Rojava | Middle East |Axisoflogic.com

Rojava: Why Most People Don't Know About It Or Don't Care About It If They Do.

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If one reads the mainstream news with any regularity it becomes obvious that not only does it generally follow formative biases in content, but also does not permit certain ways of thinking (premises) to even be acknowledged as worthy of any attention. It often seems literally incapable of even comprehending certain ideas or facts. It is extremely restrictive with the consequentially deep ignorance in the people who read only mainstream news.

I recently read some mainstream articles on Syria which referred to "the Kurdish problem." They talked about how the Turkish position toward the Kurds presents difficulties for the USA which wants to make use of the "Syrian Kurds" in its putative fight with ISIS and does not want to be associated with the inveterate anti-Kurdish position in Turkish domestic and foreign policy because it would be practically impossible to avoid the suggestion of supporting "genocide." It was clear in these articles that the authors knew practically nothing about Rojava -- "Syrian Kurdistan". The articles basically discussed whether or not the Kurds deserved independent nation-statehood and what problems would accrue in attempting to achieve that. There was not the slightest allusion to the fact that Rojava does not want to be an independent nation-state because it is a non-centralized Democratic Federalist community the goal of which is to eliminate the nation-state. It is precisely not seeking nation-statehood on principle. It sometimes refers to itself as a state for convenience, but it is not a state by any conventional definition. I doubt if the authors would have even been able to get a functional mental grip on this fact. And there was no mention of the fact that the KRG (Kurdish Regional Government of Iraq) has no affiliation or similarity of aims with Rojava. But it is extremely difficult to find alternative/progressive press coverage that is much better.

This is the Rojava constitution as it presently exists.

Democratic Confederalism, according to the founding father of Rojava Abdullah Ocalan, is a system that "is open towards other political groups and factions. It is flexible, multi-cultural, anti-monopolistic, and consensus-oriented. Oc alan, who is the leader of the Kurdistan Worker's Party developed this ideology while in prison in Turkey where he remains. This was originally a Marxist-Leninist organization, but the organization modified their views as calan began becoming familiar with anarchist ideas. The original central pillars of democratic confederalism were ecology and feminism non-centralization.

According to Abdullah Ocalan, his ideology is rooted in participatory democracy and autonomy at the local level. In his manifesto he writes:

The stronger the participation the more powerful is this kind of democracy. While the nation-state is in contrast to democracy, and even denies it, democratic confederalism constitutes a continuous democratic process.

The overthrowing of the nation-state is seen as a gradual process. He does not see the revolutionary overthrow of a state (Syria) as a way to create sustainable change. Rather, social issues and issues relating to freedom and justice must be resolved by a democratic-confederalist process. If a nation-state threatens to develop and challenge the liberty of free members of the democratic federalist community from within that community, the members may resist with the self-defense force of the democratic confederation, the People's Protection Unit (YPG)).

The members of the democratic federation desire the creation of a Global Confederate Assembly which could put forward a platform of civil liberties, as opposed to the United Nations which they see as an association of nation-states and dominated by the current .

Since the YPG of the Rojava Revolution has engaged in combat against ISIS the ideology of the Democratic Confederalist community of Rojava has attracted more local attention.

There is no way that Rojava will ever be willing to become part of a Kurdish Nation State. And this is why it gets no attention from mainstream media and even from progressive media. The entire world is so indoctrinated with the idea that the Nation State is the only viable form of large-scale community (the population of Rojava is approaching 5 million) that the existence and goal of Rojava is simply not computed by ordinary consciousness.

I would maintain that Rojava is the most progressive large-scale community on the planet today. And the fact that it gets so little attention in the alternative/progressive press is a serious short-coming. Rojava has proven itself to be the most effective fighting force against ISIS in the region and it has established itself as a community that can no longer be ignored by anyone. And I don't understand why anyone interested in human progress would even think of ignoring it. In a darkening world where the USA/NATO/ Israel alliance is on a catastrophic collision course with the China/Russia/Iran alliance, the Rojava Revolution is a true beacon of hope.

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