“The Kurdish revolution faces great challenges going forward. But the revolutionary forces have already made history. Their project of Democratic Confederalism, with its emphasis on direct democracy against the state, multicultural accommodation, gender emancipation and social ecology, inspired people across the globe. At a time when the future of humanity and life on the planet…
Tag: Kurds
“Statement of the Internationalist Commune on the Agreement between self-administration and the Syrian state”
“It is important to reemphasize once again that nothing changes in the political administration within northeastern Syria with this agreement. The revolution has its own principles, and these are not negotiable; not with the US, Russia or the Syrian regime.”
James L. Gelvin: “Turkish attack on Syria endangers a remarkable democratic experiment by the Kurds”
‘The key to understanding the Rojava project, as those involved often refer to it, is the notion of “confederalism.” In this form of government, local units – in this case, Kurdistan’s “autonomous regions” – come together in a federation yet retain a great deal of autonomy.’
“Resistance in Rojava”
“The people of Rojava in northern Syria—both Kurdish and Muslim—were at the front of the struggle to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), sustaining thousands and thousands of casualties in the course of years of warfare. As soon as ISIS was beaten, the US government tricked the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) into…
“Voices of Bakur” (film)
“‘Voices of Bakur‘ looks at the Kurdish movement in Bakur, Northern Kurdistan. It focuses on the period of 2015-2016, when more than a dozen Kurdish towns within the southeastern borders of Turkey declared autonomy from the Turkish state.”
“Raqqa on the way to a new future”
“Following the liberation of the northern Syrian city of Raqqa under the leadership of the YPJ (Women’s Defense Units) in October 2017, the city’s administration was handed over to the Civilian Council.”
“Resistance is Life: Welcome to the Commune”
“The Kurdish people have gone to great efforts to make their revolution an open one, to give both international fighters and civilian internationalists like us the opportunity to come here and learn, and develop the connections we need if we are to form a new internationalism with its roots here in the cradle of civilisation.”
Cihad Hammy: “The first commune in Kobane: construction and challenges”
“Despite the challenges and shortcomings of the commune system in Rojava- North Syria, it still remains the best model in Syria that relatively offers the only space for peace, feminism, coexistence and democracy.”
Mathew Little: “Democratic Revolution in Rojava”
“By making stronger connections with activists working at the base level of democratic confederalism; for example the communes, co-operatives and women’s organisations, we can broaden our understanding and begin to forge genuine solidarity and also generate ideas and inspiration for our own movements.”
Davide Grasso: “Democratic confederalism in Rojava: Has revolution eliminated the state?”
“The Kurdish movement challenges the state at a conceptual level before the historical: the notion of the state appears here in relation to a way of organising the institutions rather than to the very existence of the institutions; it’s above all a way of thinking of its function.”