Ankara Feminist Night March: That patriarchy will fall!

* Photos: Aslı Alpar / Kaos GL

Click to read the article in Turkish

Feminists came together in Sakarya Avenue in the capital city of Ankara for the March 8 Feminist Night March yesterday evening.

Walking along the streets of Ankara with their banner that read "That patriarchy will fall", feminists chanted the slogans, "Jin, jiyan, azadi" (Woman, world, freedom in Kurdish), "Don't hush, but shout, trans people exist" and "World will be shaken if women are free."

'Our revolt has spilled out on the streets'

As part of their night march, feminists also made a statement for the press. "At the 15th Ankara feminist night march, we are once again on the streets. Who are we? We are the women whose struggle for freedom cannot and will not be prevented by the states, dominant powers and manhood feeding on patriarchy throughout history," women said, briefly adding:

"We are the grandchildren of the witches that you could not burn. We are the women who do not give up on their determination and hope and who are aware of their power. Words are joining our words, laughters are joining our colorful laughters in all languages of the world. We are crowded, we are so crowded! We are beautiful, we are so beautiful!

"We are the feminists whose revolt has spilled out on the streets. You will not manage to silence women by bringing them under pressure and seizing their rights and gains. We are aware of how much you are afraid of us women and, yes, your fear is justified, because that patriarchy will fall."

'Life doesn't fit into home'

"Nights are ours" - "We will never leave you"

Raising concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic, women also referred to the Health Ministry's slogan "Life Fits into Home" and said:

"During the pandemic when the entire world was driven into an uncertain crisis, you said, 'Life fits into home', but it has not. It does not. The growing burden of care and unending house work is always on the shoulders of women. Your family is rotting, it stinks deep down inside. Do we have a home of our own? Do we have a room of our own? Do we have time of our own? Do we have a life of our own? We will make it happen!"

Drawing attention to male violence, women said: "Using the pandemic as a pretext, you have confined us to our houses where we are subjected to violence and said that 'violence has declined'. As if that was not enough, you have opened the İstanbul Convention to debate.

"We revolt against the patriarchy, which is stepping up its violence with each passing day; we revolt against the fact that women are massacred everyday and against your system normalizing violence.

"What you call family is killing women. As for us, we defend our lives and rights, getting strength from the crowds that we will remember even when we fall into despair. We will not lose a single more woman."

LGBTI+ rights

Against the backdrop of intensifying discrimination and hate speech targeting the LGBTI+ community in Turkey, feminists said:

"Trans or non-trans, we will topple the heteropatriarchy, which targets us due to our language, belief, ethnic belonging, sexual orientation and gender identitiy. We will not obey the hegemonic manhood disregarding our existence, wanting to destroy our colors and feeding on discrimination."

They added, "We will never surrender to this concrete-gray darkness which is an enemy of all colors of rainbow. We will keep existing in all walks of life in thousands of different forms and colors of our state of womanhood. We will not let hate speech, homophobia and transphobia. This government, existing with misogynist and anti-LGBTI+ policies, owes us! We will revolt until we take what belongs to us, until we take our lives, freedom and rights!"

'We defend our right to life'

Feminists also raised concerns about impunity for perpetrators of male violence while women who used their right of self defense are given life sentences. "We defend our right to life disregarded by the state and courts and we will keep defending it to the end," feminists said, adding:

"No matter what we have, what we drink and what we do, no matter whom we love and in what way, we will walk on the streets freely in safety and peace, during the day and at night.

"Until we have an equal and free live, we will keep defending ourselves. The culprit is the police, judiciary and government, rewarding men with impunity. Self defense is our right to life and we will keep defending each other."

'Quality social policy is our right'

Concluding their statement, feminists said:

"Social aid is not enough! Quality social policy is our right! Abortion is our right! Secured employment is our right! Those who begrudge us equal pay for equal work, dismiss us first in every crisis and have their eyes on our welfare allowance should know this well: We do not give up on our rights. We do not just hush and sit while the budget is allocated to war, pro-government people and ecological destruction. Men, bosses and the state owe us!

"While our freedoms are seized with detentions and arrests, we will never stop resisting and insisting on peace; we will never give up on defending an equal life together for peoples.

"Long live March 8, long live our feminist struggle! Long live women's solidarity!" (EMK/SD)