Book launch and seminar: Gendered Experiences of Genocide: Anfal Survivors in Kurdistan- Iraq

Please come and join us  in the celebration of 4 years of Dr Choman Hardi’s hard work.

Speaker: Dr Choman Hardi

Date/time: 23^rd April 2011 @ 6 p.m.

Venue:  Rivercourt Methodist Church, Kings Street Hammersmith W6 9JT, Tel: 02087411348, Nearest Station: Ravenscourt Park

Organised by KSSO and Kurdish Association

A summary of the book will be presented and then copies of the book will be available for signing.

This book examines Kurdish women’s experience of destruction, gassing, forced displacement, the disappearance of loved ones, and incarceration during the Anfal campaign. It explores the survival strategies of these women in the aftermath of genocide. By bringing together and highlighting women’s own testimonies, Choman Hardi reconstructs the

Anfal narrative in contrast to the current prevailing one which is highly politicised, simplified, and nationalistic. It also addresses women’s silences about sexual abuse and rape in a patriarchal society which holds them responsible for having been a victim of sexual violence.

Reviews of the book:

‘Gendered Experiences of Genocide is a valuable resource and a compelling account of Saddam Hussein’s war against the Kurds. Dr Hardi’s thorough study illuminates this under-researched subject with clarity and restraint, and her command of the facts and analysis of survivors’ narratives make for gripping reading. It is a must read for anyone interested in gender and genocide.’  Dr. Myrna Goldenberg, Independent Scholar on Gender and the Holocaust

‘Abandoned by the outside world and the international community, these women’s memories are a shuddering cry of desolation. This is a book about murder, suffering, and the illegal and terrible acts of those who had the power to decide the fate of so many. We who listen to and read these stories not only have much to learn from them; we must also strive to ensure that their urgent present day needs are met.’  Prof. Selma Leydesdorff, University of Amsterdam, Writer on the voices of the women of Srebrenica

Speaker: Ms. Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman of Kurdistan Regional Government‘s High Representative to the UK

Chair: Dr. Konrad Hirschler, Senior Lecturer in the History of the Near and Middle East, SOAS

Date/time: 20^th March 2010 at 5:00pm

Venue: G2, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (SOAS) Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG

Organised by Kurdish Studies and Students Organisation (KSSO) and Kurdish Society at SOAS (KSSOAS)

Seminar Abstract

In the 1980s, the people of Kurdistan in Iraq were under chemical bombardment, thousands of villages were being destroyed and the people were being massacred in their thousands by Saddam Hussein’s regime. Today the people of the Kurdistan Region live in a peaceful and stable environment, the number of universities has increased from one in 1991 to more than 10 today with more on the way, thousands of villages have been rebuilt and infrastructure projects undertaken. As well as having their own regional government, the Kurds hold key positions in the federal government in Baghdad. These achievements cannot be underestimated in the context of Iraq and the Middle East, however, the path has not been smooth and there are uncertainties that lie ahead of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s High Representative to the UK, will discuss the challenges ahead.

The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) University of London offers a two-week intensive Kurdish course for beginners.

SOAS offers a two-week intensive course aimed at those who wish to learn to read and write in the northern dialect of Kurdish (Kurmanji) and to acquire a basic conversational ability. Course will take place between Monday 4 April and Saturday 16 April. Interested? Then enrol NOW!!! Places are limited, so early enrolment is advised to avoid disappointment. Enrolment has now opened for two-week intensive Kurdish course. Contact SOAS at http://www.soas.ac.uk/languagecentre/languages/lwtintensiveeaster/introduction-to-kurdish-kurmanji-.html or call at 020 7898 4888

or  School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG
The fee for this 20-hour course is £280 payable in advance.

SOAS will also offer regular beginner and advance Kurdish course in September.

If you are interested in learning Kurdish Kurmanji, please apply now. SOAS language centre need 5 people to start a Kurdish class. If 5 students cannot be found then SOAS will not be able to offer this course.

