Today's Topics:
1. anarkismo.net: On the Political Psychopathology of President
Donald by Wayne Price - Review of Mary L. Trump, Ph.D., Too Much
and Never Enough (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
2. Brazil, cab anarquista: 156 years since the birth of Fábio
Luz -- militants , Rio de Janeiro (ca, it, pt) [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
3. cgt-lkn: Care strike (By Carlos Taibo) (ca) [machine
translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
4. Rojava: INTERVIEW WITH ANARCHIST FIGHTER (Tekosina
Anarchists) - COLLECTIVE COMBATING IN ROJAVA (ca)
(a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Book on the personality of Donald Trump by his niece, who is also a psychologist. ---- When I worked for the New York City school system as
a school psychologist, I occasionally sat on panels to interview people applying for various positions. Someone commented to me, "You know
who does the best in interviews? Psychopaths. They are not nervous. They figure out what interviewers want to hear and give it to them. They
are charming and make good impressions-when they want to. This hides their weaknesses from others." ---- So it has been with Donald J.
Trump, in the opinion of his niece, Mary Trump. She has intimate knowledge of Donald and his family, based on many years of experience, and
is a clinical psychologist. While various other psychologists and psychiatrists have speculated (in and out of print) about the president's
mental health, none have direct experience of his personality and behavior. She has not had a clinical relationship with him, such as
psychotherapy or testing, so there is still an element of speculation involved, as she acknowledges. She writes clearly, only occasionally
using technical terms (such as "learned helplessness" or "mirroring"), which she immediately explains.
Besides being a revolutionary anarchist (libertarian socialist), I am a New York State licensed psychologist with a Doctor of Psychology
professional degree (Psy.D.). I find her book fascinating.
Diagnostic Labels
By and large, most attempts "to make sense of Donald's often bizarre and self-defeating behavior" (12) have relied on the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5th Edition, produced by the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-5 2013). Usually there is a
reference to Narcissistic Personality Disorder, "A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack
of empathy...in a variety of contexts." (DSM-5 2013; 327) Dr. Trump says of the president, "He meets all nine criteria..." of this disorder,
as listed in the DSM-5. (12)
Mary Trump suggests "co-morbidity:" more than one diagnosis applying. She notes that he may also fit the diagnosis of Antisocial Personality
Disorder, "A pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others....Failure to conform to social
norms....Deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying...or conning others for personal profit or pleasure....Impulsivity....Irritability
and aggressiveness....Consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to...honor financial obligations....Lack of remorse, as
indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another." (DSM-5 2013; 324-5) The most extreme
forms of Antisocial Personality Disorder are considered as being a "psychopath" or (the term she uses) "sociopath."
The author also raises the possibility of Dependent Personality Disorder. She says this includes "an inability to make decisions or take
responsibility, discomfort with being alone, and going to excessive lengths to obtain support from others." (13)
Also, "He may have a long undiagnosed learning disability that for decades has interfered with his ability to process information." (13)
This includes the possibility of dyslexia, a reading disability. That would explain his reluctance to read-even briefing papers prepared for
the president. She does not estimate his level of general intelligence, although referring to the limits of "his ability to process
information." (13) Other members of his family have been intelligent, such as his father, his older sister (a federal judge), and his older
brother (a pilot), but Donald is another story. (The evening tv show host, Stephen Colbert, quoted the book as describing his father, Fred
Trump, as "a high-functioning sociopath," and commented, "If only he had passed on the ‘high-functioning' part.")
in this book, Mary Trump does not explicitly use psychoanalytic object-relations theory. Drawing on how she describes the president's
behavior and thinking, the level of his character structure is apparently more dysfunctional than the usual neurotic personality (of most of
us) but somewhat better than a psychotic ("crazy") personality. He probably fits in the "borderline" level of character
A psychodynamic approach might fit Donald's pathologies into a range of "exaggerated attempts to consolidate a sense of self.....[In]phallic
narcissism...the individual seeks to exhibit himself or herself to win endless accolades and approval to defend against intense feelings of
guilt, shame, worthlessness, and humiliation.... All[these syndromes]involve issues of self-reproach, guilt, and preoccupations with
self-definition, self-control, and self-worth. All these introspective disorders tend to emphasize[problems with]cognitive processes , and
they share an emphasis on aggression that is directed at others or the self. People with these disorders are much more concerned about
self-assertion and aggression than about bonding and relatedness." (Blatt & Levy 1998; 89-90)
Dr. Trump acknowledges that DSM terms are limited in really understanding Donald Trump, his lived experience, his thinking, his
psychodynamics, and his social behavior. "The label gets us only so far." (12) "Donald's pathologies are so complex and his behaviors so
often inexplicable that coming up with an accurate and comprehensive diagnosis would require a full battery of psychological and
neuropsychological tests that he'll never sit for." (13) (I would love to administer the Rorschach Inkblot Method to him.)
The Family System
The author pictures Donald by placing him in the dynamic context of his dysfunctional family system. His mother, Mary, is described as
physically weak and ill, often withdrawn, with little interaction with her children. His father, Fred Trump, is bluntly described by the
author (his granddaughter) as a "sociopath," that is, utterly lacking in empathy or moral conscience. He was domineering, insisting on
getting his way, and cruelly sadistic. A forceful and ambitious man, he made a fortune in real estate in Brooklyn and Queens.
