

about to create an economy where nobody is poor or rich, where nobody is

exploited and where nature is protected and respected.

The social, educational, political and economic structure in Mexmûr is

self-governed by the people. ‘The system we have here is one that

includes all people so that nobody is left out. Everyone can take part,

from an elderly mother to young people to children. Every group in

society can participate in these works’, explains a woman from the

economy committee. Despite all difficulties, for example concerning

electricity, water, medical resources and more, life in Mexmûr keeps

flourishing. It roots in the lands where goddesses like Ishtar were once

worshipped, and now it keeps growing with the experiences of people who

have witnessed the uprising in Kurdistan in the 90s and the historical

resistance – especially of women – against fascism, nationalism and

patriarchy in the last decades.

If there is one thing that revolutionary socialist, feminist or

anarchist movements could learn from Mexmûr, I believe it is the idea

that one cannot change the world without revolutionizing the

relationship between oneself and society, which means becoming an active

part of the social dynamics, not in order to reach ‘the aim’, but as a

basic, ongoing attitude and resistance against the isolation imposed on

us by capitalism. Another woman from Ishtar women’s assembly said that

all the sexist and capitalist mentalities we carry inside of us must be

‘vomited out’ in order to make room for something new. Only by filling

this new room with an organized struggle, a free life, free communes, a

blooming earth and the revolutionary love and arts we wish for will be

made possible.