JINHA

AMED – Argentine Popular Dignity Movement (Movimiento Popular La Dignidad, MPLD) activist Magdalena Roggi says the fight of the Kurdish people, and especially of women, has much to teach movements in the rest of the world.

The activist from the Argentine youth movement she has come to Kurdistan to attend the World March of Women, the Middle East Youth Conference that took place in Amed over the weekend, and the historic Newroz celebrations in Diyarbakır, with the goal of bringing home lessons for the struggle with capitalism, imperialism and patriarchy in Argentina. Her month-long stay will build connections of solidarity between Kurdistan and Latin America.

"The Kurdish youth are very organized and have a clear goal: the freedom of the Kurdish people and to be able to build their society the way they want," said Magdalena.

She also hopes to learn from women's struggle.

The women's movement in Argentina struggles against femicide and male violence, as well as the ban on abortion that disproportionately kills poor women forced to obtain abortions in unhealthy conditions, causing 30% of maternal deaths a year. Women's high level of organization is reflected in the annual National Women's Encounter, which draws 40,000 women to a different site every year.

Magdalena was impressed by the fundamental role of women for the Kurdish movement, which she says is rare among socialist movements.

Speaking at the Middle East Youth Conference, where she had just seen a film screening shared by the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) Youth Assembly that was one of the main hosts of the conference, Magdalena said seeing Kurdish youth fighting in the streets was moving.

"In Argentina, we don't have a fight like this, of course," said Magdalena. "But the responsibility of the youth in Argentina is to wake up and start to fight—not just for publication education, social services or for healthcare but also for a new society."

She says MPLD is focused on developing those conversations.

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