A Kurdish Lullaby by Soraya Fallah, translated by Cklara Moradian

Name of the lullaby: Berxolekem:
Written in Kurdish by Soraya Fallah
Translation to English by Cklara Moradian

Hey lay hey lay hey laya
your mother’s sweet baby
why is sleep not coming to you?
Sleep darling, it’s late
The world is dim and silent
I’m confined in this solitude

Lay Lay your mother’s sweet baby
The child of my furious nation
You’re my hope for existence

Hey laya laya laya
The hope of your mother’s being
Why is Kurdish existence this manner?

Lay lay sapling of my fate
The companion of hardship
The journey to the peek is distant
The process is crimson blood

Hey laya laya laya
Your mother can not raise her voice
Tears are choking in her throat
Why is Kurdish existence this manner?

(Speaking to the child)…
Lay lay
a drop of Sirvan (river running between Iran and Iraq border)
Home wrecked and forced into mountains
We were slaughtered by the hundreds
We were tied and imprisoned
We’ve been denied our tongue and land
We’ve been annihilated in the snow

Hey laya lay laya
The flower of your mother’s garden
Tell me why don’t you sleep
But
(singing again)
Life will not always remain this way
There will come a day when
a thousand flaming candles will burn,
the strong sun rays in the meadows will shine
the sound of the footsteps of the dawn will be heard
in anticipation of the people’s celebration
sleep my tiny baby
our future is this way
awake tomorrow in laughter
Rights of human will triumph one day

Mother and Revolution conference in Calart

Kurdistan will be featured in California Institute of the Arts AOW
Conference on Saturday January 17th, 09
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Jan 15-18th are important dates for artists and activists from around the globe to convene on mutual matters.
On Saturday January 17th the fourth annual Arts in One World Conference will host Kurdish activists, artists and researchers.
Each year this conference gathers international human rights activists, writers, historians and students to confront the repercussions of genocidal conflicts and explore the intersection of human rights activism and cultural practice.
This year’s theme is: “Motherhood and Revolution: How women, and mothers in particular, are innovating in conflict and post conflict circumstances, and expanding the models for ways in which one is an artist/activist in the world.”
The main issues the upcoming Arts in the One World conference addresses are issues in Rwanda, Palestine, and Kurdistan through workshops, panel and round table discussions, readings, films and live performance.
Saturday morning will be on Kurdistan.
Performers and panelists will be present at the contemporary Kurdish scene, locally and internationally. Nancy Buchanan, Soraya Fallah, Choman Hardi, and Cklara Moradian.
The keynote speaker is contemporary Kurdish poet, Choman Hardi, who will discuss “Genocide, Rape and Silence in Kurdistan/Artistic Practice in Response to the Anfal.”
Cklara Moradian, Philosophy student, human rights activists, and spoken word artist will perform her piece “A Tortured Cliché, A Fragmented Identity.”
Nancy Buchanan, Film/Video faculty at Cal Arts will present and introduce a documentary on Kurdish women she made last year in Kurdistan.
Soraya Fallah, women rights activist will be having a talk on this topic: “Kurdish Mothers as Artists and Peaceful Revolutionaries against Genocide through the singing of lullabies.” She is explaining the endowment of Kurdish language and heritage through lullabies as sung by Kurdish mothers to their children in time of conflict and post conflict.
Rita Naisan, Iranian photographer, will be displaying an exhibition of her ethnic, cultural, and valuable photography during the conference. She has a range of photos from Kurdish women in villages, and even modern Kurdish women.
There will also be a mini festival of documentary films after the Kurdish section.

Attendance is FREE and if you choose to stay for the other days hotel discount is available.
Hospitality & Dining
Fruit, baked goods, coffee and tea will be available for free in the mornings and throughout the day. On Saturday evening we offer a free potluck dinner; feel free to bring a dish; but otherwise, there’s always plenty to go around.
Registration
Please email Cammy Berndt (cberndt@calarts.edu), letting us know when you’re coming.