The overwhelming but un-loving father and the distant mother had enormous impacts on their five children, of course. This included the
writer's father, "Freddy," the second-born child and eldest son, and Donald, the next son. Freddy was under great pressure by his father to
be his heir in the real estate business. But Freddy did not fit in; his father responded by increasing his personal disapproval. Freddy
wanted to become an airline pilot, something he was good at, but his father Fred sneered at this and demanded that he knuckle under. Over
time, Freddy became an alcoholic, failed at his airplane career, was divorced by his wife, and died at a young age.
Donald had been a screw-up all his youth-the book says his older sister did his homework and he paid a friend to take the SATs. Yet he
became the successor to Fred's empire. He was good at glad-handing people and networking, but not really at the business of real estate. He
expanded into Manhattan, but was repeatedly a failure. His father successively bailed him out. To Fred Trump, Donald was the extension of
his success, as Mary Trump sees it. But when Donald opened New Jersey casinos, where he did not have his father's contacts, he was a
disaster. He failed and the banks bailed him out, until they stopped doing it. The only "business" he did really well as, was pretending to
be a successful businessman on television, dominating other actors.
To Dr. Trump, Donald is a hollow man, a sociopath who enjoys playing a great person in order to try to win his (now gone) father's approval
(which he more-or-less got) and his love (which he could never get). His constant lies, his bullying, his cheating others, his transactional
relationships with everyone, including his family and his wives, were all covers for his sense of inadequacy and inferiority. "He rants
about the weaknesses of others even as he demonstrates his own. But he can never escape the fact that he is and always will be a terrified
little boy. Donald's monstrosity is the manifestation of the very weakness within him that he's been running from his entire life." (210-1)
Donald's attitude toward his father has been repeated by his fan-boy reaction to authoritarian leaders abroad: Putin, Jin, Kim, the Saudi
prince, Erdogan, and Duterte. Whether or not Putin "has something on" Donald, he is strongly drawn to brutal, ruthless, and cynical
authoritarians. He wishes he could be like that and pretends he is.
I am not going to go over the family history which is outlined here nor repeat the telling anecdotes about Donald's often strange behavior.
Mary Trump says little about herself, outside of her reactions to her grandfather, her parents, and Donald. Just in passing, so to speak,
she mentions her lesbianism and that she could not be open about it even to her beloved grandmother. She does review her experience after
her father's death and the dishonest way she and her brother were treated by the family in terms of inheritance.
Donald did not have a program or set of policies, although he has racist and nativist prejudices-against African-Americans, Jews,
immigrants, and so on-also women. Otherwise he twists and turns, saying this thing or that, in order to arouse a base and to confuse his
opponents. He has no strategy for election-he had one set of skills and if they resonated with enough of the voting population, he was
politically successful. But when this approach became less popular-as it has currently-he does not change his behavior because he cannot. He
does not know any other way to be.
When the novel coronavirus hit the U.S. and the world, Donald brushed it away. He would not face up to it nor let anyone else in his
administration face it. It was interfering with his plan to run for reelection on economic "prosperity." Therefore he denied that it existed
and/or said it would vanish any day now, like a "miracle" As it got worse, he could not admit that he had been wrong. He could not
understand the science nor trust the advice of the scientists, who were no doubt out to get him. As parts of his right-wing base became ever
more hysterical, he did not try to calm them but sought to ride their craziness and whip it up to an even more fevered pitch. So his
behavior became ever more bizarre and dysfunctional, and more people died and will die. He does not care about that, but it bothers him that
the voting public does not believe his contradictory and delusional claims. In a recent interview he lamented that it was unfair that Dr.
Anthony Fauci was more popular than he is. "It must be my personality," he sadly concluded.
Donald isn't Really the Problem After All
While the author puts Donald Trump in the context of his family, she only hints at the way Donald and his family fit in the context of the
overall society. It is obvious that Fred Trump's success was only possible in a society which valued money-making above all else, as he did
as an individual. And Donald's success (despite all his business failures) was only possible in a society which valued braggadocio and
surface glibness over real interpersonal connection, that values self-centered ambition over community. The name of that system is
capitalism and its regulating mechanism is the state.
After all, if Donald Trump is so terrible, how come he was nominated by the Republican Party (out of about 14 other candidates)? How come he
was "elected" president (even if he lost the popular vote by a few thousand)? How come he has not been laughed out of office or at least
discredited by the entire political class and the whole of the media (instead of supported by a major political party and a right-wing media
system)?
"The government as it is currently constituted, including the executive branch, half of Congress, and the majority of the Supreme Court, is
entirely in the service of protecting Donald's ego; that has become almost its entire purpose." (201) This is something of an exaggeration,
but not entirely so (the Republicans get something in return, such as huge tax cuts for the rich, deregulation of the economy, and
reactionary judges at all levels).
Why does a minority of 35 to 40 percent continue to support him despite the wreck of the U.S. health system and economy? What is it about
Donald's personality which resonates among his base?
"The deafening silence in response to such a blatant display of sociopathic disregard for human life or the consequences for one's
actions...fills me with despair and reminds me that Donald isn't really the problem after all." (my emphasis; 204-5)
Donald Trump is personally eccentric in many ways (such as in his attachment to Russia). But in other ways he is logical culmination of
decades of political devolution. This is clearest in the history of the Republican Party, which has gone from a center-right party to a
far-right cult, rejecting science and embracing ignorance, playing to racist and nativist popular prejudices, and also relying on anti-LGBT
and anti-women's rights for its appeal. Meanwhile the Democrats have been following along behind them, becoming the new center-right party
(now with a "progressive" but powerless wing). The economic and political reasons for this are important, as is the political mass
psychology of sections of the people as they react to these developments. While it will be good to see the back of the vile Donald Trump,
electing Joe Biden will not really solve "the problem."
