With Trump giving the OK for turkey to invade Rojava, the autonomous area of northern syria, I felt the need that people read about Murray Bookchin, Abdullah Ocalan and Janet Biehl and about the experience of the Rojava revolution and just how inspiring it is.
It's as if these sexist autocrats found themselves incapable or unwilling to stop IS, and instead got this ecofeminist autonomous force to just keep going, because they were already the most effective fighters against them. So now that the threat has been cleared, and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria is at peace, with all those amazing people who actually resisted ISIS and won, the US is withdrawing it's presence and support so that Turkey can invade and ethnically cleanse them.
I thought about how it might go, knowing that Turkey is at risk of further recession as is Europe, and how powerless war can be, especially when it is never mentioned that the people who Trump and Erdogan are occupying and whose economy and livelihood they are destroying, have created a stateless, feminist, ecologically positive cooperative economy while they were fighting ISIS. Maybe for the powers that be, their democratic confederacy is best destroyed and forgotten.
Maybe if we learn more about democratic confederalism it can be the most powerful way of quickly becoming not just a halt to the machinations of the rich and powerful at the expense of the earth and its living beings, but a way to allow our whole actual planet to restore itself from the damage we've done so far to everything.
So here is a quick guide, which I hope can be adapted and can lead to better versions or methods, so that you can also get involved and have a Rojava revolution in your local area.
It's as if these sexist autocrats found themselves incapable or unwilling to stop IS, and instead got this ecofeminist autonomous force to just keep going, because they were already the most effective fighters against them. So now that the threat has been cleared, and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria is at peace, with all those amazing people who actually resisted ISIS and won, the US is withdrawing it's presence and support so that Turkey can invade and ethnically cleanse them.
I thought about how it might go, knowing that Turkey is at risk of further recession as is Europe, and how powerless war can be, especially when it is never mentioned that the people who Trump and Erdogan are occupying and whose economy and livelihood they are destroying, have created a stateless, feminist, ecologically positive cooperative economy while they were fighting ISIS. Maybe for the powers that be, their democratic confederacy is best destroyed and forgotten.
Maybe if we learn more about democratic confederalism it can be the most powerful way of quickly becoming not just a halt to the machinations of the rich and powerful at the expense of the earth and its living beings, but a way to allow our whole actual planet to restore itself from the damage we've done so far to everything.
So here is a quick guide, which I hope can be adapted and can lead to better versions or methods, so that you can also get involved and have a Rojava revolution in your local area.
- Get a group meeting together periodically. The participants are supposed to be anyone at all who feels bonds of friendship, family or of being part of a local community and wants to discuss things they can do to sort out issues they see around them.
- Decide on how to implement an egalitarian and representative participation in the meetings, that can make them fair and empowered according to feminist, ecological and democratic principles.
- Establish Co-leadership: A key aspect of the Rojava revolution has been co-leadership by a man and a woman, and a minimum quota for male and female participation of 40% in case of voting. This guarantees equality of gender throughout decision making, as well as allowing for a general level of responsibility for the role as it requires the two leaders to reach an agreement on each decision.
- Create a voluntary constitution as a social contract and establish a federal model for decentralisation as other popular assemblies might appear in the vicinity. (Rojava's own constitution guarantees cultural, religious and political freedom to all people, with equal rights for all).
- Foster a cooperative economy that amalgamates private enterprises, autonomous organisations and workers cooperatives, seeking self sufficiency and independence from external imports rather than growth. This should begin from the agricultural and infrastructure sectors: feed participants and create possibilities for growth in other areas. Taxes should be rare if there at all. And now in no particular order:
- Create civil and district councils to deal with further areas (again in Rojava this might be rubbish collection, distribution of spaces or land, and administration of cooperatives). Civil councils deal with social and political rights in the community.
- Establish protection of ethnic, religious and cultural minorities. Everyone should be able to express themselves freely and participate in democratic processes.
- Create reconciliation committees for conflict resolution and restorative justice. These should be representative of the ethnic makeup of each area.
- Any laws in a surrounding state that harm the rights of women should be opposed and overturned. There should be spaces and funds for adequate prevention, training and support against domestic violence, sexual aggression and other forms of harm and abuse.
- Establish religious and ideological freedom of expression in belief and practices such as marriages or funeral ceremonies.
Comments