Rojava: a state subverted or reinvented?

ABSTRACT

This article discusses how Rojava and its ‘Autonomous Administration’ simultaneously subvert and reinstate the state(s) they are fighting. Based on Abdullah Öcalan’s (b. 1948) conversion to libertarianism after his imprisonment in 1999, the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) has been invested in presenting its political experiment as a ‘stateless democracy’, which has elicited both enthusiasm and suspicion from anarchists worldwide, and from large sections of the Western left. Far from trying to prove or disprove Rojava’s own narrative, this article analyses how the construction of Rojava is a complex and often self-contradictory process, both at the rhetorical/propagandist level and in terms of actual military, political and social practices. By engaging many enemies (ISIS, al Nusra, the Free Syrian Army, the Assad regime, Iraqi Kurdistan, Turkey), both discursively and in battle, and trying to obtain support from various potential and mutually conflicting allies (the United States, Russia, Iraqi Kurdistan, the EU, the Western left, the Assad regime) the PYD/YPG-J (People’s Protection Units) are entrenched in a fraught space in which subversion and mimicry coexist in uneasy tension.

KEYWORDS:

• Syrian War
• Rojava Kurdistan
• anarchism
• democratic confederalism
• propaganda

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Note on contributor

Enrique Galvan-Alvarez is a lecturer at Universidad Internacional de La Rioja and a Research Fellow at Oxford Brookes University. His doctoral research was focused on diasporic Tibetan communities and their cultural/literary production. Enrique has published many articles about the role of religious narratives as a tool of resistance in postcolonial polities, diasporic constructions of identity and the performance of state power in situations of statelessness, particularly in the context of the ongoing Syrian conflict.

Notes

1 For a detailed account of the Sykes-Picot agreement which divided the post-Ottoman Middle East in the different states that make it up today see James Barr, A Line in the Sand: Britain, France and the Struggle that Shaped the Middle East, London: Simon & Schuster, 2011, pp 31–37.

2 Max Weber, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, Tübingen: Mohr, 1921, p 29.

3 Carmen Pavel, Divided Sovereignty: International Institutions and the Limits of State Authority, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015, p xiv. Nicholas Barker, ‘Who Will Rule in Syria? Fragmented Sovereignty and the Problems of Transition’, Strife, 21 March 2014. Available at: http://strifeblog.org/2014/03/21/who-will-rule-in-syria-fragmented-sovereignty-and-the-problems-of-transition/ (accessed 15 February 2018).

4 This responds to a double need to turn Rojava into a symbol of the international left, in the same vein as the Zapatistas were enshrined in the 1990s, and to reassure the Syrian government and the international community that the PYD does not aim to create an independent Kurdish state.

5 The expression ‘one party state’ is used in the 2013 BBC documentary, which calls Rojava a ‘mini-state’ and mentions how ‘their enemies say that it is an atheistic one-party state with links to terrorism’, BBC, ‘Rojava: Syria’s Secret Revolution’, YouTube, 14 November 2014. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKhjJfH0ra4 (accessed 15 February 2018). Although the portrayal of Rojava as ‘atheistic’ might come from its more religious adversaries, the criticism that it is a ‘one-party state’ has come from many quarters. The PYD seems to be the only political party in charge in Rojava and its tolerance of political dissidence and plurality seems suspect as I will presently explain. In their defence, the PYD often presents the view that other Kurdish political parties refused to take part in their democratic experiment and therefore they were not in a position to be coerced to join in. In another example, in June 2015 the American right-wing libertarian cyber-activist ‘Brave the World’ posted a video of herself celebrating Rojava as ‘an ideal representation of the human spirit’ and ‘a sincere revolution’. Her highly idealistic and eulogistic commentary represents Rojava as ‘a place that has given birth to its own freedom’, BraveTheWorld, ‘Rojava: A Sincere Revolution’, YouTube, June 2015. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcLPyfgXBAk (accessed 26 April 2019).

6 As explained in the previous section, the YPG is the male and the YPJ the female militia of the PYD. Since both organisations function as one body I refer to them as one entity through the acronym YPG-J, which also reflects its gender diversity.

