Rojava

Shawn Hattingh — The people of South Africa deserve better and, in some places in the world, we can see glimpses of a better system being built by people themselves, without handing power to politicians.

Berivan Amuda — What sets the Rojava Revolution apart is that it has truly been based on a struggle centering women’s liberation and society’s change towards an ethical and political society.

Anna Rebrii & Liza Shishko discuss their experience living in the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.

The text of this Social Contract of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of the North and East Syria Region was ratified on December 12, 2023.

The YPJ Information and Documentation Office has published a booklet to mark the 10th anniversary of the creation of the Women's Defense Units.

Debbie Bookchin talks about the ideas and philosophy of Abdullah Öcalan, the libertarian model of women in Rojava and her thoughts on freedom of women on March 8 International Women's day.

A collection of statements from Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), Women's Defense Units (YPJ), YPG/YPJ International, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and Democratic Union Party (PYD) condemning the latest wave of Turkish attacks on North-East Syria and northern Iraq.

Rojava — or, as the region is officially called, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) — has become a positive point of reference for social change for many on the Left. AANES is a multi-ethnic society that has had its own autonomous government since the Rojava Revolution in July 2012.

Ebru Günay, spokesperson for the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), spoke at a press conference in Amed (tr. Diyarbakir) about Turkey’s continued attacks on northern Syria and speculation about a rapprochement between Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan and his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad.

Hints of a meeting between AKP leader and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad, as well as ministerial contacts, have revealed a change in Turkey's Syria policy in recent weeks. But what really changed? Erdoğan continues his attacks and invasion preparations against northern and eastern Syria unabated. The Turkish president sought a "green light" from Russia and Iran. Putin told Erdoğan to clarify this issue with Assad. Erdoğan then changed course. The question now is whether Turkey will be able to reach an anti-Kurdish agreement to invade northern and eastern Syria this way, or whether it will launch an invasion on its own initiative without getting the "green light".

By Ertuğrul Kürkçü

June 8, 2022 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from Progressive International — Ankara believes that Russia's invasion of Ukraine has opened a window of opportunity in its century-long war with the northern Kurds by expanding its influence beyond the borders of the Turkish Republic.

The Erdogan regime hopes to deepen its exploitation of the United Nations Security Council's 2015 call for an "international alliance" directly against ISIS and al-Nusra. It mobilised that appeal to assault the Kurdish autonomous governments in Syria and Iraq that the Kurds had won through their fight against ISIS.