The Daughters of Kobani: A Story of Rebellion, Courage, and Justice

This is my second book by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon and both have been well researched and very good. <i>The Daughters of Kobani</i> tells the stories of female fighters, YPJ, the Kurdish Women's Protection Unit. I love that her books shine light on courageous women. It is very powerful.<br /><br />Kobani, a Kurdish majority city is located in northern Syria with its border to Turkey. In September 2014, ISIS seized parts of Kobani. I recall reading this in the news and wonder why didn't they just leave. Some did. As a matter of fact hundreds of thousands did cross into Turkey. Some who didn't make it out were stuck. ISIS snipers were on rooftops, and IED were hidden in the streets. People were stopped from fleeing and used as human shield against US airstrikes. Women were caged and sold at a market as brides. One woman was sold ten times after the man dies fighting she would be resold again. Innocent people were burned alive in cages. Beheaded. This were ISIS recruitment campaign. Then there are those who stayed and fought for freedom and retake their cities, including Raqqa. <br /><br />The YPJ are frontline combat fighters as they have no regulation to have women serve in a particular unit. They fought for women's equality, rights and freedom. They were not going to wait until the war ended. The situation was tragic and heartbreaking, at the same time I truly admire their strength, resilience and bravery. YPJ and allies took back Kobani in January 2015.

This is the story of Kurdish women who fought ISIS mainly as snipers. They did this while fighting for equal rights in Kurdish society. They are called Kurdish Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) fighters. There were outnumbered and under-equipped, but they won the battle for Kobani and later Ragga.<br /><br />The book is well written and researched. The author spent many hours interviewing the women fighters in Kobani. My only complaint is I wished Lemmon had spent more time on the stories of the women fighters and less about the Syrian Civil War. I highly recommend this book.<br /><br />Gayle Tzemach Lemon (1973- ) was an ABC journalist who became a best-selling author. Her first book was “The Dressmaker of Khain Khana” (2011). She then went on to earn an MBA from Harvard University.<br /><br />I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book was six hours and forty-nine minutes. Gayle Lemmon does a good job narrating her book.<br />

Listen to the full review at: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="https://bookclubbed.buzzsprout.com/">https://bookclubbed.buzzsprout.com/</a><br /><br />Gayle Lemmon details the efforts of the YPG--comprised of Kurdish women shirking their traditional roles and picking up guns to blast away some ISIS asshats—to secure some strip of land they can live peacefully on, fighting off waves of ISIS that no one else bothered resisting. <br /><br />This is the closest we can get to a “good vs evil” story in modern times, which we love as an audience. The trope can be simple and inspiring. We can’t have good vs. evil with American soldiers anymore because we all know what they have been complicit in, so it’s refreshing to have moral clarity still exists somewhere in the world.<br /><br />Unfortunately, we try to cover too much in 212 pages, including: the history of the Kurdish party, the many enemies they have, how they established themselves as a progressive group, the rise of ISIS, the backgrounds of these particular women, what inspired them, scattered battle scenes, and the negotiations and collaboration with the waffling US government. <br /><br />In short, a history book, when we are supposed to be reading creative nonfiction. <br /><br />Honestly, I just want to hear the stories of the female soldiers. Let them speak, Gayle. The author is clearly a journalist, not a writer. The prose is competent, but it doesn’t have the textured details, the little unimpeachable moments and scenes that transport us there. It’s a travelogue during a war.<br /><br />Really, they should have skipped the book release and made it straight into a movie, as that is undoubtedly what they are aiming for anyways.<br />

یکی دیگر از کتاب هایی که با حال و هوای این روزهای ما همخوانی دارد این کتاب است، کتابی که مبارزه دختران شجاع کوبانی با داعش را به تصویر کشیده است. <br />یاد عزیزانی که در این دوماه از میانمان پرکشیدند گرامی باد

US KURDS SAY NO. A white woman making a book about us and then allowing the Clintons to make a show about it?! Profiting off the Kurdish struggle when they wouldn’t know the first thing about it! When THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION SOLD WEAPONS TO TURKEY TO KILL KURDS AND NOW THEY WANT TO MAKE A SHOW ABOUT OUR FIGHTERS! NO, WHAT A SICK JOKE. At least allow Kurds to tell their own stories, not some white woman!

