A revolutionary leader
IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT for 19 YEARS
“Peace is more difficult than War. We were not scared when we resisted, we will not be scared when we make peace.”
– Abdullah Öcalan
DEMONSTRATION – Sunday 10th DEC 2017
Start @ 12:00 at BBC, Portland Pl., W1A 1AA
March to Westminister Sq for the Rally @14:00
Abdullah Öcalan led the struggle for Kurdish liberation for more than 20 years until his capture in 1999. Despite his imprisonment, in solitary confinement on Imrali Island in Turkey for the last 19 years, through his revolutionary ideas for the resolution of the Kurdish question and the crisis in the Middle East Öcalan has inspired a new political movement, with millions of followers.
The revolutionary model he proposes, termed DEMOCRATIC CONFEDERALISM, is being implemented on the ground in North Syria (Rojava); it represents an alternative to religious sectarianism, patriarchy, capitalism and chauvinistic nationalism, providing the blueprint for a burgeoning radical democratic society.
Öcalan not only inspired the Kurdish women and men to fight against ISIS so effectively, he has also inspired Arabs, Assyrian-Christians, Turkomens living in Syria, to join the Kurds in fighting ISIS and to lay the foundations of a more equal and free society. Today the people of Syria are building an ecological cooperative economy and a governance system based on grassroots democracy. The creation of a gender equal society is made central to this revolution: e.g. all administrative bodies have a co-presidential leadership system (one man and one woman) and a 40% minimum quota for men and women.
“A SOCIETY CAN NEVER BE FREE WITHOUT WOMEN’S LIBERATION.” -A.ÖCALAN
YESTERDAY MANDELA,
TODAY ÖCALAN!
Öcalan has not been allowed to see his lawyers since 2011, hundreds of political prisoners went on hunger strike for over 100 days in 2013, risking their lives, before he was allowed visits from pro-Kurdish MPs to start negotiating a peace deal, which is now abandoned. We can’t get any news from him and we are concerned for his health and wellbeing!
Just as international outcry led to Mandela’s freedom, we ask for solidarity to call for Öcalan’s freedom. His release will aid democracy in Turkey and the Middle East.
Demonstration supported by: Freedom for Ocalan Campaign TU Group – Kurdish People’s Assembly UK – International Initiative “Freedom for Ocalan – Peace in Kurdistan” – Peace in Kurdistan Campaign – GikDer -Kurdistan Solidarity Campaign – Kurdistan Students Union
info@freedom-for-ocalan.com
www.freeocalan.org