Simone de Beauvoir Award

One Million Signature Campaign Honored with Simone de Beauvoir Award

Change for Equality

vokradio.com One Million Signature Campaign Honored with Simone de Beauvoir Award Friday 9 January 2009 Report/Translation by: Sussan Tahmasebi Change for Equality: According to a report by Radio France, Persian Service the One Million Signatures Campaign has been awarded the Simone de Beauvoir Award by the foundation set up in the memory of this Feminist theorist and writer. For the past two years on the 9th of January, the birthday of Simone de Beauvoir an Award has been given to persons or groups which work to promote women’s rights. Julia Kristeva, the renowned Bulgarian-French philosopher, writer and psychoanalyst who is the founder of the Award and who heads the jury for the Award explained more about the decision of the Jury in an interview with Radio France, Persian Service: "Simone de Beauvoir continued the struggle for women's rights-an effort that has spanned two centuries. With her world renowned book 'The Second Sex' Simone de Beauvoir created a Revolution in the international women's movement. The jury for this award, which is comprised of approximately 20 internationally known figures including several writers, sociologists, philosophers, journalists and politicians, wanted to emphasize the fact that the struggle for women's rights is not a French, European or Western concept, rather it is a struggle that has attracted women across the world. Last year this Award was given to Taslima Nasreen, who has been harassed and persecuted [in relation to her struggles for women's rights]. This year we were immensely moved by the courage of Iranian women and the innovate style of their struggle. This movement [the One Million Signatures Campaign] is engaged in an important effort to explain the meaning and nature of human rights and women's rights to women themselves, encouraging each of them to become involved in the struggle against inequities. The One Million Signatures Campaign is a new and innovative movement because it has not taken shape around one progressive and famous central figure, rather it is a broad movement, where activists visit with other women, engage in face to face discussions with them, they go home to home, and explain to each woman about women's rights. Through this [face-to-face] strategy and through the internet they have created a broad network of ideas and persons, which includes women from all backgrounds, including women from low income and socio-economically advantaged groups. This effort is in line with the spirit of Simone de Beauvoir's work. By giving this Award to [to the One Million Signatures Campaign] we want to encourage these women and demonstrate our love and solidarity with them." It is worth mentioning that in honor of Simone de Beauvoir's birthday the site of the Campaign in France was also launched. The first news item appearing on this site is about the Simone de Beauvoir Award presented to the One Million Signatures Campaign. Take a look at the Campaign's site in France.

Happy New year

vokradio.com

Happy New Year

vokradio.com

Leyla Zana Sentenced Again!

KNC Public Relations Committee Kurdish National Congress of North America Inquiries: 805-402-6440 Contact: Luqman Barwari Leyla Zana Sentenced Again!. Using its inherited racist Constitution, Turkey is renewing its prosecution of peaceful prominent Kurdish political figure Leyla Zana. Mrs. Zana once again has been sentenced, this time for 10 years by the Turkish Court for violating the Turkish "Penal code and anti-terror law." According to the unsubstantiated charges against her, Mrs. Zana had expressed her support for "terror" in the past. Mrs. Zana's struggle for social justice for citizens of Turkey has been recognized in international circles when she was awarded the "European Human Rights Prize Winner." It is hard to see how the Turkish government legitimizes such a harsh sentencing of Mrs. Zana who has been a champion for finding a peaceful solution to the Kurdish plight in Turkey. Mrs. Zana has campaigned over the years for parity for the Kurds and Turks. This spirit was reflected after she was elected as a member of the Turkish parliament. When she took the oath of office she recited her oath in both Kurdish and Turkish languages. In her inauguration speech she stated, "I am taking this oath for the brotherhood of the Kurdish and Turkish peoples." She made this statement at a time when speaking Kurdish was taboo in any formal gathering in Turkey, particularly in the parliament. Therefore it is illogical for Turkey to accuse her of supporting terror, when more than 27 years ago she embraced the Turkish-Kurdish "brotherhood" and has never changed course since. Ironically, such a court ruling has been carried out by a nation that wants to become a member of the European Union, a union which requires that civil liberties be extended to citizens living within its member nations. Sentencing a prominent citizen for exercising her human rights prerogative is another reminder to the world that Turkey is in dire need of fundamental reforms in its human rights, political, and judicial principles. This latest round of the Turkish cynical maneuver can only be construed as another "dirty trick" to thwart Mrs. Zana's effort to run for the office of Mayor in her city. Instead of sentencing Leyla, who has become the true symbol of love, loyalty, and peaceful resistance, Turkey should amend its racially prejudiced Constitution and end the cycle of fear and hate, which has stemmed from the radical chauvinist mentality - a mentality which has brought nothing to Turkey but imprisonment in its excruciating phobia and cynicism. For Turkey to distance itself from its xenophobic past is to find a way out of the plague of "Turkish nationalism." To do this, Turkey must start treating the Kurds and other ethnic groups as equal to Turks, so together they can live in peace and foresee a tranquil future. Only then can Turkey find serenity at home and a decent place among the family of nations. Date published: Thursday, December 11, 2008

