// An Illustrated Talk by Author and Translator Janet Biehl

Graduation day at the women’s academy in Raqqa, a place where ISIS once sold women it captured as sex slaves. Janet Biehl in back row center wearing scarf.

During the war against the Islamic State (from 2014), the U.S.-led coalition coordinated with Kurdish-led ground forces to defeat ISIS in Syria and Iraq. Almost unreported in U.S. media, those Kurdish fighters represented a new society in northeastern Syria that, since 2012, had been advancing gender equality, religious and ethnic inclusivity, and bottom-up democracy.

This astonishingly progressive revolutionary project, which continues to this day, was inspired in great part by the writings of a Jewish Vermonter, the late Murray Bookchin (d. 2006). His close friend and colleague Janet Biehl tells the story.

Recommended pre- or post-talk article from the HuffPost:

The valiant fighters of the YPJ, the Women’s Protection Units, who helped defeat ISIS in Syria in 2014-2019. Janet Biehl is in the center of the back row.

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About OZ’s Lunch and Learns:

Speakers cover a wide range of topics. A delicious lunch will be offered, which is served promptly at NOON. The talks begin at about 12:15pm and end no later than 1:15pm (including some time for Q&A).

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