Revolution in Rojava

Michael Knapp, Historiker und Aktivist des Kurdistan-Solidaritätskomitees Berlin, forscht zu Modellen radikaler Demokratie und sozialen Bewegungen. Er ist aktiv in der Kampagne TATORT Kurdistan und bereisten in den vergangenen Jahren immer wieder Rojava und die anderen Teile Kurdistans.Ercan Ayboga ist Umweltingenieur und Ökoaktivist in der Initiative zur Rettung von Hasankeyf und den Netzwerken "Water Right" und "Ekopotamya". Er ist aktiv in der Kampagne TATORT Kurdistan und bereisten in den vergangenen Jahren immer wieder Rojava und die anderen Teile Kurdistans.Anja Flach, Ethnologin, ist Mitglied des Frauenrates Rojbîn Hamburg. Sie ist aktiv in der Kampagne TATORT Kurdistan und bereisten in den vergangenen Jahren immer wieder Rojava und die anderen Teile Kurdistans.

A new kind of society is being built in Syria, but it's not one you would expect. Surrounded by deadly bands of ISIS and hostile Turkish forces, the people living in Syria's Rojava cantons are carving out one of the most radically progressive societies on the planet today. Western visitors have been astounded by the success of their project, a communally organised democracy which considers women's equality indispensable and rejects reactionary nationalist ideology whilst being fiercely anti-capitalist. The people of Rojava call their new system democratic confederalism. An implementation of the recent ideology of the imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, it boasts gender quotas of 40 percent, bottom-up democratic structures, deep-reaching ecological policies and a militancy which is keeping ISIS from the gates. Revolution in Rojava is the first full-length study of this ongoing social and political transformation in Syrian Kurdistan. Its authors use their own experiences of working and fighting in the region to construct a picture of hope for Middle-Eastern politics and society, and reveal an extraordinary story of a battle against the odds.

List of FiguresTranslator¿s NoteForeword by David GraeberIntroductionPrologue: On the Road to Til Koçer1. Background2. Rojaväs Diverse Cultures3. Democratic Confederalism4. The Liberation5. A Womens' Revolution6. Democratic Autonomy in Rojava7. Civil Society Associations8. Defense: The Theory of the Rose9. The New Justice System10. The Democratization of Education11. Health Care12. The Social Economy13. Ecological Challenges14. Neighbors15. ProspectsAfterword: The Philosophy of Democratic Autonomy by Asya AbdullahGlossaryAbout the AuthorsIndex