Hands off Afrin! Solidarity from Tampa, FL to Rojava, Syria

This following report was submitted anonymously to It’s Going Down. For more information about the situation in Rojava and the Turkish invasion of Afrin, check out our recent podcast interview on the situation here.

Following Turkey’s military assault on Afrin of the Kurdish-held province of Rojava in Syria, an international call went out for demonstrations of solidarity. Tampa stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the civilian militias and the revolutionary project of Rojava. We support the YPG and YPJ irrevocably in their struggle for women’s liberation, autonomy, and anti-fascist insurrection. The community that has been built in Syria—assailed by ISIS and now by the Turkish state—is an inspiration to all who carry a new world in their hearts and seek to build that world in the shell of the old, a modern-day rendition of revolutionary Catalonia. We must remember our history. We must rally behind the democratic confederation in Rojava and lend them whatever help we can muster.

We denounce the United States for its meek response to the Turkish invasion of Afrin. The U.S. government cynically exploited the revolutionaries of Rojava while they fought against ISIS by lending them material support, arms, and munitions. Yet now the U.S. government has deserted the revolutionaries to defend themselves. More than tepid declarations condemning Erdogan, the people of Rojava need the support and mutual aid of the international community. We do not need world leaders to make weak appeals for peace. We will work together, forging ever-stronger bonds of fellowship, to create a world worthy of fighting for.

From Tampa Bay, FL to Rojava, Syria, long live the revolution!