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Generation Z was born into the digital age, and the internet has been part of their lives since day one. For this reason, Gen Z is also called the “digital Generation.” Although they have certain widely accepted general characteristics, attempting to describe them through rigid stereotypes can be misleading. Definitions that portray Gen Z solely as a group that only communicates digitally are deceptive. This generation resembles a volcanic mountain ready to erupt, with an unpredictability about when it will spring into action. That observation can be observed in the powerful actions they have already carried out around the world. They have toppled three regimes in Asia and one in both Europe and Africa. In more than 20 other countries, they have compelled governments to reform.

The superficial analyses of Gen Z produced by groups that benefit from the capitalist system—claiming that “Gen Z is individualistic,” “Gen Z is financially oriented,” that they are a “lost generation”—serve no purpose other than attempting to shape and control the new generation, just as has been done with every previous one. We must pay close attention to this. No system wants the incoming generation to disrupt its “tranquil” domination. To prevent this, it creates its own experts and academics who spread theories that discredit Gen Z, while waging special warfare through mindless Tik Tok videos, “realistic” video war games, hard drugs, and other means targeted specifically at young people to blunt their revolutionary edge.

The capitalist definitions of Gen Z reveal cynicism and fears, but many more people greet Gen Z with open arms. Decades of past struggles produced visionaries who welcome Gen Z’s energies and actions.

Characteristics and Shortcomings of Gen Z Actions

Perhaps the most important feature of Gen Z is its ability to organize extremely quickly through digital media and simultaneously to turn organization into action. Globalizing solidarity networks in a very short time, especially in many parts of Asia and the Middle East, they display fearless resistance against entrenched politicians. Unlike previous Gens, Gen Z has no single leader. They organize horizontally. Their leaderless structure makes them appear strategy-less, unplanned, and scattered, which limits their ability to achieve lasting results. Because they lack self-defense planning, they often face extreme violence. When the government changes or when the issues they protest are addressed, their dissent subsides. While a few individuals step up to exert political influence, Gen Z as a group has not generally offered alternative models for qualitative change. In Bangladesh and Nepal, a Nobel Prize winning economist and a former Chief Judge were accepted to lead interim governments. In the next part of this article, I consider the free territory in Rojava, Syria  as a genuine alternative to nation-states based upon capitalist partiarchy.

Gen Z has already proven its fearlessness by challenging governments despite enormous state violence. They have paid a high price: more than 2,000 insurgents have been killed and thousands more wounded. The most important task now standing before us is to create a livable alternative, to move from rebellion to revolution. Whenever insurgencies compel governments to retreat or reform, similar regimes inevitably return. Over time they develop corrupt and  anti-democratic practices. For Gen Z’s struggles to truly transcend capitalist modernity, it is crucial to have an alternative model of life. Anarchism, feminism, national liberation movements, Marxism, Leninism, Maoism, and previous episodes of class struggles have created a tremendously important history of resistance. Yet Gen Z — one of the major forces of resistance in the new century — needs a 21st Century orientation to make their gains permanent and sustainable. One-dimensional or ideologically “correct” perspectives fragment the movement rather than creating the necessary transformation of existing systems. Facing a multitude of problems, Gen Z needs a holistic system that can shed light on all problems and develop collective solutions.

It is vitally important that Gen Z develops a perspective that takes women’s liberation, class consciousness, grassroots democracy, and an ecological worldview as its foundations. Today, many left and socialist movements lack a strategic approach to women’s liberation. Without resolving patriarchal oppression, no radical solution is possible. Similarly, ecology either has no place or only a very limited place in the ideology of many organizations, even though the pollution and gradual destruction of nature is currently one of the world’s most critical problems.

Against capitalism’s effort to create an individualistic society in which people stay away from social issues and focus on “individual” problems, Gen Z can overcome incessant capitalist assaults by building its own communal culture. To do so requires a radical break from customary everyday life. If Gen Z truly wants a freer society, it must begin with itself. To do that, a radical rupture from the life offered by capitalist modernity is necessary. We must take a stand against the system’s materialist personalities and imposed gluttonous consumer habits, and we must overcome the values that treat women merely as commodities.

Gen Z’s Alternative in Rojava

Since 2012, diverse peoples from northern and eastern Syria have come together in Rojava to build exactly the kind of society we need. Although it began as a Kurdish majority region, today Rojava contains a mix of Muslim Kurds, Syrian Christians, Assyrian Christians, Armenian Christians, Yazidis, Turkmen, Muslim Chechens and even atheists. A total of around three million people live harmoniously within a political framework that strives to ensure everyone’s rights are protected, women have equal representation in all organizations, and ecology is a basic principle. 

An estimated 40 to 50 million Kurds in the world are divided by Syria, Iraq, Iran and Turkey. Although they lack a nation-state, Kurds have built a variety of political organizations in the four countries where they live. Creatively navigating an international constellation of forces seeking to control them, Kurds became the main ally of all forces who oppose the Islamic State (ISIS). In a region where despotic dictatorships and religious exclusivity reign, Kurds provide a refreshing alternative of diversity, tolerance and free association.

The Rojava Revolution has emerged as an alternative organizational model to nation-states. The Rojava experience is the concrete embodiment of “Democratic Confederalism” — the democratic, women-liberationist, and ecological paradigm developed by the leader of the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan. This system embodies the paradigm of freedom in an alternative in every aspect of life. Youth, women, all religions, and all languages are free to organize in their own specific ways and live together freely. Although Öcalan and the PKK originally fought for a nation-state, today they have changed both tactics and that goal: they believe in creating liberated democratic confederations similar to the Zapatista caracoles in which people can live freely.

Nation-states are fundamentally militaristic, nationalist, sexist, and religious. Governments have made people dependent on the state in matters of security, administration, and basic needs such as water and food. Democratic confederalism is an alternative created to oppose dependency, and it is an alternative to the nation-state itself. The goal of this system is the liberation of economy, culture, politics, and every dimension of social life—and to develop necessary self-defense to protect hard-won freedoms. The basic organizational forms of confederalism are academies, cooperatives, assemblies, and communes.

Academies play a strategic role in the formation of the educational system. Cooperatives in which members share responsibilities and reap the products of their labor is another fundamental organizational tool to protect society from giant monopolies and establish enterprises owned communally. People have organized themselves into communes and assemblies in every city, every village, and every neighborhood to solve their own problems together in solidarity with one another.

Nation-states monopolize all means of defense in order to control society. That is why self-defense is one of the foundational elements of democratic confederalism. All civilian and political organizations are built from the grassroots. Over more than  a decade of repelling attacks by ISIS and other Islamists as well as Erdogan’s Turkish army and air force,  more than 11,000 Rojava communards have lost their lives. Many more Iraqi Kurds have also been killed by regimes there.

Internationalist revolutionary youth from many countries of the world (England, Spain, Italy, Greece, Germany, USA, and others) came to Rojava to embrace the Rojava revolution against the threat posed by ISIS. In 2015, the Internationalist Freedom Battalion was formed by Marxist-Leninist, Maoist, and anarchist fighters from outside Syria. Beginning on June 10, 2015, they arrived to support the People’s Protection Units (YPG) against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in the Rojava War. Inspired by the International Brigades of the Spanish Civil War, at least 300 international fighters were also killed in the fighting. Most of the militias fought under the umbrella of the YPG before forming into other groups such as the Internationalist Freedom Battalion. Foreigners also helped to create the Rojava Information Center (https://rojavainformationcenter.org).

So, what is the history of the Rojava Revolution?

