Statement of Solidarity with Rojava

In the name of prisoned men

In the name of exiled women

In the name of all our comrades

Martyred and slain

For not accepting darkness

We must drain the wells of anger

Make the sword rise up

To keep alive the shining likeness

Of the guiltless hunted everywhere

Who everywhere shall overcome.

– Paul Eluard, “Seven Poems of Love at War” 

 

Rojava is now the name that represents social justice, human dignity, and the struggle for freedom. We all remember wellthe unique resistance of Kobani against the full-scaleattacks of ISIS and its allies. Today, reactionary forces and tyrannical states have placed Rojava under an economic, political, and military state of siege. The enemy of Rojava is not only ISIS but also the regional and world powers who seek nothing but to block populardemocracy by supporting the undemocratic partisans in the current war in Syria.The people of Rojava make their own history but not under circumstances chosen by themselves. In this democratic autonomous region, Kurds, Arabs, Turkmens, and Syrians will the creation of something new in the Middle East: they aim to live together as human beings; to combat authoritarian occupation; and to revolt against patriarchy, against the marriage between religion and state, and against capitalism. Indeed, they have revitalized popular emancipatory politics fighting for equality, secularization and assembly/council democracy. Those who come from different corners of the world to this battlefield remind us of the solidarity in the Paris Commune, the Vietnamese resistance, the Algerian War, the Spanish Civil War, Palestine, Mexican Zapatistas in Chiapas, and so on. No one can deny the fact that the seeds of a progressive movement are growing in the heart of the Middle East, the arena of secular dictators and Islamic fascists. This revolution is alive and active—it both educates and is educated. It is now our task to turn Rojava’s causes into an occasion for regional and universal solidarity. This task has become even more urgent as Turkey has joined the fray with its full force, announcing that it will not tolerate the democratic autonomous region and its Kurdish majority. If Turkey’s occupation is assisted by other world powers, the risk of human tragedy in Rojava grows, leading to a second Sinjar Massacre. We, the signatories of this statement, condemn both Turkey’s invasion and other invaders’ opportunist policies in Syria. We believe that the only possible solution to the current crisis is to be achieved by supporting Rojava through a collective solidarity. From all who seek peace, we demand participation in Rojava’s revolution by any means, whether through financial aid; protests and demonstrations; the creation of posters, songs, movies, and poetry; and anything else that can contribute to its success. This declaration is the first, small step in our solidarity with Rojava and its resistance front. Rojava will not be alonein these dark and trying times as long as we stand beside them.