REVIEW: DOCUMENTARY CONNECTS REVOLUTIONARY FEMINIST STRUGGLES IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Some people, like PCR, says women's rights have gone too far and men are being undermined. Maybe that's true, I don't know. Some aggressive feminists are certainly over the top, but how many are there, few thousand here and there, maybe? A very tiny minority.

The dialectic process: thesis - a male dominant society; antithesis -a rise in feminism; synthesis - both male and female roles have equal value and reward in society.

I read years ago about how women often made better bosses than men because they are much better at managing people.

Those that criticise feminists for going too far should look at how women have been treated throughout antiquity. In that light, a little feminist overshoot can be understood, but maybe it's time for synthesis and harmony.

When I first read this article, I was concerned about western NGO's being behind this with ulterior motives (George Soros comes to mind). But at the end of the article the Muslim feminists say they are fiercely anti imperialist and want the West out of the ME. I hope they succeed in both their causes.

In August 2014, the women of the “Women’s Protection Units” (YPJ) captured the attention of the world when they helped rescue 50,000 people from a massacre by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in the Sinjar Mountains of northern Iraq.

The “Sinjar massacre,” as it has come to be known, represented the two extremes of contemporary life for women in the Middle East. On one hand, women were threatened with lifelong subjugation by Islamic fundamentalists. Yet, on the other hand, women picked up arms in defense of themselves and their sisters.

While the YPJ’s rescue operation in Sinjar was heralded around the world, it was perhaps most inspiring to the women of the Middle East, whose lives were restricted by patriarchy and could now see a way out.

The YPJ’s victory over ISIS was cemented in October 2017, when Raqqa, ISIS’s de facto capital in Syria, fell. It reverberated throughout the Middle East, giving renewed strength to feminist struggles across the region.

It is these connections that director Benedetta Argentieri highlights in her eye-opening new documentary, “I Am the Revolution,” which had its world premiere at the DOC NYC festival earlier this month.

“I Am the Revolution” follows three women in their home countries: Rojda Felat, commander of the YPJ in Syria; Selay Ghaffar, spokesperson for the Solidarity Party of Afghanistan; and Yanar Mohammed, founder of the Organization for Women’s Freedom in Iraq.

REVIEW: DOCUMENTARY CONNECTS REVOLUTIONARY FEMINIST STRUGGLES IN THE MIDDLE EAST