IN
2015 the International network female:pressure
(1700 members, 65 countries) launched an
online music, awareness & solidarity
campaign with the women fighters & the
Rojava revolution via multiple media outlets.
Please
visit these pages to see the wide spread
impact:
female:pressure
project page
Soundcloud
- 30 000 listens (April 2016)
Bandcamp
/ Donations - approx 600 € (April 2016)
List
of press results
CTM
Festival Berlin Panel 150 participants,
streaming 200€ donation to Rojava women
Best
album FACT MAG 2016
Remarkable
review in one of the biggest music magazines
Extensive
social media out reach through facebook,
twitter, tumblr and other.
The
concrete impact has been in raising
awareness in the Western world - where talk,
work has activated intercultural interest,
communication, support and solidarity,
responsibility and understanding. For
example:
-
10000s of women artists were reached
worldwide via social media and email lists
-
CTM Festival Berlin hosted a panel with
female:pressure on Rojava, where we invited
Kurdish women activists and artists, with
over 150 attendees and online streaming of
the event, entrance donations (of over 200
Euro) were donated directly to Rojava's
women support groups.
-
10+ radio shows were produced on the subject
matter, with music and interviews
-
20+ articles were published (e.g. The
Quietus, FACT) still ongoing
-
Bandcamp compilation was installed which
guarantees an ongoing direct donation system
to support women in Rojava and the war zone
for a safe village, revenue so far over 600
Euro / ongoing
The
project has shown that solidarity can be
achived through art and music and that a
real connection can be established for
intercultural exchange and understanding and
common solution projects.
The
campaign primarily aims at raising awareness
around the resistance movement currently taking
place in the cantons of #Rojava (located in
northern Syria), where women participate on all
levels of decision making and building a new
society from scratch, with built-in social,
racial and ethnic justice, religious freedom,
ecological principles and gender equality.
Despite vast cultural and historical differences
between Europe and Kurdistan, the campaign uses
art & music to bridge these and build
long-lasting real-life connections based on
dialogue and respect, involving as many Kurdish
musicians and activists as possible (still
ongoing).
female:pressure
raise awareness for the women of Rojava, their
struggle, ideas and implementations on the
ground including famously defeating areas
captured by the Islamic State. Mass media have
been silent and struggle to report on the
Kurdish region and the complex issues, due to
the danger it holds through IS, war, airstrikes
by Russia, USA and allies and the Turkish war on
Kurds. As the PKK is officially named as a
terrorist organisation (e.g. by USA & the
EU), many global and European news platforms do
not report at all or if so, with a large bias in
favour of Turkey's current government. The
campaign aims to activate a dialog, solidarity
with women in war, investigate further into
these complex issues and not to stay stagnant
with inaction to the detriment of huge number of
human rights violations in the area. The
challenges addressed are huge: extremely complex
global politics and economics, post-colonial
challenges of war, systematic prejudice &
inequality, corruption, terrorism,
fundamentalism, the role of the women in
society. Quote from "Women & The Gun":
"Rojava is a chance for the whole world...[for]
energy to continue our fight for a better life."
Awareness is necessary to activate critical
reflection and action, the female:pressure
network can help activate this.
The
target group is the largly uninformed global
public. All women and feminists are the target
group to acknowledge the inspirational,
revolutionary work undertaken by the women of
Rojava and re-think their stance on feminism,
equality and justice. By putting art and music
in the centre-point of this campaign, we believe
we can have a wide reach to a range of different
people. We have already been successful with
wide press coverage from online music
publications, as well as a large audience
including many young people who attended a panel
event organised by female:pressure around this
campaign at CTM Festival Berlin, in February
2016. female:pressure stands for an inclusive
feminism which promotes dialogue and visibility
for women. Since female:pressure is a large
international network, the networking can
achieve a world wide spreading of information.
Challenges we encountered were that
many women and men were concerned about the
militarized content. female:pressure artists are
against violence and war. However, discussions
evolved through listening to the women in the
war zones towards an understanding that pacifism
is a choice for the privileged. Although peace
and equality are ultimately desired, the women
fighters are forced to fight as a matter of
survival. Many women were impressed by the
bravery of these women fighters. Overwhelmingly,
women have come out in support of the inspiring
vision to build a gender equal, multi-ethnic
society from the bottom-up.
White
western academic feminism has been criticised
in favour of building an equal world on the
ground, and resisting a universalisation of
white feminism's values particularly where
complex historical, politico-economic, ethnic
and religious issues are at stake.
The
recent attacks on civilians in Turkey claimed
by the militant Kurdish organization TAK, and
their alleged links to the PKK have added to
this complex situation. We have continued to
discuss with some members continuing their
show of solidarity to the Rojava revolution
(limited to their use of warfare for
self-defense), and others sceptical of this
potential connection.
female:
pressure works on a voluntary basis and no
money was involved, except the income we
generated through the CTM panel and the
Bandcamp compilation which was completely
donated to Rojava support funds.
CTM
Festival, Berlin, supported the project and
helped creating a broad public.
Many
newspapers and radio stations have published
the actions.
Norient,
a network for global sounds and media culture,
invited us to contribute to their exhibition.
The
project holds a vision that we can build
bridges out of privileged Western societies
and work together on common goals, such as
equality. It shows how people who live under
very different conditions can co-exist and
listen to each other. It is important that we
collaborate and build real life connections.
These events are unfolding by the day and
demonstrate the fragility in the region which
is war-torn and under severe threat. Women in
the Syrian war face death, sexual abuse,
extreme violence and sexual slavery. It has
been said that these women build a new vision
for the region but also for the whole world.
female:pressure has contributed to make this
struggle audible in the west. The project is
extraordinary for the awareness it has raised
so far, as well as the new connections between
activists and artists in the Middle East and
all over the world which have resulted.