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Medya News spoke to Rojda Dendara, a Brazilian dancer and theatre performer, at the Peoples’ Platform Europe, which took place in Vienna, Austria, from 14-16 February, and shared key findings from the conference, which brought together over 800 delegates representing 160 organisations from more than 30 European countries.
Rojda Dendara has been involved in cultural and artistic work in northern and eastern Syria, also known as Rojava, and is known for creating the dance choreography for music videos such as “Li Herî Jorê” (On the Top) and “Destana PKK” (The Epos of the PKK), a musical epic depicting the history of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
She talks about the importance of 8 March, International Women’s Day, and the need for women to develop a militant struggle and unity to unite their forces in the struggle against capitalism and patriarchy, and the importance of cultural and artistic works to connect with people and organise a common struggle.
Read the full interview, slightly edited for clarity, here:
Why and for who do you take to the streets on 8 March?
This is a very important question, because we need to go. We need to go outside, we need to fight. And I think when we go to the streets, all the women together, it’s very important not just to be together, but to understand how we can fight together. Because we are fighting for us, for women and for the world.
And now the whole world is going through a big crisis. There’s many wars, there’s a huge crisis upon us. How can women play their role in finding a solution against this crisis?
I think we cannot stop. We have to continue to always think and fight, because we are fighting against the system. And to be able to fight against the system, we have to always look for and find solutions, different solutions. And for this, it’s like we cannot stop to think and practise. Because it’s like we stand up every day, and sometimes it’s difficult to start the day, but when we start the day, we have to start fighting, we have to change the patriarchal mentality.
And for this, it’s very important to be strong. And not just find solution here [in the mind], but find solution here with emotions and create. It’s very interesting. We have to create ideas and take action. We need to act. And you already talked a bit about the problem that is just here and not here.
What do you think has to be changed so all the women in the world can unite? And why is 8 March important for this?
I work with culture, with art, and I’m always trying to put this inside the militant structure, militant political groups, because it’s like we have to connect our hearts with our minds, the emotion and mind, because we need to connect with people. We really have to connect with people. We are fighting, but we have to connect with people who are not fighting. And for this, the culture work, for example, is very, very important, because it’s a communication with all the women in the world.
You also did art works in Kurdistan and especially in Rojava [North and East Syria] and with the Kurdish women’s movement. How did the Kurdish women’s movement inspire you and did it change some of your views?
I would love to speak in Portuguese about this so I could speak better, because it’s connected with my emotions. When I arrived in Rojava, I understood better about culture and about arts because before, I had a liberal ideology, and after I understood that first I had to change my ideology and be stronger, be a revolutionary woman, to bring the real culture to the people, a culture that is connected to the land. And who gave me this was the movement from Kurdistan, and I met so many people, Kurdish women and international friends, who opened my eyes and my mind and my heart, and it changed my life and changed my work.
What gives you hope?
When we are together, all the women and men friends, fighting for a new world, for a real democracy, and we give the hand, and we see how important our struggle is, and we think of all the friends who fall martyr, and this gives me hope to continue, because we cannot stop, we have to continue, how I said before, every day we need to continue, every day we need to find solutions, every day you need to be together, it’s not about individualism, it’s about being together without borders. The problem now in the world, we have a lot of borders, and this is a big problem, but when I’m here with friends I love a lot, I see how important our struggle is.
We need more people with us, more people, everyone needs to open, not just the mind, but your heart, and come and listen, listen what people who are fighting are saying, and try to understand, because if we don’t change the world, I don’t know what will happen. It’s something very, very sad and we are fighting for life.
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