I do not criticize Mary Trump for not writing a different book. Nor for failing to be rise to the level of those who provided deep insights
into the social-psychological pathologies of capitalist society, such as Wilhelm Reich, Erich Fromm, or Paul Goodman. (I would guess that
she is not a radical but a Democratic liberal.) It is enough that she provides us with insight into the dysfunctional psychology of the
current president of the United States. It is up to us to generalize further.
References
Blatt, Sidney, & Levy, Kenneth (1998). "A Psychodynamic Approach to the Diagnosis of Psychopathology." In Making Diagnosis Meaningful;
Enhancing Evaluation and Treatment of Psychological Disorders (Ed.: James W. Barron). Washington DC: American Psychological Association. Pp.
73-109.
DSM-5 (2013), Desk Reference to the Diagnostic Criteria from DSM-5. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing.
Trump, Mary L. (2020). Too Much and Never Enough; How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man. NY: Simon & Schuster.
*written for www.Anarkismo.net
http://www.anarkismo.net/article/31996
------------------------------
Message: 2
156 years ago, on July 31, 1864, he was born in Valença, Bahia, Fábio Lopes dos Santos Luz or simply Fábio Luz. He was a doctor, journalist,
writer and teacher and died on May 9, 1938 in Rio de Janeiro, being one of the most prominent militants in the history of the anarchist
movement in the city. ---- The son of a civil servant and a teacher, he was already indignant when he saw his father register the sale of
slaves and the violence of black policemen against other black slaves. He then became an abolitionist and, soon after, a republican, as he
believed that the republic would lead to a situation of social justice. During his medical course, he discovered, in a bookstore in
Salvador, the book Words of a Revolt of Kropotkin, which led him to anarchism. However, Fábio Luz would only discover the existence of
organized anarchism in Rio de Janeiro at the beginning of the 20th century.
His move to the then still capital of the Empire occurred in 1888, shortly after his graduation in medicine, when he defended the thesis
Hypnotism and Free Will, considered by some to be a precursor of psychoanalytic theories. Exercising the functions of a hygienist doctor
and, from 1893, those of a school inspector, Fábio Luz comes into contact with the serious social problems of the population of Rio. Around
1902, with a group of intellectuals who joined the anarchist movement, started to advertise on doors of factories and workers' places. In
1903, he launched the novel O Ideólogo, a product of this coexistence with the oppressed of the city, becoming one of the precursors of
social romance in Brazil, together with the Minas Gerais writer and also anarchist Avelino Foscolo.
In 1904, Fábio Luz was one of those who fought for the establishment of a Popular Free Education University of which he would be a professor
and where he would maintain a doctor's office to assist the students of that educational initiative. In his practice of medicine he will
also maintain an office in Méier, where he lives and where, currently, there is a street named after him, by which he will be known to the
poor in the neighborhood, Engenho Novo and other suburbs as a doctor who examines them free of charge and it still provides them with money
to buy medicine. Luz promoted campaigns in favor of hygiene in factories, workplaces, restaurants, bars and cafes, having given lectures and
written in newspapers about it, such as the 1913 booklet A Tuberculosis from a Social Point of View, in which it shows how the unhealthy
working conditions due to capitalists' negligence lead to the proliferation of that disease among workers. Still in his own home, Luz will
informally teach language courses to workers so that they can have access to sociological and cultural works printed in other languages.
1906 is the year of the publication of another novel of his, Os Emancipados, which will name an important anarchist group to which he will
be affiliated. His activity as a lecturer will be enormous in free unions and workers' events throughout his existence. In 1915, the
publication of Elias Barrão enshrines him as a social writer. However, Luz also embarks on children's literature by writing books such as
Memories of Joãozinho and Readings of Ilka and Alba in which she seeks to pass ethical and social values to children.
As a teacher, he taught at Colégio Pedro II (French, Portuguese, history and Latin). In colleges and social studies centers he taught
History of Brazil, Natural History and Hygiene. He directed the Ateneu, later Liceu Popular de Inhaúma and was a professor of Arts and
Crafts at the Orsina da Fonseca School.
In 1920, his collaboration in the anarchist daily newspaper Voz do Povo led him to prison, after the invasion and jamming of that
publication by the police. This fact motivated the reorganization of the group Os Emancipados. Secretary-General of the newly founded PCB,
Astrojildo Pereira tries to ridicule the figure of Fábio Luz, to which he responds "to the childishness of mr. Astrojildo "that" our
dictator already performs the functions of a religious Bolshevik pontiff; that is how, inspired by the divine Bolshevik powers, he appoints
bishops and creates little churches ". In 1922, the year of this controversy with Astrojido, Luz will lead the anarchist newspapers Luta
Social e Social Revolução. As a journalist, in addition to the anarchist press in Brazil and other countries, he also collaborated in the
commercial press, having acted as a literary critic,
In honor of this social fighter, so unjustly forgotten by the official and literary historiography, his name was placed, in 2001, in a more
than deserved tribute, to the Social Library that works in the Social Culture Center of Rio de Janeiro, at Torres street Male 790, in Vila
Isabel. Fábio Luz was also honored as the name of a street in the neighborhood of Méier , North Zone of Rio de Janeiro.
