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This is disturbing, if much of it is true - and the author's interpretation of particular incidents and processes if they are happening are true. But we don't know who this guy is, and to what extent his report is coloured by political/sect affiliation or disgruntlement at probable loss of male and Arab and sect privilege. One thing I'm particularly sceptical about is the claim that religious-based dress is banned: I'm seen a number of reports including recent Facebook posts from Kobane-based Hawzhin Azeez that indicate a range of such dress being unremarkable throughout liberated Rojava. Azeez also related a recent trip to Manbiq where she met young women who were very happy to dress *freely* and work for the first time. Generally, There's plenty of reports very contradictory yo this one, and lack of context to some things that might be true in this report. In my article 'Fake news about the Rojava revolution' http://links.org.au/fake-news-rojava-revolution various sources who can't remotely be dismissed as apologists, like HRW, SOHR and an SNC-appointed investigation team, who I cited regarding the "ethnic cleansing" slander, didn't mention anything like systematic ethnic or religious discrimination in Rojava. None of the 150 people interviewed for the book Revolution in Rojava https://www.amazon.com/Revolution-Rojava-Democratic-Liberation-Kurdistan/dp/0745336590 mentioned anything but tolerance and cultural freedom for Arabs, Armenians and Syriacs, and all brands of Christians and Muslims in Rojava. Regarding the "friendliness" to Assad and the regime moving in etc.: it's no secret there was a post-uprising agreement for the regime to continue to pay teachers and some public servants salaries. But as I've argued here before, in a fractured failed state it's not surprising for all sorts of pragmatic and ad hoc agreements between factions not exactly in harmony to continue or be set up. I've cited the observation in Jonathan Littell's Syrian Notebooks that a pharmacy in the heart of FSA-held Homs in 2012 still received its regular deliveries from the Ministry of Health. And the whole thing is quite a bit at odds with this recent report — by someone we can identify — from the outskirts of Raqqa about the reception Arabs are giving to SDF advances and the commune-democratisation of liberated areas (maybe the view of women are to some extent different): 'Compounding the shock of their flight from Raqqa and sudden freedom, many women said the first fighters they had seen across no man’s land had been Kurdish women from the YPJ, the all-female units fighting as part of the SDF. '“One minute I lived in Raqqa, a city ruled by men,” said Um Lamis, “where women had not even the power to show our faces. The next I am greeted by armed Kurdish women, faces bare and their hair uncovered, guns in hands, fighting the Daesh. '“They welcomed me as a sister! I bow to their courage!” 'Contact with the YPJ cadres, each versed in the rights of women as a central part of their own ideology, has left an indelible impression on many Raqqa women. 'The emerging system of local governance is remarkable for its difference, too. Typically, the Rojava territory is governed by local assemblies and communes, all chaired by women. '“At first some of the men in my village had a problem when I was elected co-chairwoman to my local assembly,” said Amina al-Hassan, 30, a Sunni Arab woman, who had lived for three years under Islamic State rule until her village was liberated by the SDF. “'They said it wasn’t my place as a woman,” she said. “So I said to them, to their faces: ‘You didn’t dare say a word when the Daesh were in charge. Now they have gone you want to deprive women again of their rights?’ The men hung their heads.” 'Whatever the future of Raqqa’s women, and however male-dominated the society to which they return after the defeat of Islamic State in Raqqa, each woman I spoke to from the city said the experience of life there, and their escape into a more egalitarian society, had irreversibly altered their perceptions.' http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/the-times/niqabs-thrown-down-in-the-sand-as-women-flee-raqqa/news-story/04173c9a8acc056b27d02daf90e369bd On Fri, May 12, 2017 at 10:24 PM, Louis Proyect via Marxism < marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote: > ******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** > #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. > #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. > ***************************************************************** > > > > http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/05/12/u-s-arms-ku > rds-who-are-isis-enemies-turkey-enemies-assad-friends > _________________________________________________________ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/opt > ions/marxism/nick.j.fredman%40gmail.com > _________________________________________________________ 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
