Los Angeles support the Kurdish resistance -EventDay covered by VOKRadio

http://akurdishwomanhaven.blogspot.com/2015/08/los-angeles-support-kurdish-resistance.html

Front of the Turkish consulate to tell Turkey and the world: No to intervention in Syria! No to repression of the Kurdish freedom movement! And freedom and self-determination to all peoples!
please see the photos by VOKRadio
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1024698507550217.1073741849.266472210039521&type=3&pnref=story

LOs Angeles support the Kurdish resistance

Join us at the Turkish consulate to tell Turkey and the world: No to intervention in Syria! No to repression of the Kurdish freedom movement! And freedom and self-determination to all peoples!


On July 20th, in the Turkish border town of Suruç, an ISIS-affiliated suicide bomber targeted a delegation of socialist youth from around Turkey who were on a solidarity mission to the war-torn Kurdish city of Kobane in northern Syria. Thirty-two people from the delegation - whose mission was to take toys to Kurdish children, plant trees and volunteer in the reconstruction of the city - were killed and more than a hundred were wounded. A simultaneous car bomb attack across the border in Kobane killed two more.

Turkish President Erdogan is using the bombing in Suruç as a pretext to criminalize the Kurdish community and its allies, all under the umbrella on a so-called “War on Terror”. Turkey tells NATO thatit is in fact carrying out a war on ISIS in response to the bombing, but this is far from the truth. The reality is that the AKP, Turkey’s ruling party, has no desire nor will to fight ISIS, whose rise to power they facilitated. Rather, they are using this crisis to neutralize the pro-Kurdish opposition and its platform of equal rights for all peoples, and to reestablish the AKP’s one-party rule.

Kurdish and allied ethnic groups have been able to secure a long stretch of autonomous territory in northern Syria, a region known as Rojava to the Kurds, after a series of victories against the genocidal ISIS. The Turkish state has long supported ISIS, al-Nusra and other murderous gangs as a strategy to prevent the autonomy of Kurds near their border. Now Turkey claims to have changed their attitude and declared war on ISIS, and are making plans with the US to create a buffer zone in northern Syria free of ISIS - and free of the Kurdish forces too. Judging by the small handful of airstrikes against ISIS versus the hundreds of bombing raids against Kurdish forces in northern Iraq, this Turkish military intervention into Syria can really be seen as a fulfillment of the AKP’s promise to prevent the formation of an autonomous Kurdish zone “whatever the cost may be”, not a genuine war on ISIS and al-Nusra.

What is Rojava?
Rojava is a mainly Kurdish populated region of northern Syria, though it is also home to Arab, Assyrian, Armenian, Turkmen and Yazidi peoples. In the midst of the bloodbath that is the Syrian civil war, the people of Rojava declared it to be an autonomous region in 2013. This new experiment in democratic autonomy is based on the principles of direct democracy, gender equity and ecological sustainability, and on a respect for the self-determination and peaceful co-existence of all religions and ethnicities. Rojava is composed of three separate self-governing cantons: Afrin, Kobane and Cizire.

Why should Rojava be defended?
We stand in solidarity with Rojava because what is happening in Rojava is a promising initiative toward a free and democratic Syria, and because we support the safety and self-determination of all peoples. In Rojava, important steps are under way toward women's liberation. Women not only have their own democratic militia, the YPJ, but also have an active and guaranteed position in the people's government. Similarly, the revolution in Rojava allots an equal role to the many diverse religious and ethnic groups in the region. It is experimenting with participatory grassroots democracy across all sectors of society in a manner which may serve as an example of a new liberatory society for the rest of the region and the world.

Demands
We are organizing this action to demand that the Turkish state immediately end its hostilities; including the bombing campaign against Kurdish targets, domestic repression of the pro-Kurdish opposition and plans to establish a so-called “buffer zone” in northern Syria.

We demand that the US stop facilitating Turkey’s war plans, and instead use its diplomatic pressure to lift the embargo on Rojava.

We demand a halt to the collaboration between the Turkish state with ISIS and other gangs which are carrying out genocide in Syria and Iraq.



We intend this protest to be the first step in organizing a Rojava solidarity group in Los Angeles, that will organize future actions, fundraising and education to support the growing revolution in Rojava.


Endorsed by:
International League of Peoples' Struggle - ILPS Southern California
Black Rose Anarchist Federation / Federación Anarquista Rosa Negra
Red Guards - Los Angeles (of the Liaison Committee for a New Communist Party)
Indigenous People's Liberation Party - Califas Region ( IPLP-Califas Region)
activists from the Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas - Los Angeles
Los Angeles IWW
The Free Association of Anarchists
Gabriela Los Angeles

A gathering for humanity by HERA

Humbled to be part of Honor Society receive a recognition

Soraya Fallah received Honor Society recognition for her educational excellence 

June 29th, 2015

Mrs. Soraya Fallah a Doctoral Student in Educational Leadership and Policy Study at California State University Northridge (CSUN), a scholar, researcher and a lifelong Women and Human Rights activist   received Honor Society recognition for her educational excellence. 

