Meet the Women of the HDP: Gender, Resistance and Radical Democracy
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- Published on Tuesday, 23 June 2015 23:15
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A Socialist Project e-bulletin .... No. 1133 .... June 24, 2015
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Meet the Women of the HDP:
Gender, Resistance and Radical Democracy
Elif Genc
"We are women; We are youth; We are the rainbow; We are children; We are defenders of democracy; We are representatives of all identities; We are defenders of a free world; We are protectors of nature; We are builders of a safe life economy; We are workers; We are labourers; We are the guarantors of social rights."
— from the election manifesto of the HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party), declared by the co-presidents Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ.
Following a period of increased political violence in the Kurdish regions of Turkey leading up to the federal elections of 2015, the worst being a recent bombing of the HDP rally in Diyarbakir (Amed) which... left at least three people dead and hundreds wounded, there has been a watershed of party politics in Turkey. For the first time since 2002, there is evidence of the demise of Recep Tayyip Erdogan's despotic rule over the country since he was not able to form a majority government. More importantly, the radical left-wing, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), passed the threshold of 10 per cent (a barrier implemented during the 1980 military coup, with the precise purpose of keeping the Kurds out of parliament), thereby becoming the first pro-Kurdish party to enter the Turkish parliament.
Furthermore the fact that 32 out of 82 HDP members of parliament (MPs) are women marks a radical shift in the political culture of the country. The significance of this nearly trumps the actual results of the election -- or so it would appear. HDP recently has been likened to the Turkish version of SYRIZA or Podemos in their anti-capitalist platforms; however as of recently, it had essentially received no international media attention. Given that Greece and Turkey are neighbours, this oversight illustrates the euro-centric focus surrounding politics of the Left. In fact, in many respects HDP is more progressive than either of these European parties, particularly regarding women and minority rights. With roots in the Peoples' Democratic Congress (HDK), a platform composed of various groups including leftist parties, feminist groups, LGBTQ groups, trade unions and groups representing Alevis, Armenians, and other ethnic minorities, HDP aims to create an alternative radical democratic space and culture as an alternative to global capitalism and neoliberalism, regardless of race, gender or religion in Turkey.