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Democratic confederalism

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Flag of theKCK,often used by Democratic Confederalists

Democratic confederalism[1][2](Kurdish:Konfederalîzma demokratîk), also known asKurdish communalismorApoism,[nb 1]is apolitical concepttheorized byKurdistan Workers Party(PKK) leaderAbdullah Öcalanabout a system of democraticself-organization[4]with the features of aconfederationbased on the principles ofautonomy,direct democracy,political ecology,feminism,multiculturalism,self-defense,self-governanceand elements of acooperative economy.[5][6][7]Influenced bysocial ecology,libertarian municipalism,Middle Eastern historyandgeneral state theory[de],Öcalan presents the concept as a political solution toKurdish nationalaspirations, as well as other fundamental problems in countries in the region deeply rooted inclass society,and as a route tofreedomanddemocratizationfor people around the world.[8][9][10][11]

Although the liberation struggle of the PKK was originally guided by the prospect of creating a Kurdishnation stateon aMarxist–Leninistbasis,[7][12]Öcalan became disillusioned with the nation-state model andstate socialism.[13]Influenced by ideas fromWestern thinkerssuch as the libertarian municipalist and formeranarchistMurray Bookchin,[14][15][16][17]Öcalan reformulated the political objectives of theKurdish liberation movement,abandoning the oldstatistand centralizing socialist project for a radical and renewed proposal for a form oflibertarian socialism[18][19][20]that no longer aims at building anindependent stateseparate fromTurkey,but at establishing anautonomous,democraticanddecentralizedentity based on the ideas of democratic confederalism.[21][22]

Theory[edit]

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Rejecting both theauthoritarianismandbureaucracismofstate socialismand the predation ofcapitalism,seen by Öcalan as most responsible for theeconomic inequalities,sexismandenvironmental destructionin the world,[7][23]democratic confederalism defends a "type of organization or administration can be called non-state political administration or stateless democracy",[1]which would provide the framework for the autonomous organization of "every community, confessional group, gender specific collective and/or minority ethnic group, among other".[4]It is a model of libertarian socialism[18][19][20]andparticipatory democracy[24]built on theself-governmentof local communities and the organization of open councils,town councils,localparliaments,and larger congresses,[4]where citizens are the agents of self-government, allowing individuals and communities to exercise a real influence over their common environment and activities.[2][25]Inspired by the struggle of women in the PKK, democratic confederalism has feminism as one of its central pillars.[1][25]Seeingpatriarchyas "an ideological product of the national state and power" no less dangerous than capitalism,[26]Öcalan advocates a new vision of society in order to dismantle the institutional and psychological relations of power currently established in capitalist societies and to ensure that women have a vital and equal role to that of men at all levels of organization and decision-making.[14][15]Other key principles of democratic confederalism are environmentalism,multiculturalism(religious, political, ethnic and cultural),individual freedoms(such as those ofexpression,choiceandinformation), self-defense, and a sharing economy where control of economicresourcesdoes not belong to the state, but to society.[27][28]Although it presents itself as a model opposed to the nation-state, democratic confederalism admits the possibility, under specific circumstances, ofpeaceful coexistencebetween both, as long as there is no intervention by the state in the central issues of self-government or attempts atcultural assimilation.[29]Although it was theorized initially as a new social and ideological basis for the Kurdish liberation movement, democratic confederalism is now presented as ananti-nationalist,multi-ethnicandinternationalistmovement.[2][30][31]

The general lines of democratic confederalism were presented in March 2005, through adeclaration"to the Kurdish people and the international community"[2]and, in later years, the concept was further developed in other publications, such as the four volumes of theManifesto of Democratic Civilization.[32]Shortly after being released, the declaration was immediately adopted by the PKK, which organized clandestine assemblies in Turkey,SyriaandIraq,which resulted in the creation of theKurdistan Communities Union(Koma Civakên Kurdistan,KCK).[33][34][35]The firstchance to implementit came during theSyrian Civil War,[16][23][36]when theDemocratic Union Party(Partiya Yekîtiya Demokrat,PYD)declared the autonomyof three cantons inSyrian Kurdistanthat eventually grew into theAutonomous Administration of North and East Syria).[37]

History[edit]

Background[edit]