The Rojava Revolution

Just when Gen Z was being born, popular uprisings that began in Tunisia at the end of 2010, spontaneously spread across the Middle East, and became known as the “Arab Spring,” which reached Syria on 15 March 2011. The greatest success of the uprising that turned into a bloody civil war in Syria was the Rojava Revolution. Syrian Kurds neither took the side of the Baath regime nor the gangs formed against it. Choosing the Third Way, the Kurds led the “Spring of the Peoples” with the understanding of a “democratic nation.” Ultimately, they formed the basis of today’s Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

To demonstrate their determination for revolution, Syrian Kurds established the Democratic Society Movement (TEV-DEM) and the People’s Council of Western Kurdistan (MGRK) to form their own political unity in the face of attacks from both the regime and the forces described as “opposition.” Originally launched in northern and eastern Syria, Friday marches were held across the country. Following these protests, basic services previously run by the Assad regime were taken over by popular assemblies. In Afrin, language courses in Kurdish, a banned language in Turkey and Syria, were opened. For the first time, Kurdish children enrolled in primary and preparatory schools and received education in their own language.

The People Seize Power

On July 18, 2012, a meeting in Damascus, the capital of Syria, was attended by the heads of all major regime institutions. A massive explosion occurred, killing most officials. A day later, regime forces were driven out of Kobanê, led by Kurdish youth and with the participation of the people. Following Kobanê, the people seized power in Afrin, Serêkaniyê, Dirbêsiyê, Amûdê, Dêrik, Girkê Legê, Tirbêspiyê, and Til Temîr. On the same day, the Kurds declared a people’s government in Kobanê, which they named a canton, under the slogan “Democratic Syria, Autonomous Rojava.” July 19 became the starting date of the revolution. The declaration in Kobanê was followed by the declaration of new cantons in Afrin and Qamishli. As fighting intensified, people first formed local defense units and engaged in self-defense activities in the streets. Later, the YPG and Women’s Protection Units (YPJ), were officially established, although their foundations were laid years earlier during the resistance against the Baath regime’s massacres.

The first step taken in 2012 in the liberated areas, cities, towns, and villages was the establishment of People’s Houses. Through meetings and training sessions, people fully grasped autonomous administration. Security emerged as a fundamental concern. On this basis, people began to establish a self-defense system after the first steps of forming small defense groups. Another important task was to improve relations between the region’s divided communities while also taking the first steps to strengthen women’s power and to provide services to all in need.

As People’s Houses stimulated grassroots actions, the shape of autonomous administration changed. People’s Houses evolved into broader communes. Thousands of communes were established in villages and neighborhoods. Under the umbrella of these communes, education, defense, health, economy, and social services were provided. Members received training to play active roles, and separate women’s and youth communes were also created. Communes soon transformed into broader organizational structures organized as assemblies. City, village, and neighborhood assemblies were formed, consisting of representatives from communes, political parties, and municipal service institutions. Neighborhood assemblies were merged into city assemblies, and similar steps were taken at district and town levels. In December 2013, the first conference of city, district, and town assemblies was held, and a co-chair system was adopted for assemblies and communes, according to which every assembly, commune, and institution would have one female and one male co-chair. This dealt a major blow to the male-dominated mindset that had ignored women for years. Young people have continually played a major role in expanding democracy in Rojava.

Joint struggles were waged to unite ethnic and religious groups in the region, and significant progress was made fighting the provocations of Nusra (an affiliate of Al-Qaeda). The ISIS attack on Kobanê in 2014 was defeated through the unity of all peoples, beliefs, and different ethnicities in Northern and Eastern Syria. Years of fighting galvanized military units and command structures. The creation of  joint administrations to establish a free and equal lives further strengthened the military forces under the umbrella of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). In Rojava, one observer noted “a novel synthesis, a militant vertical organization empowers a communal, horizontal politics.”[1]

After this revolutionary advance, education in peoples’ mother tongues was intensified. Approximately 100 schools were opened in the region, and approximately 1,000 teachers were trained. Significant research on regional culture was initiated. Cultural and artistic centers with music groups, folklore, theater, and children’s groups were established. Committees were established to meet the needs of the people and address social, legal, and economic issues. A “justice committee” was established as an alternative to the Syrian legal system. Furthermore, a “social justice department” was created within the Mesopotamian Academy of Social Sciences on April 4, 2013, to improve the legal system.

Women’s Organizations

Female combatants have been centrally important to the defense of Rojava. Active since the beginning of the revolution and organized under the name Yekîtiya Star,[2] they created women’s assemblies and women’s houses. Priority was given to women’s representation in people’s assemblies, and women’s science-education centers and academies were opened in many cities. Women took their places in all administrations under the co-chair system and played active roles in education, family, politics, economy, and public security through women’s institutions.

Due to embargoes imposed on the region, the population facing severe shortages of medicine, flour, fuel, and other daily needs. To organize aid coming from abroad, the Kurdish Red Crescent (Heyvâ Sor) was established to break the embargo, build a non-capitalist system, and solve daily problems. In 2013, the Economic Development Institution for North and East Syria was founded. Aiming to develop an economy based on the people, this institution gave priority to cooperatives, starting in Kobanê and Dêrik.

At the end of 2013, the autonomous administration system recognized Kurdish, Arabic, and Assyrian as official languages. Other linguistic constituencies were granted the right to learn their own languages. Women’s representation in institutions was set at a minimum of 40%, and the participation of all regional components built on three pillars: Legislative Assembly, Executive Council, and High Court. All this multi-ethnic diversity has provided challenges that demand compromises, such as reversing a ban on polygamy in Arab-majority regions. In the fight for Kobanê, the SDF agreed to accept the offer of US air cover.

Youth’s Ownership of the Rojava Revolution

The second Middle East Youth Conference was held in Kobanê on February 20, 2019. Organized under the slogan “Toward a colorful and democratic Middle East under the leadership of youth,” the conference hosted more than 300 delegates from the four parts of Kurdistan, as well as Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Libya, Armenia, Egypt, Turkey, Tunisia, Yemen, North Africa, and Sudan. The economic, political, and social crises in the region were discussed within the framework of capitalist modernity. In this context, solutions to the deadlock facing the Middle East were debated from fresh, youthful perspectives. At the end of the conference, steps were taken toward establishing a coordination council among youth organizations and developing joint political actions.

Led especially by Generation Z, young people organized the First World Youth Conference in Paris, France, between November 3–5, 2023. The conference brought together 400 delegates representing 95 youth organizations from 49 countries worldwide. Alongside participants from many European countries, young people from the Philippines, Kyrgyzstan, Sudan, Kenya, Mali, the United States, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador met with youth from the four parts of Kurdistan. The discussions and exchanges during the conference were strongly endorsed the demand for freedom of imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan. The problems faced by revolutionary youth around the world were central to the agenda, emphasizing the importance of struggling together against the fragmentation created by the system. During the conference, solidarity was declared with all oppressed peoples, particularly the Palestinian people and the Kurdistan freedom movement. It was also stated that a common struggle would be carried out to protect the gains of peoples in Rojava and in many parts of the world.

Within the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, young people work in a distinctively autonomous manner. There is no imposition or top-down direction on youth councils or youth institutions in any field. Youth organizations determine their own forms of organization and modes of action. Education, organizational activities, as well as cultural and sports programs for young people are coordinated directly by youth councils themselves. As the pioneering and driving force of the revolution, youth take an active role in post-war reconstruction efforts, organize aid campaigns for those affected by war, and carry out support and play activities for children. Within the framework of women’s liberation, young people organize activities for November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, as well as marches, panels, and street actions on March 8, International Women’s Day. The struggle against patriarchal mentality stands at the center of youth work.

