A humanizing portrait of Kurdish resistance fighters. Unlike most of the western media speculation on Kurdish resistance fighters, this one is not a hyper-sexualized account of their female fighters and neither does it gloss over the historical and complicated context of the Kurdish freedom struggle. It sheds light on the Kurdish resistance to Turkish hegemony (also bitterly ironic how ISIS and Kurdish freedom fighters are classified in the same category: terrorists) and reorients our focus on contemporary Kurdish bravery in the face of ISIS.
It’s somewhat rare for a western vantage to be this nuanced.
>via: http://americawakiewakie.com/post/123935608201/mehreenkasana-a-humanizing-portrait-of-kurdish
Guerrilla Fighters
of Kurdistan
In March of 2015, I set off to the Kurdistan region of Iraq and Syria to begin a new personal project. In the beginning, I thought perhaps it would be a still photography trip only. But just as I left the door, I decided to grab my GoPro kit in case anything interesting happened and I could just film it myself. This is that footage.
00:00 – Intro, Joey departs NYC
01:31 – Preparation in Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan
02:15 – PKK Guerrillas in Makhmour
05:41 – Crossing the border into Syria, YPG/J Guerrillas in Rojava
07:19 – Interview with YPJ members
09:07 – Daily life on a YPG/J base and photoshoot
10:13 – Clash in Tel Tamer, dead ISIS fighters
12:38 – Interview with American YPG Fighter “Fat Jack” in Tel Tamer
13:44 – Tel Hamis liberation, guerrillas living in abandoned ISIS base
16:38 – Urban exploration of abandoned ISIS base
20:28 – Overview of humanitarian crisis on Sinjar mountain
23:10 – ISIS suicide VBIED attack inside the besieged city of Sinjar
25:14 – Funeral of YBŞ guerrilla fighter in Sinjar
26:23 – Yezidi refugees and Shingal Resistance Unit
28:37 – Outro and closing thoughts
29:19 – Funeral of British YPG soldier Konstandinos Erik Scurfield
30:38 – Credits
The photography in this video and further writing can be found at:
joeyl.com/blog/all/post/guerrilla-fighters-of-kurdistan