An international meeting was held in Bogotá to expand the global women’s and feminist movement. The goal was to discuss alternatives to the intertwined forces of capitalism, colonialism, and patriarchy, which are devastating our bodies, forests, and rivers under the guise of progress. Niloofar Golkar reports.
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The gathering titled From Abya Yala to Kurdistan: Women Struggle Against the Destruction of Life, held in Bogotá from February 11th to 15th, 2026, had lasting effects on its participants and represented a significant step toward weaving the women’s and feminist internationalist movement. The event was the result of two years of work by various communities as part of the Women Weaving the Future network. This network is composed of internationalist autonomous communities, organizations, and groups building their lives based on anti-capitalist, anti-colonial, and anti-imperialist values and struggles – ranging from the Mapuche, Zapatistas, and Wet’suwet’en to many others across Abya Yala (Turtle Island) and Kurdistan as well as Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. This conference was organized through the initiative of indigenous and feminist movements from Abya Yala and the Kurdish Women’s Freedom Movement including internationalists.
The days were long but filled with the passion of a multitude of struggles that have been hidden from many of us working in other lands. Indigenous women’s voices are not typically amplified in mainstream media, nor in most alternative leftist platforms that generalize struggles to fit approved forms. However, the Abya Yala women’s gathering provided a space for long panels with community representatives and day-long workshops that allowed participants to dig into topics rooted in internationalist values for women and revolutionary dissidents (the term that was used by community members referring to 2SLGBTQ+ communities) in struggles left outside dominant political discourses. This space was empowering, showing us that we are many and we are everywhere.
One of the gifts of this gathering was the possibility of radical imagination and a dream for grassroots women’s internationalism, deeply rooted in democracy from below. When I decided to accompany Wet’suwet’en land defenders to the conference, I was unsure what kind of space I would encounter.
Global rise of right-wing authoritarian politics
I was still in shock from the massacre of thousands of protesters in Iran, the imprisonment of many thousands more, and the execution verdicts being issued against protesters by the Islamic Republic. I was witnessing the rise of right-wing monarchists among the people of Iran, which aligns with the global rise of right-wing authoritarian politics. The response of the anti-imperialist left in the West, on the other hand, was disappointing. They reflexively declared the mullah regime – which suffered an imperial assault in violation of international law – to be an ally in the anti-imperialist struggle. This reductionist stance further marginalized the left in Iran, who advocate for ‘No to imperialist wars and no to the regime of the Islamic Republic.’
In this political sphere, where falling into despair is common and leads to the death of radical imagination, the Bogotá gathering brought the opposite feeling: an active hope and a realization that we must connect our struggles to one another. The following paragraphs should be read as an attempt to explain how this magic happened.
Mourning the martyrs, honoring the fire
On the first day, as we entered the main space, we felt surrounded by posters commemorating those who lost their lives for the cause of free women and a free society: Berta Cáceres, Julia Chunil, Alina Sánchez-Legerén, Bety Cariño, Sakine Cansız, Rosa Luxemburg, and many more whose names I do not recall but whose sacrifices to keep the fire of struggle burning deeply touched us. The ceremony began with traditional music, followed by speeches from community and spiritual leaders from across the globe. They spoke in defense of their communities, land, territory, and the environment against capitalist, colonial, fascist and imperial forces in a beautiful collective mourning ceremony that wove together different resisting cultures. This space was much-needed, as for many of us, it is not only the voices of the living that are silenced and marginalized, but also the ceremonies of mourning and commemoration that are being criminalized.
Faced with the courage of these martyrs, the second day began with panels centered on three aspects of extractivism and colonialism in Abya Yala. First, the ways extractivism and land grabs occur through the use of force, paramilitaries, and organized crime acting on behalf of multinational corporations with the support of state policies. Second, the panels explored communal resistance against colonial forces and the similarities among them. Finally, they discussed how to strengthen our movements by weaving together a struggle for alternative worlds outside of state and corporate power.
Building a strong internationalism
The afternoon panels continued with the theme of women’s body-territory. A third panel focused on why any anti-capitalist, anti-colonial, and anti-imperialist resistance must center the resistance of women and revolutionary dissidents, as race, class, and gender are not separate modes of oppression but inherently intertwined systems that create a hierarchy of social relations. The lived experiences of the speakers, each representing their community, attested to this pattern, which repeats across different contexts in a similar form.
