In her weekly article, Gülseren Onanç, the Founding Chair of the SES Equality and Solidarity Association reflects on the Women’s Voice for Peace project and how women’s mobilisation can overcome the deadlock of high politics.
Gülseren Onanç
As SES Equality and Solidarity Association, we have been implementing the Women’s Voice for Peace project in this past six months. Our aim is to address the concept of “peace” from the perspective of women. In contrast to the deadlock in the political arena, we to raise the voice of peace in civil society and in the media.
In this project, we tell the stories of individuals, about how peace was brought to life by women. We highlight the examples of women’s struggle for equality and freedom that serve peace, and we explain the importance and value of women’s solidarity. At a time when peace in the world is lacking, we try to explain that peace is possible by using a peaceful language against the language of the masculine media, which sometimes reaches to the point of racism. With our belief that women will raise the voice of peace, we uncover inspiring women’s stories.
Conflict and violence in the world and at home
The world is witnessing a great war. Over 100,000 soldiers died from all sides in the war between Russia and Ukraine. There is still no hope for peace. There are dozens of conflict zones in the rest of the world as well.
The conflict process regarding the Kurdish issue has been going on in our country for more than forty years. In this process, approximately 15 thousand people lost their lives in the last 20 years alone. The cost of the deadlock in the Kurdish issue, which also caused the exhaustion of public resources, was calculated as 3 trillion dollars. While the Kurdish issue has not been resolved within the political arena for years, the struggle of women opens an important window of opportunity for peace.
On the other hand, there is violence all over the country; women are the victims of violence the most. According to the figures of the We Will Stop Femicide Platform, 285 women have been murdered so far in 2022. This week, when the news of a girl who was married to a 29-year-old man at the age of six by her father shook us all, the extent of violence against children was also revealed.
Is peace a romantic utopia?
When we build a life free from all forms of violence, we will build peace. Demanding “peace” in today’s confrontational world can be perceived as a romantic utopia. Although peace is a utopia, I see following it as a very meaningful life. I think it is meaningful if a lifetime is spent to reach the utopia of peace.
In the Women’s Voice for Peace project, we wanted to bring a new dimension to the concept of peace with a woman’s perspective. We talked about how the problems defined by politicians as the “Kurdish problem” squeezed it into the unsolvable field of politics. We have shown how women who struggle against the patriarchal system that creates inequality and conflict can fulfil a function to maintain peace. Peace can be brought by women spontaneously in life.
In our project, we had the opportunity to tell the story of the struggle of brave and conscious women living in the Kurdish geography. They have been raising the voice for peace in their individual fields, civil society, bar associations, media and politics.
When we set out on the project, our work was easy; because our paths crossed with women working in this direction who have been claiming the goals of this project for years. Our journalists, academics, film directors and podcaster friends took ownership of the project.
Women’s stories for peace
News Content for Women”s Voice for Peace: As the Equality, Justice, Women’s Platform, we have developed content that will draw attention to the topic of “Women, Peace and Security”. We looked at the events from the perspective of women who were victims of war and fought for peace, and we made news that tried to raise the voice of peace. We tried to be transformative by using a peaceful and egalitarian language against the language of the masculine media, which sometimes amounts to racism.
Women’s Voice for Peace podcasts: We discussed the dynamics of peace under different titles and traced how we can defeat conflict and violence. To investigate peace from a global and academic perspective, Begüm Zorlu prepared the Global Voice podcasts, Fatoş Yıldız (Sterk) hosted podcasts for Women’s Voice in Art, and Ferda Fahrioğlu Akın prepared podcasts under the tile Women’s Voice in Civil Society podcasts. I suggest you give it a listen.
Women’s Voice for Peace video-documentaries: 10-15 minute video documentaries tell the wonderful stories of women who have made a difference, who have dedicated their lives to the struggle for peace. Ayşegül Doğan made a documentary about Eren Keskin’s story, Ekin Çalışır focused on how young women lawyers in Diyarbakır Bar Association are fighting against violence against women, Fatma Çelik told poet Fatma Taşlı Tunç’s inspiring story, Güliz Sağlam examined the Rosa Women’s Association, and lastly Mehveş Evin shot a video-documentary about Aysel Tuğluk’s story. I believe these short videos are more effective than hours of political speeches.
You can watch the video of Aysel on this link.
The solidarity stories of women resisting the patriarchal system with their Kurdish and female identities tell us how to build peace.
The stories of women who built peace will inspire you.