YPJ
friday 28th feb 2025
Every other Friday we are introducing our research that’s based on historic - present time, fictional - real, mythological and movie characters who represent FLINTA* (female, lesbian, intersex, nonbinary, trans and a-gender), all throughout space and time. This Friday we dove into something that was an important story in the making of CRYSIS.
The Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) are more than just an armed force. They are a living manifesto, a direct embodiment of radical feminism in one of the world’s most contested landscapes. Born from the Kurdish liberation struggle, the YPJ represents a rupture in history, breaking centuries of patriarchal dominance and state violence. Their resistance is both an artistic and revolutionary practice—one that does not seek permission but seizes space, creating a reality where women and marginalized identities are no longer subjects of history but its authors.
In Rojava, northern Syria, a society is being rebuilt from the ground up. Here, the YPJ is not merely a military entity but a guardian of a new world—one where governance is decentralized, decisions are made collectively, and gender liberation is non-negotiable. Their model, based on democratic confederalism, envisions a future without rigid nation-state structures, where power flows from the grassroots rather than oppressive hierarchies. This is not utopia; it is praxis. It is the realization that true freedom demands dismantling the systems that uphold oppression—patriarchy, capitalism, nationalism, and religious fundamentalism—not just in the Middle East but everywhere.
The world first became aware of the YPJ during their fight against ISIS, particularly in the Battle of Kobanî (2014-2015) and the liberation of Raqqa (2017). Their victories were not just military but ideological: a small, feminist-led force defeating one of the most violent patriarchal regimes of our time. However, the West, instead of engaging with their radical politics, turned them into consumable images—fighters with long hair and fatigues, holding Kalashnikovs, reduced to aesthetic symbols of “girl power” rather than revolutionary actors.
Take the case of Asia Ramazan Antar, one of the YPJ’s most well-known fighters. After her death in 2016, Western media fixated on her appearance, calling her the “Kurdish Angelina Jolie,” as if her struggle could only be validated through beauty. This spectacle of feminist resistance, packaged and sold to an audience that prefers empowerment to remain symbolic rather than systemic, is a form of erasure. It turns a radical, world-changing movement into an object of admiration rather than solidarity.
Art and media have always played a role in shaping resistance. But who controls the narrative? Are we looking at the YPJ through the eyes of the West, which sanitizes and appropriates radical struggle, or are we willing to see them as they see themselves—not icons, but insurgents, not exceptions, but the future? For FLINTA* communities, this is a crucial distinction. Representation alone is not enough; we need participation, disruption, and transformation.
The YPJ’s belief in self-defense is an intervention in feminist discourse. In many parts of the world, feminism has been stripped of its teeth, turned into a movement of corporate slogans and empty gestures. The YPJ reminds us that self-defense is not just physical but ideological, emotional, and cultural. It is a necessity for those who are under constant attack—whether by state forces, colonial violence, domestic abuse, or economic exploitation.
For FLINTA* communities, the YPJ’s approach presents a question: How do we defend ourselves in a world that seeks to erase us? Their struggle is not about military victories alone; it is about creating spaces where women, trans, nonbinary, and queer people can exist without fear, where autonomy is not theoretical but lived.
The YPJ is one of the few all-female military forces in the world, a radical departure from traditional gender roles that dictate women must be protected rather than be protectors. In their ranks, combat is not just survival but reclamation. Their weapons are not symbols of violence but tools of autonomy—each bullet a rejection of forced submission, each act of resistance a rewriting of history.
Though rooted in Rojava, the YPJ does not see its struggle as confined to one region. The slogan "Jin, Jiyan, Azadî" (Women, Life, Freedom) has transcended borders, resonating with feminist movements worldwide—from abortion rights activists in Latin America to anti-authoritarian struggles in Europe, from indigenous land defenders to queer resistance networks.
In an era where state violence and patriarchal oppression are intensifying globally, what does it mean to stand in solidarity? The YPJ does not ask for symbolic support; it demands that we take the principles of their struggle—self-defense, grassroots democracy, and gender liberation—and apply them in our own contexts.
