#WORLD #WORLDWIDE #ITALY #ANARCHISM #News #Journal #Update - (en) Italy, FDCA - Il Cantiere #10-5: Rojava - Reflections and subjective counterpoints after a decade of revolution Pau Guerra Kurdist\u00e0n (18 July 2022)[1] (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 On 19 July 2012, the autonomy of the city of Kobane was declared, the reference

date for the revolutionary transformation process that the north-east of Syria is
experiencing. This decade of resistance and autonomy building offers us valuable
experiences from which we can draw important lessons. And above all, it also
leaves us profound changes and personal transformations for those of us who have
decided to be part of the revolution. ---- Celebrating a decade of revolution is
not something that happens often, and there are even fewer that can still be
defined as such after 10 years. History has left us numerous examples of armed
struggles and massive social mobilizations that end up being corrupted or
co-opted by outside forces within a few years. But Rojava manages not only to
survive, but to deepen the construction of democratic autonomy, with its
difficulties but also with self-criticism to evaluate and continue to improve.
Undoubtedly there are contradictions and shortcomings which, for those who want
to outrage this difficult process of social transformation, will be useful
reasons for doing so. For me, the things I have seen and learned here affect the
way I see things. In part for everything I've learned here, partly due to the
emotional and experiential ties that are created with these lands and the people
who inhabit them. It is therefore not a question of a neutral, objective, sterile
aspect. It is the gaze of those who, seeking to learn and understand in a
perspective of critical solidarity, take sides in the conflict.

Those of us who embark on this journey to experience the revolution from within
often find inspiration and parallels with the 1936 revolution, which also began
on July 19th. I remember with a certain nostalgia the debates with my friend
Joan, who was reading "Tribute to Catalonia" in the first months of our arrival,
when we found ourselves in our daily life with situations similar to those
described by Orwell in her book. This has led us to think that similar dynamics
tend to occur in revolutionary processes, and this probably is the case. Frantz
Fanon quotes in his book "The wretched of the Earth" the well-known quote "The
last must be the first", to summarize the decolonization process. I imagine this
phrase can be applied to all oppressed and marginalized movements that aspire to
a revolution. It is in these processes of empowerment, when those on the fringes
of society struggle for their rightful place in it, that dynamics and processes
develop that repeat themselves, resonating over and over throughout history.

Internationalism in the 21st century and the echo of the international brigades

When I first set foot in Rojava a little over 5 years ago, the time of the YPG as
popular militias - of neighbors holding Kalashnikovs, defending their homes and
lands - was slowly fading. The so-called International Coalition Against ISIS,
led by the United States, not only led to the contradiction of collaboration with
the world's leading imperialist power, but also led to the reorganization of
these militias into what have been called the Syrian Democratic Forces. This
military restructuring, which served to expand the number of combatants, to
improve their weapons and their legitimacy, bears some reminiscences of what
happened with the popular militias of the

1936, in our case at the request of Soviet influence.

But in Rojava there is no KomIntern to pull the strings, which coordinates the
transfer of tens of thousands of militants from Paris. There is no 3rd
international, with dozens of affiliated socialist parties, and with the ability
to send arms and entire brigades ready to fight. Those of us who travel to Rojava
do so mostly individually, sometimes in small groups, leaving our homes behind to
join the revolution. Our numbers are far from the tens of thousands who, almost a
century ago, went to Spain to fight fascism. But this does not prevent us from
studying and drawing parallels between what the war in Spain meant then and what
the war in Syria, and in particular Rojava, means today.

In 2017, the SDF, in a joint effort between the Kurdish people and the Arab
people, proved their effectiveness by freeing Manbij and then Raqqa, the de facto
capital of the Islamic State in Syria. The war forged alliances that allowed the
hitherto predominantly Kurdish autonomous administration to expand beyond its
traditional areas of influence. This strategic turning point took place in
harmony with the internationalist paradigm of the movement, trying to unite
democratic forces beyond national identities, working with different peoples in a
common democratic project for Syria and the Middle East. More important than
welcoming those of us who, proclaiming ourselves internationalists, travel from
Europe or America to Kurdistan, this

We "Westerners" find ourselves with great contradictions when it comes to
understanding the complex inter-ethnic dynamics in the Middle East. Just a
century ago, European colonialism exploited this great diversity to its
advantage, instigating conflicts and wars between different groups that allowed
it to establish its colonial hegemony. Therefore, we carry this additional
responsibility, as part of the wealth and privileges we have is the legacy of
colonization and exploitation of the peoples who, now, teach us what it means to
make a revolution. And I must say, not without a little embarrassment, that
people here have no grudges against us. On the contrary, they welcome us with
open arms and patiently show us what they are building, hoping that this
experience will help us expand their revolution (which is also ours) beyond their
lands. We bring the revolution into our homes.

