Pain and happiness side by side in Kobanê

While the cleansing operations of the YPG/YPJ forces against the ISIS gangs continue in Kobanê canton, in the city itself life is returning to normal amongst the rubble.

The historic resistance of the YPG/YPJ forces in Kobanê broke the hold that ISIS had exerted over the peoples of the Middle East through fear. Now the system of democratic autonomy in Rojava is being discussed as a model for the Middle East.

Kurdish women, who played a leading role in the resistance, are now in the vanguard of efforts to remove the rubble and begin reconstruction.

On the one hand there are funerals for fighters killed in the struggle, while on the other people celebrate blows struck against ISIS by dancing around fires. After years of the Ba’ath dictatorship when Arabic was compulsory, the speaking of Arabic is now frowned upon.

Following the call for mobilisation made by Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan young people came to Kobanê to join the resistance from all four parts of Kurdistan. Hence, it is now possible to hear 4 different dialects of Kurdish being spoken, while Moslems, Yazidi and Alevis fight side by side in the ranks of the YPG/YPJ.

After hundreds of years of Arab domination Kurdish forces have now reached the river Euphrates and the control of the area is now in the hands of Kurdish women.

We are sharing the photographs of the clean-up in Kobanê, of children hiding under the coffin of their father and of people celebrating the defeat of ISIS gangs.