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The Revolution against the Odds: an Interview on Rojava with Anya Rebrii and Liza Shishko (Part II: Survival against the Odds)

If Part I of this interview dealt with the complexities of the revolutionary process taking place in Rojava, here, Anya Rebrii and Liza Shishko discuss the autonomous region’s geopolitical precarity. Remember Rojava? There was a time not long ago, when not only leftist outlets but mainstream media, too, were offering extensive coverage of this most […]

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“They have the technology, they have the weapons, they have the money, they have everything. What do we have? We have solidarity!” Lessons from the Rojava Revolution

An interview with a representative from the Academy of Democratic Modernity by Stoyo Tetevenski, LevFem What is the Academy of Democratic Modernity? The perspective of Democratic Modernity is coming from the Kurdish movement as an alternative system to Capitalist Modernity. It was developed by Abdullah Öcalan. The aim of the Academy of Democratic Modernity is […]

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The Threat to Rojava: An Anarchist in Syria Speaks on the Real Meaning of Trump’s Withdrawal

This article was originally published in CrimetheInc. on Dec. 28, 2018. Following Donald Trump’s surprise announcement that he is withdrawing US troops from Syria, we’ve received the following message from an anarchist in Rojava, spelling out what this means for the region and what the stakes are on a global scale. For background, consult our […]

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A Disharmony of Powers: Five more years of Erdoğan?

This article originally appeared on N+1mag and was penned by an anonymous author. SUAVE AND SYMPATHETIC, Beyazıt Öztürk is known for making even his most troublesome guests feel at home. The veteran comedian was in the middle of his call-in talk show, the most popular program on Turkish TV, when he received an unexpected call. […]

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The Wounds of Afrin, the Promise of Rojava: an Interview with Nazan Üstündağ

LeftEast interviewed sociologist and feminist Nazan Üstündağ on Afrin, Rojava and the social stakes of the resistance to Turkey’s current military intervention. First, we’d like to thank you for agreeing to this interview. These days, when the Turkish propaganda machine has gone into overdrive, and any voice for peace inside the country is automatically branded […]

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DECLARATION: In the face of nationalist consensus and militaristic unreason, we condemn Erdogan’s war on Afrin!

This declaration by Sosyalist demokrasi icin Yeniyol, the Turkish branch of the Fourth International, was first published in International Viewpoint. After weeks of moral preparation, diplomatic pressure and massive disinformation, the Turkish state has finally attacked the predominantly Kurdish enclave of Afrin, located in north-western Syria. Skilfully playing on the cleavages between Washington and Moscow, […]

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Afrin Will Not Be Alone! (excerpts from the Call for Solidarity by the Democratic Administration of Rojava)

Note from LeftEast: In the last few days, the Turkish government and mainstream media, which has been brought in line by journalist arrests (at least 122 in prison so far, another 520 being tried) and other, less visible forms of pressure, have gone into war frenzy. What three years ago they used to neutrally call […]

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Power to the People: Rojava, anarchism and Murray Bookchin

Note from the LeftEast editors: This article by Carne Ross was originally published in the Financial Times on 23 October 2015.  Perhaps the last place you would expect to find a thriving experiment in direct democracy is Syria. But something radical is happening, little noticed, in the eastern reaches of that fractured country, in the isolated region […]