This report and photo update from the Make Rojava Green Again campaign and their work at the Internationalist Commune in Rojava for November 2018 is reposted from Make Rojava Green Again, 5 November, 2018
The House of Co-operatives that belongs to the Economic Committee in the Democratic Administration of Tabqa is working to improve the communal economy, which benefits all members of society, especially women. The communal economy solves social problems such as unemployment, and empowers women.
Nisrîn is a co-operative society for cleaning products that was formed in Qamishlo five years ago by seven members who collaborated to serve the area of Hilaliyeh, which is far away from the market. In these times there was a lot of monopoly. Each participant contributed with 75,000 SYP. They bought cleaning products from the market, put some shelves up, and started selling them for lower prices than in the market.
The Mesopotamia Ecology Movement and the Make Rojava Green Again campaign are calling for actions to stop Erdoğans war in Northern Syria. #RiseUp4Rojava! Support the International Days of Resistance on January 27th and 28th!
Do I think this system in Rojava is purely as Bookchin envisioned it? Not purely, but perhaps that may lie beyond the abilities of real human beings. But the people are wrestling with problems of implementation that Bookchin, as a theorist, never foresaw, and I think that even the mistakes that people in Rojava might make are relevant to the future importance of these ideas.
Together we will make 27 and 28 January two days of global resistance against Turkish fascism. Together we will intervene in the numbing routine of war and oppression, expressing our solidarity with various forms of action. Together we will show that this revolution is not alone!
The women of Jinwar wanted to run themselves based on democratic principles that respect everyone’s rights and assure everyone’s ability to participate in life as equals. Thus, the Jinwar debates about the women’s council of the village began. Every woman, who settles in the village can participate in the village council and help plan the village life. Jinwar women can collectively bake their bread in the bakery or cook and eat in the communal kitchen. At the school, the academy, or the health center, as well as in the realms of agriculture, media, and diplomacy, every woman can take up responsibilities based on her own wishes. She can shape social life, welcome visiting delegations, run the shop with her own products according to her own needs. She can get education and join discussions at the academy. She can discuss and share her views on woman and life, free co-life, women and ethics-aesthetics, women and ecology, women and economy, women and history, women and health/natural health. Women can of course arrange for their needs beyond the village as well, they go on family visits or invite and host their loved ones to the village. But men are not allowed to stay in the village overnight.
The Federation of Northern and Eastern Syrian Co-operative Societies held their annual meeting in Qamishlo to discuss the current situation of co-operatives in the region, and many suggestions were made to develop the work of the co-ops.
After the economic success of agricultural co-operatives in the last few years, 20 women from Tirbespiye formed a co-operative called Rojava Wheat Spikes Agricultural Co-operative. The Economic Committee was so impressed they decided to give full support to the emerging co-operative. The co-op will cultivate 1,330 dunam (decares) of agricultural land. The women have already started cultivating wheat on 800 dunams.
HDP’s Co-chair Sezai Temelli this week said that Turkey and its Islamist rebel allies in Afrin had confiscated 70 tons (140,000 pounds) of the olive harvest to sell in markets.
The figure the Turkish minister provided was much higher.
“That is why Agricultural Credit Cooperatives [of Turkey] was tasked with [procuring] five tons. On the eighth [of November], the border gates were opened. So far, 600 tons of products have entered the country,” Pakdemirli detailed, in words that the opposition party said was a “confession of plunder.”
Of Democratic Confederalism’s three pillars—radical democracy, gender liberation, and ecological sustainability—I would argue that the latter is the most crucial, and sets the foundation for a truly democratic, inclusive and egalitarian society. A society cannot be democratic towards ethno-religious minorities or be truly gender progressive if it cannot first and foremost demonstrate an integral and profound respect for our shared land.
“The co-operative societies in Serekaniye are based on social, co-operative and communal principles. They are not established only to make profits, and for that reason the administrators of the co-operative societies form meetings and seminars with the participants in the villages and cities, in order to raise awareness and introduce the ideas of co-operatives to the people. It is important to rely on small businesses and encourage participation in co-ops. The organisers in those meetings and seminars also get a chance to listen to the complaints and the needs of the people.”
