Re: [Marxism] David Graeber: manufactured ignorance: the strange case of Juan Cole and the Kurdish freedom movement

[mkaradjis . via Marxism]

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Sorry Nick, who wrote anything here to whitewash the Turkish state.
Look, it is not a matter of one statement by Salih Muslim in 2013,
repulsive as that one was. You need to deal with the fact that the
PYD's decision to go its own entirely neutral "third way" from the
very outset has been part of the problem, as well as the problems
arising from Turkish pressure on the opposition and the opposition's
own Arab nationalist background.

PYD leader Salih Muslim admits that they effectively declared
themselves neutral as early as mid-2011:

“Regarding our position in the conflict, the Kurds in Syria had been
fighting for our democratic rights in a country ruled by a dynastic
and despotic regime. But a few months after the uprising we realized
that many who were siding with the insurrection were coming from the
mosques and we thought that those were not good travel companions for
us.” http://kurdistantribune.com/2016/salih-muslim-time-has-proved-us-right/

Yes, thousands of Syrians were pouring out of mosques – one of the
only safe places – and going to protest for democracy against Assad
from the earliest days; it is immensely sectarian (in the political
sense) to see all these people as your enemies “a few months” into the
uprising, as if every worshipper protesting for democracy and freedom
is a crazed jihadist.

In an interview back in 2011, Salih Muslim (who was curiously allowed
back into Syria by Assad, following years of exile), also used
familiar Assadist tropes in defining the uprising as a western “regime
change” operation:

“As PYD, we believe that the international plan asking for a change in
Syria is not in favor of the peoples … In return for assuming the
leading role on Syria, Turkey received compromises by the West on
suppressing the Syrian Kurds. One of the major reasons of the regime
change project in Syria was to eliminate the Kurdish” (PYD Lideri
Salih Müslim ile Röportaj, “Suriye’de Kürtler yol haritası
çıkartıyor”, Firat News Agency, 12 September 2011, cited in
http://www.todayszaman.com/todays-think-tanks_syrias-pkk-game_271361.html).

Then there were the PYD attacks on Kurdish anti-Assad demonstrations,
beginning in Afrin in February 2012. I quoted from Burning Country on
this in a recent post. here is another report:

“On February 3, 2012, organized attacks by sympathizers of the
Democratic Union Party (PYD) injured at least 17 people in ʿAfrin.
Armed PYD supporters surrounded approximately three hundred supporters
of the Kurdish Patriotic Conference as they were gathering for a
dissident demonstration. The PYD demanded that the demonstrators walk
behind their flag. When the demonstrators refused and chanted “Azadî”
(“Freedom”), they were attacked with billy clubs, knives, chains, and
guns.
… Syrian security forces did not intervene. Numerous demonstrators
were brought to the hospital—however, some of them could not be
treated as the PYD also continued its attacks there.”
http://kurdwatch.org/en/interview8/html?aid=2449=en

According to the same report, five demonstrations took place the same
day in al-Qamishli. The regime arrested several people, but also
“during the demonstration in al-Antariyah, PYD thugs attacked
activists who were filming the protests with the explanation that only
employees of the PKK stations Roj-TV and Ronahi-TV were allowed to
make such recordings. Three activists suffered serious head injuries.”

The rest of 2012 is a literal catalogue of PYD attacks on Kurdish
anti-Assad demonstrations. Depending on the situation, the PYD
sometimes organised its own anti-Assad demonstrations, while at other
times it attempted to swap the anti-Assad slogans for demands that
Ocalan be released and the like.

Valid criticism is not "demonisation." Only blind romanticism leads to
demonisation, which is why so many Rojava romantics often start
spurning out the crudest Islamophobic nonsense about "head-choppers"
as soon as any rebels out side Rojava are mentioned. Perhaps time for
a more critical outlook.

On Fri, Mar 2, 2018 at 1:06 PM, Nick Fredman via Marxism
 wrote:
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>
> Ok then we pretty much know for sure that at least 6 people in Afrin or
> about 0.001% of the current population held up placards of Assad, and that
> their reasons for doing so might have been influenced by what the former
> leader of the PYD 

Re: [Marxism] David Graeber: manufactured ignorance: the strange case of Juan Cole and the Kurdish freedom movement

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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On 3/1/18 5:01 PM, Nick Fredman wrote:


Louis uses “Kurds” for these placard holders when he does not know their 
ethnicity, or, more to the point if we don’t want to ape lazy, ignorant 
journalists in the bourgeois media, their political affiliations or views.


Maybe that's because my views were shaped by PYD leader Salih Muslim 
calling the sarin gas attack in East Ghouta that cost the lives of more 
than a thousand people a "false flag". Any leader capable of making such 
a terrible statement is creating an atmosphere where it is entirely 
plausible that his followers would hold pictures of the killer of those 
people aloft.

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[Marxism] Did Russian meddling swing the election? Does it matter?

[Anthony Boynton via Marxism]

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John Reiman has misquoted me and misunderstood what I said in my recent
post (and probably what Mark Lause said as well). We can only guess why,
but to be charitable, he was probably just overly hasty to make a good
point.



And that is too bad, because I agree with his good point. Here it is



“One thing we have to realize is that in Russia, the "oligarchs" and the
Russian mafia are more or less one and the same. And I don't think we
really have to "guess" about Trump's connections: Trump IS connected with
the Russian mafia, he HAS served as a money launderer for them for years,
and there IS so much publicly known evidence that we don't have to "guess".
This has been in the public record for at least a year, if not longer.”



Just for the record, here is John’s unfortunate Bowdlerization:



"Anthony Boynton quotes Mark Lause approvingly: "Although we can only guess
based on what we know, Trump's behavior makes him look guilty as hell By
guilty, I mean deep-rooted financial ties between Trump and his circle with
the Russian oligarchs, among others."



But I did not write anything like that! Here is what I wrote,

“I agree with Mark Lause when he writes,



‘“I tend to think the entire issue (Russian intervention in the 2016 US
elections) as much more important than we tend to credit it. (But I tended
to think that we underestimated the importance of the impeachment question
on Nixon, too.)  Although we can only guess based on what we know, Trump's
behavior makes him look guilty as hell, and I'd bet that Mueller has
serious evidence against him . . . and is currently working to make the
case watertight.  By guilty, I mean deep-rooted financial ties between
Trump and his circle with the Russian oligarchs, among others.”

‘“The Republicans have generally demonstrated a complete lack of party
independence from the head of state . . . and the Democrats have shown a
complete inability to tie their shoes and take the most rudimentary steps.”’



“But, I think he misses what is happening in the world when he continues,

‘“All of which underscores the opportunities of which we could be taking
advantage, if we had genuinely independent social movements of any
persistence and scale . . . or any organizations more substantial than
social democratic bowling leagues.”’



“The fact of the matter is that a mass and multi-faceted social democratic
movement is growing

​in ​

the United States that includes the women’s rights movement (much more than
#MeToo), Black Lives Matter, the immigrants’ rights movement, the $15/hour
movement, the anti-gun movement and a much broader and deeper ferment.

​

“That deeper ferment is in part centered on the issue of democracy​ and is
deeply offended by the fact that Trump is in the White House despite having
lost the popular vote and patently having manipulated the vote in illegal
ways and with the aid of a foreign power.



“However you define “we” –the very broad left, the revolutionary left, the
Marxist left….- “we” are growing rapidly and are taking advantage of
opportunities. IMHO “We” includes much more than the old codgers who
graduated from the New Left of the 1960’s: “We” includes the new generation
of the left that is just coming to grips with the struggle.



“Rather than “Cheers”, I have to say, CHEER UP MARK, better days are
coming.”

Anthony
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Re: [Marxism] David Graeber: manufactured ignorance: the strange case of Juan Cole and the Kurdish freedom movement

[Chris Slee via Marxism]

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The picture with the Assad portraits was disconcerting, but I don't think we 
should give it too much significance.

It happened when a pro-Assad militia unit arrived in Afrin to assist in the 
defence of the area against the Turkish invasion.  I think that cooperation 
against the invasion is legitimate.

But I recognise that there are dangers in this cooperation.  If Afrin (and 
Rojava more broadly) becomes dependent on the Assad regime for its defence, it 
could lead to downplaying the struggle for democracy in Syria.