(Adaptation of text originally published in the Libera # 140 newsletter from the Anarchist Federation of Rio de Janeiro (FARJ), in 2008)
http://cabanarquista.org/2020/07/31/156-anos-do-nascimento-de-fabio-luz
------------------------------
Message: 3
I was arguing with a colleague, some time ago, and on the occasion of a lukewarm general strike that had asserted itself in Spain, about the
areas that this strike should affect. This friend, somewhat anchored in a past in which production was, or seemed to be, everything, could
not understand why we also demanded a consumer strike. What's the point - I asked him - that we stop in factories or schools and then rush
to buy in a supermarket? Where, by the way, were the rights of those who worked in it? ---- It often happens, however, that when you think
you have taken a giant step in understanding the world's problems, you have to take note, shortly, that you have fallen short. Because, if
the strike is to be one of production and consumption - also, of course, of distribution, as the French yellow vests have taught us - what
sense will it make us talk about dividing up the work if we ignore the relief, huge at the same time? , of the domestic work carried out
overwhelmingly by women? Shouldn't a strike affecting the corresponding work be demanded without caution?
Antonella Picchio explains it clearly: "Feminist thinking has taught us how the dominant economy makes much of the work contributed by women
invisible. But the production process is not based only on paid work that allows the production of goods and services; It also includes
unpaid work, which allows for social and working class reproduction. Without domestic work - cooking to feed families, maintaining clothes
and homes ... - and caring for people and their relationships, the economic system could not be perpetuated. And yet the growth economy
doesn't look at it in any way. "
It will hardly surprise - and I return to the charge with the argument - that this idolized indicator that is the gross domestic product is
not at all interested in domestic work. The mentioned indicator, and the economic growth itself, has a pacentric and macho character. In
Anselm Jappe's eyes, one and the other are linked to masculine values -hardness, determination, reason, calculation, contract-, while
non-mercantile activities are associated with feminine values: sweetness, understanding, emotion and gratuitousness.
https://www.cgt-lkn.org/blog/archivos/7735
------------------------------
Message: 4
1) From Latin America we have been following with attention and special interest what is happening in Rojava and Syria. First of all, could
you explain the formation of the Battalion of libertarian comrades and their links with the Kurdish resistance? ---- Since the beginning of
the Rojava revolution, especially following the resistance in Kobanê in 2015, international volunteers have come to confront the Daesh
(ISIS) and defend the revolution. In the early years most of the international volunteers came in coordination with YPG and YPJ, the Kurdish
self-defense militias. Given the anti-state character of the political project of Rojava, anarchists from different continents joined the
struggle in defense of the revolution, often arriving in a disparate and disorganized way. In 2015, in addition to internationalists in YPG
and YPJ, the IFB (International Freedom Battalion) was organized, uniting international militants and Turkish revolutionary organizations in
a common organization. Within the IFB the first anarchist brigade was formed under the name of IRPGF (International Revolutionary People's
Guerrilla Forces), which operated for approximately one year during the Tabqa and Raqqa operations.
Têkosîna Anarsîst (Anarchist Struggle) was created at the end of 2017 after the liberation of Raqqa. We seek to not only participate in the
struggle against the Daesh, but to learn from the Kurdistan freedom movement while building bridges with libertarian movements around the
world. As anarchists, we see the importance of taking up arms against the theocratic despotism of the Islamic State, but also against the
fascistic oppression of the Turkish State, the Syrian State, the various imperialist powers and the myriad Islamic fundamentalist groups
fighting in Syria. The reality of the war is very complex, and sometimes it plunges us into a sea of contradictions about our role here.
Inter-ethnic and inter-religious conflicts converge with a proxy war of regional and geopolitical powers, where imperialist and colonial
influences set the pace of a Middle East bathed in blood and oil. But the Kurdish resistance is an emblematic example of revolutionary
organization, and Rojava's social and political project is certainly inspiring. After some years working here we saw good sides and also bad
sides of the revolution, and our commitment with it is based in a frame of internationalism and critical solidarity.
The implementation of democratic confederalism, a stateless society based on women's liberation, ecology and direct democracy, is an example
for those of us who believe in a world free from capitalism and patriarchy. This is what led us to Rojava, but what now? A large number of
internationalists who come to Rojava participate in defending the revolution for a few months and then return home to their previous lives.
Is that what we want? Is this our idea of internationalist solidarity? No, we want something else. To better understood what we are looking
for we studied about the history of internationalism, but instead of looking at the centralized structure of the third international we
choose to fiund inspiration in the anticolonial struggle of the Tricontinental Conference. Revolutionaries like Almícar Cabral from
Guinea-Bissau, Ben Barka from Morocco or Che Guevara from Argentina, came together to, in the words of Franz Fanon "stand with the wretched
of the earth to create a world of human beings". Their perspectives on international solidarity were very clear: «It is not a question of
wishing success to the attacked, but of running his own luck; accompanying them to death or victory". They were talking about creating 2, 3,
many Vietnams,we talk about creating 2, 3, many Rojavas, many Barbachas, many Chiapas.
Tekosîna Anarsîst is not only an anarchist group in Syria or Kurdistan, our existence is conditioned by the struggle and the revolutionary
process of Rojava. The oppression suffered by the Kurdish people is another example of the colonial dynamics suffered by indigenous peoples,
peoples with ancestral cultures and roots who are threatened by capitalist hegemony. As internationalists, it is also our duty to study and
understand the ways imperial powers exert oppression over countries of the Global South. We struggled against oppression at home and now we
continue the struggle here. We came to Rojava responding to the call for international solidarity, and so our priority is to understand the
needs of the people and the dynamics of the local revolutionary movement. In the past we had been working in coordination with the IFB
(International Freedom Batalion), but today we are an autonomous organization integrated in the Syrian Democratic Forces, alongside Kurds,
Arabs, Assyrians and other internationals, fighting for a democratic and ecological Syria free of patriarchal oppression.
