Internationalism means overcoming borders

Interview with Zîlan, a young Kurdish woman, about her participation to the People's Caravan to defend Humanity and the Thousand Madleens to Gaza

We have just listened to the accounts of the torture and rape inflicted on the activists of the Global Sumud Flotilla by Israel’s fascist militias. We have also heard of the 10 activists from the Global Sumud Land Convoy who have been missing since 23 May in Libya following negotiations with the military of Haftar’s regime to allow them to cross into eastern Libya and continue their journey to Palestine.

These brave actions of solidarity do not come out of nowhere, but are part of a broader context of continuous global mobilization. In September 2025 the first major flotilla was sailing towards Gaza, and its illegal blockade by the State of Israel sparked widespread protests on a scale not seen in Europe for years.

In January 2026 Kurdish people and internationalists became part of the wave of international solidarity that is characterizing our time. With around a hundred people, the People's Caravan in Defence of Humanity set off for Rojava to break the siege imposed by the Turkish state and the Syrian Transitional Government on the city of Kobane, a symbol of the region’s struggle for liberation from the forces of the Islamic State. The 30 people who managed to reach the town of Pirsûs/Suruç, a few kilometres from Kobane, reported violence at the hands of the Turkish police following their repatriation.

What drives people to take action? What does internationalism mean? What is the significance behind these acts of courage and resistance, which do not bow to state violence?

We put these questions to Zîlan, a young Kurdish woman who took part in the People's Caravan to Kobane in January, having set sail for Gaza a few months earlier with the fleet of the organisation Thousand Madleens to Gaza.

How was the experience with the people's caravan to defend humanity, what was the meaning of it?

We launched the People's Caravan to defend Humanity because of the attacks on Rojava by the Syrian Transitional Government together with Turkey and the blockade of aid. We wanted to break the siege of Kobane and to let the people of Kobane know that they are not alone. That we, people living in Europe, are with them.

The people that joined the caravan came from Italy, France, Austria, Syria, Greece, Ireland, England, Denmark as well as other countries. At the end of our five days of travel, at the border with Turkey, we were 120 people. We managed to reach North Kurdistan, where we aimed to break the siege. There we were with the people of Pirsûs¹, the DEM party², and the HDK³

An agreement was reached between Rojava and the STG, and in this sense we were successful. The caravan was a part of something huge. The people in North Kurdistan started before us to go to Rojava. In Europe, Canada, USA people were out every day in the streets. We were a part of all this.

When you arrived at the border with Kobane, what did you hear from the Kurdish comrades? What discussions did you have together?

We arrived in Pirsûs, just 7 km from Kobane. We didn't make it to Kobane, but that does not mean we failed. While we were talking with the DEM party, and the HDK, and with the people of Pirsûs, one friend told us that they were demonstrating and organizing press conferences every day. They were starting to have the feeling that their voices were fading. The people's caravan gave them a strong voice again. Their motivation and morale grew.

It had this effect because it showed that the situation wasn’t just a crisis for Kurdish people, it is not just the Kurdish question, but it is the question of how we all want to live. The attacks were against communal life and a free life for women everywhere.

Even though the proposal of the DAANES (Democratic Autonomous Administration of Northeast Syria) had as a base principle a common life together, a coexistence of peoples and cultures, the mainstream media constantly depict conflicts as based on nationality, as conflicts between Kurdish and Arab, or Turkish people. What would you say to this nationalist narrative?

It's a good question. This mechanism is also present now in Iran, with mainstream media portraying Persians and Kurds as rival ethnic groups. It was the same when HTS’s⁴ attacks against Rojava began, it was narrated as a conflict between Arabs and Kurds. What I see is that states that want to gain influence over the Middle East, or West Asia, like Israel, the USA, and UK, are trying to inflame conflict through nationalism.

But if we look at the reality of the Middle East we see that for more than 12,000 years ago we have all lived together in the territories that later became the nation-states of Iran and Turkey, and also in Kurdistan. In these territories there have been many groups including Persians, Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians, Druzes, Balochs. We all lived together. We didn't create the states that now divide the Middle East. Imperialist forces did.

The purpose of nationalist narratives is to allow imperialist forces to take advantage of the peoples of the Middle East by creating hate between them. They also use these narratives to create a black and white thinking. Regarding the Iranian regime, the USA want to portray itself as a hero that is bringing freedom to Iran. But becoming like western states or having a monarchy are not the only options we have. There is also a third way of living, based on radical democracy, without states telling us how to live. This can be achieved through a communal life together, in which women are free and where different societies and ethnic groups coexist, diverse but united.

The plans of imperialist forces for the Middle East show clearly the need for a connection among the peoples of the region and of the world. Can you tell us more about your participation in the initiative of Thousand Madleens to Gaza in September? What motivated you to participate?

What motivated me was to show to all the peoples of the world and to the imperialist states that even if they try to break us with their mentality of genocide, they cannot. They can't break the international solidarity that we have in us. Even if they try to make the Middle East something under their control, they cannot succeed because they don't take into account the people, people who with their free will joined the Thousand Madleens and the People's Caravan.

It is also connected to my identity as a young Kurdish woman. In all genocides and wars, we as women are the first targets. I wanted to show that as women we must join actions like these. We can't say "Since I live in Germany it has nothing to do with me if a woman is killed in Gaza or Kobane". If another woman is killed in Gaza or Kobane, a part of me is killed too. This is what motivated me.

Can you add more about what Internationalism means to you?

What we can learn from history is that, in a way, internationalism has always existed. The movement of people from one place to another has always existed. We can see internationalism as not just showing solidarity, but as being united with one another, being with the people that are in the land. As overcoming the thinking of borders and seeing all the struggles as part of something bigger.

For me, this also means we must create Worldwide Women’s Confederalism, or we can say Worldwide Women’s Communal Life⁵. As an internationalist I am not just in solidarity with other women, but I want to be in unity with other women.

Finally, do you have a message to the youth of the world for this time of crisis?

You are the hope in the world and have one of the most important roles to play in it. And as young women, we have an even bigger mission of opening the way to change. The hope that is rising cannot be destroyed. Take strength from the actions that we are doing all together. With these actions, we are already in the process of building a communal life together, among all peoples.

Notes

1 Suruç in Turkish

2 Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM party) is a legal party in Turkey that represents the ideas of the Kurdish Freedom Movement at the institutional level.

3 People Democratic Congress (HDK) is an umbrella organization that gathers numerous groups connected with the ideas of the KFM or that are in favor of the democratization of politics in Turkey

4 Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is a Sunni islamist organization that took power in Syria in November 2024

5 The commune in the view of the KFM is seen as the fundamental unit of popular organization and radical democracy, and its resurgence a fundamental step in the struggle against capitalist modernity