For one brief shining moment, it seems, we had Rojava.
There have been many articles here on DK this morning about the inevitable genocide of Kurds in Syria and Iraq. I haven’t seen anything yet about Rojava. When Turkey rolls into Syria, it will exterminate Rojava.
What is Rojava? It is the egalitarian, democratic, feminist ecological confederacy within Syria, as Wes Enzinna wrote in his NY Times Cover story 4 years ago. The Kurds of Rojava are the ones who kicked ISiS’ butt. Nothing humiliated ISiS more than being beaten by a battalion of women.
Revolution in Rojava
The three pillars of Democratic Confederalism
WOMEN'S LIBERATION
No free society without free women: the millenia-long fight against the oppression of women is at the heart of the struggle of the Kurdish liberation movement. Women were the first slaves of humanity. Their enslavement and the emergence of the first forms of domination and exploitation paved the way for the development of hierarchical systems in human societies. Any movement beyond exploitative and oppressive systems will necessarily come through the release of women.
ECOLOGY
The domination and exploitation of nature followed the emergence of hierarchies between humans. The relationship of a society with its natural environment depends on the way it is organized and the mentalities that accompany its ways of producing and distributing goods. There can therefore be no solution to ecological problems without social change. The destruction of our planet is largely caused by a criminal economic order that favours a small number and that survives only by uncontrollable growth and unbridled exploitation. In order to build a society in harmony with nature, we must first get rid of the entire system of oppression and exploitation between humans.
GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY
Democratic confederalism rejects the model of the nation-state, which has proved incapable of increasing the freedom of the peoples. Instead, it proposes democratic organization from below. The basic unit is the communes and the free confederation between them. Decisions are taken by the people at popular assemblies, neighborhoods or villages, through the system of direct democracy.
Sarah Lazarus had a recent article on CNN, “Women. Life. Freedom. Female fighters of Kurdistan.”
"Between March 2015 and December 2016, Hamad made three trips to Iraqi Kurdistan and the Kurdish-controlled region of Rojava in northern Syria to meet -- and photograph -- the women behind the guns."
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"Diljin told Hamad that she is fighting for women's rights. According to Hamad, many of the fighters are waging war on the patriarchy -- as well as enemy combatants."
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"Hamad says that women's liberation is deeply rooted in PKK ideology. [Abdullah] 'Ocalan has stated that 'the land cannot be free when women are not free,'' she says. "Even from his Turkish jail cell he is sending the women mental ammunition for their emancipation."
It is that PKK ideology that Turkey fears most. Ocalan, long ago, was a leader of Stalinist guerillas at war with Turkey. In prison, he asked his lawyers for books by political theorists, and became taken with the work of a Bronx Jew named Murray Bookchin, who was then living in obscurity in Burlington, Vermont. [disclaimer: I was both a student and friend of Bookchin for the last 25 years of his life]. He had the people of Rojava base their Revolution on the 3 pillars, above.
So when you hear about how the Turks want to destroy the PKK, they want to destroy Rojava.
So it is not just genocide of people. It is the destruction of the Revolution, ofi deas put in practice, which allied with the United States to destroy the ISiS caliphate.
Up top I have the picture of a book: Make Rojava Green again.
What is it about the social structures of Rojava that so inspires the fierce loyalty of its defenders and its people? This book answers that question. In language that bridges the Utopian and the concrete, the poetic and the everyday, the Internationalist Commune of Rojava has produced both a vision and a manual for what a free, ecological society can look like. In these pages you will find a philosophical introduction to the idea of social ecology, a theory that argues that only when we end the hierarchical relations between human beings (men over women, young over old, one ethnicity or religion over another) will we be able to heal our relationship with the natural world.
Debbie Bookchin
You can see the book, and actually read it, here.
Make Rojava Green Again is an excellent book. Written comprehensively, it effectively outlines the fundamental causes of the climate crisis we currently face across the world. In simple terms, it sets out the fundamentals of the theory of ‘Social Ecology;’ that domination of human over human, and capitalist modernity in its infinite drive for growth are responsible for ecological breakdown. Most importantly, this book serves as a profound manifesto of hope for those of us who are fearful for the future of this world. Surrounded by enemies on all borders, and torn by war, the international commune in Rojava still labours to restore the integrity of its ecology and natural environment; this surely is a source of inspiration and it shows that everywhere, in liberated societies, we may hope to preserve the natural fabric of our world.
Tim Lewes
The question is, will this be a work of nostalgia? Will this be a work of what once was, a long time ago, when we dust it off many years from now?
Make Rojava Green Again offers a positive vision of the ongoing social revolution taking place in the area. At a moment when the launch of Extinction Rebellion suggests that a resurgent ecology movement is appearing at home, these under-reported initiatives are a great inspiration. Given the immense scale of the ecological challenges facing us, it is often difficult to know where to concentrate efforts. So here are two suggestions. First, your own community, and second, global solidarity initiatives such as this one! This book will help to raise the profile of some hopeful green shoots of change. To give the final word to the Internationalist Commune for Rojava: ‘Rojava needs us, but even more we need Rojava’.
Steve Hunt
More important than that, can we make Rojava Green Again, or will it be drenched red with its own blood?
Blood which will be on our hands.