We are very excited to announce the next Emergency Committee for Rojava (ECR) Fall 2021 reading group topic.

During five sessions, we will analyze the Maya Zapatista and the Kurdish struggles, two of the most important revolutionary movements taking place in our time. From these experiences, we will reflect on the concept of revolution from the different circumstances and places we live in. In the coming months we will cover five main topics for understanding the similarities and differences between the two movements:

1: Colonization in Central America & Kurdistan

2: Communal Mobilization in Chiapas and Bakur: Grassroots Religious Practices

3: Emergence of EZLN & PKK guerrilla organizations

4: From Vanguardism to Communal Revolution: Ethnic and Gender Changes.

5: Zapatista and Kurdish women’s struggles

Our first session will be on Friday, September 24th, at 6:30 pm (EDT). The main goal is to approach the history of exploitation, colonial institutions, and social discrimination in the territory historically inhabited by Maya and Kurdish populations.

The readings for this session:

Central America & Mexico:

Bonfil Batalla, Guillermo. (2012). “The Colonial Order” (pp. 70-93), in: México Profundo: Reclaiming a Civilization. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Kurdistan:

Klein, Janet. “The Fate of the Kurds,” in: Origins. Vol. 13, Issue 5. February 2020.

Recommended:

El Salvador

Gould, J. L., & Lauria-Santiago, A. (2007). Fiestas of the Oppressed: The Social Geography and Culture of Mobilization. In To Rise in Darkness: Revolution, Repression, and Memory in El Salvador, 1920-1932 (pp. 63–79). Duke University Press. 
 

RSVP here to attend the meeting.