Militarization and Activism in South East Asia: Feminist Resistance in Iraq, Turkey, and Syria

Militarization and Activism in South East Asia: Iraq, Turkey, and Syria

by Dua Saleh

Militarization is a process rooted in the belief that violence and war are the most progressive and effective ways to resolve conflict. The military is a site where particular socializing practices manifest, such as violence, homophobia, gender bias, and much more. Such exercises of normative assimilation create a dependency on violence, unbridled power, control/possession of any person or thing that is the other, and ongoing and proliferating warfare. Militarization is also believed to be a gendered phenomenon that originates from the libidinal rage of men in power in celebration of testosterone fueled displays of power and hyper masculinity. In juxtaposition to the commemoration of masculinity, a castigation of women and perceptions of femininity is also a key element of this institutionalized ideology. This is done through mocking femininity and equating it to weakness. (Cockburn 2010)

Militarization is especially prevalent in areas of South Western Asia or the Middle East as a result of globalization. Globalization is a phenomenon that allows for the development of an increasingly integrated. The United States has been increasingly investing in military infiltration of countries within the Middle East. This military investment is due to demand for hard power in the Western World, a desire to stake claim to natural resources, and a colonial mentality that thrives off of the idea that all land is Western property. This is an ideology that stems from capitalistic tendencies of Western societies and the fervent racism that labels countries that are not privileged or white as disposable.

Often time’s militarization is heavily tied to core beliefs that supporting the troops and supporting the military is something that is directly linked to nationalism and patriotism. In Iraq, certain women’s groups such as the “Iraqi-Kurdish women’s movement”-- who fight for both Kurdish feminism as well as nationalism-- are actively seeking out ways to hamper the mental framework and that socialized ideal. This group of women seek out alternative and nonviolent ways to increase nationalistic representations of Iraq on a national scale. Iraq has always been a place that has resisted and opposed US monopoly of power, but the Iraqi-Kurish women’s movement is relentless in pushing an agenda that counteracts interpretations of military control as sole power.  (Al-Ali and Pratt 2011)

Women in the Western world who have served in Iraq or are directly affected by the war because of a lost family member in combat have also been active in besetting any efforts of future militarization in the nation state. Women who were directly in combat in Iraq have been endlessly protesting, rallying, and advocating for an end to the war in Iraq and to send the soldiers back to America. The Women’s Action for Nuclear Disarmament is an advocacy group that is outspoken against the war. Grassroots movements such as this one recount the death tolls of more than 21,000 men and women at war, the soaring costs of weaponry and utility as well as frivolous spending on the military, and an ever-growing Iraqi unrest as a result of American presence and violence in their country. (Gray 2006)

             The military can be so institutionally based that it begins to shape and control things that would be perceived as innocent or violent free in any other situation. This is not only true of people, but also of material goods, of natural resources, and even of cultural components of everyday life. In Turkey, there are many traditions that are still being practiced is the application of henna. It has been traditionally used in many ways and can be best depicted in this statement by a mukhtar a certain area of Turkey.

“According to our traditions, we only put henna on three occasions. We put henna on the hands of the bride so that she will be close to her husband. We put henna on the hands of the conscript so that he will sacrifice himself for his nation. We put henna on rams when it is sacrificed for Allah. You cannot see any other nation in the world that puts henna on their children when sending them off for military service. We went to the military service like that and our children will go the same.” - Bitlis Öğretmenevi’s  (Acara 2010)

The application of henna became re-appropriated by women in Turkey in order to signify pride in one’s children. Not only is this militarization shaping new cultures and new customs, but it also forces women to support the ideology. Women are forced to assume a religious stance on the military as a noble and desirable site of nationalism. This is a regurgitation of culture that has spilt over from concepts that can be ideologically found in the glorification of war and violence. This visual marker is symbolic of a sacrifice that a mother must make in order to do well by her country through nationalism and patriotism. (Acara 2010)

