Anarchists vs. ISIS: The Revolution in Syria Nobody’s Talking About
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From Cult Nation - by Gareth Watkins (photos: Erin Trieb)
The Middle East today is the last place anyone in mainstream western thought would think to look for progressive political thought, and even less to see those thoughts translated into action. Our image of the region is one of dictatorships, military juntas and theocracies built on the ruins of the former Ottoman Empire, or hollow states like Afghanistan, and increasingly Pakistan, where anything outside the capitol is like Mad Max. The idea of part of the region being not just free, but well on its way to utopian, isn't one that you're going to find on mainstream media.
But you're not on the mainstream media right now, are you?
Along Syria's borders with Turkey and Northern Iraq, lies a mainly Kurdish area with a population of 4.6 million where a huge social experiment is taking place at the centre of a crossfire between Syria's dictatorship, ISIS's collective insanity and Turkey's ongoing hostility towards the idea of Kurdish autonomy, with the US and NATO looming large in the background. The Democratic Union Party (PYD) and Kurdish National Council (KNC) established in the region of Rojava a society that mixes fierce libertarianism (guns are everywhere and there are no taxes – none) and Occupy-friendly anarchist thought with a healthy dose of feminism. While most Kurdish groups, especially those the US is friendly with, would some day like to establish a Kurdish state, in Rojava they have leap-frogged over the idea of the nation state into a more advanced system that they call Democratic Confederalism.
In the cantons of Rojava, there is a small central government with an absolute minimum of 40% female delegates, but most of the day-to-day work of running society happens at a local level, street by street and village by village. Democratic Confederalism's chief architect, Abdullah Ocalan, says that “Ecology and feminism are central pillars” of the system he has spearheaded, something that you would have to go very far to the margins to hear from Western politicians. In Rojava, men who beat their wives face total ostracism from the community, making their lives in a highly social, connected society virtually impossible. Instead of a police force and jails, 'peace committees' in each municipality work to defuse the cycles of inter-family revenge killings by consensual agreements between both sides – and it works.
The only part of Rojava's experiment that has received any international attention has been the YPJ, the female-only paramilitary forces that have been fighting, and winning, against ISIS and the Syrian Army. NBC, the Guardian and even Marie Claire have all covered the YPJ's bravery without even paying lip service to the ideology that makes it possible.
It was the YPJ, along with their male counterparts the YPG, that rescued the thousands of Yazidis stranded and encircled by ISIS on Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq. The Yazidi community had the misfortune to be based almost entirely inside the area that ISIS has claimed – and they have been a hated minority in the Islamic world for a thousand years, accused of 'devil worship'. While the US dropped supplies from above, the Syrian fighting groups broke ISIS's lines and saved tens of thousands of lives. They also successfully defended the city of Kobani when ISIS launched an all-out assault on the city of forty-five thousand with tanks, missiles and even drones. Despite heavy losses, the city remains ISIS-free, though its surrounding villages are still contested.
The YPJ/G and the the Democratic Society Movement that they fight for aren't perfect: they have been accused of using child soldiers (girls as young as twelve serve as cooks and cleaners for the YPJ and undergo some basic combat training, though they aren't deployed in combat) and they are forever tainted by their association with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), led by Abdullah Ocalan and classified as a terrorist organization by most nations. The formerly Marxist-Leninist party also has some murky connections to the drug trade and Turkish intelligence.
Despite all the obstacles facing them, the people of Rojava are, right now, the only large-scale movement on the entire planet implementing a real, working alternative to the state and capitalism. Like the Spanish anarchist federations and the Mexican Zapatistas before them, the people of Rojava have chosen to do the impossible: to create a new society while fighting as one of the smallest forces in a regional war, a tight-rope walk through a dodge-ball court. Only time will tell if they can pull it off.
Comments
Cem Kaplan (not verified)
Fri, 02/06/2015 - 14:02
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PKK
PKK is a terrorist organization that kill innocent children and people as much as ISIS does. If you call them as a rebel organization then you will have to call all terrorists as rebels.
Anonymous (not verified)
Fri, 02/06/2015 - 14:41
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Most "terrorists" are better
Most "terrorists" are better described as rebels, although I have few illusions about insurgent warfare being sentimental
Anonymous (not verified)
Fri, 02/06/2015 - 14:48
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"terrorist" is a weasel word
"terrorist" is a weasel word anyway.
Anonymous (not verified)
Fri, 02/06/2015 - 15:25
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Kaplan...
Any family connection with another neocon bullshitting coward called Kaplan? Just curious...
But I presume you're just trololing. If that's so, you're partly forgiven, though you still need proper ass treatment from the Queer radical mafia. Watch yo ass.
Anonymous (not verified)
Fri, 02/06/2015 - 17:29
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Glad you got to exploit rape
Glad you got to exploit rape and anti LGBT+ sentiments for this wicked burn. It almost makes it all worth it.
Anonymous (not verified)
Fri, 02/06/2015 - 15:42
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Kaplan... Cem Kaplan...
- Turkish reactionary douchebag who likes to exhibit himself on Twitter/Facebook.
- fascist bank exec from JP Morgan/UBS/Credit Suisse: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/cem-kaplan/11/7b6/42a
lol
One way or another, you're all too obvious as a bad-mouther of the communist Kurds... o_O
Anonymous (not verified)
Fri, 02/06/2015 - 15:29
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NATO is a terrorist
NATO is a terrorist organization that sexually abuse and kill innocent children and people as much as ISIS/Al Qaeda/Muslim Brotherhood does. If you call them as a military organization then you will have to call all terrorists as military.
