(en) France, Organisation Communiste Libertarie (OCL) - Kurdistan / Liberation of Peoples - Four things that the left has to learn Koban? (fr, pt)

 [machine translation]

Many reactions of the Western left have somewhat predictably folded in recycling criticism 
of American and British imperialism, not seeing what is really exceptional and remarkable 
recent developments, including the emergence of the PKK hypothesis / PYD democratic 
autonomy as a powerful alternative to the authoritarianism of the AKP and the crisis of 
nation-states throughout the region. ---- Four lessons we can and must remove events and 
around Koban?. ---- On October 7, 2014 - The Disorder of Things ---- The Kurdish town of 
Koban? has recently become the center of a geopolitical conflagration that could change 
the course of politics in the Middle East. After months of silence on the threat posed to 
the EIIL Kurds, the world looks at last, even if the "international community" remains 
remarkably silent.

However, many Western reactions, be they academics, journos or militants, have somewhat 
predictably folded in recycling criticism of American and British imperialism, often at 
the cost of not grasp what is really exceptional and remarkable recent developments. Thus, 
in the manner of these small items in a numbered list of the contemporary left, here are 
four things that we can and should learn from events in and around Koban?.

1 - It's time to question the fixation of the West on the EIIL

If one were to believe Barack Obama, David Cameron and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the 
"savagery" of "fundamentalism" is the principal of the NATO involvement in Syria goal. In 
particular, many leftist critics reproduce the same fixation on EIIL when examining 
Western interests. However, for a supposedly determined to stop the "Islamic extremism" 
omnipotent imperialist organization, NATO has been curiously ineffective. In fact, the 
United States is indirectly responsible for the arming of EIIL and utterly incompetent and 
/ or unwilling to arm the resolutely secular Kurdish resistance.
American and British air strikes were ephemeral, and at best symbolic, having little 
impact on the progression of EIIL. In addition, Turkey has closed its eyes repeatedly use 
by EIIL its territory and its borders, respectively, operations training and supply 
channels. More recently, while Koban? is about to be conquered, Turkey has insisted that 
any military assistance to the Kurdish PYD is conditional on his abandonment of 
self-determination and political autonomy of the cantons, and acceptance of the Turkish 
buffer zone controlled by the Kurds in northern areas of Syria (which goes further than 
just a colonial land grabbing).
Now, considering that the United States and the United Kingdom were determined to 
intervene long before EIIL is perceived as a threat, and considering the long-standing 
hostility of Turkey to the PKK / PYD, we should demand more of all of these analyzes of 
the intervention would start with the EIIL and would end with him. In short, it is 
increasingly clear that EIIL is a little more than an excuse for NATO to pursue other 
geopolitical goals - namely the overthrow of Assad and destruction of Kurdish autonomy.

2 - Beware of liberal internationalism

Many anti-response critics have argued that non-military options remain available through 
diplomatic channels and pressure on regional actors such as Iran, the Gulf States and even 
Russia. This is a misreading of the geopolitical situation in the Middle East. First, the 
United States does not control all allied states so easily. Despite the historical 
relationships of dependence, despite the metaphors of "puppets", most Gulf states are full 
participants remarkably powerful, with interests and activities outside the control of the 
United States. Any suggestion to ask the Saudis to stop funding is likely to be as 
effective as asking the EIIL to calm down a bit.

Second, call for an American diplomatic engagement with Russia and Iran to relations of 
international cooperation that simply do not exist. This means ignoring the geopolitical 
rivalry between these long three nation states competing for regional domination. That is 
to focus too much on the criteria of Western states - "if only Western states had forced 
the villains Eastern States to do this or that, the conflict would be resolved."

