NEWS CENTER – These are excerpts from the book “Liberating Life: Woman’s Revolution” from Rêber APO, Abdullah Ocalan:
“In the vein of the revolution/counter revolution scheme of historical materialism, I suggest that we term the remarkable turning points in the history of the relationship between the sexes sexual rupture. History has seen two of these ruptures and, I predict, will see another in the future. In the social ages preceding civilization, the organized force of the “strong man” existed for the sole purposes of trapping animals and defense against outside danger. It is this organized force that coveted the family-clan unit that the woman had established as a product of her emotional labor. The take-over of the family-clan constituted the first serious organization of violence. What were usurped in the process, were woman herself, her children and kin, and all their material and moral cultural accumulation. It was the plunder of the initial economy, the home economy. The organized force of proto-priest (shaman), experienced elder and strong man allied to compose the initial and longest enduring patriarchal hierarchic power, that of holy governance. This can be seen in all societies that are at a similar stage: until the class, city and state stage, this hierarchy is dominant in social and economic life.
It is understandable that the strong man, whose essential role was hunting, coveted the accumulation of the matriarchal order. Establishing his dominance would yield many advantages. Organization of the power he gained through hunting, now gave him the opportunity to rule and to establish the very first social hierarchy. This development constituted the very first usage of analytical intelligence with malignant intentions; subsequently, it became systemic. Furthermore, the transition from sacred mother cult to sacred father cult enabled analytical intelligence to mask itself behind sanctity. Thus, the origin of our serious social problems is to be found in patriarchal societies that became cult-like, that is religionized, around the strong man. With the enslavement of women, the ground was prepared for the enslavement of not only children but also of men. As man gained experience in accumulating values through the use of slave labor (especially accumulating of surplus product), his control over and domination of these slaves grew.
From 2 000 BCE onward, this culture became widespread. Woman’s social status was radically altered. The patriarchal society had gained the strength to make its rule legendary. While the world of the male is exalted and seem as a hero, everything female is belittled, demeaned and vilified.
So radical was this sexual rupture, that it resulted in the most significant change in social life history has ever seen. This change concerning woman’s value within the Middle Eastern culture, we can call the first major sexual rupture or counterrevolution. I call it a counter-revolution because it has contributed nothing to a positive development of society. On the contrary, it has led to an extraordinary poverty of life by bringing about patriarchy’s stiff domination of society and the exclusion of women. This tear in Middle Eastern civilization is arguably the first step in its progressively deteriorating situation, as the negative consequences of this rupture just keep on multiplying as time goes on. Instead of a dual voiced society, it produced a single voiced, male society.
The mentality of rejecting the natural society deepened in the feudal social system. Religious and philosophical thought constituted the new society’s dominant mentality. In the same way that the Sumerian society had synthesized the values of Neolithic society into its own new system, the feudal society synthesized the moral values of the oppressed classes from the old system and the resisting ethnic groups from the remote areas into its own internal structures. The development of polytheism into monotheism played an important part in this process.
The mythological features of the mind-set are renewed with religious and philosophical concepts. The rising power of the empire is reflected in the multitude of powerless gods that evolved into an omnipotent, universal god. The culture concerning women that was developed by the monotheistic religions resulted in the second major sexual rupture. Where the rupture of the mythological period was a cultural requirement, the rupture of the monotheistic period was “the law as god commands”. Treating women as inferior now became the sacred command of god. The superiority of man in the new religion is illustrated by the relationship between the prophet Abraham and the women Sarah and Hagar. Patriarchy is now well established. The institution of concubinage was formed; polygamy approved. As indicated by the fierce relationship between the prophet Moses and his sister Mariam, woman’s share in the cultural heritage was eradicated. The society of the prophet Moses was a total male society in which women were not given any task. This is what the fight with Mariam was about.
Woman’s sexuality is seen as the most wretched evil and has continuously been vilified and besmirched. Woman, who still had an honored place in Sumerian and Egyptian societies, now became a figure of disgrace, sin and seduction. With the arrival of the period of the prophet Jesus, came the figure of Mother Mary. Although she is the mother of the son of God, there is no trace left of her former goddess-ness. An extremely quiet, weeping mother (without the title of goddess!) has replaced the mother-goddess. The fall continues. It is quite ironic that a mere woman is impregnated by God. In fact, the trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit represents the synthesis of polytheistic religions and monotheistic religion. Whilst Mary too should have been considered a god, she is seen as merely the tool of Holy Spirit.
The effect of sexism on societal development is far bigger than we assume. When analyzing the growing gap between Eastern and Western societal development, we should focus on the role of sexism. Islam’s perception of sexism has produced far more negative results than Western civilization in terms of the profound enslavement of woman and male dominance. Societal servitude is not just a class phenomenon. There is an order of subjugation which is more deeply hidden than the slave owning system itself. The softening of this truth contributes to the deepening of the system. The fundamental paradigm of society is a system of servitude which has no beginning and no end.
History, in a sense, is the history of the dominant male who gained power with the rise of classed society. The ruling class character is formed concurrent with the dominant male character.
Again, rule is validated through mythological lies and divine punishment. Beneath these masks lies the reality of bare force and coarse exploitation. In the name of honor, man seized the position and rights of woman in the most insidious, traitorous and despotic manner. The fact that, throughout history, woman was left bereft of her identity and character – the eternal captive – at the hands of man, has caused considerably more damage than class division has. The captivity of woman is a measure of society‘ s general enslavement and decline; it is also a measure of its lies, theft and tyranny. The dominant male character of society has to date not even allowed for scientific analysis of the phenomenon of woman.
The natural consequence of their differing physiques is that woman’s emotional intelligence is much stronger than man’s is. Emotional intelligence is connected to life; it is the intelligence that governs empathy and sympathy. Even when woman’s analytic intelligence develops, her emotional intelligence gives her the talent to live a balanced life, to be devoted to life, not to be destructive. As can be seen even from this short argumentation, man is a system. The male has become a state and turned this into the dominant culture. Class and sexual oppression develop together; masculinity has generated ruling gender, ruling class, and ruling state. When man is analyzed in this context, it is clear that masculinity must be killed. Indeed, to kill the dominant man is the fundamental principle of socialism. This is what killing power means: to kill the one-sided domination, the inequality and intolerance. Moreover, it is to kill fascism, dictatorship and despotism. We should broaden this concept to include all these aspects.
Liberating life is impossible without a radical women’s revolution which would change man’s mentality and life. If we are unable to make peace between man and life and life and woman, happiness is but a vain hope. Gender revolution is not just about woman. It is about the five thousand years old civilization of classed society which has left man worse off than woman. Thus, this gender revolution would simultaneously mean man’s liberation.
Instituting the Third Major Sexual Rupture against the dominant male
