Berxwedan Writings On The Kurdish Freedom Movement

For more than four decades, the Kurdistan Workers? Party (PKK) has taken on the Turkish state while fighting for an alternative to capitalism and national oppression. However, it has only been in the past few years when war threatened to fragment Iraq and Syria that the Party's ideology of democratic confederalism and women's liberation has come to international attention. Today, organisations across the four historic parts of Kurdistan advocate a solution to the region's problems based not on the nation-state, but on grassroots democracy and pluralism. ""Berxwedan: Writings on the Kurdish Freedom Movement"" looks at the events that occurred throughout 2018 in relation to this movement for radical change. These include Turkey's invasion of Syria and subsequent occupation of Afrin, the re-election of Recep Tayyip Erdogan through suppression of Kurdish voices, and the complicated and ever evolving relationship between the YPG and the United States.

The Revolution in Rojava captured the imagination of the Left sparking a worldwide interest in the Kurdish Freedom Movement. The Art of Freedom demonstrates that this explosive movement is firmly rooted in several decades of organized struggle. In 2018, one of the most important spokespersons for the struggle of Kurdish Freedom, Havin Guneser, held three groundbreaking seminars on the historical background and guiding ideology of the movement. Much to the chagrin of career academics, the theoretical foundation of the Kurdish Freedom Movement is far too fluid and dynamic to be neatly stuffed into an ivory-tower filing cabinet. A vital introduction to the Kurdish struggle, The Art of Freedom is the first English-language book to deliver a distillation of the ideas and sensibilities that gave rise to the most important political event of the twenty-first century. The book is broken into three sections: “Critique and Self-Critique: The rise of the Kurdish freedom movement from the rubbles of two world wars” provides an accessible explanation of the origins and theoretical foundation of the movement. “The Rebellion of the Oldest Colony: Jineology—the Science of Women” describes the undercurrents and nuance of the Kurdish women’s movement and how they have managed to create the most vibrant and successful feminist movement in the Middle East. “Democratic Confederalism and Democratic Nation: Defense of Society Against Societycide” deals with the attacks on the fabric of society and new concepts beyond national liberation to counter it. Centering on notions of “a shared homeland” and “a nation made up of nations,” these rousing ideas find deep international resonation. Havin Guneser has provided an expansive definition of freedom and democracy and a road map to help usher in a new era of struggle against capitalism, imperialism, and the State.

Kurds and their Struggle for Autonomy: Enduring Identity and Clientelism is a comprehensive study of the roots of Kurdish identity, the processes of identity formation among the Kurds, and the Kurds’ seemingly never-ending struggle for self-determination. By relying on a hybrid theoretical model of identity politics, this book offers a thorough treatment of the origins, characteristics, and evolution of Kurdish culture in general, and political culture in particular. It also examines the historical explanations and nuances of Kurdish struggles for some form of autonomy, assesses economic imperatives that shape the potentials and challenges of Kurdish social and political life, and offers a critical review of the contemporary Kurdish institutional and policy dynamics in Iraq and Syria.

This book provides an interpretive and critical analysis of Kurdish identity, nationalism and national movement in Turkey since the 1960s. By raising issues and questions relating to Kurdish political identity and highlighting the ideological specificity, diversity and the transformation of Kurdish nationalism, it develops a new empirical dimension to the study of the Kurds in Turkey. Cengiz Gunes applies an innovative theoretical approach to the analysis of an impressively large volume of primary sources and data drawn from books and magazines published by Kurdish activists, political parties and groups. The analysis focuses on the specific demands articulated by the Kurdish national movement and looks at Kurdish nationalism at a specific level by disaggregating the nationalist discourse, showing variations over time and across different Kurdish nationalist organisations. Situating contemporary Kurdish political identity and its political manifestations within a historical framework, the author examines the historical and structural conditions that gave rise to it and influenced its evolution since the 1960s. The analysis also encompasses an account of the organisational growth and evolution of the Kurdish national movement, including the political parties and groups that were active in the period. Bringing the study of the organisational development and growth of the Kurdish National Movement in Turkey up to date, this book will be an important reference for students and scholars of Middle Eastern politics, social movements, nationalism and conflict.

"e;Only free men can negotiate. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts... I cannot and will not give any undertaking at a time when I and you, the people, are not free. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated."e;-From a letter by Nelson Mandela during his imprisonment, February 10, 1985A revolutionary imprisoned on an island fortress may hold the key to peace in the Middle East. The leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Abdullah calan, is considered by many to be the "e;Kurdish Mandela"e;, courageously issuing proposals for peace even from his prison cell. His ideas on democracy, women's liberation, and freedom have even inspired the remarkable Rojava Revolution in northern Syria. As Turkey descended into tyranny and Syria exploded in civil war, a peace delegation of European politicians, academics, and journalists, led by Nelson Mandela's lawyer and Supreme Court judge Essa Moosa, repeatedly attempted to go to meet with calan at his prison on Imrali Island. Your Freedom and Mine tells the story of these momentous delegations. The book opens with an informative historical overview of the Kurdish Question, leading up until the optimistic opening-and eventual bitter failure-of the peace process in Turkey. It includes official documents and reports from the Imrali Delegations in Istanbul and Diyarbakir/Amed, which involved in-depth interviews with Kurdish and Turkish politicians, media, and civil society regarding the degenerating political and human rights situation. The final section is a collection of testimonials from delegation participants. Your Freedom and Mine offers crucial insight into the dramatic history and current reality of the Kurdish struggle for recognition and peace in Turkey.

From his solitary jail cell, Abdullah Ocalan has penned daring works that give profuse evidence of his position as one of the most significant thinkers of our day. His prison writings have mobilised tens of thousands of people and inspired a revolution in the making in northern Syria, while also penetrating the walls of academia triggering debate and reflection among countless scholars. So how do you engage in a meaningful dialogue with Abdullah Ocalan when he has been held in total isolation since April 2015? You compile a book of essays written by a diverse cast of luminaries, send it to Ocalan's jailers and hope that they deliver it to him.

The Cambridge History of the Kurds is an authoritative and comprehensive volume exploring the social, political and economic features, forces and evolution amongst the Kurds, and in the region known as Kurdistan, from the fifteenth to the twenty-first century. Written in a clear and accessible style by leading scholars in the field, the chapters survey key issues and themes vital to any understanding of the Kurds and Kurdistan including Kurdish language; Kurdish art, culture and literature; Kurdistan in the age of empires; political, social and religious movements in Kurdistan; and domestic political developments in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Other chapters on gender, diaspora, political economy, tribes, cinema and folklore offer fresh perspectives on the Kurds and Kurdistan as well as neatly meeting an exigent need in Middle Eastern studies. Situating contemporary developments taking place in Kurdish-majority regions within broader histories of the region, it forms a definitive survey of the history of the Kurds and Kurdistan.

The essential introduction to the writings of Abdullah Öcalan, founder of Democratic Confederalism