Category Archives: Kurdistan
PKK opposition to Zionism (2017 statement from a founding member)
PKK founding member Mustafa Karasu wrote in 2017 (just to make decades of policy totally clear): Since the emergence of the PKK, we have been against Zionism. We compared the genocide of the Kurds in Turkey with Israeli Zionism and … Continue reading
Media criticism of Turkish State finally moving to the forefront
After the most recent terrorist attack on Turkish soil inspired or organised by Daesh (Isis/Isil) on 28 June, I once again highlighted the context of Ankara’s long-standing complicity with Wahhabi extremism – in anticipation of understated media attention on the current government in … Continue reading
The unreasoned argument that ‘the PKK is Stalinist’ is just destructive propaganda
When giving talks about the Rojava Revolution and the context within which it has occurred, I have been questioned on one issue more often than anything else: Is the PKK a Stalinist organisation? The simple answer is no. Such a … Continue reading
Index for “Rojava: An Alternative”
The index for my book “Rojava: An Alternative to Imperialism, Nationalism, and Islamism in the Middle East” Continue reading
Democracy and freedom of speech are terrorist offences in Turkey
Turkey was never exactly the home of freedom and democracy. But since the ruling AKP abandoned peace talks with the left-wing militants of the PKK in July 2015, the State’s authoritarian crackdown on civil society has become even worse. The … Continue reading
The Fears of the Powerful and the Hopes of the Peaceful
After two decades of cruising along the contaminated economic canals built by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, the Labour Party’s failure to win the 2015 election proved quite definitively that it had no fuel left (even with the oil stolen … Continue reading
Footnotes for “Rojava: An Alternative to Imperialism, Nationalism, and Islamism”
Here is the list of footnotes of my book “Rojava: An Alternative to Imperialism, Nationalism, and Islamism” (the pdf of which is available here https://ososabiouk.wordpress.com/2015/04/07/pdf-of-rojava-an-alternative-to-imperialism-nationalism-and-islamism-in-the-middle-east/ [a hard copy can be bought at http://www.lulu.com/shop/oso-sabio/rojava-an-alternative-to-imperialism-nationalism-and-islamism-in-the-middle-east/paperback/product-22094170.html?ppn=1%5D) https://ososabiouk.wordpress.com/2014/08/23/gaza-a-capitalist-genocide-essay/ http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/imperialism https://libcom.org/library/national-formation-arab-region-critique-samir-amin-mohammad-jafar http://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/feb/01/islamic-science http://www.teachmideast.org/essays/28-history/42-timeline-of-the-middle-east-in-the-20th-century http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/10/17/a-secular-history-of-islam/ http://www.pbs.org/empires/islam/profilesmuhammed.html … Continue reading
Rojava: An Alternative to Imperialism, Nationalism, and Islamism in the Middle East
The Rojava Revolution is a progressive, directly-democratic experience that emerged amid the chaos of the Syrian Civil War. Developing in the largely-Kurdish areas of northern Syria since 2012, the experience aims to create unity between all ethnic and religious groups … Continue reading
Letter to MPs in Support of Kobane and Rojava
Below is a letter I recently sent to MPs in the UK… ———————————— I am writing to you because I believe that the experiences of democratic autonomy in the Kurdish regions of northern Syria (known as Rojava) are an example … Continue reading
Daesh, Imperialism, and Rojava
The Ottoman Empire (1299–1923) united much of the Arab World for centuries. In the 19th century, however, it began to decline, and the imperial powers of Europe tried to ensure their own political influence in the region. The UK, for … Continue reading