Towards Stateless Democracy — English Edition

Posted on 17.03.2015 by Petros — 11 Comments

So, click the picture and enjoy the ebook!

„Democracy only there grows, where there is a
popular need of the masses.
It emerges as the reaction against the voracity of State, as a necessary defense of the grass-root institutions, self-organized economical and cultural interests of the people against bureaucracy.”
Edward Abramowski

We weren’t able to go to Kobane, to bring you firsthand stories from the   front.   We   could   only   tell   you   the   story   of   the   siege,   based   on relations of others, using our knowledge and analytical skills. Today, when Kobane is free and ISIS in retreat, it is about time for you to learn how   come   that   Rojava   Autonomy   emerged,   what   are   its   roots
and what ideology grows out of them. It is important, as the ideals of Rojava   –   ideals   of   the   whole   humanity   –   were   the   reason   for   the defenders of Kobane to be so tough and invincible.
It   started   from   the videoclips   on Youtube,   showing   girls with guns. Then stories about the heroic battles with ISIS. They brought a lot of emotions, but also questions: what is behind them, what drives them?
Then we learned not only that 40% of Rojava armed forces are female warriors. We learned about totally separate female army – YPJ. About mandatory   copresidence   on   every   level   (except   for   female organizations). How could it be possible in the region which – in the eyes of the Europeans – is a stronghold of patriarchy? What is that famous Democratic Confederalism which made Rojava possible? What marvelous visions are needed to transgress “the one and the only”
reality of the patriarchal, capitalist nation-state? We discussed it a lot within FreeLab and outside and we decided to publish a selection of texts to help our Readers to understand Rojava better – and also to look around them in a new way.
We   decided   to   bring   the   ideals   of   Rojava   closer   to   the   European reader. To show how the Kurdish resistance movement emerged. How it transformed from a typical marxist guerilla to the standard of quite new ideals – ideals of a cooperative society. And how – out of this very movement   –   the   Revolution   of   Women   bloomed,   effectively   creating Rojava Autonomy.
We   also   try   to   show   how   the   thoughts   of   Murray   Bookchin,   who created and developed the libertarian municipalism movement, found practical   implementations   in   the   mountains   of   Kurdistan.   Obvious thought is also that it can be implemented in Poland and Europe even more   easily.   That   is   why   we   asked   dr   Krzysztof   Nawratek   to   show Rojava in the context of current European political thinking.
We believe deeply that democratic confederalism, as it is implemented in   Rojava,   is   important   for   the   whole   Europe.   It   is   an   important example of implementation of a just, selfgoverning political system in an extremely hostile surrounding. American societies have their own example of this kind – EZLN “benevolent junta” in Chiapas, Mexico.
We,   in   Europe,   we   have   Rojava   and   their   struggle   for   democratic confederalism.
If we manage to trigger a discussion on it and to bring it closer to the popular perception, our mission will be accomplished.

When we published first Polish selection of articles about Rojava, I received several requests to provide English edition as well.It was not really a big work — only one article was originally written in Polish — but really a great pleasure.
That was a bit of a challenge, however, as we have no native speaker to do the proof reading for us, but I count on your help and friendly criticism. Please report all mistakes here and we shall correct them in the next version.

Enjoy!