2)What are the main differences between TA and the PKK and its armed groups?
The PKK is a revolutionary party created in response to the oppression suffered by the Kurdish people. Tekosîna Anarsîst is a collective
created to support and learn from the revolution of Rojava. This reality engenders a great number of differences in relation to the size of
the organization, objectives, internal dynamics, future projection, tactics and strategies.
The PKK was founded more than 40 years ago as a national liberation movement with an internationalist outlook, forming an anti-colonial
movement in the Middle East. Through its struggle for national liberation, the PKK, which started with a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist
orientation, evaluated its achievements and shortcomings. Abdullah Öcalan proposed a new paradigm, nourished by libertarian perspectives,
positioning itself against the nation-state model, patriarchy and the ecocide produced by capitalism and the techno-industrial system.
Instead, the new paradigm creates models of direct democracy, with communes and cooperatives as the social base. It prioritizes women's
liberation as the basis of social transformation through women organizing themselves autonomously. It is committed to an ecological
perspective and a reconnection with nature, reconstructing a model of life in accordance with the other living beings on this planet.
Its perspectives on violence also differ from those of its Maoist origins, where revolutionary violence was conceived of as an objective in
itself. The change of paradigm, largely motivated by the Kurdish women's movement, refocused the analysis around the concept of
self-defence. The patriarchal and colonial dynamics of states, which base their existence on domination through war, genocide and slavery,
have always met with resistance from those they seek to subdue. Societies that have lived a free life cannot accept the domination of
centralized systems, and that is why every society, every living being, needs to ensure its systems of self-defense.
As anarchists, as revolutionaries, we agree with this political and social vision. Ecology, feminism, communalism or confederalism are not
unknown to anarchism, quite the contrary. In Rojava we have had to defend ourselves with all the means at our disposal against the
theocratic despotism of the Islamic state and the invasion of the Turkish fascist state. In times of war, we have fought side by side with
YPG, YPJ, guerrillas of the PKK, members of other Turkish revolutionary parties, other internationalists of different ideologies, Kurds,
Arabs, Assyrians. When the enemy fires, when the bombs fall, the one on our side of the trench is compa, is heval, and the ideological
differences do not weigh as much as the passion to defend the revolution, the passion to build a free society. But there are certainly
ideological differences that, when bullets and mortars do not rain down, lead to debates and reflections that influence our way of thinking
about revolution and understanding anarchism. The differences that Marx and Bakunin, among many others, discussed at the congresses of the
first workers' international are still a source of conflict today. But it is precisely this conflict that helps us to reflect, to learn, to
continue to grow.
In response to the question, the main differences we have found are, on the one hand, organizational, and on the other, ideological. At the
organizational level, we prioritize decentralization and the distribution of tasks, responsibilities and leadership, deliberately avoiding
the creation of a central committee or an authoritarian institution. We know that military structures are always conditioned by hierarchical
organization and a chain of command, and in some aspects we have had to adapt our structure to military needs. But unlike other forces, we
pay special attention to operating in an inclusive and horizontal manner, encouraging rotating responsibilities and leadership. Collective
learning, trust and mutual support, but above all the desire for a free life, are the basis of our work and political project.
At the ideological level, the differences may be more complex. The most relevant is perhaps our strong support for LGBT+ struggles, which in
the Kurdish liberation movement do not have such determined support. There is, however, a current in the Kurdish women's movement and in
jineolojî in particular, with whom we share a perspective on these issues. They themselves are questioning and reflecting on the apparent
essentialism of this movement, opening the door to a more extended understanding of woman closer to queer theories, although still in a
minority. Also the pragmatism of this movement sometimes leads to ideological contradictions, especially in aspects related to property. In
Rojava there are communal initiatives and incentives for collective ownership, but private property is still the norm in society, without
much effort to change this reality. Within revolutionary movements, property is largely collective, and the communal life has a clear
socialist orientation, but it is sometimes difficult for these ideas to reach the majority of the population.
To bring a wider perspective, if we think not only of our organization but of anarchism more broadly, we see great contradictions with the
individualistic tendency of anti-authoritarian movements in recent decades. Têkosîna Anarsîst is committed to a collective struggle that
transcends individual logic and liberal thinking, in tune with the values of social anarchism, but without ceasing to reflect on the role of
the individual in society. We very aware that with orders imposed from the top down, without respecting collective decisions or listening to
minority voices, coercion is imposed on the individual. In turn, when the individual does not act in accordance with the common aims of a
movement, he or she delegitimizes the organization and the collective struggle. Another important debate between traditional anarchism and
the ideas of democratic confederalism is the aproach to society and the relation with positivism and rationalism. Anarchism has often seen
science and reason, which were resignified by the so-called «enlightenment», as the only way to achieve a free society. In the new paradigma
this premise is questioned, with special attention to other ways of understanding the world and society that elude European colonial
thought, especially looking at mithology and ancestral knowledge. These perspectives are important when it comes to learning from indigenous
movements, rethinking our relationship with nature, with civilization and with life itself.