Jan 17, Saturday: Kurdistan in Calart Shool of Theater

2009 AOW Agenda

Motherhood and Revolution: How women, and mothers in particular, are innovating in conflict and post conflict circumstances, and expanding the models for ways in which one is an artist/activist in the world.

January 14-18 2009, California Institute of the Arts

Valencia, California

*** Please note, this agenda will be updated regularly, and may change.

Jan 14, Wednesday Evening: Introductions and Orientation – Simplicity and Complexity

Each day will begin with a presentation that lays out some of the social and historical background undergirding the day’s various topics, in an effort to make clear that legitimate moral stands and elections need to take place (simply: this happened and must be witnessed to), and also that simplicity is beset with numerous challenges (on the one hand – we must avoid over simplification, or - for example – an orthodoxy of permanent victimhood; on the other hand we must avoid overcomplicating the record to the point where moral position is mooted).

Each day will also make space towards the end for open-space meetings and free discussion.

Guiding issues: The persistence of negationism; the patriarchy of form (an assumption of Western models of theater and performance); the marriage of artistic excellence and ethical efficacy.

Opening Remarks: Jean-Pierre Karegeye, Erik Ehn, Aileen Adams

Jan 15, Thursday: Rwanda

Facilitator: Jean-Pierre Karegeye

Also: Presentation: Eti! East Africa Speaks

Keynote Speech A

Keynote Performance: Hope Azeda

Jan 16, Friday: Palestine

8:30-9 Convening and conversation (A brief opening performance/presentation; coffee and food; a summary of the previous day, highlighting action items)

9-10:30 Introduction – an overview of issues and initiatives. Ed Mast.

10:45-12:30 Panel - Models of engagement. Moderator, Ed Mast. Beth Krensky – We Make the Road by Walking (gallery exhibition), Vivian Sansour, Jen Marlowe, Hanna Eady

12:30-1:30 Lunch

1:30-3 Roundtables, Session One: Motherhood and Sustaining Theater/Activism. Alana Macias, Annie Hamburger, Alison Narver, Kathy Randels

3:15-5:30 Roundtables, Session Two: Motherhood as a Class, Motherhood as a Movement: Roberto Varea – Grandmothers of Plaza De Mayo; Vali Forrister – Grrls/Actor’s Bridge; Celia Rodriguez

Concurrent Sessions

1:30-3:30 We Cry on the Inside: Theater and Trauma Counseling in Rwanda – Brent Blair

1:30-3:30 Mindfulness – Theo Koffler

3:45-5:30 In the Dark Times there will be Singing – Song Workshop. Kathy Randels

3:45-5:30 Healing Practices – Hector Aristizabal

6-7:30 Dinner

7-7:30 Review: An open sharing, highlighting issues, connections, questions from the day

Performances

7:30-8:30 The Human Writes Project – Nizar Wattad

8:30-10 Inner Mandala – Maja Mitic

Film

7:30-10:30 Massaker, dir. Nina Menkes

Flower in the Gun Barrel, dir Gabe Cowan (in attendance)

Jan 17, Saturday: Kurdistan

8:30-9 Convening and conversation.

9-10:30 Keynote Speech B – Choman Hardi: Genocide, Rape and Silence in Kurdistan/Artistic Practice in Response to the Anfal

10:45-11 A Tortured Cliché, A Fragmented Identity – Performance, Cklara Moradian

11-12:30 Overview – The contemporary Kurdish scene, locally and internationally. Nancy Buchanan, Soraya Fallah, Choman Hardi, Cklara Moradian

12:30-1:30 Lunch

1:30-2 Fiddle Lecture – Peter Schumann/Bread and Puppet

2-3:30 Roundtables, Session One: Theater and Peacebuilding – Cultural Diplomacy vs. Cultural Exchange: Roberta Levitow, Dijana Milosevic, Pauline Ross, Claudia Bernardi

3:45-5:30 Roundtables, Session Two: Esthetic Diversity in Arts Activism – Roberta Levitow, Roberto Varea, Dijana Milosevic, Teya Sepinuck, Rebecca Rugg, Claudia Bernardi

Concurrent Sessions

Dramaturgy

2-3:30 Iran: Niloufar Talebi/the Translation Project – ICARUS/RISE: giving voice to the contemporary hybrid-Iranian.