In the field of culture and arts, young people play an important role in preserving the cultures of peoples by organizing music and theater festivals that include all communities and cultures, as well as photography, cinema, and painting workshops. Youth also carry out significant activities on ecology by organizing meetings, actions, and events such as tree-planting campaigns and repairing damage caused to nature by war. Through the sports tournaments they organize, youth contribute to social solidarity and healthy living. In addition, by holding commemorative events on the anniversaries of massacres and attacks to honor those who lost their lives, youth take the lead in keeping social memory alive.

Ecology in Rojava 

Ecological work in Rojava faced significant obstacles in the implementation of many projects due to attacks from various jihadist groups and Turkey. Nevertheless, significant progress has been made in the ecological field. The first steps towards ecological production were taken by the village communes that began to form in 2012. In 2014, cooperatives were established to secure the food supply, and the first decisions were made to reduce the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

The Ecology Committee was officially established in 2015, and local programs began to be developed. In 2016, a large-scale campaign aimed at planting hundreds of thousands of trees was launched. Starting in 2017, solar panel projects were developed to address power outages. Solar energy systems began to be installed at homes and cooperatives. In 2018, Jinwar, a women-run ecological village, was officially opened. This village is based on organic farming, natural building materials, solar energy, and collective living. In 2019, initiatives were launched to preserve local seeds and develop agricultural practices that reduce chemical use. Small-scale organic farming trials have begun. In 2020, campaigns against environmental pollution and waste management programs were launched. Local campaigns to reduce plastic use were also launched. The Keziyên Kesk (Green Braids) Initiative was established in September 2020 to combat the ongoing environmental destruction in North and East Syria and increase soil productivity. Its work aims to help the people of North and East Syria become more self-sufficient in agriculture, thereby strengthening their resilience to embargoes. In collaboration with the Ministry of Education in North and East Syria, it has ensured that every school has a teacher teaching social ecology. As part of the “Lungs of the Village” project, millions of saplings were planted, and teams visited villages to explain the ecological destruction and how it can be reversed. In 2021, following the region’s water crisis and the decline in the Euphrates River’s flow, an emergency ecological plan was developed. Turkey regularly disrupts the flow of the Euphrates River, posing a serious threat to the region. This impacts not only agricultural activities but also access to clean drinking water. In response, water conservation campaigns were conducted, alternative irrigation methods (drip irrigation and the use of recycled water) were promoted, and local water communes were established. Solar-powered irrigation systems were expanded, and organic agricultural production increased.

Approximately 500,000 hectares of land previously under the control of the Assad regime have been consolidated into public land. According to a report by the Public Land Administration dated December 20, 2023, approximately 80% of this land has been allocated to agricultural cooperatives, women’s institutions, families, forests/afforestation, parks, associations, and camps for internally displaced persons. Fifty per cent of the population’s vegetable needs are now met locally. Products are delivered directly to the public at fair prices through cooperatives. More than 140,000 fruit trees have been planted to increase fruit production. Production, processing, and distribution continue through cooperatives.

Rojava is now nearly self-sufficient olive oil production, along with wheat, flour, bulgur, pasta, and lentil processing facilities. The Economic and Agricultural Councils continue to work on sugar, sunflower, soybean, and cotton processing and textile production facilities. Significant progress has been made in dairy production through agricultural cooperatives; dairy processing facilities now produce cheese, yogurt, and butter. While Rojava fully meets its red meat needs, it has not yet achieved self-sufficiency in white meat. Ecological production principles continue to be implemented to secure the food supply for the people of North and East Syria.

Recognition of the Revolution

No UN member state has officially recognized Northern and Eastern Syria. However, in October 2021, the Catalan Parliament voted to officially recognize Northern and Eastern Syria. Catalonia thereby made history as the first parliament to recognize the Rojava Revolution. With this decision, Catalan MPs declared their friendship with the Kurdish people and their opposition to Turkey’s occupation policies.

While the Rojava Revolution inspires worldwide opponents of ethnocentrism, religious fundamentalism and global capitalism, some local, regional, and global powers are also hostile to the outbreak of freedom, particularly the Turkish government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Turkey began attacking the free life of people whom they labelled “terrorists” both directly and through paramilitary proxies. With international support, Turkey continues its attacks unabated to this day. In recent years, it has been carrying out these attacks using armed drones.

Despite years of attacks by Turkey, its affiliated paramilitary forces, and ISIS, a significant ecological revolution led by Gen Z has been achieved in North and East Syria. In the face of ongoing threats and embargoes, the revolution is progressing step by step through communes. With its pillars of democracy, women, and ecology, the Rojava Revolution stands before us as an alternative that Gen Z can create elsewhere in the pursuit of freedom.

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Murat Bakur is a journalist and writer from Northern Kurdistan. His first novel, “Open Blue Freedom,” won second prize in the 5th Deniz Fırat Story and Photography Competition. Several of his short stories have been published by various news agencies. He continues his journalistic work at Medya Haber TV.

[1] Matt Broomfield, Hope Without Hope: Rojava and Revolutionary Commitment (AK Press, 2025).

[2] Formed from the combination of the words “Star” (goddess) and “Yekîtiya” (unity), the name means “Union of All Goddesses” or “Union of Women.”

The post Rojava: A GEN Z Alternative to Capitalist Patriarchy appeared first on Void Network.

written by Blade Runner 

Various parts of the article have been published before in Freedom News.

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The battle for Tishrin Dam in Syria

For almost two months, Tishrin Dam, a vital infrastructure for water and electricity in northeastern Syria, has been subjected to continuous drone and warplane attacks. The likelihood of a catastrophic failure grows each day, and if the dam collapses, it could release approximately 2 billion cubic meters of floodwater, causing widespread destruction to villages, farmland, and lives downstream. Beyond the immediate humanitarian crisis, this would significantly threaten Rojava’s revolutionary project.

On January 8, thousands gathered to create a human shield in defence of the dam. Ongoing drone strikes have already resulted in 25 deaths and numerous injuries, including journalists. Despite the relentless attacks, vigils persist as convoys of supporters have been arriving from various parts of northern Syria. The damaged yet still-standing dam has become a powerful symbol of Rojava’s resistance, inspiring solidarity actions worldwide.

Tishrin Dam is not only a crucial source of water and electricity but also a strategic gateway between contested territories. To the east, it links areas controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who are resisting attacks by the Turkish-backed former ISIS group, the Syrian National Army (SNA)—a militia infamous for looting, robbery, and kidnappings. Supported by Turkish artillery, drones, and fighter jets, the SNA’s offensive on the dam is part of a larger strategy: the assault on Kobani, a key centre of Rojava’s resistance against the Islamic State (ISIS). This renewed aggression seeks to dismantle the autonomous Kurdish-led region.

In recent developments, the Turkish-backed offensive has escalated—a pumping station has been damaged, leaving over 200,000 people without drinking water. This follows weeks of shelling of villages in the countryside area south of Kobani, as the aggressors continue to spread terror in an effort to break the resistance.

Brief history of Rojava’s radical self-governance experiment

The Arab Spring of 2011 was part of a larger global wave of uprisings, beginning with the Zapatista movement in the 1990s, and sparked mass protests across the Arab world. In Syria, governed since 1963 by the Ba’ath party, a political movement blending secular Arab nationalism and Arab socialism that evolved into a family loyalist dictatorship, the initial uprising quickly escalated into a full-scale revolution and civil war. In the northeast, the Kurdish population seized the opportunity to launch their own autonomy project in the Rojava region.

