THE KURDS

I've always romanticized The Kurdish people. Probably because they're an ethnic group without a country that has never given up fighting for their land since white Westerners created the arbitrary boundaries of The Middle East and left The Kurdish territory divided among several nations. And because they are more democratic, including socially, respecting women in ways most other Middle Eastern countries do not. Some of their most famous warriors and leaders, even now, are women.

Yet in recent times the democracies of Europe and the USA have sided most often with the repressive authoritarian misogynist Islamic countries against the Kurds in their struggle for a homeland, with the few exceptions being when we need them to fight for us, like against Saddam Hussein or more recently ISIS. And now that they've helped, even led, in the defeat of ISIS, once again we're abandoning them. This time to the Turks, who have been waging a war against The Kurds for decades, including trying to wipe out their language and customs in the Kurdish parts of Turkey.

Ack.