Turkey is not only full of women who are in support of the government and who are for nationalism through current military action and support.  There are many women in Turkey who are in direct opposition to institutionalized militarism as a masculine area of expression. Women who serve in the military are searching to create new intellectual framework and vocabulary for people in the military. This was movement that spurred in the 1980s as a call for a more active role for Turkish women in combat and need to institutionalize the quest for better status as women. This is a movement that is still active through groups such as the Kemalist women which is a Kurdish women’s rights activists that fights for the rights of women through religious and Islamic feminist thought as well as through liberal or radical feminist ideology. Currently, these radical Turkish feminists are fighting to create a change within the military regime through more leadership positions for women, as well as advocating against violence and abuse against women within the military. (Knaus 2010)

Another place where women have taken it upon themselves to resist militarization and to reform militarization is in Syria. Within recent years, Syria has had a

Syrian women play one of the largest roles in establishing nonviolent protest before the modern day revolution. Protests, rallies, marches galore were almost all established by Syrian women during the political uprise against the ruling regime. Eventually peaceful protests developed into violent upheaval as a shift in attitude unfolded through military intervention. As more shots were fired at civilians, many began to switch gears and depend on the usage of guns and weaponry. Women’s activists in Syria have interpreted this change of pace in protest as a byproduct of deeply institutionalized militarization as well as a way for patriarchal society to diminish the role of women in protest through the use of brute force. (Alwadi 2013)

          News of armed rebellion often overshadows the discussion of nonviolent resistance spurred by female activist in Syria. This is problematic because this is a form of activism that is born in the belief in nonviolent survival—which is performed by women in both grassroots movements and civic groups to keep them alive through transient zones of revolutionary resistance. (Alwadi 203)

          Women in Iraq, Turkey, and Syria have all been active in fighting against institutionalized militarism or through fighting against the systematic products of militarization in many ways. Feminists within the areas of South West Asia are agitated at the military regimes that have gripped their culture and that have left women within their nation at the margins of politics. Activism, scholarly work, and mass protest have been the devices used by women within these countries, which is in direct opposition to the violent nature of militarization.

Citations:

Women in the Military and in Armed Conflict: “The Militarization of Gender and Sexuality in the Iraq War”; http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-531-90935-6_9#page-1; (Feitz and Joane 2008)

Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication; “Between Nationalism and Women’s Rights: The Kurdish Women’s Movement in Iraq”; Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2011; School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK DOI http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/people/pratt/publications/mjcc_004_03_06_al-ali_and_pratt.pdf  (Al-Ali and Pratt 2011)

“Silence = War: A new wave of feminist peace activists takes it to the streets.” http://www.kattigray.com/images/articles/msmag.pdf (Gray 2006)

TURKISH WOMEN: A CENTURY OF CHANGE: İstanbul. 47. Volume 6 Number 5. TURKISH POLICY QUARTERLY; http://www.turkishpolicy.com/images/stories/2007-01-womeninTR/TPQ2007-1-06-katharinaknaus.pdf (Knaus 2010)

The Militarization of Henna: Çevrimiçi yayına başlama tarihi: 20Fe Dergi: Feminist Eleştiri Cilt 2 Sayı 2L; Erişim bilgileri, makale sunumu ve ayrıntılar için; http://cins.ankara.edu.tr/kina.pdf ; ( Acara 2010)

COUNTRIES AT THE CROSSROADS: “COUNTRIES AT THE CROSSROADS 2011:

TURKEY”; Central Eurasia Leadership Academy (CELA) and Middle East Leadership Academy (MELA) 2011; http://www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/inline_images/TURKEYFINAL.pdf (ALBION 2011)

Gender Relations as Causal in Militarization and War, International Feminist; Journal of Politics; http://www2.kobe-u.ac.jp/~alexroni/IPD%202012/2012_5/Gender_relations_as_Causal_Cockburn.pdf (Cockburn 2010)

MILITARIZED ZONES: GENDER, RACE, IMMIGRATION, ENVIRONMENT; A Special Issue of Political Environments ( PE No.10);  http://www.cwpe.org/files/militarized-zones.pdf; (Immigration, Militarism, Environment, and Gender [IMEGE] Task Force 2003)

“Voices of Syrian women in civil resistance”; Open Democracy; http://www.opendemocracy.net/civilresistance/nada-alwadi/voices-of-syrian-women-in-civil-resistance; (Alwadi 2013)