Şehîd Lêgerîn Çiya: “A Beacon of Hope for the World.”

From internationalistcommune.com

After listening to a talk in the auditorium at the University of Nariño, Alina approached us and said: “From the way the speaker talks, one can tell he has a people behind him.” She was referring to how one can tell how much someone has felt, thought, or stood beside a people by his or her words. Alina then continued, saying, “There are some people who speak only from their head, but there are others who bring a people in their words.” At that time, I did not know that Alina Sánchez had been working as a physician for the Rojava Revolution since 2011. It was only after her death, on March 17, 2018, that the group of acquaintances she made in Colombia ––including myself–– learned more about her work with the communal health system in Rojava.

It was then that we found out that people called her Lêgerîn Çiya, Lêgerîn meaning to search. The following text is an edited transcription of a talk Alina Sánchez delivered in the city of Pasto, Colombia, on June 21, 2017. First, a little context. The University of Nariño organized the International Minga Meeting for Peace, Good-Living and Non-Violence, an event dedicated to sharing experiences of struggles taking place in Kurdistan, Palestine, and Latin America. Minga comes from the Quechuan word mink’a, which means a meeting to work together, to help each other communally. Alina Sánchez, along with her friend Erol Polat, a member of the National Congress of Kurdistan, were invited to speak about the Kurdish struggle in the Middle East. Together with Isabel Solís, a K’iche’ activist and intellectual, we were invited to talk about the struggle of Maya communities in Guatemala. We met Alina practicing her Kurdish with Erol in the hotel lobby.

Read the full story on Internationalist Commune.