Finally, it comes down to marginalize and thus close the door to the possibility of other 
non-state and anti-capitalist solutions based on the draft PYD / PKK democratic autonomy. 
Indeed, it is unclear why the imperatives and motives of imperialism so prevalent in the 
military action would not be equally problematic when it comes to "peaceful solutions" 
directed either by the West or by regional powers in reactionary and anti-democratic 
effect. Thus, we must criticize and question the government's claims that military 
intervention is "the only option". But we must also be wary of the hollow pacifism based 
on designs (neo) liberal and state-centric cooperation, insofar as the conditions of the 
latter are absent (and elsewhere in the system of capitalist state, they are still absent).

3 - Listen Kurdish voice

The Western Left often a debilitating tendency to overestimate the orientalist and 
influence of the United States and relegate communities and societies affected by the 
intervention status of actors liabilities not worthy to be analyzed as such. Indeed, it is 
striking that the number of anti-imperialists who rely less on experience and more dynamic 
and Kurdish communities on hackneyed criticism of the logic of predation of Great Power 
comments.

On one hand, this can cause the left to reproduce the cartoons of "ugly sectarianism" and 
"Islamic fundamentalism" in a way that does not seem far removed from the arguments of 
Cameron and Obama.

On the other hand, it takes little account of the voice of the Kurdish communities 
attacked because their intentions and their actions do not matter to oppose "imperialism 
at home." The resulting policy can often be deleterious. One might ask, for example, that 
the people of Koban? may well make calls for "peaceful alternatives to war." This is 
particularly important because in Western Kurdistan (northern Syria), Kurds stand for what 
is probably the best hope for a political left in the region. Even the most cursory glance 
at the constitutional order and political achievements of Kurdish cantons would shame most 
Western organizations.

Yet this week, as the hunger strikes and demonstrations of solidarity took place the 
Kurdish people in the UK and beyond, anti-war groups organized a demonstration quite 
distinct and potentially contradictory. Earlier the Western left abandon his penchant to 
reduce the class struggle in geopolitics, the sooner it can provide an authentic 
solidarity groups and communities who deserve and need it.

4 - Keep an eye on Turkey

Because of the attitude of Turkey vis-?-vis Koban?, the Kurdish people and their allies 
took to the streets of cities across Turkey, clashed with police and gendarmerie to a 
level not seen since the resistance movement of 2013 events were militant and precise in 
their objectives, barricading the streets, targeting checkpoints, banks, government 
buildings, police and army, and according to some reports, releasing some neighborhoods.
Lately, politics in Turkey found herself at an impasse, energy Gezi pretend dissipate, 
caught between state violence and Erdogan electoral victories. At the same time, the 
so-called Kurdish Peace process is stalled, perhaps irrevocably, for the reconciliation of 
the Turkish state has proven to be little more than words. It is difficult to predict 
whether the current confrontation between protesters and the state will increase, but it 
is clear that the Turkish Kurdistan machinations result in a response Kurdish in Turkey.

Large sectors of Turkish society remains deeply racist (last night a twitter hashtag 
inciting violence against the Kurds has been successful in Turkey) and hence the bias is 
likely. However, there is reason to hope that this time may be different. Gezi 
foreshadowed a new - but very flawed - support for Kurdish liberation, most clearly 
demonstrated in the unprecedented support of the pro-Kurdish party HDP in the last 
presidential elections in Turkey. In addition, Koban? in Rojava and elsewhere, the model 
PKK / PYD democratic autonomy is a powerful alternative to the authoritarianism of the AKP.
In this regard, the future is crucial to Koban? aspirations democratic and revolutionary 
people of Turkish, Syrian and Kurdish.

October 7, 2014

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Source: The Disorder of Things

Translation: XYZ / OCLibertaire

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Notes of translation:

Most English texts still use the old name "ISIS" (for Islamic State in Iraq and the 
Levant) to designate the jihadist organization.

PKK Kurdistan Workers' Party (Turkey)

PYD: Party of Democratic Unity, the party-in-law of the PKK in Rojava (Western Kurdistan / 
Syria).

The term "Left" in the Anglo-Saxon world tends to include rather the activists and groups 
who want to change the order of things, and to exclude "left government" and capital 
management. That's more than the extreme left and unless the entire left.