Although later, when we go home and try to apply what we have learned, we soon
realize that it will not be an easy task. That the Rojava revolution is the
result of a long list of factors, the most notable of which are the previous
decades of work to build a broad revolutionary movement. When the comrades
question us about the revolutionary organizations in our lands, it is not easy to
answer. I have often found myself evasively dodging the question, talking about
how difficult it is to live in capitalist modernity, the individualism that
prevails in the West, the opportunism and lack of commitment of those who call
themselves militants or activists. After years of providing these kinds of
answers, I am beginning to think that, in fact, they are just excuses and that the

But while this knowledge and reflections flooded me with the illusion and
fascination of being part of a winning revolution - breaking the terror of the
Islamic State - a new war has given way to a new phase. The Turkish state, an
important ally and supporter of Daesh, could not tolerate the revolutionary
project taking complete control of the border, and in January 2018 it began the
first direct aggression of the Turkish state against Rojava. The invasion of Afrin.

A new war, a new era

The SDF, accustomed in those times to the war against Daesh, suddenly find
themselves faced with an enemy who has the entire NATO arsenal at his service.
Turkish warplanes tirelessly bombard defensive positions, drones armed with
thermal vision and guided missiles "neutralize" from kilometers above any element
that could oppose their advance. War changes and resistance against the enemy
must also change. Turkish planes had never bombed Rojava with such intensity
before, but this was not a new war for the Kurdish people, as it is a war that
has been fought in the mountains of Kurdistan for more than four decades. For the
guerrillas of the liberation movement, who defend the peaks of the Zagros-Tauros
mountain range, the Turkish F-16s are their daily bread. Unfortunately,

Not only do military personnel suffer the consequences of war, it is the civilian
population who lose their homes when, once again, they see war knocking on their
doors. I remember the story Fatma told me in Ashrafia, a neighborhood on the
outskirts of the city of Afrin. Fatma had arrived in the city a few weeks
earlier, sharing a small semi-built apartment with 2 other families who, like
her, had to flee the Turkish bombs. In Arabic still incomprehensible to me, I was
told a wandering epic of over five years of exodus.

Fatma was born and raised in Aleppo. When the so-called Arab Spring began in
2011, she joined the protests in hopes of a better future. With the escalation of
the military conflict, the constant bombardment of the Syrian air force led her
to take refuge in the nearby city of Manbij, as anti-regime movements had taken
control of the city since 2012. Unfortunately, she was unable to spend much time
there, because in 2014 the advance of the barbarism of the Islamic State led her
once again to seek refuge in other lands. This is how she and her 3 daughters and
2 sons arrived in the Bilbile region, a town north of Afrin. A little over 3
years later, Turkish planes began bombing the area around her house and she had
to flee again, seeking refuge in the city of Afrin. At that time the city was
besieged by the advance of Islamist groups supported by Turkey. After an epic
two-month resistance, the city of Afrin had to be evacuated, leaving more than 1
million people homeless. New refugee camps, built hastily and with almost no
international support, become the makeshift home for thousands of families
fleeing the war front, including that of Fatma.

Seeing the bombing in Afrin, witnessing the city besieged by enemy bombs, made me
remember the stories my grandmother had told me when, as a child, it was our city
that was under the bombings. Stories of how her father, my
great-great-grandfather, hid her with her mother, sisters and brothers between
two mattresses, hoping that if the bombs fell nearby, those worn-out mattresses
could do some kind of miracle. When I listened to it, I didn't understand what a
couple of woolen mattresses could do in the face of bombs or the collapse of the
building, but it was in Afrin that I was able to make sense of that story. When
the bombs fall you can only feel helplessness, anguish, fear that one of them
will fall too close. One way to combat this overwhelming sense of helplessness is
to find something useful to do; you feel that, despite the circumstances, there
is still a glimmer of action in your existence. Seeking shelter under a table,
protecting loved ones between two mattresses, taking the camera and recording in
a random direction are ways to feel that you have some control over the
situation, that you exist, and that there are things you can do besides drowning.
panic and uncertainty.

