Newsletter #09 by the Internationalist Commune of Rojava and
Make Rojava Green Again
Dear friends,
It took some time – again – to come up with Newsletter #09. Our last one is now more then two months ago, so there is much to report. We hope that you will find the updates engaging and energising.
As you are probably aware, the past two months have been shaped by the increasingly aggressive threats of Erdogan’s Turkish regime against the revolution in Rojava. In the face of a very real threat of war, the self administration of Rojava has declared a general mobilisation and preparation to defend themselves and the revolution. Yet in the face of the fascist forces of Turkey, we – alongside the people of Rojava are resisting, both through demonstrations and building the values which drive the revolution. Below we share some highlights from the past months, drawing on global actions, what’s happening in Rojava, and how you can support the revolution.
GLOBAL ACTIONS
# Hunger Strikes against the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan
Since the 7th of November 2018, Leyla Güven is on hunger strike with the aim to break the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan, who is imprisoned on the island Imrali, Turkey. Hundreds of prisoners and activists have joined the strike and continue to unite behind the message that to “break the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan is to defend the revolution of Rojava”. We also sent our greetings to Imam Sis, now in Wales in hunger strike.
# Solidarity from the Yellow Vests in Commercy
As internationalists, we seek connections between struggles globally. We have been speaking to people in Rojava about the uprising in France and recorded voices of solidarity to the Yellow Vests movement. Now we received a message of solidarity with the revolution in Rojava from the Yellow Vests in Commercy, emphasizing our common goals.
# “Remembering means fighting”
To mark six years since the assassination of Sakine Cansiz, Leyla Saylemez and Fidan Dogan in Paris by Turkish intelligence agencies, we called for participation on the demonstration in Paris in January and joined the powerful demonstration in the city of Derik in Rojava. To remember those who have fallen in the revolution means to keep fighting.
# Global Days of Action
As part of this ongoing fight, the Internationalist Commune, along with Make Rojava Green Again and the Mesopotamian Ecology Movement, called for global days of action on the 27th and 28th of January. In more than 60 places across more than 20 countries, people went to demonstrations and organized public events, concerts and solidarity photo campaigns. These days showed that thousands of people around the world are standing with the revolution in Rojava in Northeast Syria. You can view a selection of pictures from the days of action, expressing the diversity of the global solidarity movement with the revolution.
We want to thank everyone who made these days possible with translations, spreading the word, going to the streets and sending pictures. Alongside the activists of Make Rojava Green Again, we send greetings to all the ecological and revolutionary movements around the world. These days of action truly showed that we are a global movement working to overcome capitalist modernity.
IN ROJAVA & MAKE ROJAVA GREEN AGAIN
# Resistance Diaries from Rojava
As 2018 drew to a close, our friend Miran Cudi spent and few days in Minbic and Kobane, joining the peoples’ protest against a threat of a Turkish attack on the region. In his words and live from the streets, he reported on the preparation of the people in Rojava and Northern Syria for the resistance against the aggression of the Turkish army and their affiliated jihadist gangs.
# 2nd Middle East Youth Conference in Kobane
With great enthusiasm, members of our media committee participated in the 2nd Middle East Youth Conference held in the historical city of Kobane from February 20th to the 23rd. Youth from different countries, political parties and religions came together to discuss and propose solutions to the current crisis in the Middle East. We had the chance to take many pictures, meet lots of people and create videos with many inspiring conference participants, including activists from the Syriac Youth Movement, the young women’s movements in South Kurdistan, Palestine, the Circassians and Turkmens from Minbic.
#Make Rojava Green Again
To mark the transition from winter into spring, we visited our friends at Roj tree nursery near the city of Derik. Along with activists from the Make Rojava Green Again campaign, we took cuttings of olive trees originating in Afrin to make new trees that we will plant across Rojava. A friend wrote a short article about the work and the people in the tree nursery and our works as internationalists. In addition to the 150 olive cuttings from Roj tree nursery, we have already taken over 500 cuttings from local fruit, nut and olive trees, and are rooting them in our tree nursery.
As long as the political and military situation allows us, we will put a focus on the ecological works at the Internationalist Academy. We planted some grapes and started with our gardening again- sowing seeds, pruning fruit trees and building a new composting system for our food waste.
For the next month, until the season to plant trees is over, we will plant trees for every donation that we receive, with each tree planted another step to support the ecological revolution in Rojava.
# Thanks for your support
With your support, we were able to raise around 2,000 Euros to support our outreach and education works. For this we want to thank all of you. However, to be sustainable in the longer term we need regular donations from our supporters. That’s why we want to ask you to consider a monthly donation to our campaign. Any amount – as small as a few euros – makes a big difference to our work.
We also want to thank all of the people who have helped us with translation work. With this support we could publish texts and articles in many different languages on our website in addition to English, including: French, Italian, Spanish, German, Kurmanci, Swedish, Greek, Polish and Russian.
We are always happy for new people to join our translation team. If you are interested in finding out more, just write an email to [email protected].
Finally, as always we welcome people to join us in Rojava and be part of the revolution here. Our website has more information about the process of joining us, and we welcome you to get in touch to find out more.
Revolutionary Greetings
Internationalist Commune of Rojava
March 05, 2019