But this is a reflection of the difficulty of making a revolution in a society 
under siege.

Chrs Slee


From: Louis Proyect 
Sent: Friday, 2 March 2018 12:08:49 AM
To: Chris Slee; Activists and scholars in Marxist tradition
Subject: Re: [Marxism] David Graeber: manufactured ignorance: the strange case 
of Juan Cole and the Kurdish freedom movement

On 3/1/18 4:11 AM, Chris Slee wrote:
> d the broader Democratic Federation of Northern Syria.
>
> My point is not to denigrate the work of activists operating in very 
> difficult circumstances, under attack from both the Assad regime and 
> reactionary rebel groups, but rather to highlight the achievements of the 
> DFNS.

But there is nothing in Greenleft about anybody like the 4 disappeared
activists. They still exist, after all.

It is nothing but the Rojava fan club 24/7. 280 articles, for pete's
sake. I wouldn't mind this so much if at least there was an attempt to
engage with the reality that Kurds are now holding up portraits of
Bashar al-Assad as if they were at a rally organized by Tim Anderson.

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[Marxism] The sorry tale of a Wall Street gamble gone bad | Owen Hill | Socialist Worker

[Kevin Lindemann and Cathy Campo via Marxism]

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https://socialistworker.org/2018/03/01/the-sorry-tale-of-a-wall-street-gamble-gone-bad


Sent from my iPhone

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[Marxism] Fwd: Le conflit syrien, un front à gauche - regards.fr

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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This is from the French left press and worth reading through Google 
translate. It is about the divide on the left that pits Melenchon on one 
side supporting Assad and the NPA on the other. Good for the NPA.


http://www.regards.fr/web/article/le-conflit-syrien-un-front-a-gauche

The article mentions one by NPA member Julien Salingue titled "How can 
you justify the unjustifiable?" that appeared on Socialist Worker last year:


https://socialistworker.org/2017/01/04/how-can-you-justify-the-unjustifiable
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[Marxism] Remembering the East L.A. blowouts

[Steven L. Robinson via Marxism]

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https://www.scpr.org/news/2018/03/01/81235/fifty-years-ago-thousands-walked-out-of-east-la-sc/
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[Marxism] Fwd: Watch FORGET BAGHDAD Online | Vimeo On Demand on Vimeo

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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Nearly 5 years ago I wrote an article for CounterPunch about a 
documentary titled "Forget Baghdad" that featured 4 Iraqi Communist 
Party members who ended up in Israel because of the "population 
exchange" that accompanied the creation of the state of Israel. All of 
them felt more like Arabs than Israelis, as does NYU professor Ella 
Shohat who was also featured in the film. I will be writing a review of 
a Pluto book that is a collection of articles in tomorrow's 
CounterPunch. For only $5, you watch "Forget Baghdad" on Vimeo. Highly 
recommended.


https://vimeo.com/ondemand/forget
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Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Putin takes aim at West with new array of Russian nuclear weapons that can't be intercepted

[Tim Nelson via Marxism]

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 ""At some point, it seemed to me that a compromise [on missile defense
with the U.S.] could be found. But no," Putin said."

The chickens of Republican unilateralism come home to roost?

"Striking a lighter tone, Putin announced a name-that-weapon contest for
Russia's new cruise missile and an unmanned underwater drone. Participants
can log onto Russia's Ministry of Defense website to enter their ideas."

When our government did something like this, we managed to get a submarine
called Boaty McBoat-Face.

On Thu, Mar 1, 2018 at 3:02 PM, Louis Proyect via Marxism <
marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote:

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> *
>
> We are fucked.
>
> http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-russia-nuclear-weapons-20
> 180301-story.html
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Re: [Marxism] Gun control and assault weapons

[Tim Nelson via Marxism]

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Interesting John, thanks.

A couple of points you made perked my interest.

Firstly, it must be genuinely worrying that the ultra-reactionary wing of
the Right in the USA is armed to the teeth. I can't imagine how I would
feel if the Tory right/UKIP had assault weapons in their homes, but I would
hazard a guess that it would be distressing.

This point got me thinking though:

" Such a political movement will only develop seriously if it is outside of
and opposed to the Democratic Party, which would welcome it in in order to
smother it. So, that means taking the first steps towards building a mass
working class party to oppose both the parties of big business."

