Lessons from Rojava for the Paradigm of Social Ecology

The theory, practice, and challenges of the feminist, anticapitalist Rojava revolution.

More than a decade has passed since the revolutionary process began in Rojava, later evolving into the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES). Guided by Abdullah Öcalan’s theory of Democratic Confederalism, a philosophical and political project aimed at building an ecological, nonhierarchical society, the people of Rojava aim to construct alternative, directly democratic institutions capable of transcending the capitalist nation-state.

Rojava in Focus advances a discussion about the revolution within the framework of Democratic Confederalism, assessing the achievements, contradictions, and various shortcomings. The book follows the experience of the revolutionary movement that animates the DAANES, highlighting its achievements as well as the significant obstacles it has encountered. Rojava in Focus grapples with the gap between aspirations and reality, aiming to bridge this gap through constructive criticism.

Essays by activists associated with the Kurdish Freedom Movement and sympathetic critics expand our understanding of the vast changes taking place in the region, the challenges ahead, and connections to other movements around the globe. As well, they point to where the movement may head next.

Contributors include Azize Aslan, Debbie Bookchin, Kamal Chomani, Matt Broomfield, Sixtine van Outryve d’Ydewalle, and Anna Rebrii and Berivan Omar, among others. The book is completed by interviews with members of the Rojava leadership, such as Foza Yusif,  Îlham Ehmed, Salih Muslim, and activists of the DAANES.

Cihad Hammy was born in Kobani/Rojava. He studies British and American Studies at the University of Hamburg. Hammy has written various articles on the Kurdish Freedom Movement.

Thomas Jeffrey Miley teaches at the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on struggles for self-determination in the twenty-first century. He is co-editor, with Federico Venturini, of Your Freedom and Mine: Abdullah Öcalan and the Kurdish Question in Erdogan’s Turkey and author of Self-Determination Struggles: In Pursuit of the Democratic Confederalist Ideal.

John Holloway writes on forms of anticapitalist struggle. He is the author of Change the World without Taking Power, Crack Capitalism, and Hope in Hopeless Times.