Kurdish (Kurmanji) Beginners Course
A one-year course in beginners spoken and written Kurdish, at SOAS Language Centre in London

Duration: This is a one-year course with three 10-week terms

Mode of Attendance: Part Time

Description
The aim of the course is to provide a thorough introduction to contemporary Kurdish. By the end of the course, students will have covered basic grammatical constructions and acquired an essential working vocabulary allowing them to communicate within a limited range of situations in which learners are likely to find themselves. The language is presented together with the cultural context in which it is used so that learners are able to appreciate such things as appropriateness and linguistic etiquette when interaction takes place in the target language.

Method
The course is taught in English and Kurdish with coverage of the four skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing, and a balance between communicative activities, structure practice and grammar. Class size is limited to twelve to allow for close involvement.

Assessment for Course Placement
If you are not a complete beginner, you need to take an assessment in order for SOAS to place you on the course that is the most suitable for your language learning needs.

Fees for this Course
The fee for each ten week term is £255 payable in advance

For further details, including terms and conditions, required materials and how to apply, please visit the following page:

http://www.soas.ac.uk/programmes/prog14152.html

Contacting the SOAS language centre

Visiting address:
22 Russell Square, London WC1 – just around the corner from SOAS main buildings.

Office hours:
Monday to Friday 10am to 6.45pm
Saturday 9.30am to 12.30pm

E-mail: languages@soas.ac.uk
Telephone: UK: 020 7898 4888 World: +44 20 7898 4888
Fax: UK: 020 7898 4889 Int: +44 20 7898 4889
Post: The Courses Secretary, SOAS Language Centre, School of Oriental and African Studies, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London, WC1H 0XG

Researchers at London Metropolitan University have published a report on key findings of their research on the social and economic lives of Kurdish migrants in London

According to the report entitled “Diaspora, work, employment and community. A report on Kurdish workers in London” Workers from Kurdish community in the UK face an advice crisis that can ruin their lives, a study by the Working Lives Research Institute shows. (The report is available for download http://www.workinglives.org/londonmet/fms/Kurdish%20Diaspora__work__employment_and_community.pdf )

Researchers found that people facing bullying, racism, withholding of pay and even violence and sexual harassment, were unable to get practical help and advice in particular the lack of English language skill amongst first-generation Kurdish workers cause ‘exploitive community solidarity’ in the ‘ethnic economy’ where the long work hours (up to 72 hours), lack of holiday entitlements, low payment without any proper contract, overtime, sick pay or holiday pay become normalised. Outside the ‘ethnic economy, Kurdish workers are at a greater disadvantage in the labour market as a result of prejudice, racism, xenophobia, ethnic penalties.

Finding useful employment advice from sources other than trade unions was very difficult – very few workers interviewed know about or used government or voluntary sector advice available online or by phone.

When advice was available – from the Citizens Advice Bureau or law centres – there were problems with access, restricted opening hours and ineligibility for legal aid.

While workers talked about the using Kurdish community advice services for issues of immigration, housing and language, this was not really the case for employment problems due to lack of the lack of specialist employment advisors in advice surgeries and other issues

Workers who approached ‘no-win-no-fee’ solicitors could be asked for £2,000 up front or were pressed to settle their case so that the solicitors’ fees would be paid.

Researchers found that people experiencing problems at work want to talk through the details of their problem and to have someone represent them in dealings with managers.

Dr Jane Holgate, who coordinated the research, said: “The research showed how the problems that people face at work can have a serious impact on their personal lives in terms of ill-health, unemployment and poverty.

“The consequences for companies in terms of increased costs and for wider society in terms of picking up the pieces is much greater than most people perhaps realise.

“The lack of support for employment problems is a serious issue. Current advice agencies are seriously underfunded and this is likely to get worse because of forthcoming cuts.

“If the Big Society is to be meaningful, resources need to be directed at community level to provide the advice and support that is needed. Trade unions and voluntary sector organisations are best situated to protect the interests of workers.

“Some of our interviews revealed bullying, racism, withholding of pay and even violence. Yet many of these workers had no place to turn when they desperately needed help and advice.

“A number had developed mental health problems and others had lost their jobs.

For some, trade unions were able to provide the help they needed, but many interviewees did not have unions at their workplace and voluntary sector organisations like Law Centres and Citizens Advice were unable to provide employment advice. Trade union membership is very low amongst the Kurdish workers interviewed and only nine interviewees held union cards.