When the exception becomes the norm

Less than two years after the occupation of Afrin, the Turkish army and other
Islamist groups attacked again. The cities of Serekaniye and Gire Spi were at the
center of the second invasion, as were the surrounding towns and villages. Til
Temir and Ain Issa also ended up a few kilometers from the front, suffering the
heavy consequences of Erdogan's ambitious war. The people of Rojava, still in
shock at the loss of Afrin, had to accept a new military defeat; together with
the heartbreaking reality of thousands of families who, once again, flocked to
refugee camps after losing their homes. The war against Daesh, despite the hard
and bloody effort it involved, had been a source of hope for building a better
world. But this war was different and it was not easy to find hope in the face of
the "Goliath" of gleaming fighter jets and stealthy armed drones. That anxiety
was also felt in society, which, together with the pains of poverty and scarcity
caused by the economic embargo, made the daily life of an exhausted population
difficult after almost 10 years of war.

There have been important social advances, but also important challenges with
which we continue to struggle today. The school in Kurdish, the neighborhood
communes, the YPG / YPJ flags in the squares and the security posts were no
longer a novelty. It was the new normality in the liberated territories, which
after years of activity no longer generated the illusion that evoked the first
days of the revolution. Spontaneous demonstrations celebrating the revolution
were becoming less frequent. Co-operatives have not turned out to be magical
institutions capable of miraculously solving economic problems, but simply spaces
for work and horizontal production that require effort to function. The popular
justice councils have not put an end to crimes and robberies, but they contribute
to building, in the hands of the community, a model, less punitive and more
restorative. The victory against the Islamic State did not mean the end of
fanatical hatred and Salafist attacks, but it greatly reduced them after
defeating it on the battlefield, preventing theocratic fascism from establishing
itself as a hegemonic force. The consolidation of popular and democratic
institutions, with recognition and legitimacy both for those living in north-east
Syria and for some external forces, has made it possible, among other things, to
admirably welcome and integrate thousands of internally displaced persons. And we
are not only talking about those who had lost their homes in the war against
Daesh or in the territories occupied by Turkey, but also of families who were in
other regions of Syria, territories under the

The progress achieved must be carefully defended, as the enemies of the
revolution have their own plans. Turkey has for years resettled its mercenaries
in the occupied territories, hosting various Islamist groups, including Daesh
commanders. Several Islamist groups continue to organize attacks and, although
their plans are often thwarted, they are not always stopped in time. Just six
months ago, in January 2022, large-scale fighting returned to the city of Haseke,
when hundreds of former Daesh fighters revolted in the prison. Some managed to
escape from the building and for several days wreaked havoc around the prison.
The war against Turkey is still latent and the fronts around the occupied
territories, although immobile, are active. A "low intensity" war continues, with
continuous mortar fire and punctual drone attacks on specific targets. These
conflicts come to life regularly, especially from drones seeking to take out
commanders and other key militants, in their attempts to destabilize chains of
command in preparation for the new invasion to come.

I remember with a certain amalgam of regret and relief when, visiting some
neighboring families, families who had helped me to learn their language and to
better understand how the first years of the revolution were, they referred to me
for the first time their criticisms of the situation. Perhaps it was because of
the trust and friendship forged over time, perhaps because I am from other lands
after all, but critical comments on some of the movement's decisions were shared
over a cup of tea. Those conversations unfolded with a strange mix of frustration
and shame, anger and helplessness. Families who had opened their homes since the
early days of the movement, who had been a key part of the clandestine
insurrection in the most difficult moments, complained of the hardships they were
going through. Right.

