The WSM considers the struggle for Kobane and the autonomous zones of Rojava to be crucial
for the development of a political alternative for the region. We view Daesh as the toxic
excrescence of the results of global and regional imperialist intervention in Syria and
Iraq. ---- On the one hand this has taken the form of the US 2003 invasion of Iraq, and
its ever more bankrupt policy since of funding corrupt clientelist hirelings, the infamous
"moderate militias". The problem with such "non-ideological" forces, hired for their
compliance with American views and their hostility to ideological opponents of US
imperialism in the area, is that they are a paper tiger. Shortly before his assassination,
Ahrar al-Sham leader Hassan Aboud, said of the Iraq army's rout by Daesh was "because the
army has no military ideology,".
In contrast to US and Western blind search for "moderate militias", the regional
imperialisms of the AKP-led Turkish state, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE, have been happy to
fund and support forces fuelled by the negative ideology of sectarian hatred. While each,
in their competition with the others, had their own favourite brigades, the combined
effect of their open gates to money and weapons to all sectarian jihadists, whether
Ikhwanite or Salafist, was the nourishment that allowed Daesh to grow from a marginalised
Iraqi guerilla to an internationally recruited threat across Mesopotamia and the Levant.
Today in Kobane two strong ideologies confront each other. One them, the bastard
love-child of imperialism, celebrating slavery and sectarian totalitarianism, the other
fighting for the ideals of autonomy and freedom. In such a confrontation it is no surprise
that Turkey and its Western allies have decided that the most threatening of these two
ideologies is the idea of freedom. The WSM condemns utterly the brutal actions of the AKP
regime in blockading Kobane, while allowing reinforcements and weapons through to Daesh.
We condemn further this morning's strikes by the Turkish air force against alleged PKK
positions in Daglica. We support the struggle of YPG/YPJ volunteers in Kobane and Rojava
and that of Turkish Kurds against the oppression of the Turkish state.
The experience of Rojava in beginning the implementation of the KCK's ideology of
Democratic Confederalism is in our opinion as significant for the development of political
alternatives in the Middle East as the earlier experience of the Zapatistas was for
Central and South America. If political movements like the KCK, and the Zapatistas before
them, have moved from an authoritarian left position towards more libertarian politics, it
is not because anarchism in the 21st century is playing the role of the most powerful and
prestigious alternative to reformism and social-democracy, as the Bolsheviks once did in
the wake of 1917. Rather it is because that anarchism is not a brand but a toolkit of
principles and practices for the self-liberation of the oppressed and exploited. We see it
as our duty to express our solidarity with Rojava and the kurdish movement, not because
they have ideologicaly made a step in our direction, but because they represent hope in
this region and because they are the oppressed fighting the oppressors and whatever may be
the imperfections of their process we will stand in solidarity.
Note - this statement 'WSM International Secretariat on the defence of Kobane' arose from
a request made to us by Devrimci Anar?ist Faaliyet for a short piece giving our
perspective for inclusion in a publication they will be distributing in Kurdish areas of
the Turkish state (and we hope in Kobane once ISIS have been driven back and out of sight).
The image is a photo of the Dublin Solidarity Rally that our members took part in.
Update: We'd like to apologise for the use of the patriarchal & patrilineal term 'bastard
love child' in the statement - we really, really should have caught that at the editing stage!
Home »
» (en) Ireland, Anarchist WSM International Secretariat on the defence of Kobane