The Kurds are a stateless nation, numbering around 30-45 million people today, and have lived since the Neolithic era scattered across regions currently controlled by Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. With a long history of struggles for independence and social justice, the Kurdish movement in Rojava (the Syrian part of Kurdistan) formed an alliance with Arabs, Assyrians, and Turkmen, creating the Democratic Autonomous Administration of Northern and Eastern Syria (DAANES).

This marked the onset of the Rojava social revolution, a movement aligned with the revolutionary ideology of Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned founder and ideological leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the Kurdish political organisation that has been fighting for Kurdish autonomy within Turkey. Öcalan, during his imprisonment in Turkey shifted away from Marxist-Leninist nationalism to a form of libertarian socialism known as democratic confederalism.

Rojava’s project is grounded in decentralisation, gender equality, and direct democracy. These principles have led many to idealise Rojava as an anarchist or anti-capitalist utopia. However, it remains a complex endeavour: while it rejects the centralised state model, it retains certain government structures, such as prisons, and continues to engage in trade and monetary exchange. In Rojava, there are some of the most fertile lands in Syria as well as significant oil fields, the exploitation of which has been one of the main sources of revenue.

The military forces defending Rojava include the Kurdish liberation militias of the People’s Protection Units (Yekîneyên Parastina Gel, YPG) and Women’s Protection Units (Yekîneyên Parastina Jin, YPJ). These were the primary forces that halted the advance of the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) early in the Syrian civil war, safeguarding an autonomous Rojava and allowing the revolutionary experience of democratic confederalism to develop.

YPG and YPJ led the formation of the SDF, a coalition of military and political organisations of which they are the largest. The SDF have increasingly relied on military and political support from the US, entering into realpolitik compromises that have limited the spread and development of the Rojava revolution and its potential for global revolutionary solidarity.

The Kurdish movement remains in tension between the historically entrenched authoritarian Marxist currents that constitute the old guard of the PKK and the anti-authoritarian current developed by Öcalan, as well as the women’s organisations, local communes, and much of the younger generation. Nonetheless, SDF-controlled areas remain by far the safest for women, ethnic minorities like the Yazidi, and atheists and religious minorities.

In Syrian Kurdistan the people were prepared and knew what they wanted. They believed that the revolution must start from the bottom of society and not from the top. It must be a social, cultural and educational as well as political revolution. It must be against the state, power and authority. It must be people in the communities who have the final decision-making responsibilities. These are the four principles of the Movement of the Democracy Society.¹

Radical leftists and anarchists who have travelled to Rojava—whether to fight alongside the local forces or to volunteer in communities—view it as a significant experiment in self-organisation. People from diverse backgrounds, including Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians, Muslims, Christians, and Yazidis, have worked together in solidarity. The region is structured through a federation of towns and cantons, where local communes, councils, and committees manage governance at all levels.

Rojava’s revolution has significantly transformed society. Women hold leadership positions in governance, the military, and civil institutions. Ethnic and religious minorities enjoy greater protections and representation than in surrounding states. While challenges and contradictions persist, Rojava’s model stands as an alternative to the authoritarianism, sectarianism, and capitalism prevalent in the region.

How the Middle East crisis entered its new phase and the re-ignition of the Syrian war

On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a surprise offensive against Israel. Despite millions invested in surveillance technology, settlement expansion, and the construction of a massive separation wall, the Israeli state was caught off guard. In response, Israel has waged over a year of genocidal warfare against the people of Gaza while escalating a US-backed proxy war against Iranian-aligned forces, to secure regional dominance.

Both Israel and Iran have framed their aggression in nationalist and religious terms, justifying military operations as necessary for national security and ideological preservation. Israeli leadership has openly declared its intention to reshape the Middle East by neutralising regional adversaries while advancing a doctrine of Jewish supremacy. Meanwhile, Iran presents the conflict as a “holy war against the forces of evil,” using it to consolidate regional influence with support from China and Russia.

In December 2024, the Syrian civil war, which had been in a period of relative stasis, reignited when a coalition of jihadist rebel groups led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a rebranded offshoot of Al-Qaeda in Syria, launched a surprise offensive in northwest Syria. The insurgents advanced rapidly, facing zero resistance and seizing major cities such as Aleppo and Hama within two weeks before capturing Damascus. Initially, the fall of the Assad regime sparked cautious optimism among Syria’s diverse communities, but this quickly turned to fear as HTS imposed fundamentalist rule.

In response to this renewed jihadist offensive, the DAANES declared a state of “total mobilisation.” The SDF have faced coordinated attacks on power stations and vital infrastructure, prompting calls for unity among Kurds, Arabs, Syriacs, Assyrians, Armenians, and Circassians to defend their communities against both ISIS-aligned groups and Turkish military incursions.

In the meantime, Israel’s own military operations diverted Iran and Hezbollah’s focus, and together with Russia’s preoccupation with its war in Ukraine, created a power vacuum in Syria, which Turkish-backed forces have exploited. The timing of Turkey’s military offensive appeared strategic, aligning with the return of Donald Trump to the US presidency and shifting geopolitical priorities. With Iran and Russia facing their own challenges and uncertainty surrounding US policy under the new administration, Turkey positioned itself as a key beneficiary of the region’s shifting power balance.

The diplomatic chessboard and Neo-Ottoman idealism

In this context, Israel’s ongoing destruction of Gaza and its expanded operations in Syria further demonstrate the alignment of regional power plays. Israel, backed by the US and UK, has used the crisis to bomb Syrian military infrastructure, ensuring that the new Syrian regime does not re-emerge as a regional threat. Netanyahu’s declaration that “The Golan Heights will remain forever under Israeli sovereignty” reflected Israel’s broader strategy—securing military and intelligence advantages while cutting off Hezbollah’s critical supply routes between Lebanon and Syria.

The future of Syria has been contested. HTS is putting forward a centralised authoritarian regime similar to Assad’s Ba’athist rule. In contrast, the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), the political wing of the SDF, advocates for a federal democratic model based on decentralised governance and democratic confederalism. The SDC’s vision includes local autonomy for Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Druze, and other communities, fostering cooperation rather than sectarian rule. 

The US administration faces a complex diplomatic challenge. It must continue supporting the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in their fight against ISIS while simultaneously appeasing NATO ally Turkey, which has the second-largest military force in the alliance. Israel and France are pressing for the former scenario, while Erdogan wants the US troops to leave so that he can freely strike Rojava. A 2,000-strong US force remains stationed in Kobani, maintaining a red line that deters Turkey from launching a full-scale invasion. The SDF also retains its own leverage—holding tens of thousands of ISIS fighters and their families in the Al-Hol refugee camp and serving as the only force capable of containing ISIS’s resurgence. 

Erdogan was threatening an imminent invasion while waiting for the Trump inauguration. A full-scale invasion did not happen, and the SDF forces have been successful in repelling the SNA attacks on the ground. However, the Kurds’ grave concern is based on the previous experience of Turkey’s invasion in Afrin in 2019, and the Erdogan regime’s Neo-Ottoman ambitions, with officials asserting that cities like Aleppo are “Turkish” and signalling broader territorial aspirations. While the US has threatened sanctions in response to potential Turkish aggression, past patterns suggest that Erdogan could proceed regardless, especially in the scenario of US troops’ withdrawal, escalating to one of the most brutal conflicts in the region since the height of ISIS’s rule.