Based on “Naghali”, an age-old dramatic story-telling Iranian tradition, ICARUS/RISE draws from new Iranian poetry.

2-4 Reading: The Overwhelming, by JT Rogers – dir. Ron Cephas Jones

4:15-5:30 Speaking the Unspeakable: Writing on Genocide – JT Rogers, Ken Urban, Deborah Asiimwe, David Myers

Libraries

2-3:30 New Knowledge: Activism and Library Science. Kathy Carbone, Toni Samek

Curricula

3:45-4:30 A presentation from the CalArts Aesthetics and Politics MA

Performance/Presentation

3:45-5:30 Nightwind – Hector Aristizabal

Workshops

2-3:30 In the Dark Times there will be Singing – Song Workshop. Kathy Randels

2-5:30 Writing: Laurie Lathem

5:30-7 Communal Dinner – Please join us for a collective potluck

Performance

6:30-7 Cantastoria – Peter Schumann/Bread and Puppet

7-8 Part Two, Border TRIP(tych) – Roberto Varea

Performance/Presentation

8:15-10 “To Put Things Right Again” – La Fuerza Femenina in Times of Change

– Cherrie Moraga/Celia Herrera Rodriguez

Film

8:15-11 Pray the Devil Back to Hell; conversation with producer Abigail Disney

Jan 18, Sunday: One World Thinking

8:30-9 Convening and conversation

Presentations and Discussion: Models of Arts/Activism

9-10:15 Tijuana/Frontera, El Salvador, Cuba – Glenna Avila, Marissa Chibas, Evelyn Serrano, Lili Bernard, Peter Jensen, Carlos Saavedra

10:30-11:30 Cambodia, the Philippines – Bill Westerman, Orlando Pabotoy

11:45-1 Initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa: Public Health: Paula Tavrow – UCLA, Kenyan Male Circumcision; Orena James: Child Trafficking

1-2 Lunch

2-4 Sum and plans

UNA Assn.Soraya Fallah will discuss the topic: Human Rights Laws and Practices in the US, Iran, Denmark, and Iraq

San Fernando Valley Commemoration of the sixtieth Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Saturday, December 13,2008
United Nation Assn. Of the San Fernando Valley Presents
Soraya Fallah
She will discuss the topic:

Human Rights Laws and Practices in
the US, Iran, Denmark, and Iraq

For info &lunch and reservation please call Dorothy Boberg (818)363 6502
Add: 9224 Reseda Blvd, Northridge, Ca 91325


It will be an elections meeting, where chapter members will select the officers for 2009

Repor of the Nomminating Committee for 2009:

President: David Tuckman
Vice President-Program: Betty Jo Moore
Cice President_Mm\embership: Barbara Pampalone
Recording Secretary:Open
Cooresponding Secretary:Joan Mills
Treasurere:Open


Nomminations May be made from the floor with the permission of the nominee.
Corothey BOberg, Lyn Harris Hicks, Dorri Rskin

Iraqi Kurdistan: A man will not be able to marry more than one woman

vokradio.com

Tuesday, 11 November 2008, 02:42 EST
Iraqi Kurdistan: one man, one wife
By AHN

Iraqi Kurdistan: A man will not be able to marry more than one woman.

The Kurdish parliament in northern Iraq recently approved a new law, according to which a man will not be able to marry more than one woman, the London-based daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat reported.

The parliament, which enjoys legislative independence from the federal Iraqi parliament in Baghdad, decided on the legislation after consultation with the Women and Children Committee (WCC) in Kurdistan.

The Kurds, who are Muslims, have so far adhered to Islamic law, which permits a man to marry up to four wives.

Following approval of the new law, the Iraqi Women's Network (IWN) asked the federal Iraqi parliament to follow suit.

