(en) France, Organisation Communiste Libertarie (OCL) - Rojava / Kurdistan, A "Revolution" attacked - the Alternative in the middle of the war in Syria by Ulrike Flader (fr, pt)

 [machine translation]

The fierce resistance Koban? face jihadists becoming known worldwide. But what is at stake 
is much less known: the autonomy of the Kurdish areas and unprecedented popular 
self-organization experience at the municipal level that seeks to redefine the forms of 
government and administration in respect of combining multiple forms of affiliations, 
social liberation and women's liberation. ---- The September 30, 2014 ---- The most recent 
photos showing thousands of refugees fleeing violent attacks ISIS and making their way 
from Syria to the border of Turkey, just Koban? area - one of the three townships of the 
self-proclaimed Rojava Autonomous Region, in northern Syria. ---- This area - which 
consists of three geographically disconnected enclaves along the Turkish border - used 
strategically deteriorating situation to declare its independence in July 2012 that has 
since been celebrated as the "Revolution Rojava" in the Kurdish Movement grouped around 
the Workers' Party of Kurdistan (PKK). The population of Rojava, which has long been a 
stronghold of the PKK, is mainly composed of Kurds - both Muslims and Yezidis [1] - as 
well as Arabs, Christian Assyrians, Armenians, Turkmen and Chechens . The desire for some 
form of self-determination especially among the Kurds has been determined by decades of 
denial of their basic rights of citizenship under the Assad regime.

However, this quiet revolution is not intended to independence. This is not to found a new 
nation-state. This deliberate self-declaration as designating autonomous region and not as 
a state, stems from two critical, firstly that of existing nation-states with their 
principles of standardization and exclusion from citizenship, centralist governments and 
undemocratic structures suffered by the Kurds in Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria, on the 
other hand, the conventional strategies of national liberation movements. This criticism 
articulated with another model of "democratic autonomy" was put forward by the imprisoned 
leader of the PKK, Abdullah ?calan, and replaced the previous struggle for independence. 
The concept of democratic autonomy envisaged by Murray Bookchin libertarian thinker as a 
radical and decentralized democracy, or in spite of nation-states given that respects the 
principles of gender equality, religious affiliation and ethnic as well as Ecology [2]. In 
this sense, the PKK and its affiliate in Syria, the PYD (Democratic Union Party), are 
promoting this model, whose basic principle is to achieve the unity of all faiths and 
ethnic groups without assimilate it to the entire Middle East.

Over the past 18 months, the Syrian military outnumbered, were expelled from most areas of 
the region; the police, the secret services and the public service of the former regime 
have been dismantled, and the judicial and education systems processed. Furthermore, 
despite an unfavorable security situation, the central institutions for the most radical 
changes have been made in three main areas: the introduction of direct self-government by 
municipalities, ensuring equal participation for all religious and ethnic groups in all 
areas of decision-making and strengthening the position of women.

To decentralize decision-making and achieve self-reliance, common - village or street - 
composed of 30 to 150 households have been organized. These common rule on matters 
concerning the administration, electricity, provision of food, but also discuss and solve 
other social problems. They have committees for organizing the defense, justice, 
infrastructure, ecology, youth, and the economy. Some have set up communal cooperatives, 
for example, bakeries, sewing and agricultural initiatives. [3] They also organize support 
the poorest in the community for food and fuel base. Delegates joint together form a 
council of 7-10 villages dz the district of a city, and each city has yet another council. 
The council is composed of representatives of municipalities, of all political parties, 
organization of fallen fighters, organizing women and youth organization. All councils and 
municipalities have a 40% quota for women. Decisions are made ??on the basis of consensus 
and equal time is imposed. In addition, a co-chair was set up for all organizations, which 
means that all boards have two presidents, a woman and a man. All members are nominated 
and elected by the people. However, according to co-president of PYD, Salih Muslim, this 
radical transformation from dictatorship to this form of autonomy is not an easy process: 
"People learn to govern" . [4]

This change in decision-making has also meant a radical change in the legal system: the 
creation of "peace committees and consensus" . [5] These committees, which were originally 
developed as groundwater institutions left in Kurdish cities in the Kurdish region of 
Syria in the 1990s and have been severely repressed in the 2000s, resumed their importance 
with the uprising , and are transformed into basic structure and fundamental principle of 
the new court system. The purpose of these committees, which deal with all general legal 
issues and conflicts, but serious crimes such as murder, is to reach a consensus between 
the parties in conflict and thereby a lasting settlement. In a general meeting of all the 
inhabitants, each district elects 5-9 members of the peace committee and local consensus 
(40% must be women) based on their ability to facilitate such consensus in discussions 
between parts. It is emphasized that these members should not be co-opted by traditional 
authorities, but democratically elected according to the principle of gender equality. 
These peace committees and consensus also exist at the district level, whose members are 
each elected by the people's councils at that level. Committees of parallel single-sex 
women have been put in place that deal specifically with cases of crimes against women, 
such as domestic violence, forced marriages and -the multiple marriages. Cases that can 
not be resolved in this way consensus is transmitted at higher institutions that exist in 
the city, region and county. Call classes have been set up in each region and a 
constitutional court is interested in further development of the constitution, the 
framework has yet been made ??under the name of "social contract". [6]

The decision to agree on a social contract rather than a constitution is the manifestation 
of the centrality of the principle of multiconfessionalit? / multiethnic found behind the 
concept of democratic self-government in the Rojava. Ensure security contract, which was 
developed from meetings between representatives of different ethnic groups and beliefs, 
aims and autonomy of all groups. All groups must be equally present and active in the 
political decision-making as well as the economic and social issues Their right to 
self-determination must be ensured not only by the autonomy at the village level, but also 
the right to organize independently at other levels. According to the report of a 
delegation that visited the region in May this year, the participation of Arabs and 
Assyrians is increasing in all areas. [7] All groups are also encouraged to participate in 
the armed wing YPG or establish their own self-defense groups such as Assyrians have done 
recently.