Initially, Israel, Russia, and Saudi Arabia all had a strong interest in preventing the spread of HTS or the installation of a Turkish-backed government in Damascus. However, the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad and the rise of HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa as de facto and self-proclaimed president have altered regional dynamics. Saudi Arabia, which previously balanced clandestine support for various factions, is now engaging directly with Syria’s new leadership, signalling a shift toward stabilisation rather than proxy support. 

Meanwhile, Turkey remains deeply involved in shaping Syria’s future, continuing its backing of the SNA and working diplomatically with al-Sharaa’s government. The role of Israel remains ambiguous, but the likelihood of increased support for the Kurdish-dominated SDF from both Saudi Arabia and Israel remains, especially as the SDF seeks a decentralised and secular post-Assad Syria. Russia, however, faces challenges in navigating this new order, as open support for the SDF would provoke Iran and complicate its relations with Turkey.

With Assad’s removal two months ago, Syria’s conflict entered a new phase and a clear resolution appears to be distant. The country is divided along the lines of the SNA (Turkish-backed mercenaries and Sunni fundamentalists) and the SDF (multiethnic democratic forces with U.S. and possible Saudi and Israeli backing). Given that the U.S. and Turkey remain NATO allies, an open proxy war remains unlikely. Instead, Syria could face a long-term partition between these two factions, with the new regime attempting to navigate a fragile balance between Turkish, Saudi, and Western interests. 

The pressure on the Kurdish-led forces to abandon their revolutionary aspirations will only grow in this environment, reinforcing the lesson that global movements have to unavoidably contend with the tension between capitalist state democracy and radical change.

Negotiations between Damascus and SDF continues but it’s clear that any agreement is out of reach. With Trump in the White House and his calls for US forces to withdraw, Rojava’s autonomy is very uncertain. Other minorities in Syria are slowly being bent under the authority of the new centralised rule, as international states support and assist the new government to establish its power. Any revolutionary dreams of democratisation and federalisation of Syria fade away, as the new administration gets integrated into the ranks of capitalist nation-states.

The imperialist influence that Russia and Iran had over the Assad regime is being exchanged for the imperialist influence of Turkish Neo-Ottoman dreams, with support from Turkey’s NATO partners, which are western countries. The Islamic fundamentalist politics of the self-proclaimed president of Syria are now kept hidden, waiting to consolidate the power grip before starting any moves that could scare their newly acquired western partners. The promises of protection for ethnic minorities and women’s rights probably will only last until economic sanctions are lifted, but after that, nothing will remain between the new centralised state and any resistance against their authoritarian measures.

The revolution of Rojava is funnelled into a very difficult position, forced to accept the integration of SDF into a new Syrian state under the rule of an islamist force, or the annihilation under the bombs of the Turkish army. But after more than a decade of revolutionary developments in Syria, and more than four decades of efforts and struggle of the Kurdish Liberation Movement, a historic announcement by Abdullah Öcalan is expected on the 26th anniversary of his imprisonment. In the background, there have been diplomatic efforts to resolve the decades long Turkey-PKK conflict. A proposal for Öcalan’s release and a $14 billion development plan for Kurdish regions have been widely promoted in Turkey, in exchange for PKK disarmament. However, trust issues persist, especially with ongoing Turkish military strikes against PKK positions in Iraq and as Turkey views the U.S.-allied SDF as a PKK extension. 

The Kurds have historically faced oppression from all states within whose borders they have lived. Unlike other minorities such as Armenian and Assyrian Christians, which the Assad regime allowed to preserve their languages, Kurds were forced to run schools in Arabic. PKK has been designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US, the EU, and NATO allies. This includes the UK, which raided the Kurdish Community Centre in North London on November the 27th, the 46th anniversary of the PKK’s founding.

Turkey’s expansionism targeting the Kurds and other minorities echoes the atrocities of Ottoman-era ethnic cleansing. The Armenian genocide was carried out by the Ottoman Empire primarily between 1915 and 1916, and resulted in the systematic extermination of up to 1.5 million Armenians. The mass killings were carried out through death marches into the Syrian desert, resulting in widespread starvation, disease, executions, and the destruction of Armenian cultural and religious heritage. This played a key role in the ethnic and demographic changes that facilitated the emergence of modern Turkey in 1923.

In the autumn of 2023, following Azerbaijan’s military offensive supported by the Turkish government, nearly 120,000 Armenians were forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh, exacerbating the region’s long-standing ethnic conflicts. Entire communities were displaced and Armenian cultural heritage sites were destroyed, while the international community turned a blind eye. Netanyahu’s government in Israel was no doubt paying attention, and Erdogan must also be tempted to “cleanse” Rojava of Kurds if he believes the entire world will empower him to do so.

Brief update on the situation in the Palestinian territories

The situation in Gaza and the West Bank remains highly volatile, marked by significant political developments and ongoing military actions. 

In early February 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump proposed a controversial plan to “take over” the Gaza Strip, suggesting the relocation of its Palestinian inhabitants to neighbouring countries like Egypt and Jordan. He described Gaza as a “demolition site” and envisioned transforming it into a luxurious destination, akin to the “Riviera of the Middle East.” 

This proposal has been rejected by the Palestine leaders and was met with widespread condemnation from international organisations and various governments, with Amnesty International labelling the plan “appalling and unlawful”. In the West Bank, Israeli military operations have intensified, resulting in casualties among Palestinians. 

The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire, as international organisations continue to call for immediate ceasefires and the provision of essential aid to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people.

A war waged on the bodies of the weak and the marginalised

The proxy wars devastating the Middle East are driven by patriarchal and nationalist power struggles that prioritise capital and domination over freedom, diversity, and communal life. These conflicts have systematically erased historical memory, destroyed communities, and deepened cycles of division and hopelessness.

Nations and cultures predating modern state borders—such as the Armenians, Palestinians, and Kurds—have been repeatedly targeted for elimination when asserting their right to autonomy. Women, children, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and ethnic and religious minorities are treated as expendable, facing extreme violence and exploitation. The global system, dominated by hegemonic states, presents the marginalised with two options: assimilation or destruction.

In just one year, the devastation in Palestine has been staggering: since Hamas massacred 1,200 Israelis, Israel’s military onslaught has retaliated thirty-fold, with over 41,000 Palestinians killed, including 13,000 children and 115 infants born after October 7. More than 10,000 Gazans remain missing, buried under rubble. The entire population of Gaza—2.3 million people in an area smaller than 360 square kilometres—has been displaced, forced into extreme deprivation, and denied access to basic healthcare, food, and services.

83,000 tonnes of explosives have been dropped on Gaza, four times the explosive power used to obliterate Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Around 80% of homes in Gaza have been destroyed. It has systematically obliterated all universities, more than 70% of schools, 34 out of 36 hospitals, and countless other essential facilities: 165 health units, 137 ambulances, 611 mosques, all three churches, and 178 shelters in Gaza.

In Lebanon, over 2,000 people have died, and one million have been displaced. Another 600 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank. Israel has lost an additional 350 soldiers in Gaza, and 200,000 Israelis have been forced to abandon their homes near Gaza and along the northern borders with Lebanon. Hezbollah rocket fire has killed around 50 Israeli soldiers and civilians.

In Syria, According to the Jineolojî Academy thousands of women and children have been raped since the civil war began, with at least 353,900 people killed since 2018. Another 56,900 are missing or presumed dead. Women and children make up 40% of the victims. Many Syrian women fleeing to Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan have been forced into prostitution or sold into marriage under economic desperation. Non-binary and gender-nonconforming individuals face systematic violence due to rigid gender norms and the absence of legal protections.

