Rojava, Revolution and Militant Democracy: Session 1

Popular Education Network (PEN) Scotland organises radical and political education events in communities around Scotland based on principles of popular education.

Popular Education Network

A seminar series exploring the theory and practice of participatory democracy in the context of the revolution in Rojava.

Session 1. Ӧcalan and Democratic ConfederalismTuesday 12th March, 2024 Abdullah Öcalan (Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK) is an important figure in the Kurdish leftist movement, and considered to be an important influence on real political and military organizations in Rojava. Öcalan’s prison writings consider the historical and ideological development of state power from an interesting perspective: Öcalan rejects a ‘state-oriented’ socialist programme (and in that sense some elements of traditional Marxist and democratic socialist strategy), but does embrace the idea of the ‘nation’ as a description of a political community. ‘Democratic confederalism’ is a theory of the political, economic and military organization of the nation without state institutions. Rojava, perhaps a living example of this form of democracy, has arisen from state collapse, conflict, and crisis. Is a catastrophic crisis of existing state and economic power a precondition for the creation of genuine participatory democracy?In this session, we consider this question in the light of a reading of Öcalan’s essay, ‘Democratic Nation’. There will be a short introduction to the author and his work before we move into a discussion of the essay. A copy of the text along with a helpful study guide will be made available to participants before the session.You can find an outline of the session and reading materials that will be referred to during the seminar on the PEN Scotland website: <a href="https://www.penscotland.com" title="https://www.penscotland.com" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">http://www.penscotland.com</a> More about this seminar series...Rojava’s democratic revolution is over a decade old. Emerging from the labyrinth conflicts of the Syrian civil wars, and coming to prominence in their fight against ISIS in Raqqa and Aleppo districts in northern Syria, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria has built upon a the national liberation struggles of the Kurdish people, but has also taken on new social and political meanings as it has developed over the last twelve years. For many commentators and participants, Rojava’s revolution is a new model for a movement that is at once democratic, feminist and ecologically informed. So what is actually happening in Rojava? Is this kind of social-political formation really sustainable in a region scarred by armed Western interventions, ethnic and religious conflicts, and authoritarianism? What can we learn from Rojava’s ‘militant democratic revolution’?This short series on radical democracy is run by PEN in support of an event promoting and discussing Jenni Keasden and Natalia Szarek’s Worth Fighting For: Bringing the Rojava Revolution Home (Active Distribution, 2023).

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Rojava, Revolution and Militant Democracy: Session 1

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