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Created in the1970sunder the context ofCold Wargeopolitical bipolarity,theKurdistan Workers' Party(PKK) was initially inspired bynational liberation movementsacross the planet,[38][39]many of whom were influenced byMarxist–Leninist idealsandleft-wing nationalism.[40][41][42]Over the years, however, the PKK has distanced itself from these ideologies, considering that the Kurdish question was not a mere problem ofethnicityandnationality[nb 2]solved by the revolutionary seizure of state power or the constitution of anindependent state.[38]Becoming a major critic of the very idea of anation-stateand even ofnational and social liberationfrom a Marxist–Leninist perspective,[12][13]Abdullah Öcalan initiated a substantial transition from the Kurdish liberation movement in search of a form ofsocialismdistinct from thestatist and centralizing systemassociated with the formerSovietsuperpower.[13][14][15]

This process was consolidated after the capture and arrest of Öcalan by theTurkish intelligence servicesin 1999.[13]Although he is kept in isolation on theprison islandofİmralı,Öcalan used his time not only to prepare hisdefensestrategy in the course of the Turkish trial which hadsentenced him to death,but also to elaborate his proposals on the Kurdish question and on its political solution.[13]Having access to hundreds of books, includingTurkish translationsof numerous historical and philosophical texts fromWestern thought,his plan was initially to find theoretical foundations in these works that would justify the PKK's past actions, and to discuss theKurdish–Turkish conflictwithin a comprehensive analysis of the development of the nation-state throughout history.[14]Thus, Öcalan began his studies fromSumerian mythologyand the origins ofNeolithic cultures,as well as from the history of thefirst city-states.[15]But it was the readings of thinkers likeFriedrich Nietzsche(whom Öcalan calls "the prophet of the capitalist era"[43]),Fernand Braudel,Immanuel Wallerstein,Maria Mies,Michel Foucault,and particularlyMurray Bookchin,[nb 3],that led him to a definitive break with theMarxist–Leninist socialistperspective and develops a new proposal for a system called "democratic confederalism".[15][39]

In 2005, while theEuropean Court of Human Rightscondemned Turkey for "inhumane treatment" and "unfair prosecution" in the case of Öcalan,[44]calling for a new trial for the Kurdish leader,[45]Öcalan issued "Declaration of Democratic Confederalism in Kurdistan", where he laid the groundwork of democratic confederalism.[2]Later, the concept was further developed and presented in works such asDemocratic ConfederalismandManifesto of Democratic Civilization(the latter in four volumes).[32]

Democratic confederalism of Kurdistan is not a state system, but a democratic system of the people without a state. With the women and youth at the forefront, it is a system in which all sectors of society will develop their own democratic organisations. It is a politics exercised by free and equal confederal citizens by electing their own free regional representatives. It is based on the principle of its own strength and expertise. It derives its power from the people and in all areas including its economy it will seek self-sufficiency.

— Abdullah Öcalan, Declaration of Democratic Confederalism in Kurdistan, 2005.[2]

Concept[edit]

Sustainablemicro-irrigationsystem in Syria created by theAANESin southern Afrin.

Responding to the needs of the Kurdish movement acrossKurdistan,Öcalan's studies resulting indemocratic confederalismaddressed various aspects of Kurdish society in the fields ofanthropology,linguistics,andinternational politics,international law,as well as introducing afeminist approachcalledjineology,the latter in particular having been inspired by the struggle ofwomenin the PKK andSakine Cansiz.[25]His greatest theoretical inspirations came fromsocial ecologyandlibertarian municipalismas formulated by the American anarchistMurray Bookchin.[7][14]In his works, Bookchin argues that the domination anddestruction of natureis the continuation of the domination ofhuman beingsby each other, including through the forms ofcapitalismand thenation-state.Establishing a connection between theecological crisisand social hierarchy, the American philosopher observes that thesocial structureof humanity needs to be rethought and transformed from a destructive hierarchical society to an ecological social society that maintains a balance between its parts and whose communities can organize their lives independently.[46][47][48]

YBŞ and PKK Guerrillas
YBŞand PKK Guerillas inNorthernandSouthern Kurdistanin 2017

Admiring Bookchin's concepts, Öcalan developed a critical view ofnationalismand the nation-state that led him to interpret peoples'right to self-determinationas "the basis for the establishment of a basic democracy, without the need to seek new political frontiers".[14]Based on this, Öcalan proposes that a political solution for theKurdish peopledoes not involve the foundation of a newnational state,but the constitution of ademocratic,decentralizedandautonomoussystem ofself-organizationin the form of aconfederation.[5][6][7]

