The political settlement in the middle east following the demise. Democratic confederalism freedom for abdullah ocalan. Get an answer for please elaborate on federalism vs confederalism. Democratic confederalism, as defined by abdullah ocalan is the ethical, political, and administrative expression of society as a historical and. The kurdishled project of democratic confederalism in rojava.
It allowed for local organization without necessarily challenging the states structure. Democratic confederalism in kurdistan corporate watch. I was quite astonished as i didnt find one single post about confederalism here. Abdullah ocalan is the founder of the kurdistan workers party pkk. Jun 22, 2015 under democratic confederalism, society is organised as a decentralised confederation of directly democratic and facetoface citizens assemblies in which decision making is based around constructive debate and the majority vote, and which take place at the level of municipalities, districts, communities, streets, or wherever an organic. Toggle navigation international initiative edition. The philosophy of democratic confederalism may well offer insights into the solution of many of the problems currently dogging western democracies and indeed, into the pressing problem of political governance of the globalised economy. For democratic confederalism to begin tangibly manifesting itself at the levels of our local communities, requires only that local assemblies are organised according to the principles of mass direct democracy, that they create a vibrant and participatory political life, and that these assemblies talk to others in different municipalities. Democratic confederalism democratic nation war and. For me, it seems like it is the central core of anarchist political thought. Wheres the revolution in democratic confederalisms ecology. The new concept concentrated on defending and strengthening local societies.
Apr 28, 2009 confederalism, in fact, does not mark a closure of social history as the end of history ideologists of recent years would have us believe about liberal capitalism but rather the point of departure for a new ecosocial history marked by a participatory evolution within society and between society and the natural world. Pierrejoseph proudhon 18091865 wrote a lot about federation and confederation with regards to canada, switzerland and europe. At the same time, democratic confederalism is the cultural organizational blueprint of a democratic nation. Kept in almost total isolation after 1999, when he was captured in a combined greecekenyaturkeycia operation, ocalan did a lot of reading. The main principles of democratic confederalism komun academy. Creating a chart of how democratic confederalism works in.
The media ceaselessly informs us about their brutal executions of western journalists and humanitarians, crimes against the population who do not accept their religious fundamentalism and their. The nationstate, the kurds, and international law legal background of autonomy arrangements in turkey from historical perspectives unpacking the democratic confederalism and democratic autonomy. Democratic confederalism is a nonstate social paradigm. What is the difference between federalism and confederalism. It is an attempt at permanent social revolution, as is reflected in every facet of the social structure. The difference between democratic confederalism and previous experiments with grassroots democracy is that its evolutionary pattern aims to include heterogeneous local communities living in the. Democratic confederalism, the rojava revolution and the. Sharzad mojab graduand andrea novellis matriculation number 855516 academic year 2015 2016. Apr 25, 2016 democratic confederalism is the contrasting paradigm of the oppressed people. Democratic confederalism is based on grassroots participation. Democratic confederalism is therefore a form of popular self administration that is strategically based on the fundamental recognition, incorporation, and articulation of cultural and social diversity and difference at all levels. On 23 october 2017, the centre for kurdish progress put on a joint forum in parliament with the peace in kurdistan campaign group on democratic confederalism, the alternative political model of jailed kurdistan workers party pkk leader abdullah ocalan.
Only in the regions close to the borders, which are under the control of the pkk guerrillas, is democratic confederalism discussed openly and deeply. The ideology uniting the different civil and revolutionary groups in the kck is called democratic confederalism and is based on the ideas of the us anarchist murray bookchin, who argued in favor of a nonhierarchical society based on social ecology, libertarian municipalism and direct democracy. The people of rojava call their new system democratic confederalism. When ocalan first proposed the concept of democratic confederalism it was in the context of strong nationstates. As a member of the kurdistan communities union kck, it is seen as the iraqi kurdish branch of the kurdistan workers party pkk. The federal government is granted specific powers by the u. Abdullah ocalan, democratic confederalism and the politics of. Democratic confederalism is therefore a form of popular selfadministration that is strategically based on the fundamental recognition, incorporation, and. Their common meaning until the late eighteenth century was a simple league or intergovernmental relationship among sovereign states based upon a treaty.
He describes it as open towards other political groups and factions and as flexible, multicultural, antimonopolistic, and consensusoriented. Check that the correct path to the file is specified. Constitution, and any powers not granted to the federal government within the constitution are granted to the states. The states retain some level of independence but are still subject to the governance of the federal government. Democratic confederalism abdullah ocalan download bok. Rafael taylor writes, the pkk itself has apparently taken after their leader, not only adopting bookchins specific brand of ecoanarchism, but. He said that democratic confederalism is an alternative to this and that it should inspire resistance in the capitalist core as well as the middle east, where it provides a roadmap for peace and a genuine selfdetermination that extends beyond the traditional nation state. The geopolitics of democratic confederalism in syria. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. The terms federalism and confederalism both have a root in the latin word foedus, meaning treaty, pact or covenant.