Call for international solidarity

The developments in Syria highlight the broader consequences of US-led proxy wars, such as Israel’s campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon, and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. The current Middle East crisis unfolds within a global power shift, where key actors compete for influence amid economic strain, climate collapse, and growing instability. Warfare, which has been a persistent feature of the 21st century, has accelerated into a higher gear.

As financial crises and social unrest intensified in the last decades, ruling elites capitalised on rapid technological advancements and the lingering fear cultivated by the “War on Terror” to expand military budgets, surveillance, and repression. These resources were not deployed to ensure peace but to fuel ongoing conflicts, reinforcing a global restructuring process driven by militarisation and state violence.

In the meantime, the “Rojava Experiment” has reinvigorated the Kurdish movement across Kurdistan and in the exile communities of Europe, as well as inspired anti-authoritarian and anti-capitalist movements across the world.

The fighting people of Northeastern Syria are calling on allies worldwide to rise in solidarity. Their revolutionary project stands for autonomy, direct-democracy, feminism, and social ecology, challenging authoritarian regimes across the region. As drone strikes intensify and an invasion looms, grassroots action and international solidarity may prove to be crucial to deter another state-led ethnic cleansing in this tormented region.

_________

READ ALSO

1. Zaher Baher, The experiment of West Kurdistan (Syrian Kurdistan) has proved that people can make changes (August 26, 2014, libcom.org) ︎

The post Rojava in the shadows of war and ethnic cleansing appeared first on Void Network.

ΕΝΑ ΟΔΟΙΠΟΡΙΚΟ ΣΤΟ ΠΟΛΕΜΟ ΤΗΣ ΣΥΡΙΑΣ
ΚΑΙ ΤΗΝ ΗΡΩΙΚΗ ΕΠΑΝΑΣΤΑΣΗ ΤΗΣ ROJAVA

ΠΡΟΒΟΛΗ Ντοκιμαντέρ
& ΣΥΖΗΤΗΣΗ
με τον σκηνοθέτη Αλέξη Νταλούμη

ΚΥΡ. 22/12/2024
ΩΡΑ 20.30

Ελεύθερο Αυτοδιαχειριζόμενο
ΘΕΑΤΡΟ ΕΜΠΡΟΣ
Ρ. Παλαμήδη, 2 Ψυρρή

Διοργάνωση:

ΚΕΝΟ ΔΙΚΤΥΟ | http://voidnetwork.gr

https://www.facebook.com/BelkiSibeFilm

Belkî Sibê σημαίνει «Ίσως Αύριο» & είναι το ντοκιμαντέρ ενός εθελοντή στρατιώτη σε μια επανάσταση. Απεικονίζει την στρατιωτική ζωή και τις μάχες στις πρώτες γραμμές του Διεθνούς Τάγματος Ελευθερίας, στις τάξεις του οποίου ο σκηνοθέτης πολέμησε, καθώς & την ζωή των πολιτών στα μετόπισθεν & τον κοινωνικό μετασχηματισμό που επιχειρείται στην Δημοκρατική Αυτόνομη Διοίκηση της Βόρειας και Ανατολικής Συρίας. Οι διηγήσεις του Αλέξη Νταλούμη θα μας δώσουν την ευκαιρία να συζητήσουμε την κατάσταση στην Μέση Ανατολή σήμερα, να δυναμώσουμε την αλληλεγγύη μας για τους Σύριους και Κούρδους αδερφούς μας & τις αδελφές μας που αγωνίζονται εκεί.

Το ντοκιμαντέρ αφηγείται ένα ταξίδι 18 μηνών μέσα στον πόλεμο και την επανάσταση, στη Ροζάβα (Δυτικό) Κουρδιστάν της ΒΑ Συρίας, κατά τη διάρκεια της προέλασης και της νίκης των Συριακών Δημοκρατικών Δυνάμεων κατά του ISIS, καθώς και την ιστορία του Διεθνούς Τάγματος Ελευθερίας. Η ταινία ακολουθεί ένα χρονοδιάγραμμα από τον Ιούλιο του 2016 (μάχη της Μίνμπιτζ) μέχρι το τέλος του 2017 (απελευθέρωση της Ράκα και κατάρρευση του Ισλαμικού Χαλιφάτου), αλλά περιλαμβάνει κι επικαιροποιημένο υλικό από τα τέλη του 2021, στο τέλος κάθε κεφαλαίου

θα ακολουθήσει συζήτηση με τον σκηνοθέτη.

The post Belkî Sibê- Ντοκιμαντέρ για τον πόλεμο στην Συρία- ΚΥΡ 22/12/2024 ΕΜΠΡΟΣ appeared first on Void Network.

______________

And so history repeats itself for the Kurds. The American forces who were the only buffer against a Turkish invasion and massacre of the YPG-YPJ and the people of Rojava are now withdrawing from the region. Erdogan, whose open backing of ISIS the entire period of the war against that terrorist organization was made public numerous times, is now geared towards a total air and land invasion in the next day or so. It does not bear repeating that the Kurds never shot a single bullet towards the Turkish border nor ever bore a threat. It does not bear repeating that Turkey has a long history of massacres and genocides against the Kurds and other minorities or that it is currently in total violation of international law occupying Afrin- where people have been kidnaped, massacred, displaced, Yezidis and Christians forced to convert to Islam and tortured daily.

How can we as Kurds articulate how we feel about this betrayal by the international community after we gave so much for your freedom and peace? how can we as Kurds bear the pain of what we know, and have known will come with this invasion? How many wars can we witness in one lifetime? how many generations must be displaced, remaining stateless, homeless, growing up in make shift camps and then punished further, labeled as terrorists for choosing the embrace of the mountains instead? How can we as Kurdish women speak of the terrors that we know our sisters will face across the Rojava border when the mutilated image of Barin is still so fresh in our collective psyche and when we are still missing so many Yezidi sisters? How can we bear, as Kurds, as humans that such injustice, such a travesty exists knowingly, openly while you give lip service about democracy and international law and human rights?

Don’t speak to me of humanity. Don’t speak to me of democracy. Don’t speak to me of solidarity. Today I believe nothing knowing that the blood of our YPG-YPJ is still fresh across the graveyards of Rojava and that it was all for you; and all in vain.

Hawzhin Azeez

__________________________

see also the article from The New York Times:

President Endorses Turkish Military Operation in Syria, Shifting U.S. Policy

The post SOS Kurdish Revolution Needs Us and We Need the Kurdish Revolution appeared first on Void Network.

In May 2015, Corporate Watch researchers travelled to Turkey and Kurdistan to investigate the companies supplying military equipment to the Turkish police and army. We talked to a range of groups from a variety of different movements and campaigns. Below is the transcript of our interview with three members of the anarchist group Devrimci Anarşist Faaliyet (DAF, or Revolutionary Anarchist Action) in Istanbul during May 2015.

DAF are involved in solidarity with the Kurdish struggle, the Rojava revolution and against ISIS’ attack on Kobane, and have taken action against Turkish state repression and corporate abuse. They are attempting to establish alternatives to the current system through self-organisation, mutual aid and co-operatives.

The interview was carried out in the run-up to the Turkish elections, and touches on the election campaign by the HDP, the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party. Soon after the interview took place, the HDP passed the threshold of 10% of the total vote needed to enter the Turkish parliament.

The DAF members – who all preferred to remain anonymous – began the interview by talking about the history of anarchism in the region:

DAF: We want to underline the relationship between the freedom struggle at the end of Ottoman times and the freedom struggles of Kurdistan.