Similarly, empowerment ( empowerment ) of women is not only achieved by the presence of 
women in all areas of the process of decision making through the quota of 40%, the 
co-chair, the specific legal fees women, but also by setting up their own military wing 
YPJ ??(Women's Advocacy Unit) [8]. In an interview, the co-chair of PYD, Asya Abdullah, 
argued that the movement in Syria has learned from other revolutions that women's issues 
could not be ignored until after the revolution. Instead, women in Rojava play a leading 
role in politics, diplomacy, social issues, in building a new democratic family structure 
as well as in self-defense. [9] She said the structures of self-government and 
self-organization of women are just as important as the independent education institutions 
and existing seminars and projects aimed at strengthening the economic independence of women.

This attempt a peaceful democratic transformation in coexistence with the state, but based 
on the premise of self-determination of the basis of pluralism and gender equality is, 
unfortunately, not well received by all in region. Violent attacks on the most recent 
Township Koban? by fighters of the ISIS are a sign of growing to destroy the autonomous 
region which is identified with the growing strength of the PKK in the region interest. 
The Turkish government has reacted sharply to allegations by the New York Times and other 
media that supports it, in one way or another, the fighters of the ISIS [10]. Yet for the 
PKK, the charges are based. This cooperation raises serious doubts about the sincerity of 
the government toward peace negotiations that began with ?calan during the past year. The 
PKK has warned it could end the truce he had declared to facilitate a possible peace 
process. [11] For all those who, in all regions of Turkey have joined the Syrian border to 
protest for all those organizing demonstrations and rallies in many cities across Europe, 
Rojava is not only a land of experiment for an alternative democracy in the region, but 
also a bastion against the ISIS.

Ulrike Flader

Notes:

[1] The majority of Yezidi Kurds live in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The attack ISIS 
city of Sinjar and the massacre of its inhabitants have triggered intense international 
attention and decision of the United States to intervene Since then, many Kurds Yazidis 
were aided in their flight to the Rojava by the Syrian wing guerrillas of the PKK (YPG).
[2] Gunes Cengiz (2012), "The Kurdish National Movement in Turkey. From Protest to 
Resistance ". New York, Routledge. See also: Biehl, Janet (2012) "Bookchin, ?calan, and 
the Dialectics of Democracy," New Compass, http: ... //new-compass.net/articles/boo ; 
last accessed on 20.02.2012.
[3] Knapp, Michael (2014) "Die Demokratische Autonomy in Rojava. Ziel ist eine f?r den 
gesamten demokratische Solution Mittleren Osten " Kurdistan Report 174, http: ... 
//www.kurdistan-report.de/inde ; last accessed on 09.25.2014.
[4] Interview with Co-Chair of PYD, Salih Muslim, "Die Menschen lernen, sich selbst zu 
bestimmen" Kurdistan Report 175, http: //www.kurdistan-report.de/inde ... ; last accessed 
on 09.25.2014.
5] Aybo?a, Ercan (2014) "Das neue Rechtssystem in Rojava. Der ist Konsens Entscheidend " 
Kurdistan Report 175, http: ... //www.kurdistan-report.de/inde ; last accessed on 09.25.2014.
[6] See the "Charter of Social Contract" of Rojava ("Charter of the Social Contract") 
here: http: ... //peaceinkurdistancampaign.com ; last accessed on 09.26.2014 [7] Knapp, 2014.
[8] Interviews Ilham Ehmed, representing the movement of Kurdish women Rojava and member 
of the Supreme Council Kurdish: Civaka Azad (2014) "Perspektiven der Frauenbewegung in 
Rojava" http : //civaka-azad.org/perspektiven ... ; last accessed on 09.25.2014.
[9] Interview with Asya Abdullah, Co-Chair of PYD: ???n?, P?nar (2014) "Kad?n ?zg?r 
de?ilse Demokrasi Olmaz" Radikal, 22/08/2013, http://www.radikal.com.tr / yazarlar / ... , 
last accessed on 25.09.2014.
[10] Official Summary of President's speech to the Assembly of Erdo?an TESK (Confederation 
of Turkish artisans and retailers): TCCB (2014) "We do not accept and -have never accepted 
the notion of Islamic terrorism ", http: ... //www.tccb.gov.tr/news/397/910 ; last 
accessed on 09.25.2014. The speech refers to an article published in the New York Times of 
9/15/2014: Yeginsu, Ceylon (2014) "ISIS Draws a Steady Stream of Recruits from Turkey," 
New York Times , 15/09/2014, http: // www. nytimes.com/2014/09/16/w ... ; last accessed 
on 09.25.2014.
[11] Statement by Cemil Bayik, Co-Chair of the Executive Council of the Union of Kurdistan 
Communities (KCK), see Firatnews (2014) "Bayik: We May Cease-fire ends the" Firatnews , 
27.09.2014, http: //en.firatajans.com/news/news / ... ; last accessed on 27.09.2014.

Ulrike Flader is a PhD student in the Department of Sociology at the University of 
Manchester. Her ethnographic research focuses on the practices of everyday resistance of 
the Kurdish population in Turkey. Based on the notions of power and resistance in the work 
of Michel Foucault and Judith Butler, it analyzes the forms of everyday resistance against 
the assimilation policies of the state. Although his research locates the resistance on 
the micro-level of everyday beyond political parties, mass protests or armed struggle, she 
is interested in the intersections between everyday resistance and social movements organized.

Source: http: //www.movements.manchester.ac ....

Translation: XYZ / OCLibertaire