7 For instance, the website ‘Lions of Rojava’, aimed at recruiting both civil and military foreign volunteers with some leftist sympathies, makes an appeal to ‘Help Liberate a Changing World’ and presents Rojava as an inconvenient experiment that regional and world powers wish to silence (e.g. ‘just imagine for a second what a mess would emerge if Palestinians adopt Democratic Confederalism’, Lions of Rojava, ‘Media Analysis by AMARGI: The Ongoing Information War Against Rojava’, Lions of Rojava, August 2015. Available at: http://thelionsofrojava.com/index.php/2015/08/26/rojava-media-war/ (accessed 26 October 2015)). The website was also very critical of the United States and its involvement in the Middle East. However, other websites linked to the PYD or YPG-J have presented themselves as fighting America’s War on Terror and being its best ally on the ground, especially after the YPG-J military success in June 2015 and before hostilities with Turkey were initiated in July of the same year. Many of these posts were removed by October 2015. Nevertheless, as a counterpoint to the revolutionary leftist discourse, the Facebook account ‘Western Kurdistan’ (‘Western Kurdistan’, Facebook. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/Western-Kurdistan-800636946635265/ (accessed 15 December 2017)) used to share articles from the conservative British press (e.g. Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail), which has highlighted ISIS atrocities and the danger they represent for the West. The account has recently been shut down by pro-Turkish hackers. Analogously, the anti-capitalist rhetoric used in the more leftist portrayals of Rojava, and also featured in the 2013 BBC documentary, are balanced by the following statement by Sheikh Nafas, from the same source: ‘Rojava is a new territory – and a new market. And everyone can play a role here, including the Americans’.

8 Patrick Cockburn, The Rise of the Islamic State: ISIS and the New Sunni Revolution, London: Verso, 2015, p 27.

9 Shawn Parry-Giles, The Rhetorical Presidency, Propaganda and the Cold War, 1945–1955, London: Praeger, 2002, p xxvi.

10 The term ‘stateless democracy’ is Öcalan’s, and is defined in his own words as ‘a non-state political administration or a democracy without a state’ which is ‘open towards other political groups and factions. It is flexible, multi-cultural, anti-monopolistic, and consensus-oriented. Ecology and feminism are central pillars’. Abdullah Öcalan, Democratic Confederalism, London: International Initiative, 2011, p 21.

11 David Graeber, ‘Why is the World Ignoring the Revolutionary Kurds in Syria?’, The Guardian, 8 October 2014. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/08/why-world-ignoring-revolutionary-kurds-syria-isis (accessed 15 February 2018).

12 Graeber, ‘Why is the World Ignoring the Revolutionary Kurds in Syria?’.

13 BBC, ‘Rojava: Syria’s Secret Revolution’.

14 Jamie Dettmer, ‘Syria Falls Apart: Kurds Declare Self-Rule, Assad Besieges Aleppo’, The Daily Beast, 14 November 2013. Available at: https://www.thedailybeast.com/syria-falls-apart-kurds-declare-self-rule-assad-besieges-aleppo (accessed 30 April 2019).

15 Aris Roussinos, ‘Rojava: Syria’s Unknown War’, Vice News, December 2014. Available at: http://www.vice.com/en_uk/video/rojava-syrias-unknown-war (accessed 15 February 2018).

16 This issue is discussed in more detail in Emile Hokayem, Syria’s Uprising and the Fracturing of the Levant, Oxford: Routledge, 2013, pp 79–81; Michael Gunter, Out of Nowhere: The Kurds of Syria in Peace and War, London: Hurst & Company, 2014, pp 105–107; and Diana Darke, My House in Damascus: An Inside View of the Syrian Revolution, London: Haus Publishing, 2014, pp 194–195.

17 Harriet Allsop, The Kurds of Syria: Political Parties and Identity in the Middle East, London: I. B. Tauris, 2005, pp 211–212; Eva Savelsberg, ‘The Syrian-Kurdish Movements: Obstacles Rather than Forces of Democratization’, in David Romano and Mehmet Gurses (eds), Conflict, Democratization, and the Kurds in the Middle East: Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014, pp 99–103; and KurdWatch, www.kurdwatch.org (accessed 15 February 2018).

18 For a comprehensive account on the incident, which includes videos and eyewitness’ statements see Andrea Glioti, ‘Syrian Kurdish Group Linked to PKK Kills Protesters’, Al Monitor: The Pulse of the Middle East, 1 July 2013. Available at: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/07/syria-kurds-pyd-amuda-protest.html#ixzz2ajPxtsPC (accessed 15 February 2018).

19 KurdWatch, www.kurdwatch.org (accessed 15 February 2018).

20 There are many instances of pro-PYD/YPG-J Twitter accounts denouncing KurdWatch as Turkish propaganda, for instance see Hevallo, Twitter, 13 August 2013, 5:55 a.m. Available at: https://twitter.com/hevallo/status/367268124699410432. Also, a private source that wishes to remain anonymous explained to me in more detail how KurdWatch is funded by Turkish and American money and is operated by a pro-Turkish Syrian Kurd and his Western girlfriend living in Europe. However, no substantive evidence was provided and I could not verify such claims.

