GalleryReason, creativity and freedom: The communalist model
On the unique relevance of communalism in this historical moment. By Eleanor Finley, originally published by ROAR Magazine.
GallerySur: A neighbourhood of history, hope, and resistance: An interview with former mayor Abdullah Demirbas
From 2004 until 2012, Abdullah Demirbas served as mayor of Diyarbakir (or Amed), Kurdistan's central Sur District, which has been largely destroyed in recent months by Turkish military assault.
GalleryDebbie Bookchin in The Nation on Turkey’s repression of the Kurdish liberation movement
Debbie Bookchin has penned a powerful new article for The Nation on Erdogan’s current war against the Kurdish movement in Southeastern Turkey, and why the US and EU must act now to stop the bloodshed.
“Why would Erdogan resume the peace process when his NATO allies give him tacit permission to brutalize his own people in the name of combating terrorism? As long as the West supports the PKK’s terrorist designation, Erdogan is cynically betting that Washington and the EU will remain silent while he doubles down on his longstanding [...]
GallerySocial Ecology, Kurdistan, & the Origins of Freedom
Reflections on a recent visit to Turkey and North Kurdistan. Many Kurdish revolutionaries describe their struggle as one of organic society against authoritarian society and have forged a unique role in the continuing evolution of human freedom.
GalleryHamburg conference features scholars & Kurdish activists
Reflections on Challenging Captialist Modernity, Hamburg, Germany
Report by Eleanor Finley
In Kurdish, “roj” means sun. Rojava is the land to the west, where the setting sun of freedom and possibility lays to rest and renew itself. Last week, I spent three days at Hamburg University as part of Challenging Capitalist Modernity, a conference hosted by a network of organizations within the Kurdish Freedom Movement. Each evening, the sun shone down brightly through a tall glass wall into the conference lobby. There hundreds of people gathered from all over Europe [...]
GalleryEyewitnesses to the Kurdish revolution
Last December a delegation, including social ecologists, visited the Kurdish region of Syria – known as Rojava – to experience their implementation of "democratic confederalism"...
Report and a call to action from Ferguson, MO
ISE board member Negesti Cantave is on the ground in Ferguson and offers this update:
In the past 48 hours here in Ferguson, MO I have personally been affected by tear gas, and been in close vicinity to rubber bullets and pepper spray. I was personally directed by either National Guard or county police to leave the Ferguson PD area at gun point – to be exact an assault rifle about a foot away from me and pointed at my body where, if I had been shot, I would not [...]
Kurdish teach-in in NYC: Livestream Tues. 11/18
On Tuesday evening, November 18th, at the City University of New York (160 Convent Avenue in Manhattan, 5-7 pm), will be a panel titled “Kobanê & the Rojava Revolution,” featuring David Phillips, Salih Muslim, Nazan Üstündağ and Mutlu Çiviroğlu. The event will be livestreamed at http://www.kurdslist.org/kobane_and_the_rojava_revolution_live.
The announcement for this event states in part:
The genuine social revolution in Rojava (Western Kurdistan/Northern Syria), which was launched over two years ago, has been under constant attack by the Islamic State [of Iraq and Syria] (ISIS) during the past year. Despite the [...]
Limits to Growth: Are we there yet?
From ISE Associate Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero:
In the last few weeks a public debate has flared up between Nobel laureate economist Paul Krugman and environmentalist Richard Heinberg, senior fellow at the Post Carbon Institute. Heinberg insists that reverting global warming and overall environmental degradation is impossible without stopping economic growth. Krugman dismissed his arguments in a September 18 op-ed (1). Heinberg responded with an article titled “Paul Krugman and the limits of hubris” (2).
The debate over ecology vs. economic growth is not new. In 1972 a team of Massachusetts Institute of [...]
Dan Chodorkoff appeals to architects in Denmark (Video)
In September Dan Chodorkoff keynoted a conference on Education for Sustainability at the Aarhus School of Architecture in Aarhus, Denmark. He was the only non-architect on the program. Here is a recording of his presentation, Sustainability, Education, and Utopia, accompanied, in part, by a slide show. Dan begins speaking around 8:20, and the slides begin at 42:45. (The camera appears to focus on the screen whether or not it is in use.)
Other presentations at the conference are available at http://vimeo.com/album/3099138. Starting from that page, Dan’s presentation is in the [...]
