19 July marked the 11th anniversary of the Rojava Revolution which began 11 years ago, on 19 July 2012, when three predominantly Kurdish-inhabited areas of Syria declared their autonomy from the central government.

On Tuesday, the autonomous women's part of the Bristol Kurdistan Solidarity Network invited women, as well as trans and non-binary activists who identify with womanhood, to learn about the 2nd pillar of the Kurdish Women's movement.

“This is part of a one-year series of education discovering the 5 pillars of the Women's Movement together and starting to find our own ways of implementing them. We learned about the liberal notion of apolitical spaces and how it disempowers us, the need for self-defense and, through this understanding, the need for constant struggle. After a dinner and some discussions on what struggling for freedom looks like in our context, we danced,” said the organization.

“Yesterday, we invited comrades to join us to celebrate the Rojava Revolution together. Bristol as a city got connected intimately to the revolution through Şehîd Helîn Quereçox with her brave decision to join the revolutionary forces of the YPJ to learn and to stand side by side with our comrades fighting for freedom in Rojava. Together we talked about the need for women's revolution in our context, commemorated the people having lost their lives in the struggle and reaffirmed that we will help protect Rojava,” stated the Bristol Kurdistan Solidarity Network.