Be your own media !
Why do you felt important to do such a blog?
As we said above we had felt for sometime that there was a lot of information that was not finding its way into American media, even the more alternative media outlets here. After the massacres of Kurdish civilians this July and the renewed fighting that followed attempts by foreign-backed jihadist groups to destroy the revolution, we felt it was even more important and more urgent to offer a different storyline for what was happening in Rojava. However when we wrote up a small piece and tried to get it distributed in a number of publications which we had hoped would be more sympathetic to the story we encountered indifference or disbelief. I mean no one had heard of a place called “Rojava,” much less of a revolution that was supposed to be happening there. So we started to translate articles and interviews that were already available from regional newspapers and news agencies and post them on the net. It was something of a shot in the dark, but our efforts have been slowly gaining momentum. I mean we are still a long way off from seriously challenging the dominant narratives but we hope to make a start, or at least to lay out a foundation that others could come and build on.
How has the blog been received in the USA ?
We have had a number of positive comments from some reporters working in the region, as well as some people active in blogosphere and on Twitter. Most, with a couple of exceptions, have been from Europe. Of course that is disappointing but it is still something. In general Europeans have a greater awareness of the Kurdish movement as it exists in Turkey, Iran and Syria, whereas Americans mostly know the Kurds through the invasion of Iraq and the American Government’s cooperation with the government in Erbil. Many Americans have no idea who Abdullah Öcalan is, or the relationship between what is happening in Syria and what is happening in Turkey. If they have heard of the PKK they most likely think of a “terrorist organization” – I mean this has been the government line here for almost two decades – that there are “good” Kurds and “bad” Kurds, or “our” Kurds and “those” Kurds – and there are very few people attempting to challenge this. Of course there are exceptions – Democracy Now! comes to mind – but even then the story is covered so infrequently that it is difficult for them to offer any real challenge to the dominant narrative.
On a more general terms, what is your idea about the autonomy model the Kurds in Rojava are proposing ?
For anyone who has followed the model as it has been discussed and struggled for in Turkey over the past decade, the events in Rojava are really exciting. That is to say while in Turkey although there have been attempts to put the model into practice together with the “free muncipality” movement – state interference and pressure has always made such attempts difficult. What we are seeing in Rojava is the first attempt to implement the model as it has been imagined – without the interference of higher authorities and on a larger scale. What we are seeing with the peoples’ parliaments and the new economic cooperatives are really quite exciting developments and should grab the attention of anyone who is interested in creating alternative models to the current system, not only in Rojava or the Middle East but here in the “West” as well.
Related Articles
Chomsky: The Rojava Revolution is a miracle that the world must see
Noam Chomsky said that Rojava is going through a difficult process and that it is a miracle that it has
AMAIUR, SINISTRA BASCA PER LE ELEZIONI DEL 20 NOVEMBRE
Con un nome dai richiami antichi e simbolici Amaiur, località nel Alto Batzan navarro dove nel 1522 ci fu l’ultima resistenza del Regno di Navarra alla conquista spagnola, la coalizione della sinistra per la sovranità basca si presenta alle elezioni legislative spagnole del 20 novembre affinché “Euskal Herria si presenti come popolo dinnanzi allo Stato spagnolo”.
Visti i trascorsi delle partecipazioni nel parlamento spagnolo delle formazioni che compongono la coalizione, nel documento presentato ieri alla stampa, Amaiur sottolinea quali saranno gli obiettivi della sua presenza.
“La nostra azione avrà come obiettivo rivendicare i diritti nazionali che corrispondono a Euskal Herria soprattutto sul riconoscimento nazionale e diritto a decidere”, afferma la coalizione della sinistra basca. Se questa è la motivazione quadro di principio, la strategia politico sociale ed economica delinea una proposta ed azione politica miranti a articolare una serie di misure economica e sociali progressiste per la società basca.
“Dinnanzi alla grave crisi situazione causata dalla crisi economica che stiamo subendo, le politiche socioeconomiche, che si ripercuotono sulle/sui lavoratrici/lavoratori baschi e i settori meno abbienti della nostra società, saranno al cantro della nostra attenzione. I rappresentanti della coalizione esigeremo con forza un Ambito Basco di Relazioni Lavorative che permetta alle istituzioni ed agli agenti economici e sociali baschi disporre degli strumenti di competenza giuridica per stabilire politiche sull’occupazione e di protezione sociale sovrane; difenderemo misure a favore del lavoro degno e di qualità e lotteremo per l’uguaglianza effettiva e reale di tutte le persone (..) verranno promosse politiche pubbliche che rafforzino la garanzia sociale difendendo allo stesso tempo in modo in equivoco servizi pubblici in educazione, sanità e politiche sociali”. Particolare attenzione viene data alla “sostenibilità ambientale ed ecologica come guida per tutta la nostra azione politica e la difesa di quelle strutture ed infrastrutture sociali che aiutino a definire Euskal Herria” e quindi anche “ad ottenere il riconoscimento immediato che spetta alla euskara e alla cultura basca”.
THE CIZRE REPORT
The report, compiled by the 4 HDP members who visited Cizre for 10 days after the blockade was lifted, collects the narrative from witnesses and attempts to document the list of atrocities perpetrated during the siege
