We are happy to announce the fourth session of our Spring reading group series titled Building Communal Economy in Bakur and Rojava. This session will be focused on the political economy of the Kurdish Middle East, with a special focus on Rojava and will meet on Friday, April 30, 6:00 - 8:00 PM EST.
In this session we will explore how the economic aspect of Abdullah Öcalan’s theory of democratic confederalism has been put in practice first in Bakur (North Kurdistan/ Turkey) and then, on a greater scale, in Rojava/ North East Syria. We will look at the broader changes in Rojava’s economy since the beginning of the revolution, the development and role of cooperatives and trade unions, and the current obstacles to building an anti-capitalist, communal economy. If you would like to review Ocalan’s theory in this regard, see the readings for our previous reading group. Feel free to join the discussion even if you don't get a chance to do all the readings!
Main readings for this session:
On Bakur: Azize Aslan’s “Economic Self-Governance in Democratic Autonomy: The Example of Bakûr” (4 pages)
On Rojava: Section “Social Economy” in Knapp, Flach and Eyboga’s book Revolution in Rojava (13 pages)
Video by RIC: North and East Syria's cooperatives are pushing for food self-sufficiency
Recommended:
Section “The Economy” (pp. 101-109) in Wilgenberg’s 2019 book The Kurds of Northern Syria: Governance, Diversity and Conflicts
Rojava Information Center (RIC)’s 2020 report Cooperatives in North and East Syria – developing a new economy.
RIC’s 2020 report TEV-DEM Explainer by RIC - Unions and Counter Power
Please RSVP to info@defendrojava.org for the Zoom information.
See you there!