If the Big Society is to be meaningful, then resources need to be directed at community level to provide the advice and support that is needed. Trade unions and voluntary sector organisations are best situated to protect the interests of workers as they are positioned where local people can reach them

The research focused on ethnic groups in three London boroughs: Kurds in Hackney, South Asians in Ealing and Black Caribbeans in Lambeth.

Researchers conducted in-depth interviews with 185 people – 100 individually and 88 in16 focus groups. They represented a fair cross-section in terms of age, sex and type of work.

One aspect of the research was the use of photography to express the sense of collective identity in the groups surveyed. Some images might are available at: http://www.workinglives.org/research-themes/wlri-project-websites/$-emraw/photos.cfm

For more information contact

Dr Jane Holgate
Work and Employment Relations DivisionLeeds University Business SchoolMaurice Keyworth BuildingUniversity of Leeds LS2 9JTemail: j.holgate@leeds.ac.uk

Sociologist Beşikçi and Lawyer Şimşek on Trial

Sociologist Beşikçi faces imprisonment because of an article written for the Contemporary Lawyers Association magazine. Magazine official Şimşek is also in the dock. The trial will start on 28 July.

Erol ÖNDEROĞLU

hukuk@bianet.org

Istanbul – BİA News Center

02 July 2010, Friday

The Istanbul Public Chief Prosecutor opened a trial against sociologist İsmail Beşikçi under charges of “spreading propaganda for the PKK”, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party. The charges are based on an article Beşikçi wrote for the Contemporary Law and Society magazine, the publication of the Istanbul Branch of the Contemporary Lawyers Association (ÇHD).

Beşikçi and also the editorial manager of the magazine, Zeycan Balcı Şimşek, are each facing prison sentences of up to 7.5 years because of the article entitled “The right of nations to self determination and the Kurds”.

First hearing on 28 July

The trial against Beşikçi and Şimşek will start on 28 July at the Istanbul 11^th High Criminal Court.

Istanbul Public Prosecutor Hakan Karaali pressed charges against Beşikçi on the grounds of the following statement: “The Kurds pay the price for a 200-year struggle for freedom and for a free fatherland. [...] Syria, Iran and Turkey govern the Kurds with oppression and cruelty. [...] The states that jointly kept the Kurds under oppression could always unite politics, ideology, military force and diplomatic power against the Kurds. This joint governance did not render law and justice. To the contrary, it very clearly crushed and offended a sense of law and justice. The resistance against this oppression and cruelty appears to be a legitimate right. [...]” The indictment was prepared on 11 May.

Beşikçi was also prosecuted for his article entitled “We did not talk, we were oppressed” published in the “Popular Culture Dark” magazine in December 2005. He was tried together with magazine owner Ferzende Kaya and editorial manager Mehmet Ali Izmir. The case was dropped by prescription.

İsmail Beşikçi released from prison upon conditional amnesty

In the 1990s, sociologist Beşikçi was facing imprisonment of more than 100 years for articles about the Kurdish question published in the Özgür Gündem newspaper and for books published by Yurt Publishing.

Most of his books were forbidden. Beşikçi was in jail for many years before he was released under the Conditional Amnesty Act no. 4304. According to this law, prosecutions and punishments related to crimes committed before 12 July 1997 shall be suspended if no criminal offences are committed within five years. (EÖ/VK)

On the 30th of May, 2010, Vera B. Saeedpour, a longtime friend to and scholar  on the Kurdish nation died at the age of 80. She spent many years of her life dedicated to highlighting and raising awareness of the plight of the Kurdish nation in the Middle East, as well as helping to preserve Kurdish culture through the establishment of a library and museum.

In 1981 the first Kurdish Program in the United States was established in New York City by Vera Beaudin Saeedpour, widow of Homayoun Saeedpour, a Kurd from Sanandaj in Iran, with the aim of informing Americans of the existence and plight of his people, the fourth largest ethnic group in the Middle East. Initially operating under the aegis of Cultural Survival Inc., the Program subsequently established the Kurdish Heritage Foundation of America solely to support the Kurdish Library and Museum.

