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
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