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ABSTRACT
Ecology, along with women’s liberation and radical democracy, is one of the major pillars of Democratic Confederalism, a new political paradigm developed by the Kurdish Freedom Movement through the voice of the PKK’s leader, Abdullah Öcalan. Scholars attribute the greening of the Kurdish agenda to the impact that the founder of Social Ecology, Murray Bookchin, had on Öcalan’s ideology. Without denying the veracity of this argument, the following article analyzes the influence that Maria Mies, a pioneer of socialist ecofeminism, had on the philosophical elaboration of Öcalan. Examining the theses exposed in his prison writings with the most relevant aspects of Mies’ thought, this article shows the limits, challenges, and strategic use of the Kurdish ecofeminist perspective. This approach provides an original understanding of the emancipatory horizon opened up by Democratic Confederalism and particularly by Jineolojî, the “science of women and life,” spearheaded by the Kurdish Women’s Movement since 2011.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 This and other translations from non-English sources by the author unless otherwise noted.
2 “I do not say that there are no psychological aspects linked to paternity or motherhood, but let us not forget that, in their essence, paternity and motherhood are sociological concepts, phenomena, perceptions” (Öcalan Citation2019, 190). “The true reason for the longevity of the mother-concept is … not due to an abstract ability to give birth” (Öcalan Citation2013, 14).
3 See the debate on Capitalism Nature Socialism about ecofeminism and essentialism: Mellor (Citation1992), Carlassare (Citation1994), and Godfrey (Citation2005).
4 In August 2017, I participated to the first Jineolojî International Camp held in Germany. On this occasion, the Jineolojî’s Committee of Europe presented us a text by Maria Mies on ecofeminist research methodology as one of their main sources (Mies and Shiva Citation2014, 36–54).