Do comrades on here think there is a link between the lack of a social
democratic movement in America and the lack of gun control?

I'm sure it's not the whole story, but given that social democracy's MO is
essentially that the state is neutral and the vehicle for social change, it
might go some way to explain why in many Western European capitalist
democracies there is an acceptance that weapons should be controlled for
public safety reasons, while in America there is not.

On Thu, Mar 1, 2018 at 12:43 PM, John Reimann via Marxism <
marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote:

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>
> We had a discussion the other evening among a small group about gun control
> and the growing youth movement in favor of it. The issue got more
> complicated by the minute. But in the end, I think the question boils down
> to: “How should socialists relate to what seems to be a growing movement
> among some high school students in favor of some sort of increased gun
> regulation – in particular banning assault weapons?”
>
> There was some disagreement, but in general we agreed that our society
> would be better off if civilians did not possess assault weapons. We also
> agreed that the police shouldn’t have them either.
>
> Then matters get more complicated: How are you going to go about
> confiscating them in the present political climate, where the NRA gun
> fanatics/the racists are feeling so powerful and on the offensive? You are
> going to end up with one shoot out after another, and with a rebellion from
> among the police themselves, many of whom are also members of these racist
> groups. Today, being armed to the teeth is normalized among many millions.
> So, you have to reverse the entire political direction, the entire
> political climate here in the US. That means developing a political
> movement that takes up all the basic things that are bothering working
> class people here – economics, racism, sexism, the environment, jobs... the
> whole nine yards.
> Such a political movement will only develop seriously if it is outside of
> and opposed to the Democratic Party, which would welcome it in in order to
> smother it. So, that means taking the first steps towards building a mass
> working class party to oppose both the parties of big business.
> Read entire article here:
> https://oaklandsocialist.com/2018/03/01/some-thoughts-on-gun-control/
>
>
> --
> *“How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone
> willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause? Such a fine
> sunny day, and I have to go, but what does my death matter, if through us
> thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?” *Sophie Scholl,
> executed by the Nazis 2/22/1943. She was 21 years old.
> Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook
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[Marxism] Fwd: Italy’s Past Glories

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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In my article on Vivek Chibber, I alluded to Jacobin's 3 puff pieces on 
Togliatti and the Italian CP. Here's the fourth:


https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/02/italian-communist-party-pci-togliatti-rifondazione-comunista
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[Marxism] Gun regulation - update on Canada

[Ken Hiebert via Marxism]

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Mountain Equipment Co-op, which has 22 locations in Canada, has yielded to a 
campaign to drop products from Vista Outdoor.  Vista Outdoor manufactures 
sports equipment, but is also involved in manufacturing semi-automatic weapons.
In 2009 a campaign to persuade MEC to drop Israeli products failed.
ken h

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/mec-vista-outdoor-1.4557071 


Mountain Equipment Co-op says it will stop selling products from Vista Outdoor, 
bowing to pressure to distance itself from the sports and recreation company, 
which also makes guns and ammunition, after last month's school shooting in 
Florida.


https://bdsmovement.net/news/resolution-boycott-israel-defeated-mountain-equipment-co-op-agm
 


Resolution to Boycott Israel defeated at Mountain Equipment Co-op AGM

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[Marxism] Fwd: Putin takes aim at West with new array of Russian nuclear weapons that can't be intercepted

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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We are fucked.

http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-russia-nuclear-weapons-20180301-story.html
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[Marxism] Marriage under Adversity

[Dennis Brasky via Marxism]

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>
> Marriage under Adversity By Emily West
>
> *This timely piece of work reminds us that the rights we sometimes take
> for granted have not always been available to all.*
>
>  clip -
>
> As Tera Hunter points out in concluding her meticulously researched,
> eloquent and accessible book, who can (and cannot) legally marry in any
> society has always been subject to state sanction via the right to enter
> wedlock and wider issues of legal citizenship. For example, only in the
> twenty-first century have same-sex couples been able to marry on the same
> footing as heterosexual ones. But as well as sexual affiliation, race and
> ethnicity have shaped the contours of state policies on wedlock, largely
> because of the exclusionary ethnic barriers to legal citizenship in the
> United States. Hunter explores these contentious issues through the prism
> of black marriages over the course of the nineteenth century. This
> chronological spread is one of this impressive book’s strengths. Only by
> tracking wedlock through slavery, the Civil War, emancipation,
> Reconstruction, and then the era of Jim Crow segregation, can we fully
> understand how the nature of black marriage changed over time. In addition
> to her chronological breadth, Hunter also engages with a range of
> perspectives on nineteenth-century black marriage. She includes the views
> of enslaved and formerly enslaved people themselves, notwithstanding the
> methodological challenges posed by a limited source base. She explores a
> large amount of legal evidence and official policies related to marriage at
> both the federal and state level. As such, Hunter successfully integrates
> disparate historiographical strands of social, political and legal history.
> This is a real achievement in itself.
>
>
> full -  http://common-place.org/book/vol-18-no-1-west/
>
>
>
>
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[Marxism] Fwd: How do socialists take on gun fundamentalism? | SocialistWorker.org

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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https://socialistworker.org/2018/02/27/how-do-socialists-take-on-gun-fundamentalism
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[Marxism] Fwd: Mark Lilla and the Crisis of Liberalism | Boston Review

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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http://bostonreview.net/class-inequality/samuel-moyn-mark-lilla-and-crisis-liberalism
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[Marxism] Fwd: The West Virginia Teacher Strike Not Over Yet | HuffPost

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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Rank and file militancy raises its beautiful head.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/west-virginia-teacher-strike-might-not-be-over-yet_us_5a970a85e4b0e6a5230453f0
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Re: [Marxism] David Graeber: manufactured ignorance: the strange case of Juan Cole and the Kurdish freedom movement

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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On 3/1/18 4:11 AM, Chris Slee wrote:

d the broader Democratic Federation of Northern Syria.

My point is not to denigrate the work of activists operating in very difficult 
circumstances, under attack from both the Assad regime and reactionary rebel 
groups, but rather to highlight the achievements of the DFNS.


But there is nothing in Greenleft about anybody like the 4 disappeared 
activists. They still exist, after all.


It is nothing but the Rojava fan club 24/7. 280 articles, for pete's 
sake. I wouldn't mind this so much if at least there was an attempt to 
engage with the reality that Kurds are now holding up portraits of 
Bashar al-Assad as if they were at a rally organized by Tim Anderson.

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[Marxism] Gun control and assault weapons

[John Reimann via Marxism]

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We had a discussion the other evening among a small group about gun control
and the growing youth movement in favor of it. The issue got more
complicated by the minute. But in the end, I think the question boils down
to: “How should socialists relate to what seems to be a growing movement
among some high school students in favor of some sort of increased gun
regulation – in particular banning assault weapons?”

There was some disagreement, but in general we agreed that our society
would be better off if civilians did not possess assault weapons. We also
agreed that the police shouldn’t have them either.

Then matters get more complicated: How are you going to go about
confiscating them in the present political climate, where the NRA gun
fanatics/the racists are feeling so powerful and on the offensive? You are
going to end up with one shoot out after another, and with a rebellion from
among the police themselves, many of whom are also members of these racist
groups. Today, being armed to the teeth is normalized among many millions.
So, you have to reverse the entire political direction, the entire
political climate here in the US. That means developing a political
movement that takes up all the basic things that are bothering working
class people here – economics, racism, sexism, the environment, jobs... the
whole nine yards.
Such a political movement will only develop seriously if it is outside of
and opposed to the Democratic Party, which would welcome it in in order to
smother it. So, that means taking the first steps towards building a mass
working class party to oppose both the parties of big business.
Read entire article here:
https://oaklandsocialist.com/2018/03/01/some-thoughts-on-gun-control/


-- 
*“How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone
willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause? Such a fine
sunny day, and I have to go, but what does my death matter, if through us
thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?” *Sophie Scholl,
executed by the Nazis 2/22/1943. She was 21 years old.
Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook
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[Marxism] "Knock, knock - you're dead" - cops to citizens

[Philip Ferguson via Marxism]

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A couple of years old, but an interesting piece. . .

https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/09/03/knock-knock-youre-dead-the-militarisation-of-the-police-force-in-the-land-of-the-free/
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Re: [Marxism] David Graeber: manufactured ignorance: the strange case of Juan Cole and the Kurdish freedom movement

[Chris Slee via Marxism]

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Louis Proyect says:

"Waiting to see a single article since 2013 about the brutal siege of
East Ghouta. Maybe if Assad left them alone, they'd have a chance to
organize seminars on Murray Bookchin's writings and see the light."

Assad is not the sole problem for democracy activists in eastern Ghouta.  
Reactionary armed groups control the area, and violently repress those who 
challenge their rule.

Four prominent activists, Razan Zaitouneh, Wael Hamada, Nazem Hamadi and Samira 
Khalil,  were abducted by armed men in December 2013 in the town of Douma in 
the eastern Ghouta area.  They have not been seen since.  They are believed to 
have been murdered by the Army of Islam, the strongest militia in the area.

Yassin al-Haj Saleh refers to "the two-fold character of the battle imposed on 
Syrians: against the Assadist necktie fascists and against the Islamist 
long-bearded fascists."  (Quoted in Burning Country, page x)

I don't know if anyone in eastern Ghouta ever read Murray Bookchin's writings.  
But some residents of the area were certainly inspired by Omar Aziz, who 
advocated and worked for the formation of local councils.  Aziz died in one of 
Assad's prisons.

Walid Daou has written an article on "The experience of local councils in the 
Syrian revolution":

http://www.al-manshour.org/node/7415

While supportive of the councils, Daou points out their "shortcomings...at 
least in terms of application."

He says:

"Armed groups remained outside the supervision of local councils. At the same 
time, the Syrian National Council, the Syrian interim government, and the 
National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition forces monopolized 
the "high political rhetoric."

"Thus, the original idea behind the councils became meaningless. Under the 
hegemony of weapons and conditional funding, the space for council work closed 
up. Thus, the possibility of building an alternative, democratic authority from 
below, which could lead the revolution and speak in its name, was diminished."

Another problem was the limited participation of women.  According to Razan 
Ghazzawi:  "Women and youth have very little representation in the ranks of 
either the local councils or the Syria National Coalition".

https://www.opendemocracy.net/north-africa-west-asia/razan-ghazzawi/seeing-women-in-revolutionary-syria

This contrasts with the role of women in Rojava and the broader Democratic 
Federation of Northern Syria.

My point is not to denigrate the work of activists operating in very difficult 
circumstances, under attack from both the Assad regime and reactionary rebel 
groups, but rather to highlight the achievements of the DFNS.

Chris Slee



From: Louis Proyect 
Sent: Friday, 23 February 2018 11:37 AM
To: Chris Slee; Activists and scholars in Marxist tradition
Subject: Re: [Marxism] David Graeber: manufactured ignorance: the strange case 
of Juan Cole and the Kurdish freedom movement

On 2/22/18 7:17 PM, Chris Slee wrote:
>
>
> The FSA was never a single united organisation, so we can't speak of "the 
> FSA" doing anything.  But Turkish-backed groups, some of which use the label 
> "FSA", have attacked Rojava on numerous occasions.

Reference, please.


> We prioritise solidarity with the Rojava revolution because of its socially 
> progressive nature - women's rights, ethnic and religious inclusiveness etc.

Waiting to see a single article since 2013 about the brutal siege of
East Ghouta. Maybe if Assad left them alone, they'd have a chance to
organize seminars on Murray Bookchin's writings and see the light.

>
> Turkish-backed groups committed war crimes in Aleppo too.  See Amnesty 
> International report:
>
> https://www.amnesty.org.au/syria-armed-groups-war-crimes-aleppo/
Syria: Armed groups committing war crimes in Aleppo 
...
www.amnesty.org.au
Armed groups surrounding the Sheikh Maqsoud district of Aleppo have repeatedly 
carried out indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets.



>

Well, at least this Kurdish neighborhood had a non-aggression pact with
Assad at the time or else it would have been hell to pay. Fortunately
for the neighborhood, Russian and Syrian jets liquidated the jihadi
threat to Murray Bookchin's anarchist experiment.

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