As artists, as feminists, as members of marginalized communities, we must resist the urge to turn their fight into just another aesthetic, another trending image. Instead, we must ask: How do we make the YPJ’s revolution our own?
The answer will not come from admiration but from action.
Jin, Jiyan, Azadî.
references:
Jin, Jiyan, Azadî – Art, Resistance, and the Radical Imagination
The Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) are more than just an armed force. They are a living manifesto, a direct embodiment of radical feminism in one of the world’s most contested landscapes. Born from the Kurdish liberation struggle, the YPJ represents a rupture in history, breaking centuries of patriarchal dominance and state violence. Their resistance is both an artistic and revolutionary practice—one that does not seek permission but seizes space, creating a reality where women and marginalized identities are no longer subjects of history but its authors.
In Rojava, northern Syria, a society is being rebuilt from the ground up. Here, the YPJ is not merely a military entity but a guardian of a new world—one where governance is decentralized, decisions are made collectively, and gender liberation is non-negotiable. Their model, based on democratic confederalism, envisions a future without rigid nation-state structures, where power flows from the grassroots rather than oppressive hierarchies. This is not utopia; it is praxis. It is the realization that true freedom demands dismantling the systems that uphold oppression—patriarchy, capitalism, nationalism, and religious fundamentalism—not just in the Middle East but everywhere.
A New Aesthetic of Resistance: Beyond the Gaze
The world first became aware of the YPJ during their fight against ISIS, particularly in the Battle of Kobanî (2014-2015) and the liberation of Raqqa (2017). Their victories were not just military but ideological: a small, feminist-led force defeating one of the most violent patriarchal regimes of our time. However, the West, instead of engaging with their radical politics, turned them into consumable images—fighters with long hair and fatigues, holding Kalashnikovs, reduced to aesthetic symbols of “girl power” rather than revolutionary actors.
Take the case of Asia Ramazan Antar, one of the YPJ’s most well-known fighters. After her death in 2016, Western media fixated on her appearance, calling her the “Kurdish Angelina Jolie,” as if her struggle could only be validated through beauty. This spectacle of feminist resistance, packaged and sold to an audience that prefers empowerment to remain symbolic rather than systemic, is a form of erasure. It turns a radical, world-changing movement into an object of admiration rather than solidarity.
Art and media have always played a role in shaping resistance. But who controls the narrative? Are we looking at the YPJ through the eyes of the West, which sanitizes and appropriates radical struggle, or are we willing to see them as they see themselves—not icons, but insurgents, not exceptions, but the future? For FLINTA* communities, this is a crucial distinction. Representation alone is not enough; we need participation, disruption, and transformation.
Armed Feminism: The Weapon as a Brush, the Bullet as a Word
The YPJ’s belief in self-defense is an intervention in feminist discourse. In many parts of the world, feminism has been stripped of its teeth, turned into a movement of corporate slogans and empty gestures. The YPJ reminds us that self-defense is not just physical but ideological, emotional, and cultural. It is a necessity for those who are under constant attack—whether by state forces, colonial violence, domestic abuse, or economic exploitation.
For FLINTA* communities, the YPJ’s approach presents a question: How do we defend ourselves in a world that seeks to erase us? Their struggle is not about military victories alone; it is about creating spaces where women, trans, nonbinary, and queer people can exist without fear, where autonomy is not theoretical but lived.
The YPJ is one of the few all-female military forces in the world, a radical departure from traditional gender roles that dictate women must be protected rather than be protectors. In their ranks, combat is not just survival but reclamation. Their weapons are not symbols of violence but tools of autonomy—each bullet a rejection of forced submission, each act of resistance a rewriting of history.
Rojava and the Global Struggle: Decolonizing Feminism
Though rooted in Rojava, the YPJ does not see its struggle as confined to one region. The slogan "Jin, Jiyan, Azadî" (Women, Life, Freedom) has transcended borders, resonating with feminist movements worldwide—from abortion rights activists in Latin America to anti-authoritarian struggles in Europe, from indigenous land defenders to queer resistance networks.
