By Hamma Mirwaisi and Alison Buckley
Gender equality or true equality between women and men in the Islamic world, based on jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan's philosophy, is a revolutionary concept that will lead to the liberation of women in the Islamic world and the world at large.
With the world's population predicted to increase exponentially by billions in the future, global communities need to access new ideas to cope with the existing and potential disasters facing humanity.
Over the last 12,000 years one region in Kurdistan has produced four thinkers, each 4,000 years apart, starting with the Prophet Mehabad and his sun-worship religion called Mithraism (1), followed by the prophet Zoroaster and the Zoroastrian religion, Abraham and Judaism and now Abdullah Ocalan's unique blend of western secular humanism and the wisdom of his eastern predecessors.
In a recent
article, Dicle News Agency reporter Ararat Aras interviewed Margaret Owen, the
renowned British human-rights lawyer and activist, after her return from an 8-day
solidarity trip to Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava). Owen shared her experiences and
insights with the reporter, while also affirming the system of democratic, autonomous
governance now under development in Rojava, which she cited as a possible model
for the entire region. She also called for the PKK to be removed from state
terrorist watch-lists and for serious engagement on the part of Western
governments with Kurdish groups in the region. Owen is one of the organizers of
the 'Peace for Kurdistan' campaign and her activist work has been particularly
informed by struggles around women's issues.
"I was very affected by the struggle of Kurdish
women," she stated.
Owen went on to say that seeing the implementation of the philosophy of Abdullah Ocalan take root in Rojava, and in particular on the subject of gender equality, also affected her greatly. She expressed herself thus: "Ocalan's ideology has found a way into all areas of local life. Men and women are represented equally."(2)
The peoples of the world have been experimenting with ideas of social, political and ideologically based organization since before the era of recorded history. From hunting and gathering to tribal settlement they have built civilization after civilization on systems such as theocracy, monarchy, oligarchy, capitalist democracy, socialism, communism, and globalism. Most of these have failed to administer human rights and equal, just access to power, participation, opportunity, dignity, safety, and resources in the functioning and benefits of the society.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
