Freedom Fighter by Joanna Palani

Author:Joanna Palani
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atlantic Books

CHAPTER NINE

Stuck in the Mountains

Ileft Kobani in September 2014, following the death of Cengiz in the battle between the two buildings, and in need of medical attention for my stomach. After a brief period recuperating in Erbil, I was back in Denmark for a total of three weeks; I came home determined to tell the world about what was happening in Kobani, starting with my government. On 28th September I went on hunger strike along with eleven Kurdish and two Danish activists, to try and raise awareness of what was happening and get my government involved in the war.

When the hunger strike was over, I went to the hospital for an operation as the pain of my swollen stomach was getting worse. My doctor wouldn’t believe that I had only been refusing food for a few days, as he said my stomach had shrunk away to nothing, and I tried to explain to him that the shrinking was not due to the hunger strike, but to the conditions inside Kobani. I am not sure he believed me, or that he had ever heard of Kobani, and I didn’t elaborate.

I spoke to journalists and told them what was happening, and I tried to tell everyone I could that they had to help us. A huge picture of my face was on the front page of the Danish newspaper Politiken. I also did a live television interview on TV2 News, one of the Danish national broadcasters, which was slightly trickier. I tried to answer the host’s questions as honestly as possible, but I couldn’t tell him I had already been on the frontline, for safety reasons. The host asked if I wasn’t afraid that the YPG and the PKK would be seen as the same, and said that the PKK was a designated terror group. I told him I thought it was really sad in a country like Denmark, where there is freedom, democracy and human rights, that we view a group who are fighting for freedom, democracy and human rights for Kurds as terrorists.

He seemed incredulous at the thought that I might hold a weapon and be a warrior, and I managed not to laugh at him as I said that I could become trained to be one. I had, by this point, already done many years of training. He wouldn’t believe that I wasn’t afraid of fighting, and accused me of trying to be a superhero. I told him I didn’t think I could make a big difference, but I could no longer watch what was happening on television and do nothing. He finished by asking me the question I have been asked my entire life: Did I feel more Danish or more Kurdish?

The feedback from my interview was mixed, and I was shocked. Lots of people said it was impossible for someone like me to be in combat, because I looked like someone who would be busy ‘having fun with men’. My family were furious, because they don’t like

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