At the turn of the century, as the lifelong us radical murray bookchin gave up on trying to revitalize the contemporary anarchist movement under his philosophy of social ecology, pkk founder and leader abdullah ocalan was arrested in kenya by turkish authorities and sentenced to death for treason. The event was kindly hosted by kate osamor mp, who sent her apologies for not being able to attend, and chaired by journalist steve. Kurdistan democratic confederalists anarchy in action. Ocalan has been highly critical not only of capitalism but. May 09, 2015 democratic confederalism and the arab spring. Historic announcement of the formation of the new federal democratic union of rojavanorthern syria by the founders council on 17 th march 2016. At the same time, democratic confederalism is the cultural organisational blueprint of a democratic nation. The kurdistan democratic solution party or pcdk kurdish. As such democratic confederalism is the political cell of democratic modernity or democratic civilization, which, according to ocalan, is the new postcapitalist.
Confederalism, democratic confederalism and rojava the. From 1984, under his leadership, the pkk fought for kurdish liberation. The meaning of confederalism the anarchist library. It feels like a knockoff of social ecology or democratic confederalism with its own flair to it, but it seems. The right of selfdetermination of the peo ples includes. Pkk, democratic confederalism, and nonsense juraj katalenac we hear about the threat of islamic state also known as isis or isil every day.
In abdullah ocalans political thought democratic confederalism is the organizational administrative blueprint of democratic nation, which is the antithesis of the nation state. Democratic confederalism is a form of selfmanagement and thus stands in contrast to the model of the state. Democratic confederalism and societal multiplicity taylor. In this film, i wanted to describe briefly the idea of the democratic confederalism. Mehmet believed that the syrian kurdish model, called democratic confederalism, with its emphasis on an educated and ecologically selfconscious society employing direct democracy. Confederalism or democratic confederalism is one of them. Zaher baher confederalism, democratic confederalism and rojava february 20, 2018. Request pdf on jan 1, 20, jongerden joost and others published democratic confederalism as a kurdish spring. Confederalism, democratic confederalism and rojava.
Feb 20, 2018 confederalism, democratic confederalism and rojava by zaher baher feb 2018 many religions and ideologies from left to the right have tried to tackle class issues and other societal problems, but none of them has been able to resolve these problems, rather most of them have made the situation even worse. Rather, we believed, it was a question of democracy and revolution. Since his kidnapping and arrest in 1999, he has been in solitary confinement in imrali island prison. Unpacking the democratic confederalism and democratic. Democratic confederalism the kurdish movement in turkey supervisor ch.
The idea of federation and confederation dates back several centuries. Please find all the latest developments and up to date statements on democratic confederalism and rojava collated below. So democratic confederalism is discussed very only in a very limited way by intellectuals, the media, or the population and is not yet a big subject. This article explains the definition of confederalism by murray bookchin and the concept of the democratic confederalism by abdulla ocalan. Democratic confederalism isbn 9783942961189 pdf epub. Democratic confederalism and the palestinian experience. So maybe what you want to compare is libertarian municipalism and democratic confederalism. The right of selfdetermination of the peo ples includes the. I wanted to show that it works in rojava northern syria and that irani. In framing the models of democratic confederalism and democratic autonomy, ocalan was inspired by many radical thinkers but perhaps to a greater extent by murray bookchin and his work on social ecology, libertarian municipalism and communalism. Vice news interview with salih muslim 15th march 2016. What is the difference between democratic confederalism and. An implementation of the recent ideology of the imprisoned kurdish leader abdullah ocalan, it boasts gender quotas of 40 percent, bottomup democratic structures, deepreaching ecological policies and a militancy which is keeping isis from the gates. With the military defeat of the selfproclaimed islamic state is at raqqa, its defacto capital in syria.
In the years that followed, the elderly anarchist gained. Confederalism, democratic confederalism and rojava by zaher baher feb 2018 many religions and ideologies from left to the right have tried to tackle class issues and other societal problems, but none of them has been able to resolve these problems, rather most of them have made the situation even worse. Revolution in rojava tells the story of rojavas groundbreaking experiment in what they call democratic confederalism, a communally organized democracy that is fiercely anticapitalist and committed to female equality, while rejecting reactionary nationalist ideologies. Democratic confederalism stateless democracy explained. Democratic confederalism, also known as democratic federalism or apoism, is a libertarian socialist political system developed by abdullah ocalan based on the ideas of murray bookchin. Ive been trying to make a chart of how democratic confederalism works and have a general idea of how the assembliescouncils work but am having problems placing the syrian democratic council and executive council. What is the difference between democratic confederalism. Jun 10, 2017 in this film, i wanted to describe briefly the idea of the democratic confederalism. Democratic confederalism is the contrasting paradigm of the oppressed people. The pkk never regarded the kurdish question as a mere problem of eth nicity or nationhood. The main difference shes noted is that the emphasis that libertarian municipalism places on minimizing the importance of hierarchical systems has been replaced in democratic confederalism by an emphasis.
Confederalism, democratic confederalism and rojava libcom. Democratic confederalism is the basic political format of. He was particularly influenced by anarchist theorist murray bookchin, world systems theorists immanuel wallerstein and fernand braudel, and theorist of nationalism benedict anderson. The political system in rojava gave unprecedented democratic opportunities to women, religious and ethnic minorities, and all other previously excluded compo.