Anonymous (not verified)
Fri, 02/06/2015 - 19:51
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Screw the FSA... the Kurd YPG
Screw the FSA... the Kurd YPG are the real revolutionaries worth siding with. I've told ya over a year ago and now you can see they are the real deal, not just some US tools.narchist thought
Anonymous (not verified)
Sat, 02/07/2015 - 21:57
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"Screw the FSA... the Kurd
"Screw the FSA... the Kurd YPG are the real revolutionaries worth siding with. I've told ya over a year ago and now you can see they are the real deal, not just some US tools.narchist thought"
Only the People's Front of Rojava are the real anarchists!
Anonymous (not verified)
Sat, 02/07/2015 - 02:49
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More photogenic college
More photogenic college girls with Kalashnikovs !
Anonymous (not verified)
Sat, 02/07/2015 - 03:14
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R u mad?
R u mad?
Anonymous (not verified)
Sat, 02/07/2015 - 03:30
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Real anarchists don't use
Real anarchists don't use guns, they use bricks, which a good anarchist warrior should be able to throw the length of a football field!
Anonymous (not verified)
Sat, 02/07/2015 - 03:34
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Is this ableism?
Is this ableism?
Anonymous (not verified)
Sat, 02/07/2015 - 04:15
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No it is
No it is honesty to the ideas of non compromise. Using the tools of the binary militarist industrial complex is complicity with their values. Look at what happened in the Spanish Revolution? Mud bricks at 150 paces is acceptable. We can look back after our victory and boldly say we did not compromise our values! These college girls should get back to their iPods and Facebook, their biceps are only good for wielding a pen or using a keyboard!
Troll Commander (not verified)
Sat, 02/07/2015 - 07:35
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IGTT 7/10
I thought you were just trolling, and I found out you are actually just trolling.
7 points for the sarcasm on pacifist idiots and usual bitching from the maoist. Could have been funnier though. Good work, but you'll need to work harder to get to the ivy league.
The biceps critic (not verified)
Sat, 02/07/2015 - 07:41
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Working on it. If there was
Working on it. If there was an Anarchist Olympics the brick throw would be the glamor event and the commentators would all be trolls!
Anonymous (not verified)
Sat, 02/07/2015 - 08:35
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Bricks are macho! You can
Bricks are macho! You can only take out a line of cops in full body armor with a special secret Shaolin technique originally kept for the older manarchist kung fu disciples (you that crowd from the northern school...) that includes self-blowjob in a back-breaking lotus position. Emile did it. And also that nihilo-communist beardo phallocrat.
the biceps critic (not verified)
Sat, 02/07/2015 - 15:31
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Let me just take
Let me just take note of the Shaolin self-blowjob in back-breaking lotus position. I think the difficulty of this maneuver, not to the mention its entertainment value to an audience, would make it a glamor event of an Anarchist Olympics and a close 3rd to the Syndicalist sideways rib crunching inserting ones head up ones ass maneuver, which you seen very skilled at. Why not consider entering this event yourself if ever there is an Anarchist Olympics, it may broaden your horizons?
KofA (not verified)
Fri, 02/20/2015 - 08:15
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Bricks are for breaking windows
which as we all know, are the real enemies of anarchists and the working class.
Anonymous (not verified)
Sat, 02/07/2015 - 03:20
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Who would have known that
Who would have known that eating well and not living a sedintary lifestyle makes the vast majority of adherents photogenic.
Anonymous (not verified)
Sat, 02/07/2015 - 05:09
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Is this Social Darwinism?
Is this Social Darwinism?
Anonymous (not verified)
Sun, 02/08/2015 - 07:03
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Being a nihilist communist
Being a nihilist communist beardo phallocrat sounds like fun.
Anonymous (not verified)
Sun, 02/08/2015 - 07:26
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We anarchist warriors
We anarchist warriors with bricks would call it a picnic.
Anonymous (not verified)
Sun, 02/08/2015 - 10:36
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It's just the current trend
It's just the current trend among hipsters. After having successfully excluded Black and Asian people from The Trend, now the big phallic beard makes it exclusive to nihilo-bolchevik phallocratic males. Next thing you know: Nuremberg memorial mass event mob'ed through Facebook.
Greg Sheen (not verified)
Thu, 04/23/2015 - 03:23
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Well most of these terrorist
Well most of these terrorist organizations are usually described as rebel fighters. Moderate and pro-democratic factions like FSA eventually end up storming off the battlefield and we have seen that Afghanistan. It is a balanced research into different insurgent factions currently contributing to the Syrian mess but I think the crisis is favourable enough to fuel religious factions that are more politically and ideologically motivated.
http://aranews.net/2015/04/kurds-intensify-anti-isis-operations-in-syria...
Neil Grossman (not verified)
Tue, 05/12/2015 - 11:59
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Kurdish militants dealt a
Kurdish militants dealt a severe blow to extremist factions like ISIS and other smaller groups, but international recognition, I feel, is limited, and this is what let some of extremist factions regain their composure after a series of defeats at the hands of Kurdish fighters in some areas. Yes Greg I agree, religious factions outperformed amoderate and pro-democracy FSA, but there is still some hope.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/08/11/a-u-s-desig...
Jason (not verified)
Sat, 02/27/2016 - 15:23
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Syria In Ruins
Unfortunately, Syria has been ruined largely due to hegemony of regimes both In-Syria and Western powers. Feel sad at the fact that the reconstruction will take 20 years and not to mention the fact that war has not yet ceased.
http://www.assignmentglory.co.uk/research-proposal-writing-service-uk.aspx
Dua (not verified)
Sat, 03/12/2016 - 13:21
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Prayers change lives
Prayers change lives if we know how to utilize the power of it.
http://greenflagnews.blogspot.com/2016/02/dua-for-success-in-every-work-...
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