In Ottoman times anarchists organised workers’ struggle in the main cities: Saloniki, Izmir, Istanbul and Cairo. For example [the Italian anarchist, Errico] Malatesta was involved in organizing industrial workers in Cairo. The freedom struggles of Armenia, Bulgaria and Greece had connections with anarchist groups. Alexander Atabekian, an important person in the Armenian freedom struggle, was an anarchist, translating leaflets into Armenian and distributing them. He was a friend of [the Russian anarchist, Peter] Kropotkin and distributed Kropotkin’s anarchist leaflets.

We are talking about this as we want to underline the importance of freedom struggles and to compare this to the importance of support for the Kurdish struggle.

Corporate Watch: What happened to anarchists after the Ottoman period?

DAF: Towards the end of the Ottoman Empire, at the end of the 19th century, Sultan Abdul Hamid II repressed the actions of anarchists in Turkey. He knew what anarchists were and took a special interest in them. He killed or deported anarchists and set up a special intelligence agency for this purpose.

Anarchists responded by carrying out attacks on the Yildiz Sarayi palace and with explosions at the Ottoman bank in Saloniki.

The government of the Ottoman Empire didn’t end at the Turkish republic. The fez has gone since but the system is still the same.

At the beginning of the [Kemalist] Turkish state [in 1923] many anarchists and other radicals were forced to emigrate or were killed. The CHP, Mustafa Kemal’s party, didn’t allow any opposition and there were massacres of Kurds.

From 1923 to 1980 there was not a big anarchist movement in Turkey due to the popularity of the socialist movements and the repression of the state.

The wave of revolutions from the 1960s to the ’80s affected these lands too. These were the active years of the social movements. During this period, there were revolutionary anti-imperialist movements caused by the Vietnam war, youth organizations, occupations of universities and increasing struggle of workers. These movements were Marxist-Leninist or Maoist, there were no anarchist movements.

In 1970 there was a long workers’ struggle. Millions of workers walked over a hundred kilometres from Kocaeli to Istanbul. Factories were closed and all the workers were on the streets.

CW: Was there any awareness of anarchism in Turkey at all at this time?

DAF: During these years many books were translated into Turkish from European radicalism but only five books about anarchism were translated, three of which were talking about anarchism in order to criticize it.

But in Ottoman times there had been many articles on anarchism in the newspapers. For example, one of the three editors of the İştirak newspaper was an anarchist. The paper published [Russian anarchist, Mikhail] Bakunin’s essays as well as articles on anarcho-syndicalism.

The first anarchist magazine was published in 1989. After this many magazines were published focusing on anarchism from different perspectives; for example, post structuralism, ecology, etc.

The common theme was that they were written for a small intellectual audience. The language of these magazines was too far away from the people. Most of those involved were connected with the universities or academia. Or they were ex-socialists affected by the fall of the Soviet Union, which was a big disappointment for many socialists. That’s why they began to call themselves anarchists, but we don’t think that this is a good way to approach anarchism, as a critique of socialism.

Between 2000 to 2005 people came together to talk about anarchism in Istanbul and began to ask: “how can we fight?”. At this time we guess that there were 50-100 anarchists living in Turkey and outside.

CW: Can you explain how DAF organises now?

DAF: Now we get 500 anarchists turning up for Mayday in Istanbul. We are in touch with anarchists in Antalya, Eskişehir, Amed, Ankara and İzmir. Meydan [DAF’s newspaper] goes to between 15 and 20 cities. We have a newspaper bureau in Amed, distributing newspapers all over Kurdistan. Until now, it is in Turkish but maybe one day, if we can afford it, we will publish it in Kurdish. We send Meydan to prisons too. We have a comrade in İzmir in prison and we send copies to over 15 prisoners.

A few months ago there was a ban on radical publications in prisons. We participated in demos outside prisons and we managed to make pressure about this and now newspapers are allowed to go into prisons again.

The main issue for DAF is to organise anarchism within society. We try to socialize anarchism with struggle on the streets. This is what we give importance to. For nearly nine years we have been doing this.

On an ideological level we have a holistic perspective. We don’t have a hierarchical perspective on struggles. We think workers’ struggle is important but not more important than the Kurdish struggle or women’s struggles or ecological struggles.

Capitalism tries to divide these struggles. If the enemy is attacking us in a holistic way we have to approach it in a holistic way.

Anarchy has a bad meaning for most people in society. It has a link with terrorism and bombs. We want to legitimize anarchism by linking it to making arguments for struggles against companies and for ecology. Sometimes we try to focus on the links between the state, companies and ecological damages, like the thing that Corporate Watch does.

We like to present anarchy as an organised struggle. We have shown people on the streets the organised approach to anarchism.

From 1989 to 2000 anarchism was about image. About wearing black, piercings and Mohicans. This is what people saw. After 2000, people started to see anarchists who were part of women’s struggles and workers’ struggles.

We are not taking anarchism from Europe as an imitation. Other anarchists have approached anarchism as an imitation of US or European anarchism or as an underground culture. If we want to make anarchist a social movement, it must change.

DAF’s collectives are Anarchist Youth, Anarchist Women, 26A cafe, Patika ecological collective and high school anarchist action (LAF). These self-organisations work together but have their own decision-making processes.

Anarchist Youth makes connections between young workers and university students and their struggles. Anarchist Women focuses on patriarchy and violence to women. For example, a woman was murdered by a man and set on fire last February. On 25 November there were big protests against violence against women.

LAF criticises education and schooling in itself and tries to socialize this way of thinking in high schools. LAF also looks at ecological and feminist issues, including when young women are murdered by their husbands.

PATIKA ecological collective protests against hydro electric dams in the Black Sea region or Hasankey [where the Ilisu dam is being built]. Sometimes there is fighting to prevent these plants from being built.

26A Café is a self organization focusing on anti-capitalist economy. Cafes were opened in 2009 in Taksim and 2011 in Kadıköy [both in Istanbul]. The cafes are run by volunteers. They are aimed at creating an economic model in the place where oppressed people are living. It’s important to show people concrete examples of an anarchist economy, without bosses or capitalist aims. We talk to people about why we don’t sell the big capitalist brands like Coca Cola. Of course the products we sell have a relation to capitalism but things like Coke are symbols of capitalism. We want to progress away from not-consuming and move towards alternative economies and ways of producing.

Another self organisation, PAY-DA – ‘Sharing and solidarity‘ – has a building in Kadıköy, which is used for meetings and producing the Meydan newspaper. PAY-DA gives meals to people three times a day. It’s open to anarchists and comrades. The aim of PAY-DA is to become a cooperative, open to everybody. We try to create a bond which also involves the producers in the villages. We aim to have links with these producers and show them another economic model. We try to evolve these economic relations away from money relations. The producers are suffering from the capitalist economy. We are in the first steps of this cooperative and we are looking for producers to work with.

All of these projects are related to DAF’s ideology. This model has a connection with Malatesta’s binary model of organization.

These are anarchist organizations but sometimes people who aren’t anarchists join these struggles because they know ecological or women’s struggles, and then at the end they will learn about anarchism. It’s an evolving process.

As DAF we are trying to organise our lives. This is the only way that we can touch the people who are oppressed by capitalism.

There is also the Conscientious Objectors’ Association, which is organised with other groups, not just anarchists. Our involvement in this has a relation with our perspective on Kurdistan. We organize anti-militarist action in Turkey outside of military bases on 15 May, conscientious objector’s day. In Turkey the military is related to state culture. If you don’t do your military duty, you won’t find a job and it’s difficult to find someone to marry because they ask if you’ve been to the army. If you have been to the army, you’re a ‘man’. People see the state as the ‘Fatherland’. On your CV they ask whether you did military service. ‘Every Turk is born a soldier’ is a popular slogan in Turkey.

