A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #364 - Antipatriarchy - Pinar Selek: "The Kurds Don't Need These Weapons" (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Last month, we published an article on the trial of Pinar Selek, a 
victim of repression by the Turkish state following her political 
activism. This month, we present the interview the activist was kind 
enough to grant us. In it, she shares her thoughts on the stakes of her 
trial and the future of the war in Kurdistan. In view of your upcoming 
hearing, could you share your thoughts on the possible scenarios? 
Acquittal, conviction, or postponement?

On the day of the trial, I will be in Marseille. Each time, I am in a 
different city, to show that I am in full movement. I have been to 
Paris, Lyon, Nice, Strasbourg... All these peace processes and 
negotiations around the world are shaped by the world's major powers. So 
everything also depends on the daily balance of power. It doesn't come 
from the social movement: there is one in Turkey, but it's heavily 
repressed. Changes and negotiations are decided more at the 
international level. So it's very difficult to answer you because we 
have very little information; for now, we know nothing. Even in a month, 
everything can change, so I'm trying to avoid deluding myself.

I know that my press releases say that when I was in Turkey, I always 
took action for peace, or rather to stop the war. Because peace is a 
philosophical discussion, whereas stopping a war, stopping the shipment 
of weapons, is something concrete. When I look at the Kurdish movement's 
website, there are deaths every day. Why are Kurds forced to die all the 
time? My press release emphasizes the fact that when I was in Turkey, or 
even elsewhere, I worked against wars. This is why my sociological work 
was punished.

Gülistan Kiliç Koçyigit stated that "democratization itself will pave 
the way for the resolution of the Kurdish question, and the resolution 
of the Kurdish question will pave the way for the democratization of 
Turkey." Could you briefly elaborate on how the Kurdish question became 
inseparable from your trial?

Of course. I'm currently redoing the research I did 27 years ago, which 
was confiscated. I decided to dredge up this work. A book will be 
published soon. It's a kind of resurrection, which is very important to 
me. It was very difficult because this work reminds me of the torture I 
suffered. This sociological reflection, which authoritarian states don't 
like-since they don't like reflection, they prefer to govern 
emotions-was punished in a very serious way.

As soon as we start talking again, it opens up new avenues. But the 
Turkish government has created a very nationalist population. It's 
therefore difficult to have a sociological discussion like this, openly 
and quickly. Today, the discourse of fighting terrorism prevails.

Pinar Selek, 53, is a Franco-Turkish sociologist and feminist activist.
Wikimedia Commons/Claude TRUONG-NGOC
My friends say that this trial is a trial against my sociological work, 
and perhaps they're right. That's one way of looking at things. But in 
any case, I hold a slightly different position from those who advocate 
armed struggle. Indeed, many of those who don't support the peace 
process say: "We must first resolve the Kurdish problem, resolve 
Turkey's democratic problems, and only then must the Kurds stop the 
war." This is somewhat the discourse of the Turkish revolutionary left. 
But that amounts to telling the Kurds that they should die until Turkey 
is democratic.

I think we need to stop the war first and then continue fighting 
together to change things. The Kurds don't need these weapons; it's in 
their interest to get rid of them. I think this because I'm 
anti-militarist, which is one thing, but also because, on a pragmatic 
level, the war takes up all their time and energy. So they need to get 
rid of that, to no longer be recognized as terrorists. The Kurds need to 
expand, to exploit the theoretical and experimental resources they have 
developed to date.

I agree with the person you quoted, from the DEM party[1]. We need to 
stop the war, to find a practical solution to stop it. And to do this, 
Turkey must first take a step towards the Kurds. After that, we can 
continue to build democracy. But at the same time, democratic progress 
gives more hope that Turkey will take this first step. If I am 
acquitted, or if other people are released, we could say that there has 
been progress. One thing facilitates another.

You have always denounced the political nature of your trial and the 
judicial harassment you are facing. Do you think the news surrounding 
the PKK weapons depot[2]will influence your next hearing?

