LOCAL ORGANIZING, STRONGER AS WE ORGANIZE

What do we mean by local? Where is it, and where do we find it? Or are you among those who say, “Is local organizing even still relevant?” Or perhaps you are asking, “What can I do in my own local area?”

In the sense used within Mor Dayanışma’s organizing perspective, “the local” means every place where women create their living spaces, make themselves visible, and both influence and are influenced by those spaces. In terms of administrative units, the local usually refers to neighborhoods in cities, and to neighborhoods and districts in larger metropolitan areas. 

For women who want to strengthen women’s solidarity, even a few homes on the street where they live can become the starting point of local organizing. In other words, the neighborhood we live in, and every place where we spend or wish to spend our time, can become a space of local organizing where we carry forward the struggle for women’s liberation.

Why Local Organizing?

In today’s fast-paced world, it feels as if everything is slipping away from under our feet, doesn’t it? The wheels of exploitation of the patriarchal capitalist order never leave us alone, whether at home, on the streets, or at work. They want us to move even faster, to be broken apart, atomized, and disconnected from one another, sister. They want to keep us from reaching one another, coming together, holding hands, and walking shoulder to shoulder. Because they know that when we come together, we will shake the world!

And it is precisely our local spaces that become the places where we can reach one another most easily, comfortably, and powerfully. We can meet more often and think together about our struggle for women’s liberation, side by side, sincerely, and with collective strength. Although the patriarchal capitalist order tries to alienate us from one another, from nature, and from ourselves, “We have known each other for thousands of years.” We existed before this order, and we will continue to exist after it. Even if they try to confine us to buildings, gated complexes, and shopping malls that are supposedly very safe but in fact isolate us from life, we will find one another in doorway conversations, at the neighborhood market, and at the children’s daycare.

Wherever You Are, We Are There

We come together through our local organizing mechanisms to transform the places where we live with our feminist politics, to develop policies against femicides, sexual harassment, and rape, to socialize, and to expand our women’s solidarity network. In İstanbul, İzmir, Adana, Mersin, Hatay, Ankara, Balıkesir, Aydın, Denizli, Antep, and Adıyaman, our women’s assemblies in neighborhoods and districts continue to be the spaces where we carry out our work. We also continue to meet and communicate with our sisters and comrades from many other provinces, and to make our network lasting. 

If you want to grow the women’s struggle where you are and help spread Mor Dayanışma, you can get in touch with us and access our materials.