ژیاننامە و چالاکی و نووسینەکانی  ئێلیزابێس گێرلی فلین

http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/flynn/index.html

ژیاننامە و چالاکی و نووسینەکانی ڤۆلتارین دێ کلێرە

http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/cleyre/Cleyrearchive.html

ژیاننامە و چالاکی و نووسینەکانی ماریە لویزە بێرنەری

http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/berneri/berneri.html

ژیاننامە و چالاکی و نووسینەکانی لویزە میشێل

http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/michel/michel.html

On February 5-12, an international week of solidarity with Russian
anarchists took place. 21 actions against repression were joined by 21
Russian cities and a large number of foreign comrades, from Belarus to
the US and Canada
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgwxVCgedxw

Information materials, leaflets, graffiti and stencils were distributed,
banners were posted informing about repressions against anarchists.
Actions were held in Kaliningrad, Altai, Kursk, Novosibirsk, Samara ,
Kemerovo, Astrakhan, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Izhevsk, Penza, St.
Petersburg, Moscow, Nakhodka, Chelyabinsk and Vorkuta.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojnsVCQx3wA

Pickets informing about the terror of the FSB against anarchists were
held in Yekaterinburg, Kandalaksha, Tomsk, Sochi, Moscow, St.
Petersburg, Saratov.

In Samara, an evening of solidarity was organized. Visitors were told
about repressions against anarchists and about the basic rules of
conspiracy. After that,  the film “Sacco and Vanzetti” was shown, the
story of these people clearly demonstrates all the inhumanity and
uselesness of the state system and the methods that it has used, to this
day, to suppress any protests.

In Moscow, an unauthorized march of anarchists against the lawlessness
of the FSB also took place. Several dozen people blocked Myasnitskaya –
one of the central streets adjacent to the Lubyanka, where the main FSB
department is located. They passed along it with the banner “FSB is the
main terrorist.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow6vWEkPAns

Solidarity actions were also held in other countries.
In Belarus, anarchists distributed leaflets informing about the
persecution of Russian anarchists.

In Lutsk, Ukraine, there were also grafitti in solidarity with Russian
anarchists.

Actions of solidarity took place in Warsaw, Gdansk (Poland) and Prague
(Czech Republic)

In Prague, Czech Republic, a concert was held in support of repressed
Russian anarchists. At the concert  information was spread about
repressions in Russia and money was raised for the Anarchist Black
Cross, which provides assistance to political prisoners. Also
fundraising was carried out in Estonia at concerts of musical groups
Ognemöt, Adrestia and Prophets V in Tallinn and Tartu.

Also, an event to inform about repression in Russia and fund-raising was
held in Budapest, Hungary.

In France, a solidarity dinner was held, the funds from which were
directed to support the Russian anarchists.

Also, many solidarity events took place in the United States. So, in
Minneapolis there was an evening of solidarity, in Brooklyn – a film
show. Antifascist online store from Portland spread information about
repression and raised money to support the repressed anarchists. In
Kansas, a street demonstration was held in support of Russian
anarchists. In New York, a picket took place at the Russian consulate.
Also, representatives of the Revolutionary Abolitionist movement from
New York expressed solidarity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVOYYC3UlvA

Solidarity action was held in Toronto, Canada. Anarchists held a picket
on the most crowded square in the city, informing passers-by about
repressions in Russia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-2GAbTi8qI

The week of solidarity was held in solidarity with Russian anarchists,
subjected to repression by the FSB. In the fall of 2017, the FSB
arrested six anarchists from Penza. The reason for the arrest was that
all the six played airsoft, which was regarded by the secret services as
a training for the overthrow of state power. Weapons were implanted to
the detainees, they were accused of organizing a terrorist community.
For months, the detainees were daily tortured and beaten until they
agreed to slander themselves. They were hung upside down, beaten,
tortured with electric shockers. In January 2018, several anarchists
were kidnapped in St. Petersburg. Two suspects and one witness were
seized, all of them were tortured. One of the detainees for this purpose
was taken to the forest near the city. Another detainee was tortured for
more than a day. Only officially the interrogation lasted a day – from
three o’clock in the morning until three o’clock in the morning.
Although one of the suspects and the witness made a statement about the
torture, their statements were not checked by the state authorities.

