Analysis: For David Graeber, Theory and Action Were Inseparable
by Thomas Swann
David Graeber lived his political values - and through everyday acts of communism, he argued, many of us do too.
Tag: rojava
Opinion: David Graeber Was Right to Recognise the Importance of the Kurdish Struggle
by Giran Ozcan
David Graeber was an early and committed supporter of the Kurdish freedom movement. We can remember him the way he remembered the people of Rojava who gave their lives in the fight against Isis, writes Giran Ozcan - by living out our ideas in practice and making a commitment to solidarity that goes beyond words.
Obituary: An Everyday Anarchist: David Graeber, 1961-2020
by Paul Mason
David Graeber - anthropologist, author, anarchist and friend to many - died this week in Venice aged 59. A lifelong fighter for social justice, his ultimate achievement will be in the “everyday communist society” we create, writes Paul Mason.
International: How a Revolution Really Feels: Rojava 8 Years On
by Matt Broomfield
How does it feel to seek new ways to live? On the eighth anniversary of the Rojava revolution, journalist and activist Matt Broomfield - who has been living and working in North and East Syria for the last two years - explains.
International: Coronavirus in Rojava: Facing a Pandemic Without a State
by Thomas McClure
In North and East Syria, 4m people are reliant on a total capacity of just 40 ventilators and 35 ICU beds. With UN aid practically severed, the autonomous administration is forced to rely on its war-tested ideals as its best hope of keeping the population alive through the pandemic crisis.
International: North and East Syria’s Political Experiment Continues Despite Its Challenges
by Nina Steinhardt
Confronted with Turkish occupation forces and now coronavirus, the democratic project in North and East Syria is still proving its resilience in civil society, writes Nina Steinhardt.
British Solidarity With Rojava Must Start at Home, With an End to the Hostile Environment
by Fanny Malinen
European states won't challenge Erdogan's attack on Rojava because of the power Turkey has as the EU's south-eastern border wall. To show solidarity with the Kurdish-led democracy revolution, we need to challenge the hostile environment at home, argues Fanny Malinen.
Interview: Update From Rojava | Interview With Dani Ellis
Dani Ellis is a volunteer and engineer currently based in Rojava. Following up their conversation a few weeks ago, James spoke to Dani about Turkey’s ‘military pause’, the geopolitical games of Turkey, Syria, Russia and the US, resistance and what this spells for the future of Rojava.
Ash Wednesday: Ash Sarkar Meets Jeremy Corbyn
Ash Sarkar met up with Jeremy Corbyn to talk about his political journey, the movement in power, and whether or not he really killed a rabbit with a pogo stick.
Western Governments May Have Abandoned the Kurds but Let’s Not Abandon Hope and Solidarity
by Chris Strafford
Abandoned by the West, Kurdish-led democratic forces in Syria have been left with a choice between ethnic cleansing at the hands of the Turkish state or compromising their independence by reaching an agreement with Damascus. Chris Strafford argues this is not the time for allies in the UK to abandon hope or solidarity.
Explainers: Rise up for Rojava
This week the Turkish armed forces launched an incursion into northern Syria with the intention of crushing the YPG and the autonomous region known as Rojava. In this video Elif Sarican outlines the reasons why we in the UK should care.
Interview: No Friends but the Mountains | Interview With a Rojava Volunteer
James Butler spoke to Dani Ellis, a volunteer and engineer currently based in Rojava, about the situation now, as Turkey conducts shelling ahead of a full invasion. They discuss the nature of the resistance – and what people in the UK can do in solidarity.
Interview: A New Society in the Shell of the Old | James Butler Meets Debbie Bookchin
Debbie Bookchin’s father’s ideas inspired a Kurdish project based on ecology, non hierarchy, women’s liberation and grassroots democracy. At The World Transformed in September James Butler sat down with Debbie to discuss her father’s ideas, the revolution in Rojava they inspired and more. This interview was recorded before recent events in which the US has […]
Live: Rojava: Trump Betrays the Kurds
As Trump gives the green light for a Turkish invasion of Rojava, we ask David Graeber what hope there is left for Syrian Kurds. Plus, the latest on Extinction Rebellion’s Autumn Uprising with Aaron Bastani.
Erdogan Wants a ‘Buffer Zone’ Along the Syria Border – but It’s Turkish Forces Killing Civilians
by Robin Fleming
Turkish forces have killed 27 civilians in north-eastern Syria in cross-border attacks this year alone, with just one attack going the other way. Yet Turkey is using the narrative that it must protect itself from a “terror corridor” to move its troops into Rojava.
What to Do With International Isis Fighters? Rojava May Have a Solution
by Dani Ellis
Nobody can agree on what to do with international Isis fighters, but the autonomous Rojava administration in north-eastern Syria is calling for an international tribunal to hold them accountable on the soil where their crimes were committed.
A Century After Turkey’s Genocide of Our People, Armenians Are Still Under Threat
by Hagop Artim Kashejian
104 years after the Ottoman government's systematic extermination of 1.5 million people, an Armenian soldier opposing Isis in Syria reflects on the imperative to keep resisting terror and oppression.
In Afrin, the UK Has Blood on Its Hands
by Lotte Lewis
In the days following the news of her friend Haukur Hilmarsson's death, Lotte Lewis spoke with many who questioned why someone from western Europe would travel to fight with the YPG. But Afrin–and the 7 year-long Civil War in Syria that has preceded it –has everything to do with the West.