The co-chair of Kobanê University, Şervan Mislim, spoke to ANF about the founding process of the university, its educational model, and the level it has reached today. He said that the university, founded in 2017 based on the academic needs that emerged after the Kobanê resistance, developed significantly in a short time. Mislim emphasized that Kobanê University not only built an educational system that responds to the needs of the region but also raised its academic level each year through relations established with international universities.

Mislim recalled that Kobanê University started education in 2017 only with the Kurdish Language and Literature, and Physics and Chemistry faculties, and added: “After the victory of the Kobanê resistance and the defeat of ISIS, there was a need for a university in Kobanê. Previously, Afrin University opened in 2015, and Rojava University in 2016. Therefore, it was considered necessary to establish a university in Kobanê to initiate academic education and ensure that students could continue their studies from first to twelfth grade. For this reason, Kobanê University was opened in 2017.”

Mislim said that they started with 32 students, and added: “The system of Kobanê University is different from other universities. We conducted research around the world, and then we built our own system. We had criteria. We opened departments according to the needs of society. We decided to open departments such as Medicine, Teaching, Electricity, Computer Science, and many others. We started with two faculties, and today dozens have been opened. We went from 32 to 1,600 students.

Our university has faculties of Kurdish Language and Literature, Arabic Language and English Literature. There are departments of Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Biology. There is an Education Faculty with Classroom Teaching and Preschool Teaching departments. There is a Law Faculty and a Faculty of Social Sciences which includes Sociology, Jineology, Philosophy, and History. There are Medical Sciences faculties such as Nursing, Laboratory, Emergency Medicine, and Anesthesia. There are Technical, Computer, and Electricity departments. There is also an Agriculture Faculty. Many of our 1,600 students have now graduated. After graduation, these students take positions in the Autonomous Administration institutions and begin working according to their fields. We see our students working according to their specialties in schools, hospitals, and in every institution of society.”

Working jointly with many universities

Mislim also emphasized their relations with universities worldwide: “Every year we increase our departments. Many doctors and professors across Syria now work at our university. Our university is now at the stage of establishing international relations. This shows its level of development. We have had relations with many academics and opened master’s programs. We are currently preparing to open a doctoral program in Kurdish Language and Literature. We established relations with the Silêmanî Institute. We also signed an agreement with a university in Poland; this was a very important step. It will allow our students to go to Poland and their students to come here.”

Mislim added: “We also have relations with universities in South Kurdistan and hope to sign agreements. We have also carried out joint work with universities in America, Poland, and the Philippines. This means that our educational level has risen considerably. Our work has paid off; our diplomas have become a starting point and a document of recognition. At the same time, Kobanê University will develop many academic programs in accordance with the needs of society and for the advancement of artificial intelligence.”

There are four universities in NE Syria, first was founded in Afrin. These universities have many faculties such as Kurdish Literature, Economics, Engineering and Jineology. The new departments are opened in the universities according to the demands of the students. The universities are ready to welcome students for the academic year 2021-2022

The people living in NE Syria faced many difficulties under the oppression of the Baath regime for years but now they are rebuilding a life by taking part in many areas such as culture, art, communal life, and education. The universities founded in the region are one of the developments during the 10-year revolution process. The first university in the region was founded in Afrin and then Rojava, Kobanê, and El Şerq universities were founded. The number of universities increases according to demands. The universities in NE Syria have a department called “Jineology”, a new department in the world. The universities of NE Syria open new departments every year according to the demands of the students to encourage the students to succeed and the number of students of these universities is increasing day by day. We prepare a three-day article series to give information about the activities of these universities.

The first university was founded in Afrin

Afrin University was founded July 26, 2015, in the Afrin region of NE Syria. It had three departments: Kurdish Literature, Economics, and Electrical Engineering. The university had 160 students in its first year but it was closed down in 2017 when Turkey attacked the city and the Turkish army now uses the building of the university as a military base. The students of the university were transferred to other universities in the region.