The FSB is announcing plans for arrests on the fabricated case of a
terrorist group of two dozen anarchists in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Penza
and Belarus.

Also in the Crimea, special services detained a local anarchist and
social activist Yevgeny Karakashev. The reason for the detention is the
active participation of Eugene in the social struggle of the inhabitants
of the peninsula. On the day of the arrest, the Mayor of Evpatoria met
with protesters against point-building and made a hint about possible
arrests. The reason for the arrest was Yevgeny’s correspondence in a
group chat in social networks.

Immediately after the end of the week of actions in support of Russian
anarchists, repressions were continued in Moscow. On February 13, early
in the morning, an anarchist Elena Gorban was arrested. In violation of
all norms, the lawyer was not admitted to Elena for several hours until
she agreed to admit guilt in the pogrom of the office of the ruling
Russian party, “United Russia”. On the same day, anarchist Alexei
Kobaidze was detained and arrested for the same charge. The reason for
the arrests was an unauthorized demonstration in Moscow against the FSB
terror. Early in the morning, before the appearance of information in
the media and the Internet about the arrests of anarchists, the
pro-government telegram channels published a video of detention and a
message that  anarchists taking part in the demonstration had been
detained in Moscow. The investigators who questioned Elena also asked
her about the demonstration although the detainees were charged with the
pogrom of United Russia, and not participation in the demonstration.

After the arrest, actions of solidarity were continued in Russia. In
Chelyabinsk, anarchists placed a banner near the FSB  building and threw
a smoke bomb to its territory. And in the suburbs of Moscow, a
mobilising raid was held in solidarity with the repressed anarchists.

We are calling upon everybody to continue the solidarity campaign!

https://naroborona.info/2018/02/16/otchet-o-nedele-aktsij-solidarnosti-s-rossijskimi-anarhistami/

Greetings, comrades! We will be grateful for help in disseminating
information about repressions against anarchists in Russia and about the
international solidarity campaign

https://naroborona.info/2018/02/18/report-on-the-international-week-of-solidarity-with-russian-anarchists/

On February 5-12, an international week of solidarity with Russian
anarchists took place. 21 actions against repression were joined by 21
Russian cities and a large number of foreign comrades, from Belarus to
the US and Canada Information materials, leaflets, graffiti and stencils
were distributed, banners were posted informing about repressions
against anarchists. Actions were held in Kaliningrad, Altai, Kursk,
Novosibirsk, Samara , Kemerovo, Astrakhan, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don,
Izhevsk, Penza, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Nakhodka, Chelyabinsk and
Vorkuta.
Pickets informing about the terror of the FSB against anarchists were
held in Yekaterinburg, Kandalaksha, Tomsk, Sochi, Moscow, St.
Petersburg, Saratov.
In Samara, an evening of solidarity was organized. Visitors were told
about repressions against anarchists and about the basic rules of
conspiracy. After that,  the film “Sacco and Vanzetti” was shown, the
story of these people clearly demonstrates all the inhumanity and
uselesness of the state system and the methods that it has used, to this
day, to suppress any protests. In Moscow, an unauthorized march of
anarchists against the lawlessness of the FSB also took place. Several
dozen people blocked Myasnitskaya – one of the central streets adjacent
to the Lubyanka, where the main FSB department is located. They passed
along it with the banner “FSB is the main terrorist.”
Solidarity actions were also held in other countries.
In Belarus, anarchists distributed leaflets informing about the
persecution of Russian anarchists.
In Lutsk, Ukraine, there were also grafitti in solidarity with Russian
anarchists.
Actions of solidarity took place in Warsaw, Gdansk (Poland) and Prague
(Czech Republic)
In Prague, Czech Republic, a concert was held in support of repressed
Russian anarchists. At the concert  information was spread about
repressions in Russia and money was raised for the Anarchist Black
Cross, which provides assistance to political prisoners. Also
fundraising was carried out in Estonia at concerts of musical groups
Ognemöt, Adrestia and Prophets V in Tallinn and Tartu.
Also, an event to inform about repression in Russia and fund-raising was
held in Budapest, Hungary.
In France, a solidarity dinner was held, the funds from which were
directed to support the Russian anarchists.
Also, many solidarity events took place in the United States. So, in
Minneapolis there was an evening of solidarity, in Brooklyn – a film
show. Antifascist online store from Portland spread information about
repression and raised money to support the repressed anarchists. In
Kansas, a street demonstration was held in support of Russian
anarchists. In New York, a picket took place at the Russian consulate.
Also, representatives of the Revolutionary Abolitionist movement from
New York expressed solidarity.
Solidarity action was held in Toronto, Canada. Anarchists held a picket
on the most crowded square in the city, informing passers-by about
repressions in Russia.

The week of solidarity was held in solidarity with Russian anarchists,
subjected to repression by the FSB. In the fall of 2017, the FSB
arrested six anarchists from Penza. The reason for the arrest was that
all the six played airsoft, which was regarded by the secret services as
a training for the overthrow of state power. Weapons were implanted to
the detainees, they were accused of organizing a terrorist community.
For months, the detainees were daily tortured and beaten until they
agreed to slander themselves. They were hung upside down, beaten,
tortured with electric shockers. In January 2018, several anarchists
were kidnapped in St. Petersburg. Two suspects and one witness were
seized, all of them were tortured. One of the detainees for this purpose
was taken to the forest near the city. Another detainee was tortured for
more than a day. Only officially the interrogation lasted a day – from
three o’clock in the morning until three o’clock in the morning.
Although one of the suspects and the witness made a statement about the
torture, their statements were not checked by the state authorities.
The FSB is announcing plans for arrests on the fabricated case of a
terrorist group of two dozen anarchists in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Penza
and Belarus.

Also in the Crimea, special services detained a local anarchist and
social activist Yevgeny Karakashev. The reason for the detention is the
active participation of Eugene in the social struggle of the inhabitants
of the peninsula. On the day of the arrest, the Mayor of Evpatoria met
with protesters against point-building and made a hint about possible
arrests. The reason for the arrest was Yevgeny’s correspondence in a
group chat in social networks.
Immediately after the end of the week of actions in support of Russian
anarchists, repressions were continued in Moscow. On February 13, early
in the morning, an anarchist Elena Gorban was arrested. In violation of
all norms, the lawyer was not admitted to Elena for several hours until
she agreed to admit guilt in the pogrom of the office of the ruling
Russian party, “United Russia”. On the same day, anarchist Alexei
Kobaidze was detained and arrested for the same charge. The reason for
the arrests was an unauthorized demonstration in Moscow against the FSB
terror. Early in the morning, before the appearance of information in
the media and the Internet about the arrests of anarchists, the
pro-government telegram channels published a video of detention and a
message that  anarchists taking part in the demonstration had been
detained in Moscow. The investigators who questioned Elena also asked
her about the demonstration although the detainees were charged with the
pogrom of United Russia, and not participation in the demonstration.
The action against United Russia:
After the arrest, actions of solidarity were continued in Russia. In
Chelyabinsk, anarchists placed a banner near the FSB  building and threw
a smoke bomb to its territory. And in the suburbs of Moscow, a
mobilising raid was held in solidarity with the repressed anarchists.

We are calling upon everybody to continue the solidarity campaign!

No to war,  No to dictators and States,  No to corporations, No to religions, No to nationalism!

Dear Anarchist Comrades wherever you are,

We, anarchists stress that we are against war, against military attacks and militias.  We are strongly against killing civilians and launching attacks against villages, towns and cities killing innocent people discriminating and destroying their places.

We believe neither any states nor any groups have the right to attack anybody else on the grounds of religion, nationality, land disputes and others.  We believe whatever the justification is for attacking and launching wars are simply against freedom and humanity.

Our attitude and position against the current war that the State of Turkey has launched on Afrin, the rest of Rojava and its citizens is not because we are Kurdish or Kurdish-speaking.  We are against all wars as a matter of principle in all corners of the world.

We stand up firm by our anarchism principles against whoever launches this kind of war.  We have the same attitude and same position even if Kurds launch war to invade the freedom, cultures and society of any ethnics or groups. Our stand against the State of Turkey in launching the war against Rojava is from this position no more and no less. We are against war, against the State, against any kind of superiority, class division and against the capitalist system.

In view of the above we reject any kind of war whether launched by the State of Turkey against Rojava or another State against some nation or group elsewhere in the world.

We believe that we should be against war and denounce it, we should campaign in any way against glorifying war and war mango. It is our sole duty to encourage and persuade people to stand up against war. It is our duty to make people more aware that war only brings more profit and interest for the corporations especially the military fields.  In the meantime it brings us more poverty, more misery, more displacement, losing our beloved ones, soaring prices, homelessness, unemployment, destroying our places & our climate as well as dividing us all.

We also denounce all TV channels and the social media in the region that since the aggressive attacks have started, they have tried to deny the rights of people in Afrin and Rojava and do not recognise their legitimate defence. They are deceiving people and trying to mobilise them in support of the State of Turkey under different reasons and bringing them falls justification.

No to State and nationalism

No to Authority

No to Religion’s power

No to Parliamentary System

No to Militia’s power

No to Political Party and Capitalism

Yes to self-organising and self-administration

Kurdish-speaking anarchist forum (KAF)

22/01/2018

——————————————————

www.anarkistan.com

www.facebook.com/sekoy.anarkistan

https://twitter.com/anarkistan

anarkistan@riseup.net

Immediate call to all our comrades Anarchists and Libertarians wherever they are

A direct and special call to our comrades Anarchists and Libertarians Arabic-speaking

No to State, No to war.  Yes for self-administration and the Social revolution

For years and years we, anarchists and libertarian in Iraqi “Kurdistan”, Europe and other countries all our publicities and our slogan have been about Yes for self-administration in  everywhere  and for all the communities , but No to State.

We raised our voice against the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and its very recent scenario of referendum on “independent Kurdish State”.  We are very sure the other anarchists among Arab, Turkish, Assyrian and others had the same attitude. We also believe the same attitude from our anarchist comrades throughout the world to say no to State, authority, nationalism and to be against the nationalist and against pro-fascist war.

Iraqi “Kurdistan” has been going through a very difficult time since Oct 2015.  The wages of public sector employees have been reduced to less than a half, the number of unemployment has increased sharply, the price of everything has gone up, business and the government services have dramatically been cut off. This all happened in addition to the war with Isis and disputes between (KRG) and the central government over the budget and the disputed lands and city  like Kirkuk and the others.

So many strikes, demonstrations and boycotting work during this couple of years took place.  Some of them lasted for few weeks even months.  KRG instead of resolving all these problems tried to divert the attention of people from the real problems by announcing in July the referendum of independent Kurdistan, state of Kurdistan, on 25^th of Sep.

Masoud Barzani the head of KRG set up the day of referendum without consulting Iraqi, neighbourhood countries, US and European countries.  Once he called for referendum, all of them rejected it and told him that he will not get any support.

After the referendum of 25^th of September Iraq, Iran and Turkey governments came together against it and threaten KRG with economic sanction.  Iraqi government asked KRG to withdraw the decisions of the referendum and get back to the Iraqi constitution in taking any decision.  Haider al-Abadi , the Prime Minster of Iraq gave Barzani warning that  if he does not back down, the Iraqi government  will  take  over control of  Kirkuk province’s oil wells that are at the moment under  the control of  KRG.

Three days ago the Iraqi government sent a huge numbers of Police, military and Hishdi Shaibe [ the Siha paramilitary  group] with various of heavy weapons to take positions on the city’s approaches.

The civil war now very imminent between Peshmarga, KRG forces, and the above forces of central government.

We are asking for support and solidarity from our comrades anarchists to protest, making a statement against this war, show their anger against the war and solidarity to Iraqi people.

We are anti State because we are against the current political system.  We are anti-political party and anti-authoritarian ideology from left to the right, because we are anti class superiority, and anti-private ownership and exploitation of the labour. All the wars in history happened due to protecting class superiority, private ownership and labour exploitation.

We are against war, weapons and hatters between the different cultures and between different ethnic minorities.  War in general produces death and slavery. The outcome of any war does not support starting the social revolution, in fact it damages and weakening the revolution climate. In the meantime, war opening a very big market for selling/ buying weapons and destroying the environment. War makes the poor people poorer and class superiority lasts longer.

While we are against war, we are very much in favour of people self-administration wherever they are living communally and working collectively.  We are also aware wherever the state exist there is no freedom, wherever political party is, there is no self-thinking and individual independency. Wherever the businessmen and money are, there are slavery wages and exploited people.

In Iraqi “Kurdistan” there has been a strong authority for the last 26 years, there has been the bourgeois in power.  For the last 26 years people deprived from the real freedom and from making the decision by themselves. For the long time the ruler has done very little for the people in “Kurdistan” in term of providing services. They encouraged people to move from the rural area to the towns and cities, making so many business contracts with the foreign oil company and corporations for their own profit, sold all the public lands and many more. In short “Kurdistan” became the home of many multinational companies, the financial institutions and the spies network of the neighbourhood countries and others. Since then they acted like a proper state in whatever they wanted to do. So why should we expect different when they set up their own “independent state” and think it will be better than what the people have it now?

We ask all our anarchist comrades to support and have solidarity with us to prevent this war.  It is true that your opposition to the military and nationalist war in Iraq, if happens, may not as effective as our opposition, however, your solidarity will be crucial and greatly appreciated.

We again are calling our whole comrade anarchists especially Arab, Persian, Turkish and Assyrian speakers to raise their voices and act to stop this viscous war that is not in the interest of working class and poor people in Iraq and “Kurdistan”.  Being silent and not be serious about it, is directly or indirectly serves the politicians, the big corporations and the capitalist system.  We therefore have no choice but fighting back the system, its action and its war.  We also expect the other anarchists wherever they are to stand with us, firm and to support the children, elderly and the disable people in Iraq.

No to war

No to State

No to nationalism and patriotism

No to capitalism system

Yes to solidarity and unite against the war

Yes to self-organise

Yes to the social struggle

Yes to social revolution

Yes to social uprising

Yes to self-administration

Kurdish-Speaking Anarchist Forum   (KAF)

15t Oct 2017

Website:

www.anarkistan.com

Facebook page

www.facebook.com/sekoy.anarkistan

Twitter

https://twitter.com/anarkistan

Email

anarkistan@riseup.net

Our struggle must goes beyond what our lifestyle demands

By: Zaher Baher

June 2017

The world still suffers from the current economic crisis that started in 2008. It has not only made the vast majority of us poorer and our life harder but has limited our freedoms as well.  In the meantime the number of visible and invisible wars increases and the number of victims goes up. Despite this, the leftist, communist, socialist and the anarchist movements have not gone forward.

When I attend meetings, I often hear the phrase ‘anarchist movement’.  I question if the ‘anarchist movement’ exist anywhere?

In my opinion after the Spain civil war of 1936 to 1939 there has not been any anarchist movement anywhere in the world.  What we had or we have are just a few strong anarchist organisations. In France and Greece there were some street activities but I could not call them a ‘movement’.

Of course, there are many reason for this.  In this article I point out a couple of major weaknesses of the anarchists in Europe in general and in the UK in particular that to a certain extent are slowing down our efforts and struggle towards the ‘movement’.

• Far from organising ourselves:

We cannot deny the role and impact organisations play in the movement. Of course, I am talking about non-hierarchical organisation. It is true in history in many places there were many major popular uprisings and movements without people organising themselves before.  However, these movements or uprisings have either been brutally suppressed or have not achieved and major changes. In fact most of them made the system stronger.

Although one of the main principles of anarchism is individual freedom and work on achieving it, at the same time anarchism strongly believes in working, struggling and living collectively while still the freedom of the individual is protected. Working and living together does not restrict it.  In my opinion the relation and link between individual freedom and working, living, struggling collectively is very strong and to certain extent one completes the other.  In other words weakening one of them weakens the other.

Life under this brutal system imposed many commitments and obligations over every individual in society.  If any of us wants to breach some of those obligations and commitments we have to pay the price in certain way.

The present system has been formed on the basis of brutality, exploitation inequality, poverty, unsocial justice, war and its law and order to make the individual subject or obey to these rules.  At the same time, all of these give us enough evidence that this system cannot be changed without us organising ourselves.  We need to organise ourselves, we need to have our short and long term plans, our aims and strategies.  Without the above it is not possible to bring about the major changes we want.  This is why it is important for anarchists to organise themselves in non-hierarchical groups and organisations they think suit them best.

​

Self-organising alone, concentrating on only one single issue and keeping our distance from other groups and not doing activities together might achieve what the group formed for, but it will never change the system or even make a major change in society. Nowadays engaging in single issue without politicalising it serves the system. It will serve the big society that David Cameron claimed when he came to power in 2010.  We should support the cases that the people suffering on their hand whatever they are, not just supporting the people who suffers.  There are so many single issues: refugees, migrants, homelessness, gentrification, food bank, different housing issues. Comrades work on them but most do not politicalise the issue effectively or do not link up with other groups and do not coordinate our campaigns well enough.

Working on a single issue without radicalising the issue and the people who suffers only benefits the state and the system. Are we just doing work for the state to reduce people’s tensions, angers and their frustration to make them totally dependent? By working for free are we taking financial responsibility off the state, and replacing workers by doing voluntary work? In these circumstances, whatever the good intentions of the individual, the outcomes may be nothing more than self-satisfaction while supporting the State and the system.

Working on a single issue is easy and does not need a lot of effort.  In most cases it suits someone own lifestyle, so we need to push ourselves beyond working only on single issues.

Here I refer to Janet Biehl who describes working on single issue well “Yet the history of the left has shown that strictly single issue movements are limited as well. To be sure, they have significance for protesting particular injustices, but the results they yield are minimal in proportion to the growing social and ecological changes that are necessary.  Above all, they do not provide a program for building the ongoing institutions that are necessary for reconstruction of society.  Nor have they consciously aimed to create a political arena in which democratic activities could become a permanent presence in everyday life” Janet Biehl, The Politics of Social Ecology, Page 141.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6YOyGNakE86b3RLY2RZN0dySUE/view?usp=sharing

• Individualism and Lifestyle  

Individualism is another branch, and another weakness, of anarchism.  It first appeared strongly in the 19^th century and was advocated by many anarchists. Individualism defends the freedom and autonomy of the individual and it has benefited from anarchist principles that believe strongly in the freedom of the individual.  This idea has been used by many anarchists to enjoy their freedom, to be active individually and keep their distance from having to take action collectively. In other words anarchists are the victims of a misinterpretation of anarchism.   This has been justified by anarchists thinking that collective work or activities are not compatible with individual freedoms and their independence.  This tendency is directly or indirectly against any kind of commitments in organising and activities. This kind of individualism to a large extent serves the current system more than it serves the anarchist movement.

Individualism contradicts one of the major aims of the anarchism which is building the communes and living inside the communes. Communes are the outcome of collective activities, based on support, solidarity and mutual relationships with other communes that exist.  Such communes cannot be built upon the idea of individualism. Communes and their autonomy should be seen in practising inside the framework of support, duty and very strong relationship between them, otherwise the commune will be isolated, marginalised and will not last long.

The individualism we see nowadays may believe in working class struggle but with the attitude of not participating in, or committing itself to, the movement it remains lonely and ineffective.  While anarchism is love, concern, sharing, working and living collectively, individualism is only concerned about its own autonomy and lifestyle, so the distance between them remains wide.

A couple of centuries ago, when individualism claimed personal autonomy (autonomy is different from freedom) one could have enjoyed it. At that time the system and its influences were not as strong as they are now. Presently every individual is connected to the system, in many ways that make life extremely difficult. In other words in some ways the individual have been deprived from his/her own freedom.

Today the Ecology question has become a major issue in the anarchist movement or revolution. I was wondering what is the attitude of the individualist to this?  What is individualisms role and how will individualists take part and push forward the ecology question? In my opinion as long as individualism sticks with its idea, it will be extremely hard for them to have a considerable role in this matter.

Bakunin and Kropotkin talked about the freedom of the individual and individualism. Both of them insist that the freedom of the individual and social anarchism are compatible with one another and they are not against each other. Kropotkin was against the individualism of Max Sterner and called it “elitism”.  Bakunin was more concern with social anarchism, in his book, Political Philosophy of Bakunin, p. 158, he says. “Even the most wretched individual of our present society could not exist and develop without the cumulative social efforts of countless generations. Thus the individual, his freedom and reason, are the products of society, and not vice versa: society is not the product of individuals comprising it; and the higher, the more fully the individual is developed, the greater his freedom — and the more he is the product of society, the more does he receive from society and the greater his debt to it”

Individualism is against authority but it marginalises itself when it focuses mainly on individual freedom at the expense of collective action, activities, political and social self-organisation, so the idea remains impractical.

Another negative side of individualism for me is its support for the current culture, while the socialist/anarchist revolution is incomplete without including culture.  The duty of anarchists is to reject the current culture, which is the culture of the system that covers the whole of Europe, America and the other industrialised countries.  This culture, in every way, is in the interest of capitalism so that if anarchists, as individuals or groups, do not reject it and do not stand against it, it is impossible to take anarchism even one step forward.

As far as I know, although individualism is against authority and the system, it seems to go well with them and their culture. The system wants us to live and remain alone, not having contact with one another, concerned about our own problems and not those of others. You, yourself comes first and everyone else second. Having a certain lifestyle that does not interfere with the system, not organising ourselves, and sticking with a kind of life that we have chosen or has been chosen for us:  this is the culture that the present system maintains and tries to promote through its powerful Media. Without this culture the system cannot renew itself and survive.  So individualism is protecting the current culture that breaks down relationships and keeps distance between us.

If the basis of anarchism is looking after one another, loving, caring, sharing and giving support and solidarity and also exchanging ideas, knowledge and experiences, then there is no doubt that individualism, whatever its reasons, its form and sources does not serve anarchism as much as it serves the present capitalist system.

Zaherbaher.com

​

We, supporters of Rojava, should be worried about its partnership with the United States

By: Zaher Baher

17^th May 2017

The political and military balance in Syria is constantly changing. Relations between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), co-founded by People’s Protection Units (YPG), and in turn Russia and US constantly ebb and flow. The dynamic behind these changes has very little to do with ISIS. In fact, it all depends on the respective interests of the great powers and their struggle against one another to establish predominant power there.

The past year has seen a steady erosion of the US position in Syria vis-à-vis Russia, who has since overtaken it. Russia’s heavy involvement in Syria and becoming a major ally with Turkey has changed many things. The relative inactivity of the USA has given the opportunity to Russia, Turkey and Iran to play a significant role in making decisions there.

Under Trump’s new administration this has changed somewhat. He probably has a different approach to Syria. While US still is one of the major powers in the world, it cannot sit and do nothing in the region especially in Syria.

After a long pause, Trump has decided to ally with SDF against ISIS to defeat them in Raqqa regardless of Turkey’s position and reaction. Trump has now approved a deal to supply arms including heavy weapons to SDF directly, seeing them as the most effective and reliable force especially after the SDF capture of Tabqa City from ISIS. The US administration is at present more than any other time determined in recapturing Raqqa, the ISIS de facto capital. It is now quite clear that the US administration and SDF and the People’s Democratic Party (PYD) are getting very close to one another to the point that SDF strife to achieve what the US wants to achieve, even though this can be at the expenses of what have been achieved so far in Rojava.

We supporters of Rojava should be very worried about the current development in relation to Democratic Self-administration and the Movement of Society (Tev-Dem). We should be concerned because of the following consequences:

First: It is a matter of influence for the US while seeing that Russia almost controlled the situation and managed to take Turkey onto its own side. US wants to be very active before losing its power there. It wants to play the major role and achieve its own goal, this can be only done through SDF and PYD. There is no doubt that the US is more concerned about its own interests rather than Kurdish interests in Rojava.

Second: To contain SDF and PYD, to make them a tool by using them for their own interest. This is the best way to make PYD and SDF lose their credibility in Syria, the region, Europe and elsewhere.

Third: The current attitude of the US towards Rojava and arming SDF directly might be an effort to cut them off from PKK and decrease PKK influence over developments in Rojava.

Fourth: There is no doubt that whatever happens will now make Turkey more furious against both YPG and PKK. This could create a greater backlash from Turkey. It may repeat last month’s military operations against YPG or even extend these military operations into Rojava and against YPG & PKK in Shangal, in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Fifth: With Russia’s displeasure against the SDF and PYD, Assad could be influenced to change Syria’s attitude towards them in the future if not now. If Rojava had chosen the Russian side instead of USA, it could have been much better because Russia is more reliable as an ally than the US. It looks like Assad will stay in power after the defeat of ISIS. Assad normally listens to Russia very diligently. In this case, there was a greater chance under pressure of Russia that Assad would have let Rojava pursue a better future than what US and Western countries may decide for them.

Sixth:  Intensifying and prolonging the current war causing Rojava a great deal of dislocation.  Continuation of the war costs SDF so many lives and makes them weaker and weaker.  The stronger and the bigger the size of SDF in Rojava is, the more it must necessarily be dependent on one of the major power, in the meantime Rojava will be weaker.  The more SDF achieves militarily, the more socially and economically can actually be lost in Rojava.  The more powerful SDF and PYD become, the less power the local self-administration and Tev-Dem will have.  The number of SDF fighters alone is estimated to be 50,000. Just imagine even 10.000 instead of working militarily, working in the fields and cooperatives or building school, hospitals, parks and houses, by now Rojava would have been somewhere else.

Seventh: Often I have mentioned in my articles that a successful Rojava – successful in the way we were hopping – depended on a couple of factors or as a minimum one to preserve the experiment.  One was expanding Rojava’s movement at least to a couple of more countries in the region.  The other factor was international solidarity.  However, neither  happened.  If one thing can now preserve Rojava, it is ISIS and the opposition forces in Syria holding out against the odds.  In short only a prolonged anti-ISIS military campaign can preserve Rojava.

In my opinion after defeating ISIS in Kobane’s region, YPG should have suspended it military operations except in self-defence of its establish perimeter.  After defeating ISIS in Kobane region and the greater intervention of US and Russia, UPG and PYD should have withdrawn from the war.  PYD should have dealt with the situation better and withdrawn from power for Tev-Dem and let the rest of the population to make their own decisions about peace and war.  Clearly the current nature, direction and the potential course of the present war in Rojava has completely changed.  It is a war of the major powers, European governments and the regional governments over securing interests and sharing domination.

The situation at the moment looks very grim.  It appears that once ISIS has been defeated in Mosul and Raqqa then more than likely war will start involving Rojava and PKK in Qandil and Shangal.  These calculation are being made by Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Turkey and perhaps also Iran and Iraq with the blessing of the US, Russia and Germany.  Such a war may start by the end of August or September after the military defeat of ISIS in Mosul and Reqqa.

Zaherbaher.com