“Stand Together Outside the State”: Int. Commune of Rojava Interview

The Rojavan Revolution has inspired us over the years; from the fierce resistance to ISIS and Turkish fascism, to its rejection of patriarchy and statism. But with the US saying that it will soon be pulling out of the region, many are left wondering what the future holds for the autonomous territories. Wanting to know more, we spoke with someone from Internationalist Commune, the authors of the Resistance is Life column here on IGD, to learn more.

IGD: What are your thoughts on the US withdrawing from Syria? 

IC: When the news of Trump’s decision broke, many of us internationalists in Rojava were frantically checking the news, scrambling to prepare new work, calling one another up and discussing what this would mean for the millions of civilians here, for the future of the revolution – for our lives.

I noticed that our Kurdish comrades reacted differently. They felt angry and betrayed, of course. But to them it was also something expected. The Kurdish freedom movement has 40 years’ experience of armed struggle against a ruthlessly self-serving capitalist state under the NATO banner, and the Kurdish people have known nothing but betrayal for centuries.

They never relied on anything but the strength and resilience of the Kurdish movement. This decision which shocked the world was met with a new surge of pride in what has been won here at such enormous cost. This is the attitude we must take forward into the coming struggle.

IGD: Is the US actively working with the Turkish State? 

IC: A lot of media effort has been expended on which imperial powers are the ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ in the situation here though it changes every day, what the ‘Kurds’ ridiculously taken as a homogenous mass stand to gain, above all what Putin stands to gain from it all.

Some such analyses – like this from Lower Class Magazine – give an excellent picture of how the Kurdish movement has exploited the faultlines opened by the global power struggle between imperial powers, and how it now faces a severe test of its strength as these interests realign against the democratic-confederalist project.

But I have no special insight into what has been said behind closed doors in the last days and years between the various imperialist forces vying to suck the life out of this land. The Americans did what they did. Now our task is clear: to resist the massacre Turkey is threatening by any means necessary.

IGD: Many people are afraid that ISIS will join with Turkish forces and attack Rojavan territories, as it did in the invasion of Afrin. How has the YPG/YPJ responded to this reality? 

A couple of days ago, false news was once again released by world news agencies, spreading the propaganda statements of imperialist forces as though they were objective fact – this time, that the Syrian state army had entered into the center of the city of Manbij. When this news arrived in Manbij, the response of the local population was not to panic or flee but to flood en mass into the city center, singing the songs of the Kurdish resistance.

This is the crucial point. Not only the Kurdish-led YPG and YPJ, but also Arab, Turkmen and Assyrian Christian militias united with YPG/J under the banner of the Syrian Democratic Forces are ready to fight Turkey every inch of the way. Turkey talks of making a so-called “security belt” which would obliterate all of the major cities in Rojava, where millions of people have been making a free and democratic life together under constant threat of Turkey’s cowardly carpet-bombing war. YPG/J is a people’s army and the people will never accept the destruction of their homes, their communes, all that has been created here.

If the Turkish state really does launch a full-scale assault, it will take nothing short of genocide to drive the people from these lands. But as we have seen time and again, the Turkish state is quite capable of such atrocities. Tens of thousands of martyrs have given their lives for this revolution. Whether tens of thousands more must also die remains to be seen.

IGD: Many people in the US and beyond have wondered what to do in light of the current situation. Should we be calling on the US not to leave or should we be finding material ways to support?

IC: It is right that the American people, in particular, rise up against this cowardly decision by their leader. But as internationalists we must stand together outside these lines of state force, with the tireless conviction of our Kurdish comrades.

To be precise: we need serious anti-fascist mobilization against entities linked to Turkish power and interests at home in the West. We need that 3.5 billion dollar Patriot missile sale to Turkey, made in the days before Trump told Erdogan he was pulling out, to be taken down as a message to the Turkish state. We need comrades and journalists to travel here and put their lives on the line.

This revolution’s survival will not be ensured by begging western governments for favors. But the burden on the shoulders of the Kurdish liberation movement will be lightened when Turkey is made accountable for its atrocities, when it is made impossible for other capitalist states to make their dirty deals with this war-criminal state.

IGD: What things are Internationalist Commune working on in the midst of this reality? 

IC: Our main focus now is on spreading the news of what is happening and may happen here, seizing back the narrative from our enemies. So much of what is written and said about here, even by our supporters, is framed as though Rojava is a black box about whose people and material reality nothing can be known, just another pawn on the chessboard middle-east.

“we are working together with Kurdish and other local comrades in the media structures here to counter Turkish propaganda and spread the truth of the revolution as best we can.”

As the internationalist commune, we feel a responsibility to combat this, and to make what is happening here and how it will affect millions of real, struggling people if Turkey does invade. We want to bring their voices and the message of the Kurdish liberation movement into the west.

The Turkish state employs a cyber-army of 6,000 social media trolls disseminating their propaganda, and spends millions on lobbying foreign governments each year. Sometimes it can feel like all we have to counter this is a handful of comrades with limited media experience and a few busted-up laptops. But we are working together with Kurdish and other local comrades in the media structures here to counter Turkish propaganda and spread the truth of the revolution as best we can.

IGD: What are some key news sources/website people can follow to get news  on the unfolding situation? 

IC: We will share as much as we can from our facebook at Internationalist Commune, twitter @communeint and website internationalistcommune.com.

For in-depth analyses in touch with the thought of the Kurdish movement, the Komun Academy website is great. The Region is another site whose reports are generally in touch with what’s going on here and can put them in a larger political perspective.

If you follow the Kurdish academic Dilar Derik (DilAr on Facebook), you will see a lot of well-selected articles and analyses. Dr. Hawzhin Azeez on Twitter here is another example of this.

If you’re looking for a journalist external for the movement who has up-to-date and accurate information and understands what’s going on here better than most, Wladimir Van Wilgenburg (@vvanwilgenburg) is a prolific and useful source.

A few other accounts on the ground in Rojava who are in touch with what’s going on here: @zana_med (especially good and will debunk incorrect information when it’s spread), @HosengHesen, @riseupforafrin, @starcongress.

IGD: Anything else you’d like to add or touch on?

IC: We think it is vital that Turkey’s coming assault is not understood as ‘just another part of the Syrian Civil War’, as it is currently being discussed in our voyeuristic yet ultimately weary and disinterested mainstream press. The death of any civilian anywhere in Syria is a tragedy, of course. But what is happening here is far larger than that.

“The choice between socialism and barbarism was never more stark than here and now.”

Total war against Rojava would not just be the crushing of the revolution here, but of forty years’ ceaseless toil under circumstances of brutal repression across all four parts of Kurdistan. This is a war against the woman, against the right of all peoples to self-determination, against one of the world’s only flames of resistance against state-capitalist might. The choice between socialism and barbarism was never more stark than here and now.

Comrades, with pride in our own strength and knowledge that we are stronger still together, knowing that our enemies are strong but knowing too that they can never grasp the strength and beauty of solidarity forged in resistance, we ask for your support.