Political prisoners

Reorienting the PKK: Rojava and the Political Thought of Abdullah Öcalan

 

OCT 12  by LSE Middle East Centre

Free

In its 1978 manifesto, the PKK declared the establishment of an independent state to be the most important political goal of any national liberation movement. Twenty years on, the party’s leader Abdullah Öcalan changed this when he developed an ideological framework based on the idea of self-governing, stateless societies as the best way of addressing socioeconomic and sociocultural injustices. In this talk, Joost Jongerden explains this paradigm shift, which reoriented the PKK as well as other Kurdish movements in the Middle East.

Joost Jongerden is Assistant Professor at the Rural Sociology Group and the Center for Space, Place and Society at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. He is also a Professor at the Asian Platform for Global Sustainability & Transcultural Studies at Kyoto University in Japan.

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Continue reading “Reorienting the PKK: Rojava and the Political Thought of Abdullah Öcalan” →

HDP

Building solidarity with the Kurdish struggle for democracy, equality and freedom: Fringe Meeting at Labour Party Conference 2016

“This was a very well attended and successful fringe meeting and the first one that has been held at the Labour Party. It builds on the great work that UNITE, GMB and other unions have been doing with Peace in Kurdistan to build solidarity with the Kurds in their struggle for democracy, equality and freedom. It also builds on the path-breaking emergency motion that the TUC passed during its September conference in which all UK unions joined the call for the release of Abdullah Ocalan and the restart of the peace process. We intend to hold another fringe at next years party conference and to continue to push the case and spread the message.” Simon Dubbins Director of International for UNITE

The Freedom for Ocalan campaign held a fringe meeting at this year’s conference, co-sponsored by the GMB, UNITE and Peace in Kurdistan campaign. The Union movement has been very supportive of the campaign to free Ocalan, and in this, his 18th year of incarceration, it has passed an emergency resolution calling for, among other things , “the restart of the peace process that was unilaterally terminated by the Turkish government in June 2015, and for the release of imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan as an essential element for such a process to be successful.” Continue reading “Building solidarity with the Kurdish struggle for democracy, equality and freedom: Fringe Meeting at Labour Party Conference 2016” →

Conflict resolution, Video

Video: Janet Biehl addresses seminar in London on pedagogy in Rojava

Pedagogy for Revolution: The Case of Rojava
With author Janet Biehl

Public meeting and discussion with author Janet Biehl who talked about the new women’s science of “Jineology” and the revolutionary transformation of education. She has visited Rojava twice and reported on her recent visit. Organised by Peace in Kurdistan Campaign and Roj Women Group at Doughty Street Chambers on 23 October 2015. The meeting was chaired by Elif Sarican, Kurdish Student Union.

Watch: https://vimeo.com/143755823

Pedagogy for Revolution: The Case of Rojava With author Janet Biehl from Saman Gareeb on Vimeo.

Conflict resolution

UK delegation hails HDP success in Parliament meeting

Report on a meeting held on 7 July 2015 at the House of Commons on “Witnessing HDP’s victory in Turkey: Election monitors report back” hosted by Kate Osamor MP.

 Article and photos by Yasemin Kazan.

The event was organised by Peace in Kurdistan Campaign and chaired by Melanie Sirinathsingh. The meeting was held to provide insight into the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party, the HDP’s democratic project and to evaluate the progress of the party, in addition to the implications of the HDP’s electoral success for the Turkish-Kurdish peace process. Continue reading “UK delegation hails HDP success in Parliament meeting” →

Kurdish community

Kurdish activists celebrate victory in Kobane and call for further support in the struggle against ISIS

MEDIA RELEASE
29 January 2015

For immediate use

Kurdish activists in Scotland and their supporters gather in Glasgow on Saturday to celebrate the success of the Kurdish defence of Kobane where ISIS forces have been pushed out.

The gathering in the UNISON offices in Glasgow brings together Kurds living in Scotland along with political and trade union activists supportive of the struggle against ISIS and the struggle for Kurdish rights.

They will be joined by the Rebar Hajo, UK representative of the main Kurdish party in Syria, the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and Michelle Allison and Akif Wan of the Kurdish National Congress (KNK). Continue reading “Kurdish activists celebrate victory in Kobane and call for further support in the struggle against ISIS” →