Democratic confederalism – construction and resistance!
Channel: Civaka Azad
Date: 2020-06-10

Democratic confederalism – construction and resistance!

Radical democracy, ecological consciousness and women’s liberation – three catchwords that, as a result of war and conflict, people rarely associate with the Middle East region. But in the north of Syria, also known as Rojava, a concept of society is being implemented that is based on these very pillars. The theory behind it is known as Democratic Confederalism and is based on the model of ideas of the leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan, who has been imprisoned since 1999.
Democratic Confederalism not only stands for resistance against the prevailing chaos in the Middle East, it also stands for the construction of a social alternative. In our introductory event on this topic we want to talk to two speakers who are familiar with the subject. 



Havin Guneser is spokeswoman of the International Initiative “Freedom for Abdullah Ocalan – Peace in Kurdistan”. She is also working on the translations of Öcalan’s defence writings into English.

Janet Biehl is an author and has visited Rojava several times in recent years. She has also worked for many years with Murray Bookchin, whose writings on social ecology inspired Abdullah Öcalan.
    
Dilar Dirik is a member of Cenî Kurdish Women’s Office for Peace and a postdoctoral researcher at the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford.