Largest co-operative opens in Cizirê canton

QAMIŞLO – The economic activities of the Cizire canton continue with the opening of the largest cooperative. The United People’s Cooperative (Birleşik Halk Kooperatifi), for which 3 thousand people have registered so far, will oversee the distribution of all kinds of basic necessities from food to clothing, homeware to vegetables and fruits. The cooperative, based

The functions of the co-operative

Within our current predicament it is possible to resist and fight back against monopolies with the cooperatives. In their absence, it is not possible for producers to maintain their existence, or cope with their ongoing problems. We should evaluate the producers’ cooperatives as the sole, tested method to defend small landowners and landless peasants against

Ownership and equality in northern Syria

Ownership in a warzone is complicated idea. This is especially true in northern Syria, where internal conflict has escalated to mass movement of people, border disputes and international military involvement. But the Rojava region, on the border with Turkey, is taking ownership of its own situation, through co-operating to establish a society based on the

Rojava – the formation of an economic alternative: Private property in the service of all

The revolution in Rojava (West Kurdistan/ North Syria), which started in Kobanî (Ain al-Arab) and spread like wildfire through Afrîn, Dêrik (Al-Malikiya), Qamişlo (Al-Qamishli), Amûdê and Serê Kaniyê (Ras al-Ayn) – the regions lying on the Turkish-Syrian border – has launched an alternative development in all aspects of society. Inspired by the model of democratic

Personal Account of Rojava

In light of what has happened and what is going to be it seems to me that the time has come for an assessment of the state of affairs in Rojava. Doubtless it will be highly subjective and based on individual experience, still I hope it to be of some help for people within the

Building Autonomy in Turkey and Kurdistan: an Interview with Revolutionary Anarchist Action

Below is the transcript of our interview with three members of the anarchist group Devrimci Anarşist Faaliyet (DAF, or Revolutionary Anarchist Action) in Istanbul during May 2015. DAF are involved in solidarity with the Kurdish struggle, the Rojava revolution and against ISIS’ attack on Kobane, and have taken action against Turkish state repression and corporate

Bookchin, Öcalan, and the Dialectics of Democracy

When Bookchin died in July 2006, the PKK assembly saluted “one of the greatest social scientists of the 20th century.” He “introduced us to the thought of social ecology” and “helped to develop socialist theory in order for it to advance on a firmer basis.” He showed how to make a new democratic system into a reality. “He has proposed the concept of confederalism,” a model which we believe is creative and realizable.” The assembly continued: Bookchin’s “thesis on the state, power, and hierarchy will be implemented and realized through our struggle . . . We will put this promise into practice this as the first society that establishes a tangible democratic confederalism.”