21 Human Rights Watch, ‘Syria: Abuses in Kurdish-Run Enclaves: Arbitrary Arrests, Unfair Trials; Use of Child Soldiers’, Human Rights Watch, 18 June 2014. Available at: https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/06/18/syria-abuses-kurdish-run-enclaves (accessed 15 February 2018).

22 Lama Fakih, ‘Syria: US Ally’s Razing of Villages Amounts to War Crimes’, Amnesty International, 13 October 2015. Available at: https://www.amnesty.org/en/press-releases/2015/10/syria-us-allys-razing-of-villages-amounts-to-war-crimes/Web (accessed 15 February 2018).

23 Reuters, ‘Amnesty Accuses U.S.-Backed Syrian Kurdish Group of Demolishing Homes’, Reuters, 13 October 2015. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-kurds-idUSKCN0S62A620151012 (accessed 26 April 2019).

24 ‘Western Kurdistan’, Facebook, 13 October 2015. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/Western-Kurdistan-800636946635265/ (accessed 15 December 2017).

25 Two good examples are Macer Gifford, ‘Open Letter to Amnesty from UK YPG Volunteer’, Kurdish Question, 14 October 2015. Available at: http://kurdishquestion.com/index.php/kurdistan/west-kurdistan/open-letter-to-amnesty-from-uk-ypg-volunteer/1173-open-letter-to-amnesty-from-uk-ypg-volunteer.html (accessed 15 February 2018) and Bill Weinberg, ‘Amnesty Charges Syrian Kurds With Ethnic Cleansing’, World War 4 Report, 13 October 2015. Available at: http://ww4report.com/node/14372 (accessed 15 February 2018).

26 Many of these rationalisations rely on framing the issue as ethnic cleansing and defend the YPG-J by stating that many of its fighters are ehtnic Arabs and Turkmen. While it is a fact that many Arabs, Turkmen and Syriacs are enlisted in the YPG-J, such counterclaims neither prove nor disprove that the abuses reported by Amnesty International.

27 Translation from Arabic into English by Lama Fakih, author of the report.

28 Refutations such as Gifford’s or Weinberg’s offer a more thorough critique of the Amnesty report by analysing and deconstructing the evidence provided (techniques used and information selection) by Lama Fakih, however, they do not offer any conclusive evidence that the report was fabricated or untrue.

29 Vice News (reporter not mentioned), ‘Caught Between the Islamic State and the Kurds: Exiled from Tal Abyad’, Vice News, 22 October 2015. Available at: https://news.vice.com/video/caught-between-the-islamic-state-and-the-kurds-exiled-from-tal-abyad (accessed 15 February 2018).

30 Discussed at length by Jordi Tejel, Syria’s Kurds: History, Politics and Society, Oxford: Routledge, 2009, pp 59–68; and Kerim Yildiz, The Kurds in Syria: The Forgotten People, London: Pluto Press, 2005, pp 36–38.

31 ‘Tal Abyad Massacre’, A Closer Look on Syria, 18 September 2016. Available at: http://acloserlookonsyria.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Tal_Abyad_massacre#Context_Discussion.

32 In Lama Fakih’s video-report Rojava security official Ciwan Ibrahim states that ‘because of the presence of terrorism some of the [suspect’s] families were asked to leave the area. Folks, please pack your things and come back when the area is safe and the war is over’. Fakih also writes that the ‘YPG has justified the forced displacement of civilians by saying that it was necessary for the civilians’ own safety’. The same claims have been made throughout a lengthy refutation: YPG General Command, ‘General Command of the People’s Defense Units in Response to Amnesty International Oct. 8th Report’, YPG: People’s Defense Units, 19 October 2015. Available at: http://ypgrojava.com/en/index.php/statements/809-statement-by-the-gen-comm-of-the-people-s-defense-units-in-response-to-amnesty-international-s-october-8th-report (accessed 26 October 2015).

33 See Allsop, The Kurds of Syria, pp 208–222; Savelsberg, ‘The Syrian-Kurdish Movements’, pp 102–103; and Robert Lowe, ‘The Emergence of Western Kurdistan and the Future of Syria’, in David Romano and Mehmet Gurses (eds), Conflict, Democratization, and the Kurds in the Middle East: Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014, pp 238–239.