Evaluating these ideas, the similarities and differences that we have found with our movements and the reality of Rojava, have led us to
prioritize two objectives. First, the development of militant personalities, working to deconstruct the patriarchal and capitalist influence
that we have internalized. Second, the need to agree on organizational standards based on commitment and responsability, acording to our
will as revolutionaries but also to the needs of our organization. And even though these objectives are developed in a different way from
the PKK, the methods that we learn here are of great help to us. The practice of tekmil, platform, criticism and self-criticism, guide us in
our growth and development as revolutionaries, but we also recognize the need to study and learn from the history of anarchist and
revolutionary movements around the world.
3) How do you analyze the process of building Democratic Confederalism? What is your participation in this construction?
The construction of democratic confederalism is certainly more visible in Rojava, but it cannot be disconnected from the rest of Kurdistan.
In recent years the ideas of this political paradigm have been put into practice on a large scale in Rojava, but we must also take into
account other territories such as Mexmur camp or the more recently autonomous zone of Sengal in Basur (Iraqi Kurdistan). There are also
political developments in Rojhilat (Iranian Kurdistan), but above all in Bakur, within the borders of the Turkish State. It is necessary to
take into account the four parts into which Kurdistan is divided today to understand why the Kurdish movement is oriented towards an
anti-state solution.
When analyzing its construction, it is essential to refer to the ideological work of Abdullah Öcalan and his «Manifesto for a Democratic
Society». Unlike other political proposals, democratic confederalism does not limit itself to describing a utopian society free of
oppression, but opens a dialogue of questions and answers on how to transform society and realize this utopia. How we want to live, how we
want to relate and how we want to fight are important questions in building a revolutionary society. The answers that Öcalan outlines are
not easily summarized in a few paragraphs, but it is important to understand some of the concepts he identifies. This democratic modernity,
as we have mentioned, is based on the liberation of women, ecology and democracy without the state.
This ideological progression shows similarities with other revolutionary processes such as the Zapatista movement, an insurgent movement in
the mountains of southern Mexico. Both movements are born with a Maoist framework but are reoriented towards libertarian socialism, both
have grown and found refuge in the mountains, both are heirs to a people with ancient origins, both have a strong autonomous women's
movement, both are an example for anti-capitalist movements worldwide. Democratic confederalism is not a new ideology, it is a way of
understanding society and civilization that inspires us to develop as revolutionary movements, to make a commitment to our ideas and to move
forward with determined steps towards a more just society.
In bringing these ideas into practice in Rojava, the process has been vastly influenced by the war in Syria. In turn it has been the war
what made the revolution possible, enabling the radical social transformation needed to lay the foundations of such political developments.
In 2012 the YPG/YPJ, then poorly armed people's militias, expelled the soldiers and bureaucrats of the Syrian state with hardly a few
bullets fired. This was followed by bitter fighting against Islamist groups like al-Nusra and later Daesh. After breaking Daesh's seige of
Kobanê in 2015, the YPG/YPJ expanded to lead the military coalition of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). By the time Raqqa was liberated
in 2017, the SDF had become a regular military force, trained and equipped to a semi-professional level.
These military developments were accompanied by a process of social transformation based on the ideas of democratic confederalism, with the
creation of communes, cooperatives, women's centres, justice committees, academies, school programs in Kurdish, cultural centres, etc.
Social institutions such as TEV-DEM (Tevgera Civaka Demokratîk - Movement for a Democratic Society), together with the PYD (Partiya
Yekineyen Democratic - Democratic Unity Party) and other political parties, came together to establish the Autonomous Administration,
initially organized in 3 cantons (Efrîn, Kobanê, Cizîre). We see the clear aim to manage the territory on the basis of local organization,
based on a municipal model, without seeking the centralization of a State system.
No revolution is an easy process, and despite the criticisms we may have about certain decisions, the process that Rojava is going through
in these 8 years of revolution is admirable. Once again, it is difficult to summarize everything in a few paragraphs, but among the most
important steps we want to mention the development of the situation that women are experiencing, and the role that the YPJ is playing in
this process. Women in Syria, like women all over the world, suffer from the violence and oppression of patriarchal systems, but from 2014
they were especially threatened by the theocratic despotism of the Islamic state. Daesh is undoubtedly a more brutal and bloody example of
patriarchy, with thousands of women captured and sold into sexual slavery. In words of YPJ fighter Amara from Kobane "Our philosophical
views made us women conscious of the fact that we can only live by resisting", giving perspectives on why many women choose to take up arms
to free themselves from such a threat, why they choose self-defence and direct action against that which threatens their lives. After the
military victories against Daesh the enormous courage and sacrifice that women have brought to the revolution was proven beyond doubt. The
kurdish movement says that no society can be free if women are not free, and in Rojava this slogan becomes the heart of the revolutionary
process.
Our involvement in this whole process is relatively modest, as we have only been working for three years in Rojava. In the beginning, the
most important thing was to understand the local reality, the Kurdish language and culture, the political project and the functioning of the
organizations and structures. This brought some ideological contradictions along with new methods of organizing. Despite our ideological
similarities and Öcalan's references to different anarchist thinkers, like Bakunin, Kropotkin or Foucault, anarchism remains a great unknown
for the Kurdish movementh. In the third volume of the «manifesto for a democratic civilization», Öcalan reflects on the importance of
anarchism as a key ally in the development of democratic modernity, sharing his critics and perspectives for anarchist movements. In the
ideological field, our work has focused on reflecting on these ideas and contradictions, translating them and making them more accessible to
a wide audience. We have also spent time debating and sharing our ideas among us, as we are an international group of anarchists from
various countries, often with different prespectives and backgrounds. This work has given us a better understanding of the libertarian
movements in different parts of the world and how to put them in context with the revolutionary process we are going through.
