In a society riven by conflict and misogyny, the autonomous region of Rojava has a government with perhaps the most complete gender equality in the world. Being a woman means that I am here to write history. Women can speak. We can sing. Nobody will silence us. All are cheering. She goes back, lifts the microphone and sings, her rich voice flowing through the audience. My journey here took me from Iraqi Kurdistan across the Tigris river, where white egrets tread the slow water, and then into the bleak landscape that is northern Syria in winter.
Here, treeless fields stretch out into the distance, the air is smoky with burning oil and armed men at checkpoints scrutinise you every few miles. So I feel warmed and energised to find myself among so many determined, passionate women.
Across the world, people watched Syrians celebrate the fall of the brutal Assad regime. They celebrated in Rojava too, delighted to see the end of a government that had brought so much suffering. Here too, statues were toppled and people took to the streets, while others prayed for the return of loved ones who had disappeared into prison cells. But the situation in Rojava is not the same as in the rest of the country. For a start, the regime had already retreated here. Back in , when uprisings were being brutally crushed elsewhere in Syria, a rebellion led by Kurds took over most of this area.
They were able to set up their own administration, now known as the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, or Daanes. This administration has faced constant challenges.
The Turkish government β which accuses the administration of being allied to the PKK, the militant Kurdish group that operates in eastern Turkey β has never stopped attacking it, now occupies areas of northern Syria and has recently stepped up airstrikes and assaults via local militias.
