We are going through extraordinary times. The whole globe has become a battlefield. The crisis–crisis situation arising from the irreconcilable class contradictions between the peoples and capital in the world and revealed by the fact that the male–dominated system has completed its life has deepened the war. On the one hand, the male–dominated system, which has become aggressive for fear of losing its current sovereignty, and on the other hand, the revolutionary forces that fight with the claim of destroying the old and establishing the new.
In the current war conditions, the burden of war has once again been placed on the shoulders of women.
It is not just a coincidence that women are the first target in the male–dominated understanding of the system, which has continued throughout history and whose form of exploitation has developed as the system changes. Women who have been exposed to all forms of exploitation, from economic exploitation to physical exploitation, experience an easier break from the system. This rupture brings them to the forefront of the war. The fact that women are on the revolutionary front in larger masses every day, that they do not compromise and clash with the system in every field, and that they organize the way towards the final confrontation between the classes deepens the crisis of the male–dominated system.
It is an indisputable fact that when faced with the social rebellion of women, who are involved in every point of the production process, they will turn the balance of power between classes in favor of the working class and oppressed peoples. The male–dominated system knows this very well. In order to emerge victorious from this struggle, the fascist governments are using the most authoritarian tools.
Fascism paves the way for and organizes all kinds of attacks, violence and oppression against women in order to distance the female half of the working peoples from the social struggle. The biggest reason for this is that she sees women and women’s liberation struggle as a threat to her power. It tries to use the reaction of society to the last point in order to keep women away from the struggle. In doing so, its only purpose is to divide the oppressed segments and make them powerless.
Attacks against women in Turkey and Kurdistan have increased exponentially
Every day, we go through days when at least three women/children are murdered by male violence, bombed to death in wars, detained and imprisoned in the most obvious form of state violence. While violence against women is increasing day by day, the fascist state applies all kinds of pressure and violence to prevent women’s struggle for freedom in these lands where murderers of women are released and abusers are protected.
In the last year, hundreds of women have been murdered and tens of thousands of women have been forced to live in violent homes. Women are in revolt against this system, violence, harassment and rape, where femicides take place one after another and deaths become commonplace!
Women are in revolt against the attacks of the religious–fascist government, the withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, the Law No. 6284, which is not effectively implemented, exploitation in factories and workplaces, mobbing, violence, racist attacks on immigrant women, strip searches and torture of political prisoners, impunity policies, disappeared women, hate speech against LGBTI+s!
Women are stronger with their history of struggle
November 25, 1960 is the date when three warrior women on an island that is very far from our geography left their mark on the history of the struggle and are engraved in our memories without being forgotten. “We will not allow our children to grow up in this corrupt and cruel system. We have to fight against this system. For my part, I am ready to give everything; and my life if necessary“, and with the establishment of the Clandestine Movement under the leadership of Patria Mercedes Mirabel, they embarked on a relentless war against the dictatorship. The Mirabel Sisters challenged dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo by fighting for the freedom of their people. They were murdered for their struggle against the Trujillo Dictatorship. It wasn’t the end.
Sixty four years ago, the Trujillo Dictatorship in the Dominican Republic tried to intimidate women who would not remain silent, did not obey and demanded freedom in the face of the male–dominated system. All these years have shown once again that despite all kinds of oppression, violence and massacre policies of the male–dominated system, women have not and will not stop their struggle for freedom. The rebellion and struggle of the Mirabel Sisters continues to be the fear of the male–dominated system. The flapping of butterflies’ wings overthrew a dictatorship. Now the flapping of the wings of thousands of butterflies has spread all over the world.
Victory will be inevitable when women who rebel and fight against the social roles assigned to them by the male–dominated system join the ranks of the United Revolution
“Perhaps the closest thing to us is death; but this does not scare me, we will continue to fight for everything that is right,” said Maria Mirabel, clearly pointing to the perspective of the struggle today. It is certain that we have no other conditions than to fight against fascism. By organizing against the total attacks of fascism, a revolutionary struggle must be developed, and the flag of the United Revolution must be raised in every field.
Women are not condemned to war–torn conditions. On the contrary, these conditions create reasons to fight. Women are part of this war. It’s time to get your hands on your tools to hit the enemy. If it turns into a more conscious and organized force and creates a united struggle perspective of women, it can shape history. The war can only be brought to a conclusion by fighting. It can build a world without wars, male violence and exploitation.
The spark that overthrew the fascist dictatorship of Trujillo in the Dominican Republic on November 25, 1960 was the anger of the murder of the three revolutionary women, the Mirabel Sisters, who sparked this rebellion. Since then, we have known that women will be liberated through revolution, and we believe that they will achieve victory with the spirit of united struggle for the revolution against all policies of oppression and violence.
We call on women to join the ranks of the United Revolution for a more livable world, for a humane life, to live. We call on the United Revolution to grow up, to turn every place it is in into a battlefield, and to make the victory of the Peoples’ United Revolutionary Movement a reality.
On the occasion of “November 25, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women“, we salute the freedom and liberation struggle of all women who have risen up against the male–dominated system as the Peoples’ United Revolutionary Movement, and we commemorate the Mirabel Sisters and all women fighters who have become immortal in the women’s liberation struggle.
Against Fascism and Male Domination; Jin Jiyan Azadi!
HBDH Executive Committee – 25 November 2024