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I have recently read the book "Khiyana: Daesh, the Left and the Unmaking of the Syrian Revolution" (edited by Jules Alford and Andy Wilson). I won't review the whole book at this time. I have previously reviewed Burning Country, by Robin Yassin-Kassab and Leila al-Shami (al-Shami is also a contributor to Khiyana) : http://links.org.au/node/4679 I will just comment on Khiyana's coverage of the Rojava revolution. While acknowledging some positive developments in Rojava, the authors are hostile to the PYD. The book contains an interview with Shiar Neyo, a Syrian-Kurdish activist who has lived in exile for a decade. Neyo says that the situation in Rojava is "complicated": "On the one hand, it seems that the experience has begun to achieve commendable gains, such as secular management of the state apparatus, ensuring greater rights for women and the participation of minorities in administration, a greater participation and more agency for the local population in the management of their affairs... "On the other hand, however, the experiment may well end with the strengthening of the PYD's dominance and the increase of oppression in the name of protecting these gains, along with their gradual squandering in return for narrow political interests." (Khiyana, p.242) Neyo accuses the PYD of suppressing dissent (arresting political opponents "under a variety of excuses", closing a radio station, etc). Responding to similar accusations from Human Rights Watch, the Rojava administration has said it is committed to democracy and human rights, but faces severe objective difficulties: "However, it is necessary to bear in mind the extraordinary circumstances under which we live: the constant threat of war, the devastating blockade, the flux of refugees, the shortages of basic services related to communication, electricity, water and many other challenges..." They say they do not punish people for their political views, but only for criminal actions. (See the Democratic Self-Rule Administration's response to Human Rights Watch report) I am not in a position to judge the validity of Neyo's claims. But if the Rojava revolutionaries sometimes fall short of their own democratic principles, this would not be surprising. Societies at war or under siege often suppress dissent. Rojava has been under continous military attack by ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra and other groups backed by Turkey. There have also been intermittent attacks by the Assad regime. Rojava has also been under a blockade by Turkey and the Kurdistan Regional Government (i.e. the government of the Kurdish region of Iraq, which is extremely hostile to the Rojava revolution). The ENKS, a coalition of Kurdish political groups opposing the PYD, is aligned with the KRG. Hence the KRG's blockade of Rojava would be expected to cause hostility to the ENKS. Neyo recognises that Rojava has been attacked by Turkish-backed forces. He says that some activists who have been critical of the PYD have now joined the YPG/YPJ to fight against these forces: "After armed Islamist factions - the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS) and Jabhat Al-Nusra in particular - started to attack Kurdish areas in mid-2013, igniting a war that continues unabated between them and the PYD forces, many Syrian-Kurds started to change their position towards the PYD and the YPG forces that it dominates. "The Islamist factions are fighting this battle under an Islamist banner some times and under an Arabist banner at others. But the real engine behind them is the Turkish government, the arch-enemy of the Kurds... "The combination of these factors has pushed many Kurdish-Syrians to accepting the PYD's authority out of self-defence or out of fear that the radical Islamists might win and subsequently impose their rule and their values that are alien to the local population, like what happened in al-Raqqa... "Even those most critical of the party started to see it as the 'lesser of two evils'. I know many Kurdish activists in Qamishli, Amuda and other areas who, before these developments, used to organise demonstrations and write against the PYD, but have now suddenly started volunteering in the ranks of the YPG, which is largely controlled by the PYD, to fight against the Islamists for the reasons previously mentioned". (Khiyana, p. 240) I would add that some parties previously part of the ENKS have left it and begun to participate in the Rojava revolution. Neyo does not discuss the political ideas of the PYD. He doesn't mention the PYD's program of democratic confederalism. Those interested should read the book "Revolution in Rojava: democratic autonomy and women's liberation in Syrian Kurdistan", by Michael Knapp, Anja Flach and Ercan Ayboga (Pluto Press, 2016). Neyo claims that the PYD is likely to establish a "totalitarian regime". Whatever the faults of the PYD, I have not seen evidence sufficient to justify such a dire prediction. Of course, bureaucratic degeneration is always a danger in a revolutionary society under siege from a hostile environment. But I would hope that when the war and blockade are ended, any departures from democratic practice will be ended too. Chris Slee _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