In an era where state violence and patriarchal oppression are intensifying globally, what does it mean to stand in solidarity? The YPJ does not ask for symbolic support; it demands that we take the principles of their struggle—self-defense, grassroots democracy, and gender liberation—and apply them in our own contexts.
As artists, as feminists, as members of marginalized communities, we must resist the urge to turn their fight into just another aesthetic, another trending image. Instead, we must ask: How do we make the YPJ’s revolution our own?
The answer will not come from admiration but from action.
Jin, Jiyan, Azadî.
references:
Books & Articles
-
Murray Bookchin – The Ecology of Freedom: The Emergence and Dissolution of Hierarchy
- Bookchin’s ideas on social ecology and decentralized governance influenced Abdullah Öcalan, whose theories form the ideological foundation of the Rojava Revolution.
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Abdullah Öcalan – Liberating Life: Woman’s Revolution
- Öcalan, the Kurdish leader and theorist, argues that women’s oppression is the root of all oppression and that true liberation requires dismantling patriarchal structures.
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Dilar Dirik – The Kurdish Women’s Movement: History, Theory, Practice
- An essential work by a Kurdish feminist scholar that deeply examines the political and feminist ideology of the YPJ and the broader Kurdish women’s movement.
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Michael Knapp, Anja Flach, Ercan Ayboga – Revolution in Rojava: Democratic Autonomy and Women's Liberation in Syrian Kurdistan
- A comprehensive analysis of the grassroots democratic structures in Rojava and the role of women in leading the revolution.
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David Graeber – The Democracy Project
- Anthropologist and activist David Graeber was a strong supporter of the Rojava model and its anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist governance system.
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Rita Laura Segato – La guerra contra las mujeres
- A crucial feminist perspective on gendered violence as a structural tool of oppression, relevant to the YPJ’s stance on self-defense.
Media & Journalism
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The Guardian, BBC, Al Jazeera, and Middle East Eye – Coverage on the Battle of Kobanî, the liberation of Raqqa, and YPJ’s fight against ISIS.
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The New York Times & CNN – Examples of Western media’s focus on aesthetics over ideology, particularly in their portrayal of Asia Ramazan Antar.
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Vice News’ documentary series on Rojava – Firsthand accounts of YPJ fighters and their role in the revolution.
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ROAR Magazine – Leftist publication with critical articles on democratic confederalism, Kurdish self-governance, and feminist resistance.
Feminist & Art Criticism
- bell hooks – The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators
- Though focused on Black feminism, hooks’ concept of the oppositional gaze applies to how the YPJ is viewed by the Western media—as objects of fascination rather than political actors.
- Judith Butler – Precarious Life: The Powers of Mourning and Violence
- Butler’s theories on grievability and media representation are relevant to how Western audiences selectively mourn or celebrate revolutionary women.
- Astra Taylor – Democracy May Not Exist, but We’ll Miss It When It’s Gone
- Explores the tensions between radical democracy and existing power structures, which ties into the YPJ’s fight for a new political system.
- Hito Steyerl – In Defense of the Poor Image
- Analyzes how media representation distorts revolutionary movements, similar to how the YPJ is often aestheticized in global media.
Grassroots & FLINTA Activist Groups*
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Kongra Star – The main Kurdish women’s organization in Rojava, advocating for gender equality and self-governance.
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Internationalist Commune of Rojava – Anarchist and feminist collective documenting the struggle for autonomy in Rojava.
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FLINTA groups in Germany, France, and Spain* – Various feminist, anti-fascist, and queer activist groups that have drawn inspiration from the YPJ’s radical model of self-defense and governance.
Additional Influences
- Social media accounts of Kurdish activists who provide firsthand perspectives on YPJ struggles, feminist self-defense, and media misrepresentation.
- Visual art and photography documenting the YPJ, often produced by embedded journalists and Kurdish artists.
-
Girls of the Sun; https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6704880/