At first I was surprised, because it is not common for families to be critical of
the movement and less of internationals. But constructive criticism is healthy
and necessary, and a revolution that does not build a critical people does not
deserve to be called a Revolution. It is good to see that families, the common
people who support this society, know they have the right to criticize and hold
the militants accountable, because in the end they must be accountable to the
people they aspire to liberate. And sometimes it is also our responsibility as
internationalist revolutionaries to inspire trust, take up those criticisms,
reflect on them and work to be part of the solution, not the problem. Those of us
who come from abroad may find it easy to instill hope, because when someone who
comes from afar,

This respect stems from the responsibility to help identify the enormous
difficulties that Rojava was facing, as well as the importance, now more than
ever, of resisting the enemy. It may be that the dream utopia has not been
erected with magnificence, rather it is taking root little by little, day after
day, with its progress, its defects and its contradictions. For those of us who
understand that revolution is a process and not an event, we must arm ourselves
with patience and continue to work to strengthen and expand this world that we
carry in our hearts.

Revolution despite everything

Sometimes I stop to think about what the 1936 revolution might have been if it
had taken another path. How would society have developed if Fascism had not won
the war, if it had not imposed its particular vision of National Catholicism with
blood and fire? Perhaps the revolution would have brought us disappointments,
insurmountable challenges and internal conflicts, but fortunately or
unfortunately there was no time to see it, we could not disenchant ourselves with
the revolution that could not exist. For those who then believed in a better
world, they had to see their dreams drowned in exile and in hiding. I can only
maintain my admiration for thousands of unnamed militants who continued to fight
after losing the war, both as a spot on the peninsula,

But the Rojava revolution has not been defeated, there is still hope in this
corner of the Middle East that has dared to challenge the established order. It
is not always easy and there are times when doubt, uncertainty, frustration,
exhaustion take their toll. There are not a few days that I get angry, that I
sadden, that I wake up disappointed, that I wonder what I am doing here. What
went through my head to decide to leave my life behind and come to this remote
and flat desert, a land of cold winters and hellish summers, with absurd
sandstorms and so far from the sea? But then there are days when it all makes
sense, when you appreciate everything you have learned and remember how hard it
is to try to build a new world. Days in which you admire the efforts of the
families around you to move forward, of comrades who work day and night to do
this job despite the difficulties, of the young people who grew up in the
revolution and who are the hope of a better future. And it is in these days that,
when you come home, they make you think that perhaps the right decision is to
stay in Rojava.

After 10 years, medium to long-term efforts are starting to bear fruit. Municipal
councils are strengthened in their territorial management. Agricultural
cooperatives are working at a good pace, road construction, energy distribution,
public lighting systems with solar panels. Several new hospitals provide health
services to the population and the first class of medical students from the
University of Rojava recently graduated, along with other students from different
disciplines such as sociology, agriculture or chemical engineering. Northeast
Syria is arguably the safest and most stable region in the country, with greater
democratic freedoms and cultural development. Whole cities like Kobane or Raqqa
were rebuilt after the war, and all this without the need to impose a centralized
state or government, but by promoting decentralization and community autonomy in
a federal project. The self-defense forces are respectful and disciplined,
without abusing authority over the population and keeping small Islamic State
groups at bay trying to destabilize the area. Inter-ethnic conflicts have been
significantly reduced and younger generations are educated in bilingual systems
that promote cultural diversity. But undoubtedly the biggest development is the
women's movement. Much has been written about this and it is not for me to say,
but it is without doubt the greatest social transformation imaginable. The impact
of the work done by the women's movement will affect not only Kurdistan, not just
Syria and not just the Middle East.

A new war on the horizon

As I write these lines, several Turkish army convoys have crossed the border in
recent weeks, publicly threatening to invade Rojava again. Elections will be held
in Turkey in less than a year, and Erdogan knows he is weak. Polls indicate that
the AKP will lose an absolute majority and a new invasion of Rojava is the only
card left to stay in power, once again attracting ultra-nationalist forces and
fueling Turkish fascism's dreams of territorial expansion. The agreements reached
at the last NATO summit in Madrid, where Sweden and Finland decided to
criminalize the Kurdish people in exchange for their entry into the military
alliance, are a further example of the complicity of the West with Erdogan's
authoritarianism. The question is no longer whether Erdogan will invade Rojava
again, but when he will. After nearly 2 years of relative military stability,
defensive preparations on both sides of the front have been strengthened like
never before. Networks of complex tunnels extend into the border areas of the
occupied territories, miles and miles of underground shelters to protect against
enemy bombing. It remains to be seen to what extent these preparations may or may
not change the course of the war. kilometers and kilometers of underground
shelters to protect themselves from enemy bombing. It remains to be seen to what
extent these preparations may or may not change the course of the war. kilometers
and kilometers of underground shelters to protect themselves from enemy bombing.
It remains to be seen to what extent these preparations may or may not change the
course of the war.