Amplifying this knowledge can hopefully act as a wake-up call to those fractions of the left who believe the battle against imperialism through class struggle is separate from the battle against patriarchy and for women’s liberation. These, in turn, are inseparable from the battle for the earth and territories, and the development of social relations that center communities, land, and the conditions of production and reproduction. This includes ‘more-than-human’ beings in reciprocal relationships, as opposed to centering a market and profit motive that only brings violence, destruction, and deepening class gaps while eliminating other species in the name of progress. Listening to a dozen women in each section gave many the strength to take on the responsibility of building a strong internationalism that carries the struggle on collective and diverse shoulders.
Workshops as spaces of co-constitution
The third day included day-long workshops where participants broke into eight groups, including: self-defense of the body and territory, communication as a territory of dispute, community economy, Jineolojî, health, arts and culture, knowledge and education, and democratic confederalism.
Jineolojî translates as science of women and life and is a method to revive knowledge of women and society. It is emerging from the Kurdish Women Freedom Movement, with the aim to bring women and society at the center of history and offer the needed knowledge to build up the social relations and society that values women’s knowledge and work. This form of collective and democratic building up of society also needs self-defense, that internationalism empowers this aspect too.
I attended two of these workshops. The atmosphere was the opposite of political conventions in North America or academic conferences, where people often arrive with specific agendas, individual work to discuss, or a desire to dominate the room for personal networking. Instead, these workshops and councils were spaces for critiquing concepts and methods while sharing collective experiences to co-constitute new ways of organizing and communicating that bridge the social, political, and cultural concepts of different communities.
Focusing on commonalities
The first workshop I attended in the morning was on art and culture. It began with a presentation on archives and symbols within the Kurdish Women’s Freedom Movement, specifically the symbol of Shahmaran and its importance in the creation of Jinwar, a communal village of and for women in Rojava, and its role in empowering women. The workshop continued with discussions on the importance of art in resistance, followed by somatic practices to feel the embodiment of culture in our bodies. The aim was to become conscious of our collective being and resistance. It was healing and created an intimate connection among participants through practices of support and trust-building. The art and dance aspects were nurturing, providing an experience of how our distinct physical movements are connected through practice.
The second workshop I attended in the afternoon was on democratic confederalism. Some Indigenous communities that hold anti-capitalist and ecological practices in the form of spiritual and cultural connections to the land and non-humans had issues with terms like ‘democratic’ or ‘confederalism’ used by the Kurdish Women’s Freedom Movement. However, through long hours of conversation, it became apparent that, in essence, the participants’ ideas and practices shared many similarities. While keeping diverse, rich cultural identities and deep solidarity rooted in difference at heart, the discussion lasted hours. It became clear that wordings deeply entangled in decolonial and emancipatory resistance in one geography might sound colonial in another. My takeaway was the importance of focusing on content and commonalities to weave our resistances together. This highlights the necessity of having decolonial dialogues with non-indigenous leftists in Abya Yala to build non-oppressive relationships.
No woman and revolutionary dissidents left without organization
The final statement of the conference that was drafted by a group of organizers in a way to reflect main discussions of the gathering marks a historic commitment to building a revolutionary future rooted in the alliance between Abya Yala and Kurdistan. It serves as a defiant call to arms against the ‘system of death’ the intertwined forces of capitalism, colonialism, and patriarchy that ravage our bodies, forests, and rivers in the false name of progress.
By honoring the seeds of struggle left by martyrs like Berta Cáceres and Sakine Cansız, the statement moves beyond theory into a practical commitment to weave a global network of resistance through specific axes such as health, self-defense, Jineolojî, and democratic confederalism. It rejects the erasure of memory and the commodification of ancestral knowledge, asserting that through active solidarity and radical imagination, we can cultivate food autonomy and defend our body-territories against extractive forces. Ultimately, it is an oath to continue this long-term path where our diverse cultures and struggles meet, ensuring that ‘no woman is left without organization’ as we march toward a world of life and freedom.
Jin, Jîyan, Azadî.