Amanj S. Yarwaessi

Scholar and Archivist of the Kurdish Culture, Dies at 80

By DOUGLAS MARTIN Published: nytimes, June 7, 2010

Vera Beaudin was newly divorced and a recent arrival in Harlem when a
stranger knocked on her door one night carrying flowers and coffee cake. She
fell in love, married and learned about the plight of his oppressed people.

When he died five years later, Ms. Beaudin, who had taken her new husband’s
name, Saeedpour, responded by starting the first library and museum in the
United States dedicated to Kurds, an ancient, stateless people straddling
three nations in southwest Asia.

She did this in a Brooklyn brownstone where five or six cats and a dog or
two prowled and where people rented rooms on the upper floors. Soon,
scholars, journalists, government officials, homesick Kurds and the just
plain curious were beating a path to her door.

“I’m dealing with the whole world from this brownstone,” Ms. Saeedpour said
in an interview with The Associated Press in 1988. “I’m like an old lady
holding fast to a balloon that’s going up in the sky.”

Ms. Saeedpour (pronounced sah-EED-por) died at age 80 on May 30 in
Schenectady, N.Y., not far from the Victorian house she had recently moved
into in Fort Plain, N.Y. Her daughter, Rebecca Beaudin, said she had died of
a heart attack.

Ms. Saeedpour had planned to move her library and museum to her new home,
but now the fate of her collection – more than 2,000 texts in Kurdish and
other languages as well as artifacts, costumes, ancient maps and artworks -
is uncertain. So is the future of the two journals about Kurdish concerns
she started, edited and published.

When Ms. Saeedpour opened the library in 1986, The New York Times quoted a
Kurdish scholar at Columbia University about the event’s importance. He
asked to be identified by his pen name, Samande Siaband, because he feared
reprisals against his relatives in Iraq and Iran.

“It is extremely important to have a center of Kurdish research because our
people are politically fragmented and our culture is threatened with
extinction,” he said.

In 2003, Lokman I. Meho, a Kurdish scholar and an archivist now at the
American University in Beirut, told The Times, “People from all over the
world doing research on Kurds and Kurdistan get in touch with Vera.”

There are libraries and museums dedicated to Kurds in Britain, France and
Sweden, but Ms. Saeedpour’s is often called the only one in the United
States.

Kurds live mainly in Iran, Turkey and Iraq, where they were leading
opponents of the regime of Saddam Hussein and now control an autonomous
region.

“What’s a Kurd?” was Ms. Saeedpour’s first response when she learned her
husband-to-be was one, The Associated Press reported.

A little more than a decade later, she said. “I know the Kurds better than
any Westerner living.”

Vera Marion Fine was born on March 27, 1930, in Barre, Vt., where her father
made a living collecting and selling scrap rags and metal. At 17, she eloped
with Marcel Beaudin. They moved to Brooklyn, where he studied architecture
at Pratt Institute and she worked in a bakery and as an assistant to a
professor.

They had four sons, in addition to their daughter: Marc, Paul, Adam and Jeb.
All survive Ms. Saeedpour, as do two grandchildren.

When Ms. Saeedpour was about 40, she entered the University of Vermont,
where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in sociology and stayed on
to earn a master’s in philosophy. When she and Mr. Beaudin were in the
process of divorcing, she left for New York to enroll in Teachers College,
where she earned a Ph.D. in 1976.

While at Columbia, her apartment in Harlem was robbed. She saw a man in the
window of a nearby building and shouted at him, asking if he had seen anyone
escaping down her fire escape. The man was Homayoun Saeedpour, then 26. He
would soon knock on her door, carrying gifts.

By 1981, Mr. Saeedpour had leukemia and needed a bone marrow transplant. Ms.
Saeedpour was able to get some of his family members out of Iran to donate
marrow, but a doctor, mistaking her husband for a Persian, would not perform
the procedure, according to several reports. He said he had a friend who was
held hostage in Iran. Mr. Saeedpour soon died.

Ms. Saeedpour had already learned much about Kurdish suffering from long
talks with her husband. These shared emotions became the foundation of their
relationship.

“We had nothing in common except a sadness, maybe,” she said in 1991. “Sort
of a mystical sadness.”