Rojava University

Rojava University was founded on November 20, 2016, in Qamishlo city. In the first year, it had two faculties; Agriculture and Kurdish Language and Culture faculties. Then, it opened the Chemical & Petroleum Engineering Faculty in Rimelan. The university made rapid strides in opening new faculties and it opened new faculties; Jineology, Kurdish Language, and Fine Arts faculties. The university opened other faculties such as Communication and Health in accordance with demands. Surely, opening universities during the war caused problems. The university had difficulties finding materials for physics and chemistry laboratories. The university was newly founded and had no curriculum. Academics of the university worked hard to overcome those difficulties; they discussed opening new departments. Faculties of finance, engineering, statistics, and mechanics were opened.

Faculty of Jineology and partnership

Rojava University always stays in touch with other universities. It has made contact with Halabja, Raperin, and Sulaymaniyah universities. The university’s Faculty of Jineology has made more contacts. The faculty arouses interest. Emden/Leer University in Germany signed a partnership with the Faculty of Jineology. The faculty is new around the world so it attracts the attention of many people. Paris University held official talks with the faculty.

Kobanî University founded in 2017

Kobanî University was founded on September 30, 2017. The university had faculties of Kurdish Literature, Biology, Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry in its first year. It is the third university founded in NE Syria. Northern and Eastern Syria Executive Council founded this university because students had difficulties going to Rojava University due to long-distance. The system of the Kobanî University is the same system as Rojava and Afrin universities. The students have to have a high school diploma to study at university.

El-Şerq University founded in Raqqa

Northern and Eastern Syria Executive Council decided to form special coordination carrying out works about the universities in 2020. The universities are directly attributed to the Executive Council. The Coordination of Universities decided to found a university named El-Şerq University in Raqqa.

Its door is open for students in Syria

The students began to enroll in El-Şerq University in August. The university’s academic year 2021-2022 will start in October. In the beginning, the El-Şerq University has three faculties; the Faculty of Arabic Language and Literature, the Faculty of Educational Sciences, and the Faculty of Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics. The door of the university is open for all students in Syria.

Part 2: Rohan Mistefa: Students are educated with a perspective respecting democracy, ecology, and women’s freedom

Coordination of NE Syrian Universities Co-chair Rohan Mistefa says the universities in NE Syria are managed with a co-presidency system and the university students are educated with a perspective respecting democracy, ecology, and women’s freedom.

In Northern and Eastern Syrian universities, teachers give importance to students’ thoughts. Rohan Mistefa, the co-chair of the Coordination of NE Syrian Universities, spoke to our news agency about the organization and system of universities in NE Syria. “The opening of the universities was a necessity under war conditions. Autonomous Administration provided the opportunity to open universities. This was a result of the Revolution in Rojava. Many scientists and academics emigrated due to the war and the chaos in Syria. This situation caused a gap for education.”

Afrin University was plundered during the invasion

Noting that the gap was filled in time, Rohan Mistefa said that many students don’t have the opportunity to go and study outside the region, “That’s why we decided to found universities in the region,” Rohan Mistefa said that they aim to create a new generation and society based on the idea of Democratic Nation, freedom and equality. “We didn’t want the universities to remain as institutes focus on only academic achievement. Our aim was to educate the university students to serve their people after graduating from the universities. In accordance with this purpose, our first university was opened in Afrin in 2015. Although Afrin was under siege, the university took an important step in science. But unfortunately; Afrin was invaded in 2018 and all materials of the university were stolen and plundered. In addition, the teachers, students, and administrators of the university went to different places.

New departments will be opened at Rojava University

Rohan Mistefa commented on the increasing number of faculties and institutes meeting the needs of the students. The second university in NE Syria was founded in Qamishlo in 2016. “The university had Agriculture and Kurdish Language and Culture, Chemical & Petroleum Engineering Faculties. Then, the Faculty of Jineology and the Institute of Finance and Management were opened. Our Faculty of Medicine was an academy and it was officially transferred to Rojava University. We also opened the Civil Engineering, Ecology, and Civilization departments and Faculty of Communication and Religious Sciences ((Islam, Yazidism, and Christianity). In the past years, the university opened the Faculty of Law and this year it opened the Faculties of Electronics and Computers.”