The IWN, an umbrella organization of seven women's rights institutions, wrote to the parliament, asking to put an end to "the suffering of Iraqi women, who fall victim to second and third marriages."

"We have to admit that the regional [Kurdish] parliament is much more progressive and experienced than the Iraqi [federal] parliament," IWN's chairwoman Liza Nisan told A-Sharq Al-Awsat.

Nisan explained that the notion of limiting a man to one marriage was bound to face opposition from both men and women, who adhere to a traditional way of life.

Meanwhile, a Shari'a Court in Iraq's neighbor to the south, Saudi Arabia, is presently looking into a case of child marriage.

A Saudi mother has filed a complaint against her ex-husband for marrying off their 12-year-old daughter without her knowledge, the Saudi daily Arab News revealed.

The woman, who has the custody of her daughter, claimed that her child was too young to get married and that the father did not inform her of his plans to marry off the girl.

There is no age limit for marriage in Saudi Arabia

Source:

repeal of polygamous marriages and all other discriminatory laws against women in Kurdistan.

To the Kurdish Parliament and the Kurdistan Regional Government

We demand the repeal of polygamous marriages and all other discriminatory laws against women in Kurdistan.

On October 27, 2008, legislation allowing polygamous marriages was passed in a parliamentary session in Erbil, the capital city of Kurdistan. This legislation is part of a constitutional draft proposing to replace the old family status law, in use since 1958. It was changed partially, under Saddam Hussein, to subjugate women’s rights further.

After the fall of Saddam’s regime in 2003, a new constitution was written and passed in Iraq. This constitution was solely based on Islamic Sharia Law and openly stated its support for gender apartheid against women. We clearly see that the proposed constitution for the Kurdish region is no better than the Iraqi one. In fact, it is just a smaller version.

The current family status law was reactionary enough—being purely based on discrimination against women and their treatment in society as second class citizens—but now the Kurdish Regional Government wants to change it further, and not for the better.

Women in Kurdistan have been subjected to all kinds of violence and discrimination throughout their history. Under Saddam’s regime, they endured all kinds of hardship, torture and abuse. They have fared no better under the current Kurdish rule. “Honour killings”, female genital mutilation, forced marriages, bullying women to commit suicide and the denial of civil and individual rights have been the main characteristics for almost the past two decades.

The approval of this current legislation will assist in the oppression of women and lead to a huge increase in violence against women. This is a historical mistake. We hold the Kurdish parliament and its government responsible for the violations of women’s rights in this region, due to these discriminatory laws.

Therefore, we call upon every concerned organisation and individual to support us in this campaign to repeal this law. We also call for unconditional equal rights, freedom and equality for women in Kurdistan to be enshrined in law.


Yours Truly,

Yanar Mohammed: President of Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq

Houzan Mahmoud: representative abroad of Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq-UK

Michael Eisenscher: National coordinator of US Labour against the war

Diana Nammi: Director of Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation

Maria Hagberg: President of Network against honour crimes -Sweden

Rega Svensson: Head of Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq-Sweden

Professor Fabienne Charlotte Orazie Vallino: Vietterbo University-Italy

Joe Tougas: Journalist, Human Rights Activist -USA

Jennifer Kemp: OWFI board member in USA

Daniel W. Smith: Journalist—Baghdad, Iraq/New Haven, Connecticut-USA

Maryam Namazie: Spokesperson, Equal Rights Now – Organisation against Women’s Discrimination in Iran

Joanne Payton: International Campaign against Honour Killings

Thomas Unterrainer: Nottingham

Sam Azad: Socialist campaigner

Anne R. Grady, Massachusetts, USA

Ingrid Ternert: Representative of the Peace movement in Gutenberg

Ruth Appleton Co-ordinator Santé Refugee Mental Health Access Project

Anna-Lisa: Björneberg- Wilpf Sweden

Aase Fosshaug: Sweden

Heidi Maugué-Aebi: Women for peace Switzerland

Agnes Hohl: Women for peace Switzerland

Annamaria Traber: Women for peace Switzerland

Beatrice Fankhauser: Women for peace Switzerland

Lini Culetto: Women for peace Switzerland

For more information or to add your name to this statement please contact:

www.equalityiniraq.com Tel: +447534264481

E-mail: houzan2007@yahoo.com or rega_svensson@yahoo.com