Defend Rojava
April 24, 2018 5:19 AM Subscribe
Officially branded as terrorists by the authoritarian regime of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, alternately supported, disregarded and threatened by the US in this era of incoherent strategic policy, the autonomous citizens of Rojava — or the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria — have been left to fend for themselves in the face of a brutal and largely indiscriminate onslaught by the Turkish military. Now a selection of prominent American academics and public intellectuals has launched the Emergency Committee for Rojava, with an urgent call to support and defend this unique experiment with popular control and self-management.
If we've heard of Rojava at all, it's most likely because of the YPG/YPJ, the militia widely celebrated for their commitment to feminism amidst the grueling realities of guerrilla war. With the Rojava experiment under renewed threat, though, the values and structures of self-determination that the people have worked so hard to establish seem terribly fragile — and it will take more than fine sentiments to prevent them being erased from the Earth. Can anything be done to preserve this curious pocket of lived egalitarianism, a place that so many have given their lives to build?
Previously. Previously.
If we've heard of Rojava at all, it's most likely because of the YPG/YPJ, the militia widely celebrated for their commitment to feminism amidst the grueling realities of guerrilla war. With the Rojava experiment under renewed threat, though, the values and structures of self-determination that the people have worked so hard to establish seem terribly fragile — and it will take more than fine sentiments to prevent them being erased from the Earth. Can anything be done to preserve this curious pocket of lived egalitarianism, a place that so many have given their lives to build?
Previously. Previously.
Amen, RajahKing.
I am glad to see this here.
So few of the people I talk to know anything of Rojava.
posted by Seamus at 8:50 AM on April 24, 2018 [2 favorites]
I am glad to see this here.
So few of the people I talk to know anything of Rojava.
posted by Seamus at 8:50 AM on April 24, 2018 [2 favorites]
The United States has betrayed the Kurds before. With this disaster in the White House, who doesn't seem to even understand the concept of keeping one's word ... who knows. I can't imagine Trump lifting a finger against Erdogan.
posted by 1adam12 at 11:47 AM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by 1adam12 at 11:47 AM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
Have any mefi folks gone over there to fight? That we know of . . .?
posted by Seamus at 12:51 PM on April 24, 2018
posted by Seamus at 12:51 PM on April 24, 2018
I'm surprised Rojava doesn't make the news more often. Quite the experiment in governance in a war zone.
posted by jetsetsc at 1:35 PM on April 25, 2018
posted by jetsetsc at 1:35 PM on April 25, 2018
« Older Not Quite Fanfic, or, The Fab(led) Four | Where is Jessica Hyde? Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by RajahKing at 8:32 AM on April 24, 2018 [4 favorites]