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Newsletter #12 of the Internationalist Commune of Rojava
and the campaign Make Rojava Green Again
Dear friends,
With the beginning of June, we send you our Newsletter #12.
May was overshadowed by the increasing critical situation of the hunger strikers for the freedom of Abdullah Öcalan. Until then, on May 26th a direct message came from Öcalan to the hunger strikers with the call to end the hunger strike. With the breaking up of the total isolation of Öcalan, the hunger strike reached one of the important goals and thus makes possible an important step towards a political solution for the problems in Syria and Turkey. This step was hard fought for by the thousands of hunger strikers, some of whom went on strike for up to 200 days. As the Internationalist Commune we sent our warm and revolutionary greetings to all those who have participated in this historical resistance, that emerged under the leadership of Leyla Güven and the womans movement.
# May, the month of the fallen
In Rojava, as in other parts of Kurdistan, the month of May has a special meaning. It is the month in which many martyrs who gave their lives for the revolution are remembered. Without the martyrs who successfully defended the revolution, we would not be able to participate in the construction of an ecologically democratic society, based on the liberation of woman today. And so the commemoration is also for us as internationalists an important moment to remember the history of internationalists.
On 9 May we commemorated Ulrike Meinhof and on the 18th the fallen Turkish and Kurdish revolutionaries like Deniz Gezmiş, Ibrahim Kaypakkaya and Mahmut Zengin and their resistance against the Turkish military dictatorship of the 80s.
For the anniversary of the death of Haki Karer, the co-founder of the PKK, the first martyr and one of Öcalan’s closest friends, we published an interview about the life and struggle of Haki Karer.
In the Internationalist Academy on 31 May we organized a small memorial for Uta and Amara, two internationalists who died in an accident in the mountains of Kurdistan on 31 May 2005. Uta lived a practical anti-imperialist internationalism. She understood the meaning of the Kurdish liberation struggle in its global meaning, also for a revolutionary movement in Germany, which she never forgot. In an interview, which we translated into English and published, she talks about her way into the mountains of Kurdistan, internationalism and work in the women’s movement.
Her friend Amara (Ekin Ceren) grew up in Ankara and worked after a prison penalty in Turkey as well as Uta in Europe for the Kurdish Women’s Movement. On the anniversary of their death we also published some texts by different people who spent time with Amara.
# From Kurdistan to Great Britain – The Importance of Hunger Strikes
In the struggle with the hunger strike of the Kurdish movement for the freedom of Ocalan, we searched for the history of hunger strikes as a means of political struggle in countries and political movements. Comrades from England wrote in this debate about the hunger strike of the suffragettes like Sylvia Pankhurst, Bhagat Singh in India and Bobby Sand in Ireland.
MAKE ROJAVA GREEN AGAIN
One focus of our ecological work in May was to end the tree planting around our academy Helin Qerecox, which started in spring. From our own tree nursery we brought various trees such as lime trees, pomegranates, figs, lemons, olives and some oaks. The black water system is also in the final stage of completion. Impression of our works from the last month can be seen in the picture gallery on the website.
# Fridays For Future Rojava
Together with students from the Rojava University in Qamislo and the municipality, we participated as a campaign in the second global climate strike on May 24. With a small demonstration and garbage collection campaign, we drew attention to the topic of ecology and made a small practical contribution to a clean city. We have published a short video of the campaign.
# “We do not fear the ruins, for we carry a new world in our hearts!”
In response to our participation in the climate strike, we received a greeting from “changeforfuture” in Germany, an anti-capitalist platform within Fridays For Future, which emphasized the importance of the Rojava Revolution for the entire world.
# Make Rojava Green Again on the streets with Fridays For Future
In several European countries, Make Rojava Green Again activists have participated in the global climate strike with Fridays For Future. In speeches at the demos in Copenhagen, Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Barcelona, Geneva and Zurich, the activists stressed the importance of learning from the Rojava Revolution and developing a common struggle for a democratic and ecological society.
# Destruction and resistance in Hasankeyf – Action days on 7/8 June
Rojava’s water supply is dependent on the rivers that originate in the Kurdish mountains in Turkey. The Turkish state is building more and more dams to control the water, making it a political weapon against the revolution. But also whole cities and cultural places are destroyed by these mega-projects, as in Hasankeyf. Together with many organizations the campaign Make Rojava Green Again calls for global action days on June 7th/8th. In this context, we published a research paper on this construction project and its ecological and social impact. Also we in Rojava participated in the action days.
# RiseUp4Rojava – Smash Turkish fascism
The campaign which started a month ago is gathering momentum. Last month, actions took place in various countries such as Italy, England, Germany, Catalonia and Portugal. They combined the resistance of the hunger strikes with the protest against the support of Turkey by European states, big arms companies and the tourism industry. Without this support the fascist regime of Erdogan and its war against the revolution in Rojava could not take place.
# Rojava, Venezuela and South America – Between Imperialism and Revolution
As internationalists, we see ourselves connected not only with the revolution in Rojava, but with all the many struggles for liberation. To learn more about the struggles in Venezuela, we interviewed Jose from Colombia about the situation in Venezuela and other Latin American countries, their perspectives and the connection to the Rojava Revolution.
We need support
Our goal as an Internationalist Commune and as Make Rojava Green Again is to finance our work here ourselves and not to use the important financial means of the society in Rojava. For this we need support!
And we would like to thank all those who contribute with their donations, knowledge and translation work to the success of the Internationalist work in Rojava.
Revolutionary Greetings
Internationalist Commune of Rojava
and Make Rojava Green Again
June 09, 2019