Of course. I'm not focused solely on my acquittal. I also think in terms 
of all my research, which has changed my life. The PKK's actions had 
quite significant repercussions. I talk about this in the book I'm about 
to publish. The fire is very important for the Kurds, who truly carried 
out an action that their population understood, probably better than 
Turkish and European people. They chose a very important historical site 
and set fire to the weapons. This means they no longer want to be a 
military, militaristic organization. They've gotten rid of that. They 
want to recreate a different policy. It's a fairly significant change.

But this desire is clashing with regional realities. Right now, 
conditions are very difficult with the Syrian government. We see what's 
happening with the Alawites and the Druze: massacres. In Iran, it's the 
same thing: even today, three Kurds were sentenced to death, and they 
can't do anything. The same with the Turkish government. Turkey is 
intervening very directly in Syria, in dialogue with the Syrian 
government. Under these conditions, it's very unfavorable for the Kurds 
to lay down their arms. But the fire set on the arms depot shows a 
desire for change.

This issue is very difficult and is the same for many other countries, 
such as Palestine. It's very important that there be an international 
mobilization that would make visible this desire for peace, this 
ceremony of laying down arms, and what was said there. We can't wait for 
the war to end; we must also contribute. I always hold myself 
responsible for these processes; I always ask myself how I can intervene 
to act in the best possible way.

We are in a period where all imperialisms are facing major 
crises-social, military, and ecological. What perspective do you analyze 
for feminism in this context?

As the African-American feminist activist Bell Hooks said a long time 
ago, "feminism can be a magic wand if it fuels other social critiques." 
That's very true. I used to give a seminar a lot in Italy-where I can no 
longer go because of the arrest warrant against me-in which I said that 
feminism is an effective tool in the fight against fascism, because 
fascists know very well that the personal is political. That's why many 
countries, like Trump's United States, attack trans people, women, and 
women's bodies. They know better than the left that the political order 
is based on the social order.

All power relations are interconnected. They function, as Foucault said, 
like a network of relationships. They develop strategies based on the 
possibilities available to them. If we don't understand this connection, 
if we don't understand how the political order is based on the social 
order (I've talked about how the political system creates models, 
produces gender classes; one needs the other), feminism cannot move forward.

When we begin to see all this, we begin to understand how male 
domination entered philosophy, with dualisms, creating divergences 
between writing and nature. We also understand how slavery was nourished 
by this Cartesian dualist philosophy. We must make the connection 
between Cartesian philosophy, the dualism between the colonization of 
nature, and all colonizations, including the enslavement of animals.

All human civilizations have experienced power relations, private 
property, and male domination. The colonization of women's bodies and 
all other systems of power developed simultaneously. It's very important 
to see all these connections when we want to effect change. I'm a 
feminist, but not only when it comes to violence against women. Fighting 
against this violence is very important, but I also try to use this 
feminist perspective in other struggles, such as the anti-prison 
struggle. I have struggles that may seem distant but are actually very 
connected.

It's quite difficult to explain. I tell myself that instead of thinking, 
we must act. I'm in a period where I'm trying to act a lot. And after 
that, I'm going to stop for two minutes to reflect. But I act first, 
because there is a lot of suffering and I want to do something about it. 
I have found this path of work, of being active and doing something.

Any final words you would like to say?

Meeting your team really gave me hope[3]. I would also like to thank 
AIAK for making this meeting possible. I really like your way of 
working, and knowing you existed did me good.

Interview by Elfie (UCL Grenoble)

Confirm

[1]Party of Equality and Democracy of the People, which identifies as 
liberal and ecological left.

[2]On July 11, around thirty fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party 
(PKK) symbolically burned their weapons, following the call from their 
long-time leader Abdur Öcalan to end the armed struggle.

[3]Reference to the conference by Pinar Selek co-organized in Grenoble 
with the UCL and the Isère Association of Friends of the Kurds (AIAK).

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Pinar-Selek-Les-Kurdes-n-ont-pas-besoin-de-ces-armes
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