CW: Is Kemalism [the ideology associated with Mustafa Kemal] as strong a force as it used to be?

DAF: Kemalism is still a force in schools but the AKP has changed this somewhat. The AKP has a new approach to nationalism focused on the Ottoman Empire. It emphasises Turkey’s ‘Ottoman roots’. But Erdoğan still says that we are ‘one nation, one state, one flag and one religion.’. There is still talk about Mustafa Kemal but not as much as before. Now you cannot criticize Erdoğan or Atatürk [the name used for Kemal by Turkish nationalists]. It’s the law not to criticize Atatürk and the unwritten rule not to criticize Erdoğan. The media follows these rules.

CW: Can you talk about your perspective on the Kurdish freedom struggle?

Kurdish freedom struggles didn’t start with Rojava. Kurdish people have had struggles for hundreds of years against the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish state.

Since the start of DAF we have seen Kurdistan as important for propaganda and education.

Our perspective relates to people’s freedom struggles. The idea that people can create federations without nations, states and empires. The Turkish state says the issue is a Kurdish problem, but for us it is not a Kurdish problem, it’s an issue of Turkish policies of assimilation. It’s obvious that since the first years of the Turkish republic the assimilation of Kurdish people has not stopped. We can see this from the last Roboski massacre [of 34 Kurdish cross-border traders by Turkish F16s on 28 December 2011] by the state during the ‘peace process’. We can see this in the denial of Kurdish identity or the repeated massacres. Making people assimilate to be a Turk and making the propaganda of nationalism.

The AKP [the ruling Justice and Development Party] say they have opened Kurdish TV channels, allowed Kurdish language and that we are all brothers and sisters, but on the other hand we had the Roboski massacre which occurred during their government. In 2006 there was government pressure on Erdoğan at a high level. Erdoğan said that women and children would be punished who go against Turkish policies. Over 30 children were murdered by police and army.

The words change but the political agenda continues, just under a new government. We do not call ourselves Turkish. We come from many ethnic origins and Kurdish is one of them. Our involvement in conscientious objection is part of this perspective. We want to talk to people to prevent people from going to the army to kill their brothers and sisters.

After the 2000s there has been an ideological change in the Kurdish freedom struggle. The Kurdish organizations no longer call themselves Marxist-Leninist and Öcalan has written a lot about democratic confederalism. This is important, but our relation to Kurdish people is on the streets.

CW: Can you talk about DAF’s work in solidarity with people in Rojava?

In July 2012 at the start of the Rojava revolution, people began saying that it was a stateless movement. We have been in solidarity from the first day of the revolution. Three cantons have declared their revolution in a stateless way. We try to observe and get more information. This is not an anarchist revolution but it is a social revolution declared by the people themselves.

Rojava is a third front for Syria against Assad, ISIS and other Islamic groups. But these are not the only groups that the revolution is faced with. The Turkish republic is giving support for ISIS from its borders. The national intelligence agency of the Turkish republic appears to be giving weapons to ISIS and other Islamic groups. Kurdish people declared the revolution under these circumstances.

After the ISIS attack on Kobane began [in 2014] we went to Suruç. We waited at the border as Turkish forces were attacking people crossing. When people wanted to cross the border to or from Kobane they were shot. We stayed there to provide protection.

In October, people gathered near Suruç, and broke through the border. Turkish tanks shot gas over the border at them.

From 6 to 8 October there were Kobane solidarity demonstrations across Turkey. Kader Ortakya, a Turkish socialist supporter of Kobane, was shot dead trying to cross the border.

We helped people. Some people crossed the border from Kobane and had no shelter. We prepared tents, food and clothes for them. Sometimes soldiers came to the villages with tear gas and water cannons and we had to move. Some people came through the border searching for their families and we helped them. Other people came, wanting to cross the border and fight and we helped them. We wore clothing that said we were from DAF on it.

The YPG and YPJ [‘People’s Protection Units’ of Rojava, the YPJ is a women’s militia] pushed ISIS back day by day. Mıştenur hill was very important for Kobane. After the hill was taken by the YPG and YPJ some people wanted to return to Kobane. When they went back their houses had been destroyed by ISIS. Some houses were mined and some people have been killed by the mines. The mines need to be cleared, but by who and how? People need new houses and help. We have had conferences and talked about how to help Kobane. There was a conference two weeks ago in Amed.

CW: What is your position on the elections?

DAF: We do not believe in parliamentary democracy. We believe in direct democracy. We do not support the HDP in the election, but we have links in solidarity with them on the streets.

Emma Goldman said that if elections changed anything they would be illegal. There are good people in the HDP who say good things, but we think that the government can’t be good because the election system isn’t equal.

In Rojava they do not call it an anarchist revolution, but theres no government, no state and no hierarchy, so we believe in it and have solidarity with it.

Can you tell us about the bombing in Suruç [we asked this final question by email weeks after the original interview

Over 30 young people who wanted to take part in reconstruction of Kobane were killed by an ISIS attack. This attack was clearly organised by the Turkish State. They did not even do anything to stop it although they got the information of the attack one mounth before. Moreover, after the explosion the Turkish State has attacked Rojava and made operations against political organisations in Turkey. Now there are many operations and political pressures on anarchists and socialists and Kurdish organisations. They are using the explosion as a reason to make this political repression on both the domestic and international levels.

We have lost our 33 comrades, friends who struggled for the Rojava Revolution against the state’s repression, denial and politics of massacre. There are people who are killed by state, ISIS and other powers. But our resistance won’t stop, our struggle will continue, as always in history.

source: https://corporatewatch.org/news/2015/aug/27/building-autonomy-turkey-and-kurdistan-interview-revolutionary-anarchist-action

FURTHER READING:

Two interviews—one offering general background on the struggle in Kobanê, the other delving into analytical detail about the geopolitical implications.
http://www.crimethinc.com/texts/r/kobane/

Resources on the Rojava Revolution—A broad selection of coverage and reference material
http://anarchism.pageabode.com/andrewnflood/resources-rojava-revolution-kurdistan-syria

An Interview with Revolutionary Anarchist Action (DAF) on Kobanê: “We are Kawa against Dehaks”—Another interview with the DAF
https://anhsyxia.wordpress.com/2014/11/04/an-interview-with-revolutionary-anarchist-action-on-kobane-we-are-kawa-against-dehaks/

DAF Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/anarsistfaaliyetorg

Revolution Will Win in Kobanê!—a DAF report from Boydê Village on the Syrian border during the first month of the struggle in Kobanê
http://www.anarkismo.net/article/27457

Rojava’s Communes and Councils—An overview of how the structures of direct democracy function in revolutionary Rojava
http://kurdishquestion.com/index.php/kurdistan/west-kurdistan/rojava-s-communes-and-councils.html

The Experiment of West Kurdistan Has Proved that People Can Make Changes—A report by a member of the Kurdistan Anarchists Forum who spent two weeks in Syrian Kurdistan
http://libcom.org/news/experiment-west-kurdistan-syrian-kurdistan-has-proved-people-can-make-changes-zaher-baher-2

Bookchin, Öcalan, and the Dialectics of Democracy—On the relationship between the former anarchist Murray Bookchin and Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the PKK
http://new-compass.net/articles/bookchin-%C3%B6calan-and-dialectics-democracy

The Kurdish Question: Through the lens of Anarchist Resistance in the Heart of the Ottoman Empire 1880–1923—A deep background on anarchism in the region
http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/michael-schmidt-lucien-van-der-walt-the-kurdish-question-through-the-lens-of-anarchist-resistan#fn5

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