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While our supposed "democracy" is dominated by the 1%, this alternative uses local participative councils to direct society from the bottom up. - See more at:
http://www.occupy.com/article/revolu....SPdTbLkU.dpuf
Many politicians in the West may talk about fighting ISIS, but as many know, the West helped to build – then poured fuel on – the jihadist-fascist bonfire. In contrast, the strongest challenge to ISIS is in fact the democratic, autonomous and predominantly Kurdish region of Rojava in northern Syria. The area shows a route toward a peaceful, progressive Middle East.
FUEL TO THE FIRE
The jihadist-fascist force of ISIS formed in large part due to Western oil-driven imperialism – not least from the devastation caused by the US-led invasion of Iraq. ISIS has captured Iraqi heavy weapons and armored vehicles given by the U.S. and its allies. In addition, the group gets significant funding from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, two of the West’s crucial oil suppliers and weapon customers. ISIS even profits greatly from black market oil sales. Arguably, no terrorist organization has ever been so integrated into the oil-based global capitalist system.
Western imperialism also acts as an ISIS recruiting agent, starting with illegal drone wars that drive young people into the fascist-jihadist group. Other ISIS propaganda opportunities include Western war crimes; torture camps like Guantanamo; extra-judicial killings, and other human rights abuses. Climate change, itself the product of capitalism’s unquenchable thirst for oil, has also assisted ISIS: it catalyzed drought crisis conditions in Syria, which alongside the brutal Assad regime, led to the Syrian Civil War. As it did in in Iraq, ISIS was able to capitalize on the chaos and spread quickly through Syria.
ROJAVA RESISTS ISIS
In its brutal advance across Syria and Iraq, ISIS portrayed itself as invincible until its first major defeat in Kobanî, Rojava, between late 2014 and early 2015. With their victory, the self-organized Kurdish People's Defense Units (YPG) gained international attention and recognition. A mixed fighting force of men and women, the YPG along with the women-only YPJ have arisen as the primary challenge to ISIS in the region. The empowerment of women – expressed in part through the YPJ – is central to the Rojava democratic model
HOW DID ROJAVA EMERGE?
The same Arab Spring and Syrian uprising that led to the wider Syrian Civil War also enabled the Rojava Revolution. On July 19, 2012, public uprisings in Kurdish cities, one after the next, enabled Kurds to liberate the northern region of Syria from Assad's Ba’ath regime, beginning in Kobane City. Two factors were crucial for the Kurds' long-term stability, which were absent in much of the Arab Spring. First, the Kurds were expanding on a long history of bottom-up self-organization, with strong ties to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which for decades has fought against Turkish oppression. Second, the Assad regime had largely fled the region, and his forces mostly surrendered peacefully.
This power vacuum enabled the Rojava democratic experiment to begin.
ROJAVA AND WESTERN INSECURITY
Rojava is not only fighting ISIS and other jihadist groups to the south. It is also under strong embargo on its border to the north and east, enforced by Turkey and Kurdish Iraq. Meanwhile, Turkey continues to bomb the PKK and allow ISIS to move easily over the border to sell stolen goods and resupply with weapons and foreign recruits. After the New Years nightclub massacre claimed by ISIS in Istanbul, changes to Turkey's border policies may ensue. But nonetheless, Turkish attacks on Rojava mirror the historic and ongoing human rights abusesendured by Kurds in the Turkish state.
At the same time, Iraqi Kurdistan supports Turkey as its main, closest ally. It also opposes Rojava since its democratic model conflicts with Iraqi Kurdistan, a country known for its rampant corruption and cronyism.
If Western politicians are serious about tackling ISIS, they should be supporting Rojava – and at the same time criticizing the tacit support that Turkey is lending to ISIS. Meanwhile, they should pressure Kurdish Iraq and Turkey to end the embargo on Rojava and remove the Kurdish People's Defense Units from international terrorist lists. In a conflict that is seemingly without beginning or end, these steps would at least be a move in the right direction.
- See more at: http://www.occupy.com/article/revolu....r3CTI7gM.dpuf
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