Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement (AWSM) - THE ROJAVA REVOLUTION IN SYRIA

From the chaos of the Syrian Revolution the existence of a radical experiment in 
democracy has slowly emerged. The project in Rojava, in the north of Syria, has been 
instigated by the Democratic Union Party (the PYD) and its militias the People?s 
Protection Units (The YPG), and the all-female Women?s Protection Units (The YPJ), in 
alliance with the Turkish Kurdistan Workers? Party (the PKK). The PKK itself appears to 
have experienced its own (r)evolution, with the conversion of its leader Abdullah Ocalan, 
imprisoned by the Turks since 1999, away from the desire to create a Kurdish State and 
instead adopting an idea of ?libertarian municipalism? inspired by social ecologist Murray 
Bookchin. Instead of a highly centralised state, which was once its aim, the PKK now 
claims that it sees its aims for the Kurds to be living in free, self-governing 
communities, based on direct democracy and paying no heed to national borders.[i]

Three non-contiguous autonomous areas or cantons, Efrin, Cizire, and Kobane, have been set 
up. In every canton there exists a Legislative Assembly, an Executive Assembly, a 
Constitutional Assembly, and Regional Assemblies, as proscribed under a written collective 
political structure (the Social Contract).[ii] Delegates to the Assemblies are elected 
with an ethnic balance reflecting the population of the area, and guaranteeing a 40 per 
cent female presence, and a model of co-presidency means each political entity always has 
both a female and a male president.

?After visiting the area in December 2014, Janet Biehl described how power flows from the 
bottom upwards in this system through several tiers, namely the neighbourhood, district, 
city, and canton. All levels are made up of delegates whose role is only to convey the 
wishes of the people to the next level up.[iii] Saleh Muslim Mohamed, co-president of the 
PYD, has described how this system is leading to the education and politicising of the 
people, ?You have to reject the idea that you have to wait for some leader to come and 
tell the people what to do,? he explains, ?and instead learn to exercise self-rule as a 
collective practice?The people themselves educate each other. When you put 10 people 
together and ask them for a solution to a problem or propose them a question, they 
collectively look for an answer. I believe in this way they will find the right one. This 
collective discussion will make them politicised.?[iv]

?
?Free Kurds do not recognize borders?. Image from 
http://roarmag.org/2014/07/rojava-autonomy-syrian-kurds/
Some anarchists have dismissed the experiment as merely another statist project creating a 
new ruling class and government. The link with the PKK in particular has meant that the 
situation has been problematic for some; for example, the Anarchist Federation has 
criticised Ocalan?s Stalinist past and doubted his commitment to radical democracy, and 
anti-capitalist ideas.[v] Also, they point out the negative aspects of a planned dual 
structure which would see the assemblies running alongside a parliament based along 
western democratic lines.

Other commentators though, notably the anarchist anthropologist David Graeber, have been 
more accepting of the project, and argued that it is revolutionary and offering an example 
to an alternative way of organising the world.[vi] There is also a viewpoint that while 
the Rojavan project may not be anarchist, it is worthy of support for it?s democratic 
confederalism opens up space for further changes, and could be inspiring for rebels 
elsewhere.[vii]

This is an incredibly brief overview of a situation that has generated a huge amount of 
words over the last few weeks. Arguments have been flowing back and forth over the 
question of whether anarchists should be supportive of the Rojava project. For those 
interested, the resources below may help shed some light on the various discussions and 
points of view.

Further reading:
About

Useful article describing the workings of the democratic confederalism of Rojava:

http://new-compass.net/articles/revolution-rojava
Regular news from the Revolution in Rojava and Wider Kurdistan:

http://rojavareport.wordpress.com
A link to a book length examination of Rojava based around interviews by members of a 
solidarity group who briefly visited the area in 2011, which, while being clearly from a 
perspective sympathetic to the PKK, provide thought provoking glimpses into the practical 
implementation of a new left vision:

http://new-compass.net/publications/democratic-autonomy-north-kurdistan
A couple of useful articles giving an overview and explanation of the adoption of 
Bookchin?s ideas by the PKK under Ocalan?s direction and a brief sketch of their 
implementation in Rojava:

http://roarmag.org/2014/07/rojava-autonomy-syrian-kurds/
http://roarmag.org/2014/08/pkk-kurdish-struggle-autonomy/


Local anarchist perspective

An interview with the Kurdish Anarchist Forum:

http://www.indymedia.org.nz/articles/1410
The interview can also be found in issue 12 of Imminent Rebellion:

http://www.rebelpress.org.nz/publications/imminent-rebellion-12


Anarchists supporting the project

An interview with David Graeber, the anarchist anthropologist, championing the Rojava project:

https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/no-this-is-a-genuine-revolution/
More from Graeber with his examples of how he sees the Rojava revolution as being 
anti-capitalist:

http://nicolasphebus.tumblr.com/post/106580014578/some-concrete-examples-of-how-the-rojav
An ?Anarchist Communist? reply to the Workers Solidarity Alliance (WSA) article below:

http://www.anarkismo.net/article/27540
Anarchists critical of the project

An article casting aspersions on the true revolutionary nature of the Rojava situation:

http://www.servetdusmani.org/rojava-fantasies-and-realities/
A critical article recently published on the Ideas and Action website of the North 
America-based Workers Solidarity Alliance (WSA):

http://ideasandaction.info/2014/10/rojava-anarcho-syndicalist-perspective/
Various articles on Rojava, OcalanBookchin and Ocalan, by Janet Biel, including useful 
sociological and historical background:

http://www.biehlonbookchin.com
http://new-compass.net/article/kurdish-communalism


Further reading:

If you appetite is whetted then heaps more resources are listed here:

http://anarchism.pageabode.com/andrewnflood/resources-rojava-revolution-kurdistan-syria
References:

[i] https://libcom.org/news/rojava-people?s-war-not-class-war-25122014 [Last accessed 
06/01/2014]

[ii] http://civiroglu.net/the-constitution-of-the-rojava-cantons/ [Last accessed 06/01/2014]

[iii] http://www.biehlonbookchin.com/poor-in-means/ [Last accessed 06/01/2014]

[iv] In an interview with Green Left Weekly https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/57795 [Last 
accessed 06/01/2014]

[v] 
http://www.afed.org.uk/blog/international/435-anarchist-federation-statement-on-rojava-december-2014.html 
[Last accessed 06/01/2014]

[vi] https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/no-this-is-a-genuine-revolution/ [Last accessed 06/01/2014]

[vii] http://www.anarkismo.net/article/27540 [Last accessed 06/01/2014]

http://www.awsm.nz/2015/01/06/the-rojava-revolution-in-syria/