In the present days capitalist modernity leads the world to a worldwide health crisis. Nearly every region of our planet it’s affected by the Covid-19 crisis. This is a new situation for the whole of humanity. This crisis, which has paralyzed most parts of urban life, has many different aspects. It’s a social, economical, political crisis, which affects deeply society’s psychology and causes new essential philosophical questions of life for the individual.
The capitalists states are using Covid-19 to reinforce their power over society. A fundamental prerequisite for this, which we have seen particularly well in this phase, is the fact that we in particular, here in the nation state system, have made ourselves dependent on the state in every detail of our lives. Rêber Apo writes about this in the third volume of the Manifesto of Democratic Civilization – Sociology of Freedom: “The health of members of society is also an issue every bit as important as education. The foundation, existence, and freedom of a society that lacks the means to sustain the health of its members is at risk, if not already lost. Dependency in the field of health is a sign of overall dependency, whereas a society that can address the physical and psychological problems of its members autonomously has what it takes to achieve its freedom.” However, since society is dependent on the state, especially in the areas of education and health, it has fallen into panic and despair. What would happen if we in Europe were to build up social self-organisation from below, like we see in the Democratic Confederation of Northern Syria/Rojava. Through a confederal, communal system in which society organises all areas of life itself, it has been possible to avoid such catastrophic conditions as in western metropolises, despite the limited material resources.
Militarisation, curfew, abolition of fundamental rights, increasing monopolies and authoritarianism are common parts of this process against democratic life and nations. At the same time we can observe a large increase in femicides and domestic violence everywhere – once again women are the first target within this crisis. And especially in the Middle East, despite ceasefire, the war against the people, women’s revolution, and democratic autonomy is continuing. Therefore society’s rage is growing. Protest and uprisings are increasing everywhere. The youth, women, health workers, and the growing mass of unemployed are standing up for their rights. We can expect this situation to increase during the coming months.
At the same time taking advantage of the situation the Turkish states and its allies are preparing the next offense of their war against the Kurdistan liberation movement. Military forces are being prepared to invade the free mountains of Kurdistan, with the help of collaborating elements of KDP and the Barzanî-Clan. Meanwhile preparation steps to invade the North Syrian democratic confederation are being done. And the arrests, femicides, destruction of martyrs graves and other forms of brutal repression against the Kurdish people and democratic forces in Bakûr and Turkey is still going on. With these developments in front of our eyes we can say that war isn’t finished and will certainly intensify in a close future.
In Europe the freedom movement has organized several actions and events before and during the Corona crisis. The Long March for the freedom for Abdullah Öcalan was a great success for us. At the 8th of march we have been present in many different places and showed that the women’s movement is walking hand in hand with women from all over the world. Unfortunately due to the Covid-19 crisis we were not able to hold the 4th conference on “Challenging Capitalist Modernity” in Hamburg. During the quarantine our friends held self-education seminars and did many actions for the freedom of Abdullah Öcalan and against the KDP-Turkish state military collaboration in Southern Kurdistan, threatening Qendîl and the refugee camp of Mexmûr.
Dear friends and comrades,
The Corona crisis has made our revolutionary work harder. The difficulties we face have been multiplied. Difficulties to travel, to get in contact, to gather our friends. The fear of the virus has blocked some of our friends in their home, which made some of them stop their efforts and works. Many people have been paralyzed, sitting in front of the news waiting for declarations by Merkel, Trump, or Erdogan. In the meanwhile all different components of the revolutionary people’s war in Turkey and Bakûr have shown a revived spirit of sacrifice and an intensification of actions against the Turkish fascist state. We have received this great resistance as an order to strengthen our contribution to the revolution.
In other places in the world we’ve observed that many comrades have found creative ways to move and continue to resist against the system. The crisis lets us experience a new form of “clandestinity”, managing the quarantine laws and state of emergency. Our approach is to never stop fighting and working for the revolution. The ones who don’t want to put in effort find excuses, but the ones who want to find methods and solutions. Therefore we have even intensified our works in some fields during the last month. Young women especially have played a very proactive role.