34 Gunter, Out of Nowhere.

35 An anarchist critique to this aspect of the Rojava revolution can be found at The Anarchist Federation, ‘Anarchist Federation Statement in Rojava’, Anarchist Federation, 1 December 2014, Available at: https://afed.org.uk/anarchist-federation-statement-on-rojava/ (accessed 26 October 2018).

36 The omnipresent image of Öcalan is visible in many photographs and videos about Rojava. For instance see the abovementioned 2014 BBC documentary and Roussinos’s 2013 report for Vice News in which banners with Öcalan’s face feature prominently in many public rituals and scenes of daily life in Rojava.

37 The situation is far more complex, as the areas originally controlled by the FSA were gradually infiltrated and taken over by jihadists from Jabhat al Nusra and ISIS. However, I have tried to provide a simplified and approximate overview of the shifting relationship between the Kurds militias and its rebel/jihadi neighbours.

38 Reuters, ‘Kurdish YPG Welcomes Russian Troops to Syrian Military Base’, Middle East Eye, 20 March 2017. Available at: https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/kurdish-ypg-welcomes-russian-troops-syrian-military-base (accessed 29 April 2019); Rudaw, ‘YPG Receiving Training from Russia in Afrin, Says Spokesman’, Rudaw, 20 March 2017. Available at: http://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/20032017 (accessed 29 April 2019).

39 Gilbert Achcar, ‘Kurdish Struggle & Arab Uprising: A Complex Relation’, SOAS – University of London, London, UK, 24 April 2015, Conference Presentation.

40 In his writings Öcalan does not only consider ‘democratic confederalism’ to be a way of articulating a Kurdish polity bypassing the state(s) but also a potential method for articulating a different, stateless Middle East where Arabs, Turks, Turkmen, Kurds, Persians, Armenians, Assyrians and Jews can coexist peacefully.

41 Achille Mbembe, , ‘Necropolitics’, Libby Meintjes (tr.), p 12. Available at: https://www.dartmouth.edu/~lhc/docs/achillembembe.pdf (accessed 15 February 2018).

42 ‘The Lions of Rojava’, Facebook. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/TheLionsOfRojavaOfficial?fref=ts (accessed 15 February 2018).

43 ‘Shame The Sheep’, ‘Islamic State F*ck Your B*llshit’ [sic], YouTube, 15 August 2015. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIaPkBY7riI (accessed 26 October 2015).

44 The video entitled ‘Islamic State, F*ck your Bullsh*t’ was made and uploaded by the Twitter/YouTube user ‘Shame the Sheep’, whose relationship to the YPG-J is unclear, but whose videos have been widely shared and celebrated through the social media accounts of Kurdish fighters. In another similar anti-ISIS video, ‘A Message to the People of the So-Called Caliphate’, Shame the Sheep sends a threat to ISIS and concludes with George W. Bush proclaiming: ‘We will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated’, which again shows the problematic relationship of Kurdish anti-Jihadist rhetoric vis-à-vis American imperialism in the region. ‘Shame The Sheep’, ‘A Message to the People of the So-Called Caliphate’, YouTube, 12 May 2015. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWurOg0_ykw (accessed 26 October 2015). ‘Shame the Sheep’s account has since been removed from YouTube.

45 Both slogans could be found in websites like ‘Western Kurdistan’, Facebook. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/Western-Kurdistan-800636946635265/ (accessed 15 February 2015), before it was hacked by pro-Turkish supporters in early 2018.

46 Aris Roussinos, ‘Kurds Assert Control of Hasakah: The Battle for Rojava (Dispatch 3)’, Vice News, 13 August 2015. Available at: https://news.vice.com/video/kurds-assert-control-of-hasakah-the-battle-for-rojava-dispatch-3 (accessed 15 February 2018).

47 Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, ‘ISIS Fighter Beheaded by Syrian Christian: Was It An Act of Revenge?’ Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 31 May 2015. Available at: http://www.syriahr.com/en/?p=18973 (accessed 29 April 2019).

48 Savelsberg, ‘The Syrian-Kurdish Movements’, p 98.

49 David Graeber, ‘David Graeber on Rojava Social Revolution’, YouTube, Posted by ‘Rico Suave’, 24 January 2015. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWgPWL7hT7M (accessed 15 February 2018).

50 Many such reports can be found at KurdWatch. Available at: www.kurdwatch.org (accessed 15 February 2018).

51 Michael Knapp, Anja Flach and Ercan Ayboga, Revolution in Rojava: Democratic Autonomy and Women’s Liberation in Syrian Kurdistan, London: PlutoPress, 2016.