Kurdistan Pt.1

Roughly two weeks ago–after spending 10 transformative days on the road around Erbil and Sulaymaniyah–we finally finished the important next chapter of our ongoing collaboration between our two young feminist NGOs in Berlin and (Iraqi) Kurdistan.

In many ways, the trip ended up being an embodiment (on steroids) of the many parallel challenges feminist organizing needs to navigate globally. Close to departure, seemingly everything spoke against our endeavor: visa and passport issues, Iran bombing the airport we were flying into, the airspace being closed, foreign consulates pulling out of the country, and other international projects cancelling their plans. On top of that, we had about 700 euros in our bank account, but this didn’t stop our wildly ambitious goals and plans.

Working in feminist civil society more often than not means being used to there being little, or no, safety-net beyond the community you’ve built. So in a symbolic journey of resilience, we made it.

In the end, we spent day and night talking everything feminism and organizing in hostile times, while experiencing Kurdish hospitality in a place which is literally the birth of civilization, learning tons about both the largest stateless ethnic group in the world and its rich history and complex placement in a geopolitical situation squeezed between several conflicting countries and interests.

During our stay there was also the anniversary of the killing of Kurdish Jîna Amini in Iran, which sparked the  Jin, Jîyan, Azadî movement — but also the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, which would come to have devastating consequences for the region.

In the Erbil stay (where all these pictures are from) a crash course in Kurdish history took place. Our second stop in Sulaymaniyah was a more deep dive into the joyful, glitzy, culturally proud, and complex world of Kurdish women told through their beauty salons!

All photos from the talented Sawen from Justice Now