Women in Exile & Friends

Call by Women in Exile & Friends

Most of us have been fighting all our lives because of our patriarcal cultural and religious backgrounds which impose violence on us, our bodies and minds.

We worked twice as hard as our male siblings but still our efforts were not considered to be good enough. At the same time we had to persevere things like FGM, sexual harassment and violence from family and spouses. We fought tendencies of discrimination in our families and in the society to be given equal opportunities in life. We fought different social and political battles to maintain our dignities as women.

We were not happy or satisfied with the little we had, so we decided to fight for our rights. These struggles and fights in our countries of origin had consequences which made us leave and undertake dangerous journeys. Journeys in which some lost their lives while others got raped and enslaved on the way. Most of those who managed to make these journeys are living in trauma and nightmares. They are forced to live in crowded, isolated, collective homes which lack privacy and on a daily basis experience sexual assault and exploitation.

We gave the following speech at the Women’s March in Berlin, Germany in front of the Humboldt University on January 19, 2019.

All around the world we are seeing day after day how millions of women* are taking to the streets saying enough is enough, showing the world women*’s power. Women* are fighting for their rights in all front lines, from big demonstrations like Women’s March, 8 March women strike or Women Wall. We refugee women* we resist every day to deportations, racism, sexism and discrimination in lagers, in offices, in houses and on the streets.

Women* are farmers, doctors, students, professors, hairdressers, drivers, coaches, secretaries, old, middle age and young, with and without papers. Women* are diverse, different, multiple, have different voices and colors but united are unbeatable.

As refugee women* we came here to stay and we fight for our rights as women and the discriminating asylum laws which threatens our stay.

We fight for freedom of movement, racism and sexism; adversities which are following us from our countries of origin, on our long dreadful journeys and in our host countries. We do not forget that most of our flight reasons are man-made calamities like war, bad governance and poverty incited by the so called “developed countries”.

Many of us lose our lifes on our flight journeys due to the European “border” closing policies. We expect effective human justice to all those who have lost and are losing their life’s at European borders, in the Mediterranean sea, those committing suicides in lagers due to depressions and traumas.

We, refugee women*, together with solidarity activists are building a history of bridging the refugee movement and the feminist movement, with the intention of ending racism, sexism and discrimination.

Women have been voting for a 100 years and still our voices don`t count! ” aren`t we women”?

We will continue to empower refugee women* to understand their rights and advocate for themselves.

We won’t give up, we will fight until freedom comes and we will be joyful rebels.

Right to come, right to stay, right to go!!