Since the rape and murder of a young doctor on 9 August in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), eastern India, the country has been in turmoil. Hundreds of thousands of people have been marching through Indian cities for days with candlelight marches under the slogan “Reclaim the Night” to protest against the lack of security for women and to demand harsher penalties for acts of violence.

The Kurdish slogan “Jin Jiyan Azadî” (Woman, Life, Freedom) is also being shouted. Over the weekend, more than a million doctors across India went on a general strike. Hospital employees are still on strike in several regions. In addition to punishing the perpetrators, the protesters are also concerned about greater security in hospitals.

Solidarity from the YPJ

The Women’s Defence Units (YPJ) General Command said in a statement: “Perhaps this is the interface between the extreme culture of violence and abuse and a new, necessary culture of social change to really protect women in all areas of life. In India, too, the struggle of women for freedom, equality and a life of dignity is becoming bigger and stronger. But parallel to this quest, the patriarchal and capitalist system of domination is escalating its attacks on women.”

The statement added: “This system is trying to defend its sovereignty through violence, rape, femicide and genocide. As YPJ, we condemn the rape-murder of the young doctor and call on all women’s organizations and movements to raise their voices against all forms of oppression, violence, abuse, physical and psychological pressure against women. Murderers and rapists must be held accountable. This is necessary everywhere in the world, as the abusive culture of the patriarchal system is a global epidemic with an ancient past. Today, women are still harassed in India, revolutionaries are hanged in Iran, and the marriage of girls is legal in Iraq. In Afghanistan, women are denied all human rights. Therefore, the fight against this system must be global, multilateral and invincible.”

Social change comes from society

The entire society must recognize this reality and speak out against the attacks with one voice, said the YPJ, adding: “The better a society is organized, the more it can develop its self-defense power. Of course, women have to protect themselves more than anyone else. This is also possible through organization. An organized woman is a woman who can defend herself, all women and society. We women have to protect each other more, we have to be together, we have to support each other. In this sense, we find the anger of the women and people of India very admirable and inspiring. If this uprising develops into a strong organization, it will put an end to this oppressive power system.”

Fight against ISIS

The YPJ continued: “We have waged a relentless struggle against the patriarchal system that carried out occupation, genocide, harassment and looting in our regions in the form of ISIS and other groups. Under ISIS, women were brutally mistreated, sold as slaves in markets and deprived of all their rights. The great tragedy that Yazidi women have experienced is engraved in the memory of all humanity. We fought, resisted and defeated these gangs with courage, faith and strong organization. We fought a great battle to save Yazidi, Christian, Kurdish and Arab women from the brutality of ISIS.

These women, our fighters and commanders, are today being targeted by the Turkish state’s flying killing machines. In the areas of northern and eastern Syria occupied by Turkey and its partners, soldiers and mercenaries are practicing a regime that feeds on rape, kidnapping and massacres of women. We are waging a multifaceted fight against this brutality that strengthens our defense power. There is no doubt that the philosophy of Jin Jiyan Azadî, which was passed on to us women by Rêber Apo – Abdullah Öcalan – after a long and costly resistance, shows us the way to free ourselves from a male understanding that is based on oppression and a rape culture.

As YPJ, we have taken this philosophy as the basis of our women’s liberation struggle. Over time, this philosophy grew: it became the call of the revolution after the death of Jina Mahsa Amini and was echoed in other women’s uprisings, including in India. “Jin Jiyan Azadî” is proof that the women’s revolution is globalizing. Now is the time to build the World Women’s Confederalism.

In this sense, we appreciate the valuable resistance of Indian women and express our full solidarity with them. We call on Indian women and all women of the world not to give up in their struggle, to form their organization on the basis of the paradigm of “Jin Jiyan Azadî” and to build their self-defense.”

The patriarchal and capitalist system of rule is escalating its attacks on women

The murder of the 31-year-old doctor in training took place in a hospital. At first, the administration said that she had committed suicide, but now the evidence seems clear. The final report has not yet been published, but the police assume that the young woman was the victim of a gang rape before she was killed. From this Tuesday, the Supreme Court in Delhi will deal with the crime.

The doctor’s case is reminiscent of the gang rape on a bus in Delhi in 2012, in which a 23-year-old was so badly abused that she died of her injuries.