Rohan Mistefa told us the Kobanî University was founded in 2017. “The university had faculties of Kurdish Literature, Biology, Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry in its first year. This year, it will open electronics, technical and communication institutes. It also has Kurdish Literature, Arabic Literature departments.”

El-Şerq University’s academic year 2021-2022 will start next month

Rohan Mistefa told us the El-Şerq University was founded in 2021, “Because the majority of the citizens in the liberated areas are Arabs and they needed a university. The university has Arabic Literature, English, and Computer departments for students studying in Arabic. The students begin to enroll in El-Şerq University and the university’s academic year 2021-2022 will start next month.”

Women are active at universities

Rohan Mistefa also commented on the education system of universities, “The systems of universities in NE Syria are very different from other universities.” The universities in NE Syria are managed with a co-presidency system. “Everything about the universities is decided equally. Women are very active at these universities. We formed the Women’s Council at the universities. In addition, there is the University High Council and some students have taken part in this council. The universities have also an organization called “University High Coordination” including co-chairs of faculties, administration, and spokespersons of the universities. Subjects related to faculties, short-term strategies and basic discussions are held by this coordination. The reason why we form these councils is to decide everything about the universities in a democratic, free manner.”

The Autonomous Administration gives certificates to students

At the beginning, the number of students of these universities was about 500-600 but this number is increasing day by day. “The number of female students is more than male students,” Rohan Mistefa said that the Autonomous Administration gives certificates to students in Kobanî and Shehba and Cizre. “We estimate the number of students will be 2,500 this year.

“The universities in NE Syria are different from the universities of the Baath regime”

Rohan Mistefa indicated that the universities in NE Syria are different from the universities of the Baath regime, “The universities in NE Syria are managed with co-presidency system. But the universities of the Baath regime are managed by one person. We give importance to students at universities because the students form universities. Students must have responsibilities at the universities. We want to educate free people. At the regime’s universities, teachers give their lessons and leave. They don’t care about students understand what they say. At the universities of NE Syria, we assess students’ participation in classes. Students and teachers work collectively.”

They want to develop programs offering master’s degrees

Rohan Mistefa talked about the Faculty of Jineology at universities, “The Faculty of Jineology Science is the first in the world. But we don’t have programs offering master’s degrees. We want to develop programs offering master’s degrees to students after their graduation. We have already signed a partnership with universities in other countries and we also want to get in contact with many abroad universities.”

“The door of universities is open for everyone”

Rohan Mistefa talked about the plans of the universities in the upcoming period, “We want to open new departments for students every year. The universities belong to students. The door of universities is open for everyone.”

Part 3: Students: Our future is in our own universities

Most students prefer Rojava University to study in Kurdish and they want to teach what they have learned to next generations, “Our future is in our university.”

Universities in NE Syria educate generations as constructive universities. The students studying at these universities describe these universities differently. After completing a preparatory class at the regime’s university, I want to continue my university education at Rojava University. I wanted to study in the Department of Jineology, and this year, I will graduate from this faculty. The reason why I wanted to study in this department is that I wanted to learn more about it,” says Simav Heyder, one of the students of Rojava University’s Department of Jineology.

“Universities are our future”

Simav Heyder drew attention to difficulties she faced for transferring from an Arab university. “In the beginning, I had difficulties in understanding the concepts. Now, I have comprehensive knowledge because the science of women includes all sciences. I have learned the history, will, and rights of women, who led revolutions in the past and have been leading the revolutions. Students at the university are equal and have rights, they also have a good friendship. All students can study in their own language. Our universities are our future.”

