Members of the Internationalist Commune, together with archaeology students from Rojava’s Tevgera Xwendekaren Demokratik (TXD, or Democratic Students’ Movement), recently visited several of these ancient sites as part of a joint education. We saw how remnants of over settlements, cities and temple complexes have stood the test of time, hidden beneath the earth.
Since the start of the popular movement in Syria in the spring of 2011, many civil society organisations have been set up to prioritise women’s empowerment. This coincided with the establishment of the self-administration in 2013, and the formation of its structures and institutions, which began to manage affairs in Rojava. In spite of the difficult economic environment and the challenging situation, women have played a significant role in many fields, and are encouraged to find work opportunities to achieve financial independence.
After the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) liberated the district of Ayn Îsa from DAESH (ISIS) , in the Northern Syrian province of Girê Spî, the province began to revive.
Re-establishing peace and security meant rebuilding a new life under the leadership of women who had played a leading role in regaining freedom.
There are 21 co-operative societies in Qamishlo that are embodying the ideas of communal and participatory life, creating a collective environment at work, and building solidarity among the members of society.
The tree nursery is part of a very big co-operative, which stores the wheat harvest of the entire region in enormous depots and silos. This co-operative takes also care of the further processing of the wheat and sell the finished bread at a very cheap price. Lentils and chickpeas are also processed in the co-operative, ensuring local people can always access nutritious and affordable food.
The commune (komun) system is truly the beating heart of the Rojava revolution. It is based on the premise of Democratic Confederalism, that the power comes from the grassroots level.
May has been an intense month of work for our ecological project. We have planted some new trees for our nursery, and the other shoots and trees keep on growing. We are also expanding our garden by planting a wide variety of seeds – some from local farmers around the commune, and some from different ecological projects from around the world. Melons, watermelons, beans, eggplants, pumpkins, corn… We are learning how they grow in this environment, while hoping that the hot summer doesn’t kill everything. We are also developing a greywater system to recycle waste water for use in the garden, making our camp more sustainable.
“Everything was green before,” sighs a young peasant from Sawidiyah, a small Syrian village at the banks of the Euphrates near Tabqa’s massive dam. “Now it should be the season, but the crops are lost, because Turkey cuts the water, preventing the production of electricity. For us here everything is linked to the agricultural sector. If there is no agriculture, there is no more work.”
The Women’s Agricultural Co-operative was established in 2015 by Kongreya Star and the Committee of Women’s Economy. It includes 135 members from Derik and the villages of Braaf and Kojerat, who each participated with 65,000 SYP, and planted on 380 dunams of land.
The efforts to build up communes everywhere never ceased after the start of the military cooperation with the US; rather the number of communes doubled. Also the creation of co-operatives continued; today there are a few hundred co-operatives. The democratic-communal economy continues to be developed. The anti-capitalist mentality was stronger in 2017 than in 2014 when I traveled for the first time to Rojava.
During my time in Rojava I want to realise a few ecological projects like a small sized bio-gas station as a source for cooking at the Internationalist Commune, and a water filter to recycle water to grow plants and vegetables all around the camp.
Many of the defining features of the political philosophy that Öcalan began to espouse in the 2000s are firmly rooted on my father’s idea of social ecology and its political practice: “libertarian municipalism” or “Communalism.”