We have seen many creative projects emerging during the quarantine, especially concerning (self-)education, ideological research, writing, and translation, as well as new forms of protest and neighborhood mutual aid actions. This shows how a strong will, self-discipline, and communal life leads to border-less organizational capacities.
Dear comrades,
What this corona period has shown us is how vulnerable the society but also democratic and left movements are to the special warfare means of the capitalist power. The states have made dystopian situations like in Orwell’s 1984 more imaginable then ever before. Therefore the construction of a free mind, a free mentality, is more important than ever. We have to protect ourselves from the states’ special warfare against our motivation, resistance spirit, and communal life ethics. The states are trying to anesthetize us, using coercion as well as fear. The vocabulary and the subject of this fear is the only thing that has changed. Against this, the best answer is to strengthen communality and moral cohesion in society and (self-)education for a deeper understanding of our paradigm and the way of life of Rêber Apo, who has been resisting isolation on Imrali for 21 years. For this purpose our friends have developed the website komun-academy.com, which is now available in Spanish and German. Even more then before we should use the many opportunities to participate in educations of the Apoist freedom movement all around Europe. Help to make it happen, gather the friends who need and want to participate, and organize resources.
In Sociology of Freedom, Rêber Apo writes in this regard: “Ideological hegemony colonizes not only militarily and economically but, more recently, is greatly facilitated by the communications revolution and the media war—intensely focused and very surreptitious—waged against the whole of society, facilitating a more successful renewed cultural colonization. Society’s only way to freedom and emancipation is to resist this cultural conquest and colonization with its most fundamental tools for existence: moral and political struggle. A society that has lost its youth or, inversely, a youth that has lost its society, is beyond defeated; it has lost and betrayed its right to existence.”
Crises like these have shown us what it means to be prepared for a state of emergency and that we must be ready for anything in the future. Rêber Apo warned us very early on about such crises: “Chaos-causing diseases such as cancer, AIDS, and stress are spreading. The society, which sees itself robbed of basic vital needs, such as the environment, housing, health, education, work, and safety, realizes for the first time in history that it cannot find radical solutions and that it is trapped in chaos. The lack of a way out causes dizziness.” (in Defense of a people). In his last statement in february, Rêber Apo made this point clear again, “Everything depends on your struggle. If you do nothing, the isolation and bloodshed will continue. Nobody will come and solve the problem for you.”
In the coming period we will have to face Turkish Fascism in its worst expression. The war threats against Rojava and South Kurdistan should be a focus of our protest and actions. Furthermore the struggle for freedom for people’s leader Öcalan and our political prisoners is another main point on our agenda. For this we count on our riseup4rojava network and will give everything to mobilize the youth, organize the necessary movement, and prepare actions to support our fighting comrades. Like always in this case a healthy dialectic of self-initiative and coordination are recommended and very important for all of us. We are convinced that the strength and role of young women’s struggle is absolutely essential for our success. Like this we will stop their war machinery with our united front against fascism and patriarchy.
For the logistics of our movement, the crisis means we must find new solutions for financial issues and mobility. Organize mutual aid, resources, and a strong web for militants. Without strong logistical structures there is no possibility for a great struggle, for a great resistance. Crises like these have shown us what it means to prepare yourself to cope with a state of emergency.
Also the actual situation shows us a clear need to improve our revolutionary structure locally and globally. Social activities and network building have to be the center of our attention. Friends have to be aware of the coming uprisings, that will happen following the economic consequences of the Corona-19 crisis. Go into the masses! Build international solidarity!
In great chaos, the greatest revolutions will rise. The old world is dying, the new world is being born, and in this extreme situation, monsters appear.
Revolutionary respect and greetings. Until Victory
Silav û rêzên şoreşgerî. An serkeftin an serkeftin!