In 2012 the PYD, a Kurdish political party connected to the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) in Turkey, took advantage of the Syrian civil war to eject regime forces from large parts of northern Syria (Rojava). Despite being in open conflict with so-called Islamic State (IS) and occasionally attacked by regime forces and Turkey, the PYD is pushing forward an ambitious series of social changes alongside TEV-DEM, an alliance of political and civil society organisations.
These are based on the ‘new paradigm’ of the PKK. This emphasises political decentralisation (democratic confederalism), a women’s revolution and the importance of ecology. Organised in three non-continous cantons, the Rojava revolution has seen massive leaps forward in terms of women’s liberation and the spreading of the confederal model into non-Kurdish areas liberated from IS. Tentative steps have also been taken to develop a more social economy through the encouragement of workers’ co-operatives and the socialisation of what little industry (primarily oil) exists.
Having achieved control of a large part of the north of Syria, the cantons face two sets of problems. In the short term,they need to be united and their physical security guaranteed. In the longer term, the revolution needs to be developed here in Rojava and propagated across existing state borders. The confederal model, with its layers of people’s assemblies and democratic structures, has not yet been adopted everywhere. Working with different communities, some unsure or even critical of the revolution, is hard work and takes time.
I am helping TEV-DEM in the city of Qamishlo. We have launched a campaign, ‘Join your local commune. Support the confederal system’, focused at the lowest level of that system, the mala gel (people’s houses). These function as neighbourhood assemblies feeding ideas and delegates up the political system, and as community centres offering education and civic services. We are running seminars and public events, visiting different community centres and speaking with people on the street and in their homes.
As we criss-cross the city to publicise or attend meetings, navigating differing checkpoints along the way, we encounter varying levels of support for the communes and the revolution in general. As I spend more time here, the regime neighbourhoods become more obvious – these are the upper-class areas containing shops full of things to buy. The lack of basic necessities is a stumbling block for many in supporting the revolution. A major task for the solidarity movement must be to pressure the neighbouring states to repeal their embargo.
The women’s revolution, which is well underway here, also has a long journey ahead. The PKK made women’s liberation a central plank of its politics in the 1990s and the Kongreya Star confederation of women’s organisations and its predecessor has been organising women in Rojava since 2005. As well as legislative change – for example, passing laws banning forced marriages – a whole series of women’s centres, educational programmes, newspapers and radio stations have been created. Women’s rights are being institutionalised through requirements for a parity of speakers and a minimum 40 per cent representation of women in all structures. These developments are all the more impressive in the context of the conservative society in which this revolution is being built.
The Kurdish liberation movement has developed over the past four decades from a guerrilla force to a large hybrid movement also comprising civic organisations woven into the daily lives of hundreds of thousands of people. The bravery, determination and patience of this movement is something unseen in the west for many years. They are in it for the long haul.
Peter Loo is a member of Plan C, currently working in Qamishlo with TEV-DEM.
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