The year her husband died, she started what she called the Kurdish Program
with the help of anthropologists at Harvard. An inspiration was her
increasingly strong Jewish faith and comparisons she made between the
Kurdish experience and the Holocaust.

The library came in 1986; the museum opened in 1988, and began regular
exhibitions. Admission was free, but by appointment. In 1991, Ms. Saeedpour
began a foundation to help finance her efforts.

Last year, in an interview, Ms. Saeedpour more or less summed up her life.
She said, “Nothing that happens to normal people happens to me.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/08/nyregion/08saeedpour.html

Work opportunities

There are currently four volunteer positions available at Roj Women’s Association.

Volunteer Titles: Counsellor / Adviser

Project – Professional advice and counselling services for Kurdish women facing gender or honour-based violence

FEMALE APPLICANTS ONLY. Section 7 (2) of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 applies to all these posts.

Roj Women’s Association provides culturally sensitive advice as well as individual psychological support for Kurdish women who face gender and honour-based violence.

The uniqueness of this project resides in the integral nature of the services provided which unite advice and casework as well as psychological counselling while focusing solely on women’s issues. Another singularity is the fact that our advisesr and counselors are fluent speakers in languages relevant to Kurdish women such as Kurdish dialects – Kurmanci, Zazaki and Sorani –,or Turkish, as well as English speakers, which allows us to break through user’s isolation.

Time commitment: Three hours per week (Monday to Friday)/ 12 months

Description of the post:

We are recruiting four female volunteers to work with us in providing culturally sensitive advice and psychological support for Kurdish women who face violence.

As an advice worker you will provide impartial and confidential advice to our clients on a wide range of issues (debt, housing, employment, welfare, immigration) including violence against women. You will research individual cases, assess problems and identify possible courses of action, guide clients to decide on the best course of action, mediate on their behalf, refer clients to other sources of help and keep up to date with appropriate legislation and policies.

As a counsellor, you will help users to explore feelings and emotions related to their experiences with violence. You will establish a relationship of trust and respect with clients, helping them towards a deeper understanding of their problems and to make choices regarding possible ways forward.

What you will be gaining from this position:

The volunteer will gain free training and career development with the support of a training analyst, an experienced counsellor.

The training, that would comprise three courses for each volunteer will provide volunteers with specialized tools and knowledge to work with victims of domestic violence and in particular with victims of honour-based violence and forced marriage. A training analyst will follow up on volunteers’ work and will act as a mentor.

We can provide valuable working experience that will improve your chances of getting a job and you will receive a letter of recommendation on completion of your volunteering. Voluntary work is unpaid, although travel and lunch expenses are provided.

Essential Skills

• Interest and commitment to women’s rights;
• Willing to gain experience in counselling and advising victims of violence against women;
• Excellent spoken and written Kurdish (any dialect) and fluent English;
• Graduate or student in final year of Counseling / Psychology Degree (applicable to Counselor Volunteer Post)
• Graduate or student in final year of Law / Advice Studies (applicable to Advice Volunteer Post)
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills;
• A caring, sympathetic and sensitive manner and a non judgmental attitude;
• Ability to cope with stress and emotionally-charged issues;
• Tact and diplomacy to deal with sensitive and confidential information;
• Ability to liaise with other professionals and organizations.

To apply for this position, please submit CV and cover letter by 5pm on Wednesday 5th January 2011 to rojwomen@gmail.com.

The well known Kurdish stand up comedian Murat Batgi will perform in Lodnon on June 4th and 5th  at the ART ZONE.

KSSO   promotes and strongly recommends  you   this unmissssable stand-up comedy.

Venue: THE ART ZONE

54-56 The Market Square, Edmonton Green  London N9 0TZ

Date and time: 4th and 5th June 2010 @ 19:30

For general information on Eurovision Song Contest click on to http://www.bbc.co.uk/eurovision/contestants/ycny_2010/

For information on Esma Akkilic please go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/eurovision/contestants/ycny_2010/contestant_esma.shtml

It will be great if as many people as possible can tune in to BBC1 on Friday 12th March at 8:30pm and votes for Esma.