In the practical field, our work has focused on defending the revolution. After taking part in different military campaigns against the
Islamic State, we pushed to develop our capacities as combat medics, since health care in the first minutes can be crucial for survival.
Tekosîna Anarsîst worked as a combat medical team in the Baghouz campaign, the last bastion of the Islamic State, and has since been our
main task whenever there has been an active front in Rojava. Operating as a combat medical team also means being able to train new members
in these disciplines, so we have put a lot of effort into compiling what we have learned to share with new comrades who came to join the
revolution.
4) How do you analyze the current situation of the conflict in Syria and what perspectives do you foresee?
Today, in July 2020, the war continues in Syria. We celebrated recently the eighth anniversary of the revolution, remembering the 19th of
July 2012 when autonomy was declared in the city of Kobanê. The Islamic State has been defeated after the battle of Baghouz in 2019, but
there are still cells and operational groups that continue to carry out attacks. Many of its former members have also joined the Turkish
backed Islamist groups, which have occupied the canton of Efrîn since early 2018. It is less than a year since Turkey and its Islamist
mercenaries occupied the cities and villages alongside the border in between the cities of Tel Abyad and Serêkaniyê.
The population fleeing these conflicts are found in refugee camps, such as the Sehba camps where from Efrîn fled, or the Wasokanî camp where
the population of Serêkaniyê fled for refuge from the Turkish bombs. The al-Hol camp is also difficult to run, where tens of thousands of
women and children who lived under the Islamic caliphate are held. This includes some women who maintain their Islamic fundamentalist ideas,
often organizing riots and statements in support of Daesh, attacking the security forces of the camp and also other women, stabbing,
throwing acid or setting tents in fire. The special prisons for Daesh fighters add to the difficulties faced by the Autonomous
Administration in stabilising the region, needing an international tribunal to find solutions and bring Daesh members to justice. But the
international community does not seem very interested in supporting this kind of judicial process, and few countries have repatriated the
international fighters who left to join the ranks of the Islamic State. In these prisons too, there are often riots and escape attempts.
The refugee camps are also hotbeds of health emergencies, with outbreaks of salmonella or other diseases, such as leishmaniasis in the Sehba
camps. So far, Rojava didn't suffer an outbrake of COVID-19, but he self administration had been working in preparations to prevent future
risks. Our work on health issues has also allowed us to learn and support in these fields and to better understand the situation, as well as
to collaborate in the development of training and preparations for preventive measures in case the pandemic begins to spread here. The
hospital in Serêkaniyê - now occupied by Turkey and its proxies - was the only one equipped to carry out PCR tests, and it is known that
Turkey is sending a large number of COVID-19 infected people there. In Efrîn the epidemic is spreading, given the direct connection of the
Turkish army with the Islamist groups occupying the area, possibly in an attempt by the Erdogan administration to spread the virus to
Rojava. In the parts of Syria still under the control of the Syrian regime the virus has spread, so we do not know how long Rojava will be
free from the effects of the pandemic.
The military situation is not easy either. On the one hand Erdogan continues to threaten the occupation of the region, with particular risk
to Tal Rifaat and the Sehba camps, as well as Manbij and Kobanê. As we have seen with other operations, it is not a question of whether
Turkey will attack again, but when it will do so. Recently Erdogan announced a new operation in Basur, Iraqi Kurdistan, which began with
over 80 bombings by the Turkish Air Force. Among the targets were the Mexmur camp, a hospital in Sengal, guerrilla positions and civilian
villages in the mountains bordering Turkey and Iran, where the PKK has its bases. In late June a drone bombed a village outside Kobanê,
where a meeting of the Kongreya Star (the women's movement in Rojava) was being held, killing 4 women, including the head of the Kobanê
area. All these attacks are carried out while Turkey maintains its front in Idlib, supporting HTS (the Islamist coalition led by the Syrian
branch of al-Qaida), its military operations in Libya, its aggressive international policy in the Mediterranean and a brutal internal
repression against the Kurdish population in Turkey's own borders.
The authoritarian drift of the Turkish state in recent decades has been accompanied by a purge of military commanders, especially after the
so-called attempted coup in 2016, as well as heavy investment in military spending. Erdogan recently acquired a second shipment of S-400
antiaircraft systems from Russia, while closing a deal to acquire Patriot missiles from the United States. We see him arming himself to the
teeth, seeking to maintain his position in NATO while leaning into a pact with Russia, trying to reorganize the geopolitical chessboard of
the Middle East by evoking an Imperial Ottoman past. These expansionist dreams, the usual narrative of fascism, always need an internal
enemy to blame. In 1915, the world witnessed the Armenian genocide on which the Turkish state was founded, where not only Armenians and
other Christian minorities were massacred and forced to leave their homes, but an example was set that would later be referenced in
perpetrating the holocaust («After all, who today speaks of the annihilation of the Armenians?», said Hitler, invading Poland). Now it is
the Kurdish population that is suffering from these genocidal policies, and no doubt Rojava is in Turkey's sights.