This book centres on the story of the YPJ or the Women’s Protection Units, the Kurdish women’s military force that was so vital in driving ISIS out of Northern Syria.<br />The author tells us how the YPJ came into existence and the historical/ideological basis that led to the creation of a women’s militia that played such a significant part in the fight against ISIS.<br />We are given a quick history of Ocalan, his influences and how he has influenced his Kurdish followers. <br />I remember Ocalan and the PKK from the late 1970s. Even then, while I supported their cause I was less enthusiastic about their methods. In addition, a lifelong interest in history and current affairs has taught me to be cautious about movements with a Marxist-Leninist ideology.<br />However, the views that Ocalan and his followers adhere to concerning the equality of women are quite stunning.<br />We also learn how all Kurds, adherents of Ocalan’s beliefs or not, have been oppressed and discriminated against, often violently, by Syria’s Ba’ath regime and other regimes in the region. <br /><br />This book follows the women of the YPJ as they fight to regain their country from ISIS. The fighting is dangerous and difficult, sometimes progress is made inch by inch, frequently they face booby-traps and car bombs, with ISIS fighters hiding behind human shields. The description of life under the black flag of ISIS sounds like a medieval dystopia, the accounts of their actions make me feel physically sick. <br />Despite the dangers, particularly as women fighting ISIS, the YPJ display courage, determination and skill. They earn the respect shown them by male colleagues and stand up for their belief in women’s right to equality even when the fighting is done. <br /><br />This book also reminded me of my sense of desperate futility when hearing news reports about the Yazidi trapped on Mount Sinjar, starving to death in the freezing cold while the ‘super-powers’ looked on, incapable of offering anything more than a few blankets and basic rations. It was the brave Kurds who stepped in and rescued these poor people from the ravages of the mountaintop and the savagery of ISIS. <br /><br />The US security personnel on the ground recognise the strengths of this military force and how essential they are to the fight against ISIS but the governmental support is hesitant and equivocal. <br />It is infuriating to comprehend that the US constantly refrains from showing full support for the Kurds at Turkey’s insistence. Turkey, a country that has a problematic record for its treatment of minorities and in recent years has shown little respect for free speech and other democratic values yet are given a free hand in trying to destroy a usefully ally simply because they are a member of NATO. <br /><br />The writing is clear and mostly concise. A couple of times it became bogged down in the minutiae of house to house fighting but I felt that this gave me an understanding of the frustration and stress of waging a battle in such circumstances. <br /><br />I enjoyed learning about these women and found them warm, admirable and inspiring.<br />I recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject.<br /><br />I received a copy of this book from Net Galley and Swift Press in exchange for an honest review.

Author Gayle Tzemach Lemmon tells the story of how brave women fought to drive ISIS from Kobani, their home town. As they gained sniper and military experience they were critical in driving ISIS from their headquarters in Raqqa.<br /><br />Lemmon outlines the complex and precarious position of the Kurds and how the war in Iraq and the Syrian Civil War presented new challenges for this stateless ethnic group. <br /><br />She shows how the writings of Abdullah Ocalan, branded a terrorist by Turkey, spoke to the Kurdish women. Ocalan wrote that to progress the Kurds needed to educate and allow participation of women along with men in all endeavors. His view was that the best situation for the Kurds is to attain autonomy within the countries where they live. <br /><br />There is focus on the battles and military operations. You learn how the US became involved and how and why the US left the mission.<br /><br />I appreciated the clarity this book gives to the situation of the Kurds and the role of women in the demise of ISIS but disappoints in its presentation of the women.

It brings tears to your eyes to read this historically important book documents one aspect of a very tragic development In the middle east. It is a story of women’s emancipation, of contemporary politics and of the age old betrayal of people And their ideals. As all of this happened so recently one is left with unsettling thought that there should’ve been more that we should have done as these terrible things happened while we were busy following the latest self-absorbed tweets of a narcissistic president..

The women whose stories fill this book are amazing and badass and more than deserving of having their stories on record and in the annals of history. I commend Gayle Tzemach Lemmon for wanting to bring these stories to light. However, I couldn't help but feel throughout this book that I wanted less of her pov and more of the story from the perspective of the women themselves. I wanted a deeper dive into their lives and thoughts and motivations - what made Azeema, a soldier and leader twice wounded in battle, defy the life she was meant to lead beyond the love of country and people? The question, I felt, was only answered at a surface level because the women's voices were not put front and center throughout. <br /><br />In many ways, I think this would have worked better as serialised magazine piece than a book.<br /><br />I want these stories, but deeper and from own voices.

I'm a big fan of strong female protagonists in thriller novels, but nothing beats the real thing. The Daughters of Kobani is an impressive tale featuring incredible Kurdish women commanding and fighting alongside their male counterparts to evict ISIS from their homeland. These women warriors displayed as much bravery, courage, tenacity, cunning, intelligence and righteousness on the field of battle as anyone I've ever read about throughout the history of armed conflicts. It's one thing to support the war efforts of your people, it's quite another thing to lead from the front and dispel the myth that women aren't equal to men in the military. These amazing women challenged conventional wisdom and went against their male-dominated society to simultaneously fight an armed, determined enemy and the just cause of equal rights for women. After years of horrible war with many losses, they reigned victorious in battle and in the politics of gaining rights for women. I salute these real life heroines and recommend everyone read this book. We all have a lot to learn from these incredible women.