Author: admunisty

Sheikh Maqsud is a unique enclave within Aleppo, one of the oldest and most populous cities in Syria. Aleppo is under Syrian Government control, but the majority-Kurdish Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiya neighborhoods retain autonomy and ties to the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. Within the tumults of the civil war Sheikh Maqsud gained independence from Syrian Government forces, and since then its population has been organizing according to the same democratic principles as the AANES. Azad from the General Council of Sheikh Maqsud explains how the district organizes its communes, self-defense forces, health care, and education, and to what extent it is able to cooperate with the central Syrian Government.

Co-operatives mean for a society to unite its labour, art and economic opportunities, to provide for its daily needs in this way, and at the same time protect itself from the forces of the capitalist state. A co-operative is the most productive economic organisation for society. Co-operatives are based on members of a community working together, developing communal life and organisations, seeking only to build each other up and love each other. A co-operative must not be developed unless this consciousness is established, otherwise it will end up in service of a state monopoly.