OPEN LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER THERESA MAY
Mesopotamian Ecology Movement, Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive, The Corner House and Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
Rt Hon. Theresa May MP
Prime Minister
10 Downing Street
London, SW1A 2AA
April 28, 2018
Dear Prime Minister,
The Ilisu Dam and Turkey’s use of water as a weapon of war
We write as civil society organizations to draw your attention to the imminent impoundment by Turkey of the Ilisu Dam on River Tigris in contravention of international customary law relating to shared waterways, which requires negotiation and agreement on downstream flows. The announced impoundment of Ilisu comes at a time when Turkey is recklessly and illegally using water as a weapon of war against Northern Syria, denying those affected of their right to water, threatening to exacerbate the existing conflicts in the region and causing severe suffering to those who have already suffered seven years of brutal civil war. We would urge you to protest Turkey’s intended impoundment of Ilisu and to use all available diplomatic means to mediate a peaceful and fair settlement between Turkey, Syria and Iraq on the use of their shared rivers. Continue reading “OPEN LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER THERESA MAY”
ECOLOGICAL AND GENDER DIMENSIONS OF THE DEMOCRATIC CONFEDERALIST APPROACH IN SYRIAN AND TURKISH KURDISTAN: AN INTER-CULTURAL DIALOGUE
Seminar held on 3 February 2018 from 2-6pm at
DLT Lecture Theatre, SOAS, University of London WC1H OXG View Map
Organised by Peace in Kurdistan Campaign, The Corner House, People’s Knowledge, Mesopotamian Ecology Movement, Kongra-Star, Kurdistan Students Union and SOAS Kurdish Society
PROGRAMME
Session 1: Film – “Water’s date of death” Continue reading “ECOLOGICAL AND GENDER DIMENSIONS OF THE DEMOCRATIC CONFEDERALIST APPROACH IN SYRIAN AND TURKISH KURDISTAN: AN INTER-CULTURAL DIALOGUE”
Capitalism Nature Socialism
Prospects for Kurdish Ecology Initiatives in Syria
and Turkey: Democratic Confederalism and Social Ecology
Stephen E. Hunt
To cite this article: Stephen E. Hunt (2017): Prospects for Kurdish Ecology Initiatives in Syria and Turkey: Democratic Confederalism and Social Ecology, Capitalism Nature Socialism, DOI:
10.1080/10455752.2017.1413120
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/10455752.2017.1413120
Library Services, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK
ABSTRACT
This paper surveys the nascent experiments in political ecology underway in
predominantly Kurdish areas of south-eastern Turkey, known as Bakûr, and
Rojava (northern Syria). The Kurdish freedom movement is attempting to
consolidate a social revolution with ecology at its heart in a most
unpromising context, given its ongoing struggle against Islamic State and
regional embargoes. This greening of its ideology can be significantly
attributed to the influence of American social ecologist Murray Bookchin, an
inspiration for Kurdish attempts to implement democratic confederalism,
which comprises principles of direct democracy, gender equality and
ecological well-being in a needs-based economy. The Mesopotamian Ecology
Movement has emerged from activist campaigns opposing dam construction,
climate change and deforestation in the region, to inform ecology councils
tasked with formulating policies that reflect this philosophical paradigm shift.
The essay considers the prospects for the ecological initiatives in Turkish and
Syrian Kurdistan. It argues that, confronted by formidable challenges,
expansion of the democratic confederal model beyond the heartlands of
Bakûr and Rojava, and international solidarity, are preconditions for their
endurance.
ARTICLE HISTORY Received 31 March 2017; Accepted 3 October 2017
KEYWORDS Kurdistan; Rojava; environmental issues; social ecology; Murray Bookchin
The ecological struggle is the touchstone for the liberation of all humanity.
(MEM 2016a)
There are nascent but already extraordinary experiments in political
ecology underway in Kurdistan. Ecological well-being is one of the core principles
of democratic confederalism emerging in the predominantly Kurdish
areas of south-eastern Turkey, known by Kurds as Bakûr, and the autonomous
cantons of Rojava, in northern Syria. This bold expression of political
ecology can be attributed to a significant degree to the influence of American
social ecologist Murray Bookchin upon Abdullah Öcalan, the founder of the
© 2017 The Center for Political Ecology Continue reading
Ecological and gender dimensions of the democratic-confederalist approach in northern Syria: an inter-cultural dialogue
Background documents:
- MESOPOTAMIAN ECOLOGY MOVEMENT Principles, Functioning and Objectives
Approved at the 1st Conference of the Mesopotamian Ecology Movement (MEM) on April 23+24, 2016, in Wan
Website: www.mezopotamyaekolojihareketi.org – Email: [email protected] Principles
* The earth is a whole. It cannot be divided and limited by dominant powers. The Mesopotamian Ecology Movement (MEM) is politically active in Upper Mesopotamia and leads struggles on a pluralistic basis in cooperation with all living beings against each kind of ecological destructions and exploitations.
Ecological and gender dimensions of the democratic confederalist approach in Northern Syria : an inter-cultural dialogue
Saturday 3 February at 14:00–18:00
Location: DLT Lecture Theatre, SOAS, University of London, WC1H 0XG
https://www.soas.ac.uk/business/conferenceoffice/classrooms/g2-lecture-theatre-ground-floor.html
Since the early 2000s, the Kurdish freedom movement, inspired by its imprisoned leader Abdullah Öcalan, has rejected a state-based “solution” to the social and economic injustices that pervade the Kurdish majority regions in particular and the Middle East more generally.
German-based project raise money for health and social centre in Rojava
This German-based Initiative is close to raising €150,000 to build an ecologically-sustainable health and social centre for the people of Kobane. You can still make a donation (see details below):
Nationwide initiative for ecological rebuilding in Kobanê / Rojava,
Assist us – 150.000€ for the ecological arrangement of a health and social center in Kobane as a model for the ecological rebuilding of the Region
The city of Kobanê in Rojava (West Kurdistan / Syria) disengaged itself in January 2015 by / under big sacrifices from the Fascist powers of the IS (“Islamic State”). The IS left a trace of destruction behind itself. 80% of Kobane is still destroyed today. The new local community, which the Syrian- Kurdish population builds up in Rojava, is a prototype for the whole Middle East. It puts into practice equality for all people, democracy, religious freedom, equal rights for women and men and the unity of mankind and nature as a guideline of the sociological development.
Continue reading “German-based project raise money for health and social centre in Rojava”
Global Hasankeyf Day Demo to Take Place in Whitehall
DEMONSTRATION TO SAVE HASANKEYF!
MONDAY 21 SEPTEMBER, 12-2PM, OUTSIDE UNESCO’S UK OFFICE, 3 WHITEHALL,
LONDON.
Meet at 12 midday outside Westminster tube to walk to UNESCO together.
Continue reading “Global Hasankeyf Day Demo to Take Place in Whitehall”