Anticapitalist Economy in Rojava intro Azize Aslan. pdf

As the civil war in Syria continues, in the territory of Rojava – in Kurdish, ‘the West’ – the northern Syrian Kurdish political movement is attempting to implement ‘libertarian municipalism’, based on the thoughts of United States (US) anarchist Murray Bookchin. Since the withdrawal of Syrian regime forces in 2012, the movement has consolidated significant territorial gains as a US ally in the anti-Islamic State (IS) struggle, while simultaneously securing Russian support. Viewed with suspicion by Turkey, Syria and Iraqi Kurdistan, the geopolitical conditions of Rojava’s emergence are its greatest impediment. This article analyses Rojava’s model of rule and socioeconomic development, and its theory and practice in the context of the civil war, and regional Middle Eastern and wider global geopolitics. It reflects on Rojava’s place and meaning for contemporary geopolitics in the Middle East, and considers the territory’s prospects, discussing its transformative potential for an otherwise troubled region.

Social Movement Studies, 2020

The two books under review describe the contemporary Syrian civil war and the related social revolution in the region of Western Kurdistan known as Rojava. The complex history of the modern Middle East, the Syrian state, and inter-Kurdish relations have influ­enced not only the civil war resulting from 2011’s Arab Spring, but also the founding of a popular revolution and commune in Rojava, led by radical principles of democratic autonomy. The feminist-influenced, federated structure of the commune was initiated by the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which has ties to the Marxist-Leninist Kurdish Workers Party of Turkey. Both books adopt a sympathetic approach to the struggles of the Kurdish people in Rojava, but differ in their assessment of the PYD’s actual democratic nature and the substantive gains the commune has purportedly made. The commune has presented a challenge to both Kurdish and Arab communities, regarding how to transform Syrian society. As an ethnically-rich region, Rojavans have struggled to not only build the socio-organizational institutions relevant for Kurdish autonomy, but also to incorporate and empower other ethnic populations, too, so as to not also subjugate non-Kurds. Residents – whether aligned with the commune or not – have found themselves subject to attack on all sides, from the Syrian regime’s repression and Islamists like the Islamic State who slaugh­ter any perceived heretics, to the invasion-prone Turkish army and unstable global partnerships (as with the US). The pressure-cooker of civil war has led to creative experiments such as the commune.

2017

In Pawn: Kurdish Economic Development in the context of conflict Stephen E. McAvene III In this paper the author examines the struggle of the Kurdish people for selfdetermined social, political, and economic development in the whirlwind of conflict in the Middle East. It uses a case study of how a Kurdish minority in Iraq interact with multiple stakeholders in their struggle for nationhood, and implications of these interactions for overall Kurdish social and economic development. Studies on economic development while interested in social, economic and political aspect of development, are less concerned with the implications of right to self-determination on development; the unique case of the Kurdish struggle provides an opportunity to expand the development discourse surrounding self-determination for minority groups. Jude Fernando, Ph.D. Chief Instructor

Situating the 'Reflections' In this chapter I offer a series of reflections on the historical specificity of the Kurdish community in Iran (Rojhelat). The focus of these reflections on the social forces and relations and their effects on the working of power and domination in contemporary Rojhelat, I believe, makes it a fitting tribute to Robert Olson's contribution to Kurdish studies, honored in this collection. Olson's scholarship has always involved the writing of political history with a keen eye for the social, and similar concerns underpin my discussion here. However the dynamics of my analysis seek theoretical answers to questions posed in the political domain. The discursive strategy deployed in the construction and presentation of the theoretical and political arguments of this essay is genealogical, an approach which (as I have explained in previous writings) tries to identify the key elements in the complex and multifaceted process of social transformations in the Kurdish community and to lay bare their structural dynamics, by focusing on the articulations of economic and political relations in the context of an ongoing struggle against sovereign domination. This struggle, as I have argued elsewhere in my writings on the historical specificity of the Kurdish question, constitutes the nexus of a dialectics of domination and resistance traversing Kurdish history in Rojhelat and has shaped the historical development of the Kurdish community in modern times.

Jadaliyya, 2022

The revolution in Rojava is often described as “utopian,” due to its secular, democratic dream in “a region like the Middle East.” Commentators point to the revolution’s assertion of inter-group coexistence, women’s liberation, a communal economy model, and so forth. By taking a supposedly objective position, these accounts usually equalize the Kurdish-led revolution and ISIS through their confronting “utopian dreams.” Similarly, many accounts reduce the Rojava revolution to having emerged from a geopolitical opening enabled by the Syrian war.[1] Or, it is ideologically reduced to Öcalan’s reading of Bookchin, not only by liberal/orthodox approaches but also by some of its friends. As a result, a number of crucial issues needed to understand the Rojava revolution are silenced, intentionally or unintentionally. The tenth anniversary of the Rojava revolution presents a good occasion to revisit some of these issues.

1992

The following paper aims to analyze the historical background of the current happenings such as the Kurdish endeavors towards independence and the strengthening of feminist thought, as well as cultural and political circumstances which put into motion a series of events that ultimately lead to a radical change in the political and social climate of the present day Syria. In the midst of a civil war, the Kurdish people seized the opportunity to fight for their own sovereignty in northern Syria, or as it is known by the Kurds – Rojava. Rooted in the strongly progressive idea of Democratic Confederalism designed by a Kurdish nationalist leader and the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) founder Abdullah Öcalan, the Rojava Revolution is often deemed one of the greatest social experiments of our time. Even though the implementation of Democratic Confederalism may be in itself enough to highlight the importance of this revolution in the context of today's Middle East, what is of even greater significance is the blossoming of women's rights in Rojava. Another one of Öcalan's pivotal ideas, known as Jineology (the science of women) puts none other than women at the very center of the revolution. By observing the work of the all-female Women's Protection Units (YPJ) it is clearly evident that the aforementioned ideology manifests itself in practice, not only in the battlefield, but in everyday life as well. In this paper I will try to provide an overview of the historical circumstances that allowed for a spark that started the fire of the Women's Revolution within one of the most patriarchal societies and among one of the most repressed minorities in the world today and further examine the significance of the current situation in Rojava.

2019

2019

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