I offer the Turkish society a simple solution. We demand a democratic nation. We are not opposed to the unitary state and republic. We accept the republic, its unitary structure and laicism. However, we believe that it must be redefined as a democratic state respecting peoples, cultures and rights. On this basis, the Kurds must be free to organize in a way that they can live their culture and language and can develop economically and ecologically. This would allow Kurds, Turks and other cultures to come together under the roof of a democratic nation in Turkey. This is only possible, though, with a democratic constitution and an advanced legal framework warranting respect for different cultures. Our idea of a democratic nation is not defined by flags and borders. Our idea of a democratic nation embraces a model based on democracy instead of a model based on state structures and ethnic origins. Turkey needs to define itself as a country which includes all ethnic groups. This would be a model based on human rights instead of religion or race. Our idea of a democratic nation embraces all ethnic groups and cultures.

— Abdullah Öcalan, War and peace in Kurdistan, 2008.[49]

Main points[edit]

Protest in support of Democratic confederalism and theRojava revolutionagainst genocide, inBerlin,Germany2018

The main principles ofdemocratic confederalismcan be summarized in:[5][6][8]

Implementation[edit]

On June 1, 2005, thePKKofficially adopted thedemocratic confederalismprogram at the end of the 3rd General Assembly of the People's Congress of Kurdistan (Kongra Gelê Kurdistan).[citation needed]

Thereafter, the Kurdish liberation movement began to form clandestine assemblies immediately inTurkey,SyriaandIraq,which in 2007 resulted in the creation of theKurdistan Communities Union(Koma Civakên Kurdistan,KCK), theorganizationestablished to put into effect Öcalan's concept.[33][34]The KCK brings together Kurdish political parties such asDemocratic Union Party(Partiya Yekîtiya Demokrat,PYD),Kurdistan Free Life Party(Partiya Jiyana Azad to Kurdistanê,PJAK), andKurdistan Democratic Solution Party(Partî Çareserî Dîmukratî Kurdistan,PÇDK);civil society organizations;and armed groups in all countries in the region over the different parts of Kurdistan.[33][35]

YPJ members in agreenhousefarm, forecologicalcooperative farming

Inspired by the project of democratic confederalism, mayors of the Party of theDemocratic Society Party(Demokratik Toplum Partisi,DTP) started a fight forcollective rightsof a political nature in Turkey throughcivil disobedience campaigns.[35]Challenging the laws that prohibit the official use of theKurdish language,these politicians begin to use the municipal services and dispatch official correspondence in Kurdish, to reinsert Kurdish names in public places and to spend resources for the development and spread of the Kurdish language.[35]However, these policies made the DTP mayors and deputies targets of judicial harassment,[50]and the Kurdish party was banned by the Turkish Constitutional Court in 2009.[51][52]

It was during theCivil War in Syriathat an opportunity arose to implement Ocalan's new political doctrine deeply, after thePYDdeclared the autonomy of three cantons inRojava,a region comprising parts of the north and northeast ofSyrian territory.[15][16][23]Creating a political entity opposed to the capitalist nation-state, Rojava experienced an original experience ofdemocratic,decentralizedandnon-hierarchicalsociety,[36]based onfeminist,ecology,cultural pluralism,co-operativesharing economyideas, and participatory politics and consensual construction.[27][53][54]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^Followers of Öcalan and members of the PKK are known by his diminutive name asApocu(Apo-ites), and his movement is known asApoculuk(Apoism).[3]
  2. ^In his book "In defense of the people" (published in German in 2010), Öcalan wrote that "The development of authority and hierarchy even before the class society emerged is a significant turning point in history", adding that "no law of nature requires natural societies to develop into hierarchical state-based societies" and judging "the Marxist belief that class society is an inevitability" to be deeply mistaken.[14]
  3. ^Öcalan had readThe Ecology of Freedom,and agreed with Bookchin's analysis. Looking for theoretical guidance, the Kurdish leader asked to Reimar Heider, his German translator, to send an e-mail to Bookchin. Sent in April 2004, the message told him that Öcalan had been reading Turkish translations of Bookchin's books in prison and considered himself a"good student"of his works. Also, Öcalan"has recommended Bookchin's books to every mayor in all Kurdish cities and wanted everybody to read them."[14]Bookchin and Öcalan corresponded for a while,[16]but the philosopher died in 2006.

