Nov 20, 19

November 30th: An International Night of Music to Benefit Rojava

Filed under: Announcement, Music, Solidarity

Across the world, on Saturday, November 30th, people are organizing benefit concerts for Rojava. Here is a statement from the organizers:

We are a collective of internationals that after bearing witness to the atrocities of the fascist Turkish state in Rojava/AANES (Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria) are saying, enough is enough! With limited help from nation states and the pulling out of many, if not most, NGOs, medical service workers and supplies in the region are becoming scarce.

The history of attacks by the Turkish state goes back decades. In 1977 Turkey committed ethnic cleansing on the island of Cyprus, they have not left since. In 2018 Turkey invaded and occupied the Canton of Afrin in Rojava. This caused forced displacement of the Kurdish population there (often at gunpoint); saw the language changed to Turkish on street signs and municipal buildings; having Kurdish removed as an official language of instruction is schools; and the handing over of security services to the ultra-violent, ruthless, jihadist gangs and mercenaries Turkey sent in as cannon fodder to absorb casualties in place of the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF). This is still in effect today.

Now, since October 9th, 2019, the Turkish state is committed to implementing the same policies of ethnic cleansing and demographic change that it successfully used in Afrin. They are managing to do this as the world’s “leaders” simply look on. The Turks justify this to the world under the guise of “anti-terrorism.” Often “terrorist” is just what the bigger army calls the smaller army.

There is no history of unprovoked, cross-border attacks on Turkey coming from Rojava. To say that Turkey needs a “peace corridor” along its border with Rojava is an absurdity as they are the aggressor in every case (whole MIT intelligence services financially and materially supported ISIS).

We see through their thinly veiled propaganda for so-called “peace” in the region. Their so-called peace is a trail of war crimes that includes shelling of civilians, body mutaliations, rape, the use of internationally-banned weapons, looting, destruction of churches, and attacks on medical workers, civilians, community leaders, and humanitarian volunteers.

The Rojava Revolution is a woman’s revolution. Turkey’s crimes specifically target these brave women. We can not stand idly by while these things are happening. We call on the people of the world to both stand in solidarity with the people of Rojava and help to bring aid in a material way.

Towards this end, we are holding an international music festival on November 30th, 2019 to raise funds to bring in medical supplies and medical service workers to help in the treatment of those impacted by Turkey’s war of ethnic cleansing and use of jihadist militias. It’s evident that no state power wants to see this revolution flourish, nor any capitalist NGOs are willing to go in areas of even remote threat. We’ve come together in solidarity for this beautiful revolution to show that a network of mutual aid can do things no state or capitalist enterprise is willing to do or establish.

By working with a grassroots, ground-up, medical collective based in Rojava with history of providing care there, we can each contribute to the effort of saving lives and holding the line on this invasion.

Rojava has long been a beacon of hope to oppressed peoples the world over. It now faces an existential threat like it has never seen before. We must do everything we can to ensure the revolution continues and keeps inspiring us all! Together we are powerful. Let’s have a night that shows this!

If you cannot attend the shows, please donate what you can to the fundraiser here. For more information on solidarity efforts, go here.