Diplomacy will also play an important role. Both Russia and the United States
have shown their rejection of Erdogan's threats, but with the war in Ukraine and
the contradictions between the two powers, agreements and negotiations could be
decisive for Rojava's survival. At stake is air supremacy, a key element of the
previous invasions, since the unruly Islamist groups that act as Erdogan's
infantry have nothing to do against the SDF if they do not have the support of
drones and fighter jets. It also remains to be seen what role the Syrian state
and even Iran will play, which with the support of Russia has managed to keep the
al-Assad government standing, a government that still aspires to regain control
of the areas liberated by the Kurdish movement.

Turkey has its eyes on Kobane, the spiritual capital of the revolution, as
Erdogan knows that taking control of the city that defeated Daesh would be a
great coup, necessary to regain the credibility it has lost in recent years. The
harsh resistance of the guerrillas in the mountains of Basur (Kurdistan in Iraq)
has repeatedly questioned the effectiveness of the military strategy of the
Turkish army, which in the absence of significant progress is increasingly
resorting to the use of illegal chemical weapons. The international community is
turning a deaf ear to these infringements, as confirmed after the invasion of
Serekaniye, where it was shown that Turkey used white phosphorus against the
civilian population and there was no retaliation. With this fairly complex
situation, SDF spokespersons have said on multiple occasions that if Turkey
attacks, the war will spread across the entire border. Although this threat was
launched before the last invasion without becoming effective, this time the
preparations and offensive capacity of the SDF allow us to imagine a different
scenario. Rojava cannot afford Turkey to occupy any more territory, much less if
that includes Kobane, so this time a desperate response of all-out war seems more
credible. this time the preparations and the offensive capacity of the SDF allow
us to imagine a different scenario. Rojava cannot afford Turkey to occupy any
more territory, much less if that includes Kobane, so this time a desperate
response of all-out war seems more credible. this time the preparations and the
offensive capacity of the SDF allow us to imagine a different scenario. Rojava
cannot afford Turkey to occupy any more territory, much less if that includes
Kobane, so this time a desperate response of all-out war seems more credible.

With this complex amalgam of actors, of cross interests, of antagonistic
political projects, it is very difficult to predict what the future holds. For us
who come from abroad, after having built bridges of internationalism for years,
now more than ever, solidarity must be the tenderness of the peoples. Slogans and
symbolic declarations of moral and abstract solidarity are no longer enough,
because if Rojava falls, hopes for a better future will fall with it.

The victory of fascism in Spain was followed by the Second World War, because we
know that fascism advances if it is not fought. Seeing the rise of the far right
in the West is not an impossible scenario to repeat, with the aggravating
circumstance that the revolutionary forces today are a shadow of what they were.
Rojava reminded us that revolution is not only possible but necessary, and that
it is in our hands to contribute to its development. Kurdistan, a nation excluded
from the national-state system, shows us how the problem can be the solution, and
how the construction of democratic autonomy can become an alternative to the
nation-state-model, patriarchal and capitalist by nature, which prevails in the
our company.

Rojava is an oasis in the desert, a practical experiment of revolutionary
transformation, an opportunity to learn and develop what the society of the
future can be. But for this to happen, we must ensure its existence, its survival
as a political and social organism. And the survival of Rojava is possible only
if it spreads, because the revolution is like water, which corrupts when it
stagnates. The revolution must flow, like a river, towards the sea of freedom.

1) The article, taken up in a tweet by Teko? Îna Anar? Ist, was translated from
the Spanish language starting from the text on the site
https://kaosenlared.net/reflexiones-y-contrapuntos-subjetivos-trasuna-decada
-de-revolucion-en-rojava /. We thank the author of the article and the authors of
the blog Kaosenlared.net
--
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Il Cantiere n. 10 Settembre 2022
Alternativa Libertaria/Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici
ilcantiere@autistici.org
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