A discussion on ‘Abdullah Öcalan's Thoughts on the Science of Women (Jineolojî)’ was held in Indonesia on 21 September.

After a collective dinner, a presentation was given on the history of Mesopotamia from ancient civilisation to empire, nation-state and the Treaty of Lausanne. This was followed by a brief introduction to Öcalan's ideas and paradigm and the screening of different videos from the Jineolojî Academy.

This is the third follow-up agenda initiated by 'ABC+ Workers Control' to spread the idea of socialism from below and democracy without the state, and an alternative to women's liberation, which has been very dependent on the theory of Western feminism, which is actually not very suitable for Indonesia and Papua.

This discussion was held in one of the Papuan student dormitories and was attended by more than 15 Papuan students and 6 individuals from different organisations: Trade Unions, Green Party, Workers' Co-operatives and People's Organisations.

“The most rigorous critique emphasised the importance of starting basic education with an understanding of capitalism and imperialism through Öcalan's perspective, which is considered more advanced because it complements the lack of analysis of 20th century socialist thinkers, especially regarding the problems of capitalist society, women and ecology, and also the definition of a democratic man. We also agree that non-violence is only a privilege for some Western and European countries. We do not have this privilege here. Therefore, it is legitimate to use violence also in the sense of self-defence: it makes no sense to be non-violent while the state is always terrorising us with various violent methods,” said a statement on behalf of the participants of the discussion.

“We still have a long way to go, our realities in Indonesia and Papua are clearly different. But the Abdullah Öcalan paradigm gives us the freedom to develop his ideas according to our material conditions!,” the statement added.