‘Your solidarity is part of our self-defense’: Two urgent calls from Rojava for global solidarity

Below we republish two calls for solidarity with the Rojavan revolution, one initiated by Women for Rovaja and RiseUp4Rojava (and signed by 183 organizations and 72 individuals from 39 different countries), the other from universities in Rojava/Northern and Eastern Syria.

Global Call for Solidarity: Days of Action in Defense of Rojava (January 25 – February 1)

Initiated by Women for Rovaja and RiseUp4Rojava, January 24

We, 183 organizations and 72 individuals from 39 different countries declare that:

Since January 6th, Kurdish and Arab regions in Syria have been subjected to sustained attacks, posing the most serious existential threat to Kurdish society and the autonomous system of self-governance that has been developed there for over 14 years. This military offensive is being coordinated by al-Sharaa’s islamist regime, the so called “transitional government” in Damascus, in collaboration with the Turkish Defense Minister, Yaşar Güler, and the Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan. It is being carried out in direct collaboration with jihadist militias. This war of extermination has been greenlighted by western governments.

Rojava is under immediate threat from HTS and ISIS. These attacks endanger the hard-won achievements of the Women’s Revolution in Rojava, including the principles of local democracy and equal rights for ethnic and religious communities. They are trying to force the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria to choose between total surrender and complete physical annihilation. The attack on Rojava is not solely aimed at destroying the achievements of Kurdish society. Rather, the goal of this international plan is to destroy the idea and project of a democratic Syria and a democratic Middle East.

Through these attacks, we are witnessing a new resurgence of ISIS. Thousands of ISIS-fighters have been freed by the government-militias of al-Sharaa, who himself shares a common history with the terrorist organization. Once again, ISIS is committing massacres against civil society all over Syria. Kobanê, the site of historic resistance against ISIS, is once again under attack and total siege by the same forces operating under different banners. Emboldened by these attacks ISIS once again poses a threat to societies worldwide.

Across all over Kurdistan, and all over the world, people are rising up to defend the Rojava Revolution and the hope it offers humanity. The Kurdish people, particularly women and young people, have responded to the call for a general mobilization by holding mass demonstrations and traveling to Rojava in thousands, to defend the territory. Social movements, trade unions, civil society organizations and academic communities on all continents have organized solidarity actions with the peoples of Rojava.

In 2014, millions of people took to the streets worldwide and together we liberated Kobanê. The defeat of ISIS at that time was made possible not only by the YPG and YPJ, but also by broad international solidarity, including political, social and moral support from democratic forces worldwide.

Today, we once again call for global solidarity to defend the revolution and human dignity.

In an era of increasing global fragmentation driven by profit rather than the needs of people, we must unite to demand the freedom of Rojava and stand up for humanity. In the face of coordinated military and political pressure, democratic forces must strengthen their solidarity.

We, the organizations and individuals listed below, therefore call to:

• Organize actions in solidarity with Rojava, condemning the attacks and underlining the imminent threat of ethnic cleansing by the Syrian transitional government, Turkey and its allied jihadist militias.
• Create a counter-public sphere in the media and civil society about the situation in Rojava and expose blatant Western support for the attacks.
• Hold national governments and international institutions responsable for their complicity in the war crimes in Rojava.
• Demand political and legal recognition and status for the DAANES in order to force Damascus to accept a decentralized solution that guarantees the existence and rights of Alawites, Druze, Yazidis, Assyrians, Armenians and all ethnic and religious communities in a future democratic Syria.

See list here

A Call for Solidarity from the Universities in Rojava/Northern and Eastern Syria

Universities in Rojava/Northern and Eastern Syria, January 22

We, the faculty, students, and staff of the Universities in Rojava/Northern and Eastern Syria, send you this message as we leave our classrooms to help defend our universities, our cities, and our revolution alongside the self-defense forces. Before the autonomous administration, Raqqa (Sharq) and Kobanê had no universities. Our campuses, built in the midst of war, have reclaimed long-denied education to young people, grounding learning in women’s liberation, ecology, and a democratic, communal life for the people.

For the past fifteen years in Rojava/Northern and Eastern Syria, under constant pressure and repeated attacks by imperial, sub-imperial, and colonial powers, our people have built a shared life through collective capacity. Against capitalism and patriarchy, we have worked to advance a society rooted in women’s liberation, ecological life, and democratic self-rule. Under the conditions of war across the region, and against the violence and impositions of regional states and their mercenaries, we relied on our own self-defense and our own diplomacy to carve out space, and within that space, we struggled to build a life that once seemed impossible.

Today, that life is under attack. What we have built, this source of hope for oppressed peoples in the region and around the world, is being targeted from all sides by the fascist forces of the Syrian Arab Army, an al-Qaeda lineage rebranded into state authority and dressed in suits, and by mercenaries, backed by regional and global imperial powers.

We are living through an unfolding feminicide and genocide. The situation on the ground is urgent and worsening by the day. Our university buildings are full of displaced people trying to survive the winter without blankets or extra clothing. Turkish drones have targeted several places near the University of Rojava in Qamishlo during the last few days. Students in the dormitories in Qamishlo are cut off from their families in Kobanê, not knowing if their loved ones are safe, and unable to reach them.

The situation in Kobanê is particularly dire. The city is currently under siege, surrounded by Syrian Army forces on one side and the Turkish army on the other. For seven days, there has been no electricity, no access to water, and no reliable access to basic necessities. Under these conditions, learning, safety, and survival are being targeted as part of a coordinated siege.

We say this clearly to our friends, colleagues, and comrades: we will defend ourselves with everything we have. We will defend our people, our universities, and the possibility of the life we have struggled to build.

We call on you, wherever you are, to stand with Rojava. Raise your voice. Organize on your campuses, in your unions, and in your communities. Use your positions, however limited they may feel, to push for action, to demand accountability, and to refuse silence. Strengthen the networks of solidarity that make resistance possible. Stand up for the revolutionary aims of freedom, women’s liberation, ecological life, and democratic communal life. Your solidarity is part of our self-defense, and it can help shift the balance and prevent yet another genocide in the region.

Universities in Rojava/Northern and Eastern Syria 
University of Rojava, 
Kobani University, 
University of Al-Sharq Students, 
Faculty and Staff