In an interview with VOKRadio Mrs. Soraya Fallah said: “I am humbled to receive recognition from Honor Society, Pi Lambda Theta. This is most prestigious award I have received”

Mrs. Fallah works extensively with local and International NGOs to promote human rights in the USA and throughout the world, specifically protecting the rights of ethnic minorities in the Middle East.

The president of honor society wrote to Mrs. Fallah:

“Congratulations!! Your excellent academic performance at the Michael D. Eisner college of Education at CSUN has proven you to be a dedicated educator …”

PLT executive director and International president were signed the award as follow:

“International Honor society and Professional association in education be it known that the right to wear the key of Pi Lambda Theta was conferred upon Soraya Fallah…”  

The honor society is a rank organization that recognizes excellence among peers in the United States.

Numerous societies recognize various fields and circumstances.

Pi Lambda Theta is an international education honor association that recognizes scholarship and leadership in the field of education. It is an honor society and professional association for educators. As an honor society, its purpose is to recognize persons of superior scholastic achievement and high potential for professional leadership. As a professional association, its purpose is to stimulate independent-thinking educators who can ask critical questions to improve educational policies and practices.

http://www.vokradio.com/content/view/1892/1/

"I am Farinaz" campagin

·         There is no justification for killing Farinaz Khosravani. It is not solely a crime for killing a woman, it is an insult to a community. I hope that the public will understand that any kind of violence against women or crime in the name of “honor” cannot remain solely an issue for the families involved; it is a concern of the entire society. I am urging women’s and human rights organizations to stand up against systematic violence against women.

Kurdish community of Southern California -Newruz Seyran

A program on Kurdish Women in Kobani-Tales of Heroism and Heartache, The Kurdish Women's Battle against ISIS in Kobani

On Thursday, April 9, 2015,UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATION, USA-SAN FERNANDO VALLEY CHAPTER in partnership with The American Association of University Women held a successful program on Kurdish women .The program was held in North Hollywood called Tales of Heroism and Heartache,The Kurdish Women's Battle against ISIS in Kobani. Dr. Amir Sharifi professor of CSLB and president of the Kurdish American Education Society Los Angeles covered the topic with a scholarly presentation. Dr.Sharifi received recognition as a speaker from UNAUSA-SFVC
Here is abstract of his talk: The world watched with great anxiety and hopelessness the ISIS-led assault on Kobani from September 13, 2014 through January 27, 2015. Threatened with the genocidal campaigns of ISIS, the world could not help but admire the resilient women fighters whose participation in the struggle helped break the brutal siege of the city.
This special presentation, led by Professor Sharifi, will focus on the personal histories and stories of these Kurdish women fighters. Their lives and stories will be revealed as well as their political struggles and hopes through narrative excerpts, reports, and video clips. These women have transformed their role in society by immersing themselves in this political struggle, thereby taking the first steps toward achieving gender equality. Many of these brave women lost their lives in the bitter and bloody war against the ISIS; their impassioned voices will continue to reverberate throughout the continuing struggle of Kurdish women in the shifting political landscape of the Middle East.



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UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATION, USA

SAN FERNANDO VALLEY CHAPTER

in partnership with

The American Association of University Women, SFV Branch

Invite you to join us for

Tales of Heroism and Heartache,

The Kurdish Women's Battle  against ISIS in Kobani
Special Presentation by Professor Amir Sharifi

President of the Kurdish American Education Society Los Angeles

Thursday, April 9, 2015

7:00PM to 9:00PM

North Hollywood Fire Station 89 – Community Room

(at the far end of the parking lot)

7063 Laurel Canyon Blvd., North Hollywood, CA 91605

FREE ADMISSION.

  

Light refreshments will be served. Friends and family are welcome.

For directions, information or to RSVP contact Ginny Hatfield at ginnyvmh@aol.com or 818-970-4577

SEE FLYER ATTACHED

Victory sign from this brave women

The world watched with great anxiety and hopelessness the ISIS-led assault on Kobani from September 13, 2014 through January 27, 2015. Threatened with the genocidal campaigns of ISIS, the world could not help but admire the resilient women fighters whose participation in the struggle helped break the brutal siege of the city.

This special presentation, led by Professor Sharifi, will focus on the personal histories and stories of these Kurdish women fighters. Their lives and stories will be revealed as well as their political struggles and hopes through narrative excerpts, reports, and video clips. These women have transformed their role in society by immersing themselves in this political struggle, thereby taking the first steps toward achieving gender equality. Many of these brave women lost their lives in the bitter and bloody war against the ISIS; their impassioned voices will continue to reverberate throughout the continuing struggle of Kurdish women in the shifting political landscape of the Middle East.

Professor Sharifi is a lecturer of Linguistics at California State University, Long Beach and the President of Kurdish American Education Society, Los Angeles.  In addition to publications in the areas of his specialization, he has written numerous articles on central issues of Kurdish human rights including gender and linguistic discrimination