The economic situation in Rojava is also very complex, with enormous difficulties ahead. The Syrian pound has fallen to historical lows, in
recent months it has lost more than 300% of its value on the domestic market. To this we must add the new sanctions against Syria imposed by
the Trump administration, a form of economic warfare which, despite being directed against the government of al-Assad, has a profound effect
on all of Syria. Trump promised that the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria would be exempt from these sanctions, but so far
this promise has not materialized, and they must be added to the embargo that Rojava has suffered since the beginning of the revolution. In
terms of resources, Rojava has an abundance of only wheat and oil, which are suffering from economic turmoil. The COVID-19 crisis has caused
a fall in the price of crude oil, which has had a huge impact on the income of Autonomous Administration. In addition, the sanctions
mentioned against the Assad government make it difficult to sell the oil, which needs the refineries in the areas under the control of the
Syrian state to be able to process it. As for the wheat, the Autonomous Administration has decided to begin the harvest earlier to avoid
what happened last year, when insurgent groups burned large swathes of cultivated land. Advancing the harvest has ensured that the wheat is
not burnt, but at the same time it has been harvested still green and the price at which it can be sold is lower. In addition, wheat was
stolen from silos in the Turkish-occupied area, such as the important silos in Tel Abyad.
A last point we want to mention is also related to the global effects of the pandemic, and is the closing of borders that has limited the
mobility of internationalists. During the last 4 months no internationalist has been able to enter or leave Rojava, this limits the number
of new people who want to travel to Rojava but have no way of doing so.
With all this, it is difficult to foresee what will happen. The situation is highly unstable, there are so many variables and so many
interests at stake that things change quickly from one day to the next. Without a doubt the biggest threat is a new invasion by the Turkish
state, probably in Kobanê, as it is their resistance against Daesh that captivated international attention. The symbolic power of this city
is very important, and that is why the Turkish state wants to occupy it, because it knows that it will be very difficult to sustain faith in
the revolution without the city that managed to break the advance of Daesh. It is possible that Ain Issa and Manbij would be attacked first,
since they are nearby cities and essential when it comes to providing logistical support in case Kobanê is besieged again. To launch such an
attack, Erdogan knows he needs a green light from the international and regional powers. The war of influence between Russia and the U.S. in
the Middle East can play a significant role, and depending on how the balance of power and objectives of both imperialist powers change, the
effects will be felt, not only in Syria, but across the Middle East and the world. In the last few months we have seen a steady withdrawal
of U.S. troops from Syria, though never a definitive one, as one of its priorities remains preventing other powers from gaining influence,
especially Russia and Iran. Putin is racing to fill this vacuum, reinforcing his hegemony on Syrian soil and ensuring his access to the
Mediterranean Sea.
Other regional powers may also influence Syria's future, such as the State of Israel, which continues to maintain its occupation of the
Golan Heights, and carry out attacks and bombings against different targets on Syrian soil. Iran's presence in Syria is no secret, in fact
most of Israel's attacks are usually against Hezbollah targets or other forces close to Iran's theocratic regime. The Zionist government of
Netanyahu takes advantage of Iran's enmity with the U.S. to attack with impunity and thus weaken the powers that surround Israel. The
Egyptian state now makes threats to intervene in the conflict in Libya to stop the spread of Turkish influence. For now, Egypt is off the
Syrian board, but al-Sisi's government sees Erdogan as a threat, given his neo-Ottomanist rhetoric and his strong relationship with the
Muslim Brotherhood, the main opposition to al-Sisi's government.
Another possible scenario in the near future is a full-scale attack by the Turkish state on Qandil in Iraqi Kurdistan, where PKK bases are
located. Erdogan has been besieging the mountains, the heart of the Kurdish insurgent movement, for years and hopes to have the support of
NATO and its media and technological network to carry out such an operation. But to lay siege to the mountains, Erdogan needs the
collaboration not only of the Iraqi state, but also Iran, since Qandil is on the border between them. It would be a very costly operation
and given Turkey's unstable economic situation and it's many fronts, it is not very clear whether Erdogan will be able to launch a
large-scale campaign. Such an attack would be highly provocative across all parts of Kurdistan and revolutionary Rojava would not stand idly
by in the face of this aggression.
In all, Rojava is a small player in a game of powers full of resentment and strife. It's brief history has always been threatened by the war
and conflict that surrounds it, as it's very existence challenges the plans and agendas of the powers that battle in Syria. Despite tactical
alliances it is clear that no state has an interest in allowing this revolutionary project to prosper and expand. Now that the Daesh
Caliphate has been defeated, other forces and powers continue to harass Rojava, mainly through the Turkish state and its proxies. Rojava
exists thanks to the commitment and collective effort of thousands of militants, and we must always bear in mind that, without their
sacrifice, nothing that we are experiencing here today would be possible. The attacks we have suffered have led to painful losses, and we
have had to move forward and rebuild the ruins that the war has left behind. As militants, these experiences have forced us to appreciate
the fundamental need for self-defense and to appreciate life and moments of happiness with more gratitude than we have ever experienced before.
To this day Rojava remains an inspiring model for revolutionary movements around the world, a space for debate and political practice
demonstrating that another world is possible. Rojava is not an anarchist society, but it is a society where anarchists from all over the
world can nurture our ideas through praxis. We cannot allow this beacon of hope to be extinguished, and even though it is a struggle we will
continue to build, defend and develop the world we dream of living in. The attacks to come will cause more pain and destruction, but we are
not afraid of the ruins because we carry a new world in our hearts.
Tekosîna Anarsîst
July 2020
Rojava
http://federacionanarquistauruguaya.uy/entrevista-a-lucha-anarquista-colectivo-combatiendo-en-rojava-esp-ing/
------------------------------
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten