May 2015
ISIS Runs from Amazon Warriors.
Even if you do not know the great Greek myths about the ancient women warriors, the Amazons, whom Plato described, most of you do remember Wonder Woman, that beautiful comic book heroine who was an Amazon warrior princess. Plato's Amazons were fierce; they could fight as well as any men, and were so devoted to the art of war that they amputated their right breasts so that they could use a bow and arrow as men could. They lived communally, capturing men only to procreate, dumping male children. This is indeed a fearful sort of notion in patriarchal societies! But Greeks comforted themselves that this was only a myth from the past.
Well, dear readers, it is no longer a myth from the past. The Kurds, a modern soon-to-be nation from the same part of the world as the mythical Amazons, have resurrected the women warriors, and ISIS warriors are running from them in horror.
Kurds are descendants from the Medes, a cousin tribe of the Persians (today's Iranians), a people who live spread from the Caspian region to the Black Sea, and are divided among Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Azerbaijan. They were promised a country after World War I but were betrayed by the British nation-shapers: too much oil there.
As the nation-states that the British and French created a century ago collapse into anarchy, the Kurds are the only ones who look ready to really create and hold a true nation state. They are fighting for it, and are not only united in their fighting, but Kurdish men are supporting an amazing anomaly in the Muslim world, a completely female Army Corps fighting side by side with the men.
These women are not amateurs either. As members of the PKK, they have long been fighting the Turks, no slouches as an enemy. The US had branded them as terrorists because Turkey demanded it. But as Turkey, once our good ally, looks less good and becomes more Islamist, the PKK is starting to look more like a friend, particularly its women! They are fighting ISIS, and we are wisely funneling weapons to them.
ISIS Muslim fanatics believe that if they die in battle, they go directly to paradise where 72 virgins await them. But if a woman warrior should kill them, they go directly to hell. How lovely for the Kurdish warriors! One beauty told a reporter on CNN that the ISIS fighters' knees turn to water at the sight of them. She also said that if the women fighters are captured, they commit suicide. They would never permit these fanatics to capture, rape, or sell them into slavery.
The warrior women have been capturing and freeing women taken by ISIS last summer, ending what has been a nightmare. More and more women are joining their ranks.
What is fascinating about these women's communities are their social views. They take an oath not to marry, not to have children, not to put themselves under the control of any men in any traditional situations until they have a free country and a completely reorganized society. This smacks of a total revolution against Islamic and tribal values.
It is also fascinating to hear the kind of support that they are getting from senior Kurdish military men. The men are proud of them, are giving them the military support that they need, and are themselves commenting on how little they themselves are interested in sustaining their Islamic past.
I wonder if the Kurdish experiences with the Shiites in Iraq, in Iran with the Islamic Revolution, in Turkey with the increasing Islamization of Turkish society, as well as the persecution of Kurds, and the utter fanatical craziness of ISIS, is playing a role in turning off Kurds to Islam altogether. Could all this create a very secular Kurdish state when they create their new nation state? If it does, it will be a very good thing for the women indeed. It will make these Amazons Founding Mothers of something wonderful in the Middle East.
675 words
Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman is a historian, lecturer, and author of God's Law or Man's Law. You may contact her at Lfarhat102@aol.com or www.globalthink.net.
Well, dear readers, it is no longer a myth from the past. The Kurds, a modern soon-to-be nation from the same part of the world as the mythical Amazons, have resurrected the women warriors, and ISIS warriors are running from them in horror.
Kurds are descendants from the Medes, a cousin tribe of the Persians (today's Iranians), a people who live spread from the Caspian region to the Black Sea, and are divided among Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Azerbaijan. They were promised a country after World War I but were betrayed by the British nation-shapers: too much oil there.
As the nation-states that the British and French created a century ago collapse into anarchy, the Kurds are the only ones who look ready to really create and hold a true nation state. They are fighting for it, and are not only united in their fighting, but Kurdish men are supporting an amazing anomaly in the Muslim world, a completely female Army Corps fighting side by side with the men.
These women are not amateurs either. As members of the PKK, they have long been fighting the Turks, no slouches as an enemy. The US had branded them as terrorists because Turkey demanded it. But as Turkey, once our good ally, looks less good and becomes more Islamist, the PKK is starting to look more like a friend, particularly its women! They are fighting ISIS, and we are wisely funneling weapons to them.
ISIS Muslim fanatics believe that if they die in battle, they go directly to paradise where 72 virgins await them. But if a woman warrior should kill them, they go directly to hell. How lovely for the Kurdish warriors! One beauty told a reporter on CNN that the ISIS fighters' knees turn to water at the sight of them. She also said that if the women fighters are captured, they commit suicide. They would never permit these fanatics to capture, rape, or sell them into slavery.
The warrior women have been capturing and freeing women taken by ISIS last summer, ending what has been a nightmare. More and more women are joining their ranks.
What is fascinating about these women's communities are their social views. They take an oath not to marry, not to have children, not to put themselves under the control of any men in any traditional situations until they have a free country and a completely reorganized society. This smacks of a total revolution against Islamic and tribal values.
It is also fascinating to hear the kind of support that they are getting from senior Kurdish military men. The men are proud of them, are giving them the military support that they need, and are themselves commenting on how little they themselves are interested in sustaining their Islamic past.
I wonder if the Kurdish experiences with the Shiites in Iraq, in Iran with the Islamic Revolution, in Turkey with the increasing Islamization of Turkish society, as well as the persecution of Kurds, and the utter fanatical craziness of ISIS, is playing a role in turning off Kurds to Islam altogether. Could all this create a very secular Kurdish state when they create their new nation state? If it does, it will be a very good thing for the women indeed. It will make these Amazons Founding Mothers of something wonderful in the Middle East.
675 words
Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman is a historian, lecturer, and author of God's Law or Man's Law. You may contact her at Lfarhat102@aol.com or www.globalthink.net.