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^abcÖcalan 2011,p. 21.
  2. ^abcdefÖcalan 2005.
  3. ^Mango 2005,p. 32.
  4. ^abcÖcalan 2008,p. 32.
  5. ^abcÖcalan 2011,pp. 21–32.
  6. ^abcÖcalan 2008,pp. 31–36.
  7. ^abcdeDirik 2016,chpt. 2.
  8. ^abÖcalan 2011,pp. 35–44.
  9. ^Öcalan 2008,pp. 7–8, 34–35.
  10. ^Dockstader, Jason; Mûkrîyan, Rojîn (2022)."Kurdish liberty".Philosophy & Social Criticism.48(8): 1174–1196.doi:10.1177/01914537211040250.
  11. ^Fadaee, Simin; Brancolini, Camilla (2019)."From national liberation to radical democracy: Exploring the shift in the Kurdish liberation movement in Turkey".Ethnicities.19(5): 858–875.doi:10.1177/1468796819826146.
  12. ^abÖcalan 2011,pp. 7–14.
  13. ^abcdeÖcalan 2008,pp. 28–30.
  14. ^abcdefghBookchin 2018.
  15. ^abcdefShilton 2019.
  16. ^abcdEnzinna 2015.
  17. ^Gerber, Damian; Brincat, Shannon (2021). "When Öcalan met Bookchin: The Kurdish Freedom Movement and the Political Theory of Democratic Confederalism".Geopolitics.26(4): 973–997.doi:10.1080/14650045.2018.1508016.
  18. ^abBłaszczyk, Cezary (2022-06-27)."Jineology: Kurdish" feminism "in the doctrine of democratic confederalism and the political system of the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria (Rojava)".Studia Iuridica(90): 77.doi:10.31338/2544-3135.si.2022-90.4.S2CID253829748.Thus, the doctrine of democratic confederalism presents itself as a libertarian socialism based on the neo-Marxism, ecologism and, finally, feminism.
  19. ^abDe Jong, Alex (March 18, 2016)."The New-Old PKK".Jacobin.Retrieved2023-07-24.It was compelling enough to win over Öcalan, who, in the popular narrative, made a balance sheet of the PKK's failures and decided to reorient his goals to a similar kind of libertarian socialism called "democratic confederalism."
  20. ^abFitzherbert, Yvo (August 26, 2014)."A new kind of freedom born in terror".openDemocracy.Retrieved2023-07-24.The ideology behind this progressive autonomous structure, which has a secular constitution, is that of the PKK leader, Abdullah Öcalan. His vision of 'Democratic Confederalism' builds on a concept espoused by the American anarchist Murray Bookchin. Since Öcalan's arrest in 1999, the PKK's ideology has changed considerably, so much so that they have all but denounced nationalism in favour of a form of libertarian socialism.
  21. ^Öcalan 2011,pp. 21, 33–34.
  22. ^Öcalan 2008,pp. 31–32.
  23. ^abcWhite 2015,pp. 126–149.
  24. ^Öcalan 2011,pp. 16–17.
  25. ^abcDirik 2016,chpt. 3.
  26. ^Öcalan 2011,p. 24.
  27. ^abMalik 2019.
  28. ^Biehl 2012.
  29. ^Öcalan 2011,p. 32.
  30. ^Öcalan 2008,p. 24.
  31. ^Maisel 2018,p. 347.
  32. ^abMEPC 2015.
  33. ^abcÇandar 2012,p. 82.
  34. ^abMaur & Staal 2015,p. 174–175.
  35. ^abcdKurban 2014.
  36. ^abPluto 2016.
  37. ^Malik (2019);Krajeski (2019);Marcus (2020);Maisel (2018),pp. 16–17
  38. ^abÖcalan 2011,pp. 7–8.
  39. ^abHelliker & Walt 2019.
  40. ^ScienceClassPolitics 1984,pp. 3–30.
  41. ^Schwikowski 2018.
  42. ^Dwyer & Zeilig 2018.
  43. ^Building Free Life: Dialogues with Öcalan.Kairos. pp. 227, 235.ISBN9781629637044.
  44. ^Hudoc 2005.
  45. ^Sturcke 2005.
  46. ^Bookchin 2006.
  47. ^Bookchin 2007.
  48. ^Stokols 2018,p. 33.
  49. ^Öcalan 2008,p. 39.
  50. ^REFWorld 2010.
  51. ^Tait 2009.
  52. ^Nationalia 2009.
  53. ^Krajeski 2019.
  54. ^Marcus 2020.

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]

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