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celebratedrecluse wrote (edited )

It is indeed true that there is rampant queerphobia amongst the Rojava militants. even among those that have traveled abroad to garner support for their cause in the west, members of the YPJ have openly ridiculed the idea of non binary or trans people being present amongst them on the front lines, condescendingly laughing off the possibility at all, and stating utterly non-chalantly that non-binary and trans-ness is a "Western phenomenon". The YPJ members who came to talk in my town lost a lot of people with that line, it left a sour taste in everyone's mouth and there was a very uncomfortable silence in the room.

This happened just last year, so it's a bit strange that this TQILA cohort...actually existed before that? This article is from 2017. I have to say, I know Al Jazeera is far from an unbiased source on Kurdish struggle, but this article doesn't seem too far off the mark to me. I think we shouldn't put the kurdish revolutionaries on a pedestal, their social norms and orgs are just as legitimate targets of critique as anyone or anything else imo.

Of course, it's hard to assess an organization which is so many thousands of miles away, in a different cultural context, but it seems clear to me and many others that there are at the very least some structural problems facing queer liberation within the YPJ and YPG, if my impression is at all accurate.

Solidarity with my trans and NB comrades in Kurdistan!

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celebratedrecluse wrote (edited )

Let us also not forget how the US has systematically funded the reactionaries, first explicitly to fight radical leftism, and then during the War on Terror as a spurious tactical gambit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cyclone

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/15/world/asia/cia-funds-found-their-way-into-al-qaeda-coffers.html

https://www.veteranstoday.com/2016/06/04/the-cia-continues-trafficking-drugs-from-afghanistan/

https://www.thenation.com/article/how-us-funds-taliban/

How long it will take for people to realize that the fascists in powerful positions in america are actually envious of the wahhabists, i dont know. But they are not ideological enemies, and certainly the CIA knows that. They need each other, to a measurable degree. The occupation and insurgency give each other raison d'etre. And furthermore, the far-right has gone international-- certainly the Russians, Europeans, Australians and Americans of the far right are all collaborating in an unprecedented way in the last five years.

Intent doesn't really matter compared to the actual results, but let's get real. The fundamentalist christians are jealous of the radical right-wing islamists, in terms of their subjugation of women, the execution of apostates and queers, the erosion of restrictions on religious oppression overall. While they may fight, they respect and cultivate each other far more than they can ever hold party to anarchists, leftists, or anyone of our ilk.

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