Kurdish Women

EVENT: Pedagogy for Revolution: The Case of Rojava

Public meeting and discussion with author Janet Biehl who will talk about the new women’s science of “Jineology” and the revolutionary transformation of eduction. She has visited Rojava twice and will report on her recent visit. You can view a video of the event here.

The meeting will be opened by Melanie Gingell, barrister, Doughty Street Chambers

Chaired by Elif Sarican, Kurdish Student Union

Date: Friday 23 October 6.30pm

Venue: Doughty Street Chambers, 54 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LS Continue reading “EVENT: Pedagogy for Revolution: The Case of Rojava” →

Conflict resolution, War crimes

Turkey: Erdogan responds to election with war

This artice was written by Trevor Rayne, for the Revolutionary Communist Group:

31 July 2015

President Erdogan and the Turkish state have responded to the electoral success of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) on 7 June 2015 with war and repression. By achieving 13.1% of the vote and 80 MPs in Turkey’s general election, President Erdogan’s plan to change Turkey’s constitution from a parliamentary into a presidential system was thwarted by the HDP. The HDP combines socialist and democratic forces and is primarily Kurdish-led. Immediately after the election increased Turkish military activity was accompanied by murder and arrests of Kurdish activists and their supporters. The peace process, underway since March 2013, was effectively over and unilaterally ended by the Turkish state with the all-out bombardment of Kurdish areas beginning on 24 July. Trevor Rayne reports.

Read the full article

Conflict resolution

Over a hundred supporters of the HDP sign international appeal

Over 100 prominent politicians, writers, academics, lawyers and activists signed open letter in support of HDP in Turkey’s coming elections on 7 June

HDP-LogoLater this week, people in Turkey will vote in a general election whose outcome will determine the future direction and nature of the country for perhaps generations. The increasingly authoritarian approach of Erdogan’s presidency and the political dominance of his AKP will either be further endorsed or brought to a halt.

The HDP is seen as offering the greatest hope for a shift towards a more democratic, inclusive alternative. The HDP stands for a peaceful resolution of the Kurdish problem in Turkey, as well as democratisation, inclusiveness and openness that are attracting strong support from communities well beyond the party’s core base of supporters among the Kurds and the left.

In response to the coming election on June 7, over one hundred respected politicians, writers, academics, human rights activists, journalists and lawyers from around the world have supported an appeal in the form of an open letter calling for support for the HDP and for the world’s media to pay attention to this crucial election. Continue reading “Over a hundred supporters of the HDP sign international appeal” →

Conflict resolution

Rojava: A Democratic System in Progress – A Short Film by System D Media

System D media has released a short video on Rojava and the Kurdish struggle for Democratic Confederalism in the region. Featuring interviews with Kurdish activists Memed Aksoy and Zeynep Kurban, the International Initiative’s Havin Guneser, academics Dr Thomas Jeffrey Miley and Dr David Graeber and more, the film offers a useful introduction into the revolution in Rojava and its origins, as well as the role of the PKK, and the theoretical influence of Ocalan.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_dchu1i8cs]

Many of the interview were filmed during CAMPACCs recent workshop on National Self-Determination and the Global ‘Counter-Terror’ Regime, which took place in February.

Many thanks to Solene Cravic for her work!

Conflict resolution

Stop ISIS/Daesh – new petition

Vasiliki Scurfield, mother of Erik Konstandinos Scurfield who was martyred in battle while fighting alongside the YPG in Kobane, has launched a signature campaign and is pushing for 100,000 signatures so that a debate takes place in Parliament. You will find the petition at Change.org – please sign and share!

STOP ISIS/DAESH

They all have names. Every one of the people who ISIS has murdered has a name and every day more people die trying to protect their right to a life free from persecution and terror.

