8 of march 2025 – TO THOSE WHO RESIST FOR FREEDOM!

Today, 8 of March, we congratulate all women worldwide and send you love, courage and hope from the heart of the women’s revolution. We stand with you as you gather your strength every day around the world, unite and resist against a system that for thousands of years has tried to prevent us from living in all our beauty. The 8 of March is our day. Its the day we show each other that together we are a force in this patriarchal war that is being waged against us.

This war covers the whole world and burns down every living thing. It systematically takes our lives, wipes out villages and burns forests, destroys our relationships and rapes us. More than anything else, this happens on the backs of women. We are pressed into the most diverse shapes indoctrinated by the most diverse means, humiliated in a controlled manner and divided from one another. None of this is of our own choosing. None of this will lead us to the life in which we can unfold all our power.

The Middle East continues to be like a burning glass of this war. There have been so many upheavals around us that have proven to us once again that we will only survive with consistent and strong women’s organising. If we know what we are fighting for and we understand the range of the enemy’s attacks well, then they will not be able to keep us down. We will not be fooled by the illusory solutions that the system has in store for us. Our struggle is at a crossroads. We will either succeed and create a free, democratic Syria in which women take the lead. Or we will be forced to live in a system based on violence and crisis, which pushes women out of the public sphere and erases their history. Nothing less than our existence is at stake.

We send you all our strength for this 8 of March for what lies ahead. We have built this strength with so much effort, so much pain and so much joy. And we continue to do so every day so that we can call out to you: Don’t accept any longer that others want to determine your destiny . Don’t accept for one more breath that they are building a world on our backs that will plunge us all into the abyss. Each one needs to ask herself – what kind of live do you want to live? Is it to be a life in which one can truly be free? We have made a decision and we call out to every single woman to make the decision to walk into a new era.

The power of patriarchy is once again beating the drums to attack us. It is doing so in the form of the fascist wave that we are all facing. Decide to fight this battle with us. One that makes us freer, more communal, that brings us more love. As much as we strengthen ourselves, overcome our weaknesses and develop ourselves, we will be able to oppose the system of fascism, the excessive rape culture, the daily femicide with another reality. Let’s defend ourselves with everything it takes. An organized woman is a strong woman and a strong woman is the basis of all self-defense. Let us put ourselves back in a position to find solutions to the crises of this world instead of letting others decide over us. Let us find our will again and our cohesion, then we will also understand which fight our times require. It needs all our attention, a deep understanding, a democratic spirit. A fight we must lead ethically and beautifully. Only then can we make the path to a free society possible for all.

If we want, new era of internationalism and socialism will dawn with our strength. The better we understand this, the more we will counter the millennia-old history of domination with the truth of the much older history of freedom, friendship and life. The more we build and develop each other, the more we will be the ones driving this time forward.

We draw great hope from Abdullah Oecalan’s initiative for profound change, peace and democracy. We look forward to what lies ahead with excitement and anticipation. It is not only in the Middle East that a new phase will be ushered in. It is the tireless work of so many strong women who have paved the way for us in Rojava and North and East Syria. Who have given their lives so that we can continue their struggle for justice. We fight with all their names: Sakine Cansiz, Arîn Mirkan, Sorxwîn Rojhilat, Ronahî Yekda, Saliha Viyan, Menice Qamişlo, Ivana Hoffman, Alina Sanchez, Anna Campbell. Let 8 March 2025 be our momentum to take all the necessary steps and get ready. It is our promise for the struggle for democracy, peace, humanity and a new and right socialism without state.

In all the upheavals we are currently facing, we know the importance of this women’s revolution for feminist struggles worldwide. It provides us with decades of experience. We hereby promise once again that we will defend it with whatever it takes. As diverse as the attacks are, it depends on all of us, no matter where we are in the war. This is not the time to sit back and wait. Each of us is a part of it. The 8th of March is our promise to embrace our history and walk together into a future where one women’s revolution will give rise to countless others.

Jin Jiyan Azadî!

We are the self-defense force against global fascism!

Your friends of the YPJ International