Freedom Shall Prevail is the first graphic novel exploring
the life and struggle of Abdullah Öcalan, affectionately known as “Apo.”
Highly regarded around the world, Öcalan led the
Kurdish freedom struggle as the head of the PKK from its foundation in
1978 until his abduction by the Turkish state in 1999. He has, so far,
spent twenty-five years in captivity. In this graphic novel we learn, in
his own words, what Öcalan’s childhood was like in the partially
Kurdish areas of Eastern Turkey and how his political awareness and
commitment grew as a student in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Through
the personal struggle of Öcalan we also see the terrible devastation
that Kurdish people have suffered and learn about the tumultuous and
dramatic history of the relationship between the Kurds and the Turkish
state.
The book also dives into the theories developed by Öcalan
that continue to influence the ongoing struggle today. Expanding on
these, the second part of the book gives us a wider consideration of the
issues and policies around women's freedom, democratic confederalism
and paints an inspiring picture of one of the most impressive attempts
to build a genuinely grassroots democratic system anywhere in the world.
The struggle going on in the Autonomous Administration of North and
East Syria, also known as Rojava, is one that is directly combating
gender and racial discrimination and the abuses of the capitalist
economic system—in truly interconnected ways.
This wonderfully
illustrated graphic novel is a collaboration between award-winning
Scottish writer Sean Michael Wilson and Kurdish artist Keko, with
backing and research help from Peace in Kurdistan Campaign and the
International Initiative “Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan—Peace in
Kurdistan,” groups with long term and impassioned commitment to the
cause of Öcalan and the Kurdish people’s freedom.
Sean Michael Wilson is an award-winning graphic
novelist from Scotland living in Japan. His more than forty books cover
themes of history, politics, and social issues, including:
Parecomic (on participatory economics, with Michael Albert, introduction by Noam Chomsky),
Fight the Power! A Visual History of Protest;
Portraits of Violence: Ten Theorists on State Violence (with Brad Evans),
Such, Such Were the Joys, the childhood autobiography of George Orwell;
The Many Not the Few; and
The Faceless Ghost, which was nominated for an Eisner Award. His book
Secrets of the Ninja won an International Manga Award. More of his work can be found at seanmichaelwilson.weebly.com.
Keko is a Kurdish graphic artist living in Spain. Freedom Shall Prevail is his first graphic novel.
