This libertarian socialist experiment, established in the middle of one of the world’s most brutal and politically complex war zones, has tried to build a new social order rooted in feminism, ecology, direct democracy, and cooperative self-management of industry. It has survived confrontations against two separate forms of fascism and the evolving schemes and counter-schemes of the imperialist great powers that dominate the region. AANES provides a home for refugees and an island of stability in a country torn to pieces by the civil war that followed President Bashar al-Assad’s suppression of the 2011 Arab Spring revolution in Syria. But the revolution is not without its problems and limitations, which Pye will explore in a series of essays exploring the war front, the deliberative councils, the feminist spaces, the military, the factions, and the economy of this nascent society beyond the state where millions of people have lived under a form of revolutionary self-government for over ten years.
Every year on April 4th, people, municipalities, and self-government councils plant trees all over Rojava. People come together; from young to old, everyone takes part in these events. It is an act of ecological as well as anti-colonial struggle and gained a place in the consciousness of the people of whole Kurdistan and beyond. Also this year, despite all the attacks on the people and nature of Rojava by the Turkish state, thousands of trees are going to be planted in the region on this date.
On the Mother language day, Make Rojava Green Again worked together with the children on the tree project.
The Social Economy Committee opened three factories in the western region of Deir ez-Zor.
Over the past years, the AANES has worked to open three greenhouse projects in Northeast Syria to ease the pressure of high prices on the population. The projects also aim to secure various types of locally produced vegetables and limit monopoly by traders.
Across the farmlands in areas in northeast Syria, where agriculture takes the top spot, installing solar panels have become the best option for farmers to irrigate their crops amid fuel and power shortages.
JINWAR is the only village in the Middle East where only women live. It was opened on 25 November 2018 on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
In 2019, a city partnership between Berlin Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg and Derik was established. Since then, several projects have been realized in cooperation, including ecological initiatives, service provisions and information exchanges.
Women and children in Kobanê plant trees as part of the “Be Environmentally Friendly” campaign launched by the Environmental Organization of Euphrates Region in North and East Syria.
In Sheba, a region where thousands of people who fled Afrin because of the Turkish occupation of Afrin in 2018 have been living for the last 6 years, a health center for natural medicine was opened by the Kongra Star Health Committee on January 15, the anniversary of their foundation. This center is intended to
Environmental degradation continues to plague Turkey in 2023, as forests are sacrificed for mining ventures, water resources are exploited, and major destruction is wrought in Kurdish regions.
There is an increase in purchasing solar panels by the region’s residents following the recent Turkish airstrikes on fuel facilities and oil wells.