All decent human beings are disgusted and horrified by the atrocities perpetrated by ISIS, yet ISIS continues is evil work unhindered, growing in strength and even affiliating with other extremist organisations. In the meantime there are some half- hearted coalition air strikes which, at best, succeed only in temporarily containing ISIS. Yet all across Northern Syria Rojavan Kurds continue to fight, essentially unassisted, to protect people of all religions and ethnic backgrounds and support refugees. Continue reading “Stop ISIS/Daesh – new petition” →

Conflict resolution

Now Is the time: Abdullah Ocalan Freedom March

On Friday 13th  and Saturday 14th February thousands of people gathered in Strasbourg to call for freedom for Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is entering his 17th year in prison on the island of Imrali. The events came after many days of walking as many hundreds of people trekked across Europe to Strasbourg in  a show of solidarity with the PKK leader.  The incredible results of the Free Ocalan Campaign, in which over 10 million people signed a petition calling for Ocalan’s release, were also handed in to officials at the Council of Europe.

Thank you to filmmakers System D for the video!

Continue reading “Now Is the time: Abdullah Ocalan Freedom March” →

Conflict resolution

Peace and stability in Turkey, Kurdistan, the Middle East and the wider world, by David Morgan

Peace and stability in Turkey, Kurdistan, the Middle East and the wider world: a personal perspective on the events of the year just gone and prospects for the future.

By David Morgan, Peace in Kurdistan Campaign, 1 January 2015

Peace and stability in Turkey, in Kurdistan, in the Middle East and in the wider world might seem extremely precarious and elusive prospects in the light of the descent into chaos in Syria and Iraq witnessed in 2014, but there is never an option to entirely give up hope if you believe in life and it is a natural instinct for all living creatures to desire to continue to live in a state of comfort where basic wants for food, sustenance and love are satisfied. Thousands of years of human progress, enlightenment, ingenuity, creativity and inventiveness cannot simply be wiped out by the wars, wanton destruction and genocide endured in the recent period. It may seem that the world has entered a new dark age but the darkest forces that have emerged on the scene are being strenuously resisted and thus confidently we can predict that they can be eliminated by the forces of light and hope who are ultimately far stronger than their assailants for the simple reason that they offer greater prospects of a better life for more people. It is surely the shared values of socialism, cooperation, respect, tolerance, solidarity, that will continue to inspire and drive humanity forward creating a better world for men and women in equal measure. Harmony can assuredly triumph over discord through our combined human efforts. The alternative is simply too bleak to even imagine.
Continue reading “Peace and stability in Turkey, Kurdistan, the Middle East and the wider world, by David Morgan” →

Uncategorized

Public meeting: The Collapsed State Systems in Syria & Iraq and the Rise of ISIS & the Kurds

PUBLIC MEETING

Peace in Kurdistan Campaign and Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) invite you to

The Collapsed State Systems in Syria & Iraq and the Rise of ISIS & the Kurds

Monday 12 January, 6 – 7.30pm

Venue: Committee Room 3, House of Lords, Westminster, SW1A 0AA

With Professor Michael M. Gunter and guest speakers; hosted by Lord Hylton.

The immediate origins of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) lie in the opportunity spaces provided by two bitter civil wars that challenged the existing state system and borders created by the Sykes-Picot Agreement of World War I: (1) The bloody Sunni-Shia civil war in Iraq that followed the U.S. overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003, and (2) the even more horrific civil war that has been raging in Syria since 2011. ISIS has gained its strength from a wide range of political, sociological, economic, and military factors, among others, and Turkey has played a very controversial role in this complex situation.

Continue reading “Public meeting: The Collapsed State Systems in Syria & Iraq and the Rise of ISIS & the Kurds” →

Conflict resolution

“A revolution in daily life”

A delegation to Rojava formed of academics and activists recently returned from the region and the delegates have begun to put their thoughts about the new democratic autonomous administration to paper. Last week, Roarmag published Janet Biehl’s impressions of Rojava, and here, Becky discusses how power is being dispersed among the people in Cizire Canton:

Starting from the moment of coercion: Cizire Canton, Rojava

A revolution in daily life

Across the domains of government in the canton of Cizire, people are working, mostly on a voluntary basis, to make ambitious transformations to society. Doctors want to build a modern free healthcare system but also, they told us, to collect and disseminate suppressed local knowledge about healing and to change the conditions of life in general. They aim, they said, to build a way of life free of the separations – between people and between people and nature – that drive physical and mental illness. Academics want to orient education to ongoing social problems. Continue reading ““A revolution in daily life”” →