In the ongoing discussions of the social experiment taking place in Rojava, the economic aspect often tends to get neglected. You can read a lot about the military aspect, the war against ISIS, co-operation with US forces and so on, and a lot about the political ideologies, the new decision-making structures that have been set
Zanîn is a co-operative for medical, dental and pharmaceutical supplies and equipment for hospitals and clinics. The idea for this project came from a group of doctors who work in Jazira. Zanîn is a communal co-operative, and the price of a share is 100,000 SYP. There are a total of 5,000 shares which are collectively worth five hundred million Syrian pounds.
QAMIŞLO – The women of the Cizîrê canton are participating in the cooperatives founded by Kongreya Star in increasing numbers. The Economic Committee of the Kongreya Star administration of the Jazira Canton [Kantona Cizîrê / Cezîre] founded a women’s agricultural cooperative in Qamishlo [Qamişlo / Qamishli / Al-Qamishli] on 11th November, 2016. The 30 women in the cooperative
DİYARBAKIR [Amed]- While the ecologists have begun to grow crops in the field led by the Agricultural Seed Commission of Ecology Association, the seedlings are aimed to be distributed to the people by using the barter system. Vegetables and greens are growing in the field formed by the Agricultural Seed Commission of Ecology Association in
DÊRIK – The project for a house-building cooperative has begun. The goal of the project is to enable the homeless to buy a house and work in this area will become widespread. As we have seen, the Baath regime introduced brutal laws towards the Kurdish people during its occupation of Rojava. One of these was the
There are, after all, some things that mix quite well, like salt and pepper, and others that don’t mix at all, like fire and water. As an attempt to mix opposite qualities, is the market more like salt and pepper, or is it more like fire and water? ─Bertell Ollman, Market Socialism: The Debate Among
This Arab family has escaped a war to take refuge in the Kurdish area of Syria. The regional government has given them work. The “Ministry of the Economy” of Jazira Canton [Kantona Cizîrê / Cezîre] tries to ameliorate the agricultural economy in a way that provides work and a stable source of income to farmers, while at
Kobanî [Kobanê / Ayn al-Arab] is a small city in northern Syria, part of the self-declared autonomous region of Rojava since November 2013, which, as part of the wider Syrian Civil War, broke away from the national government in a social revolution. The Rojava revolution seeks to establish a system of democratic confederalism, a system
Because of the closing of the borders, getting to Rojava has become more difficult in the past few months. The Turkish border has been closed for years, while the eastern border to Iraqi Kurdistan has more recently been shut down by petrol-president Masud Barzani, who is hostile to the PKK and the PYD, and acted
In Rojava’s Afrin Canton [Kantona Efrînê / Afrîn], women are bringing to life the economy. On the 1st of November, 2016, Inanna Agricultural Cooperative was founded with the help of Kongreya Star. Onion, garlic, chickpeas and beans were sown in January and February on the 18 dunam [decare] plot that belong to the women’s collective. The women toil
The Agricultural Council in Hasakah [Hesekê / Hesîçe / Al-Hasakah] started a cooperative society for the building of poultry houses and planting of fruit trees. It announced that registration will open on the 18th of February 2017, and their objective is to achieve self-sufficiency and develop the communal economy. The Agricultural Council in Hasakah, which belongs to the Economic Committee
Rojava is an enclave whose inhabitants have fashioned a place of security, gender equality, economic cooperation, and a unique form of localized direct democracy that has no equivalent elsewhere. With images of chaos, conflict, and a seemingly endless parade of horrors dominating the mainstream media, the image of Syria that dominates the popular mind is
