Have any of you ever had to fight hard for something really important? And, no, I don't mean having to fight for $15 an hour flipping burgers, or free college tuition. How about for your right to live? Or a right for your family to live and thrive in a land that is rightfully their own? What if your next door neighbors wanted to violate and kill you and your children only to parade your heads on a stake like a trophy? This is their everyday reality.
What is the YPJ?
The Kurdish Female Freedom Fighters, also known as the YPJ (the female division of the YPG), is an independent group that was established in 2014 after the Kurdish resistance movement. They are not funded by their government but the U.S. sends them supplies and food every so often as they are needed. In an interview, one of the girls spoke about how they have to learn to fight for themselves without the government because their government can not and will not defend them. They fight against any groups who intend to bring the Syrian civil war to areas where Kurdish people live and they protect anyone who is fleeing ISIS, no matter their race, religion or gender.
Women commanders lead men and women alike because in their eyes, a soldier is a soldier. One of the groups that threaten the Kurdish territory is ISIS, the Islamic extremists that have been consuming the region through force and violence. The women range in age from 18 to 40 and come from many places in the Middle East including Kurdistan, Israel, Iraq and Syria. They have proven themselves to be quite a useful tool in the fight against ISIS.
Why is the YPJ such a threat to ISIS?
The men who run ISIS objectify and victimize their women. They do not believe women have a right to show any aspect of their beauty. In one of their extremist manifestos, they used the following metaphor to explain their ideology: "If raw meat is left out in the open, would you blame a dog for consuming it?" So, like dogs, they can't control their impulses if a woman shows even a sliver of her hair. Education stops at the age of 15 for girls because it is not encouraged for a woman to pursue a degree. She may begin to think that she is more intelligent than a man and be distracted from her duties in the home.
The YPG is a group of strong men and women with killer aim. In the extremist Islamic belief system, if a man is killed by a woman, his soul is permanently shamed, and he is automatically refused entry to heaven. ISIS fears not only the men but the women of the militia as well. They are afraid to get too close to the girls' territory, because they know the closer they get the more likely they are to get shot by a woman.
The Female Freedom Fighters do not enjoy fighting and killing because it is not what they believe is right. They do what they have to do to survive and defend what is theirs. Most of these women hold on to either Jewish or Christian values. In a world of good against evil, if the good people laid down and chose not to fight because "killing is not right" then all of the good in the world would die out and evil would consume us all. ISIS will not reason with you. If you offered diplomacy and co-existence, they'd offer you a bullet to the head.
One of the young women explained in an interview with "60 Minutes Australia" the severity of their situation: "A woman has the right to save and protect herself. When we are fighting, one side shoots to kill another side. If you don't kill the side opposite to you, then he will kill you."
And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country that they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am LORD. Ezekiel 20:38