“I have learned a lot in the academic area”

Hevin Ebdo studies fine arts at Rojava University. She has had an interest in painting since her childhood, “However, I didn’t have any opportunity to develop myself in painting. I used to take private lessons to develop myself. When I heard the foundation of Rojava University, I wanted to study fine arts at the university. Studying fine arts was my dream. At university, I have improved my Kurdish and learned a lot in the academic area. I want to teach what I have learned to the next generation after graduating from the university. I am a mother and I will send my children to Rojava University when they grow up.”

“Most people wanted to learn Kurdish”

Canda Erefat, a former student of Rojava University, is an academic in the Faculty of Kurdish Language and Literature at Rojava University. She is one of the first students of Rojava University’s Department of Kurdish Language and Literature in 2016. “The department normally lasts four years but we graduated after studying two years because our society needed teachers. We graduated from the university in 2018.  We were several students. After the revolution, most people wanted to learn Kurdish.”

System of Rojava University is different

The Faculty of Kurdish Language and Literature has a basic system and that it creates new things within itself, Canda Erefat said, “We studied in the schools of the regime before studying at Rojava University. In the schools of the regime, we weren’t allowed to go close to the rooms of the school administrators and we couldn’t express what we wanted to say. At Rojava University, we have a good friendship with students. We respect each other. The students learn Kurdish poetry, novel, grammar  in the Faculty of Kurdish Language and Literature.”

“Jineology brings change”

Sewsen Remo is an academic in the Faculty of Jineology at Rojava University. She spoke to us about the faculty. “I became one of the first students of the faculty in 2017. When the faculty was opened, I wanted to study Jineology in the faculty because Jineology is important for women. You learn the history of women and everything about women.”

The Kurds have been in control of some areas in Hasakah province and Kobani and Afrin in the Aleppo countryside since 2012, after the forces of President Bashar al-Assad abandoned most of their positions and stations there. Subsequently, the Kurds established popular councils in a move toward political autonomy and economic development.

Jamal Hamou, deputy head of the Economic Body, the equivalent of a Ministry of Economy under the democratic autonomous administration in Syrian Kurdistan, told Al-Monitor that the Kurdish areas rely on goods, including vegetables, medicines and relief items, delivered through the Simalka border crossing with Iraqi Kurdistan. Hamou said that these items are considered relief goods because their importation is not officially approved by both Baghdad and Damascus. The government in Baghdad is, however, facilitating their entry. Hamou noted that the lack of sea access is a “drawback,” stating, “The absence of a sea outlet or a port affiliated with the Kurdish region of Rojava is exacerbating the blockade on the region, especially since Turkey is preventing the entry of goods to the area because of the PYD’s control.”

In January 2014, the Syrian Kurds established autonomous rule for the territory they control, with Kurdish, Arab and Christian areas all taking part. According to Hamou, the Trade, Economy, Oil Resources and Customs Bodies contribute to the salaries of some 3,700 employees. “The bodies revenues amount to 175 million Syrian liras [$350,000] per year, and they form part of the autonomous administration’s budget,” Hamou said.

Hamou said that autonomous rule has encouraged investment by traders from the region as well as those displaced to it to create an economic structure and increase the areas’ revenues. The democratic autonomous administration has also put money into implementing a corn oil project and cheese and dairy operations as well as wheat and flour mills.

Hasakah province was once considered Syria’s bread basket, given the abundance of wheat and cotton grown there. Production of both has decreased in recent years because of fighting between Kurdish and Islamic State forces and the resulting migration of residents from the area. According to farmer Mohammed Khalil, Jazira’s wheat output previously had reached some 1.8 million tons a year, but in the last year did not surpass half a million tons.

Hamou attributed this decline to the reduced agricultural season due to the reluctance of farmers to risk investing during wartime, the lack of basic materials including compost and high costs. Fertilizer and seeds were imports before the war, and with quantities now low, prices have spiked. Also, diesel and electricity are not always available because of the war. “The regime is still buying wheat from farmers [in Hasaka] in order to provide flour and bread to other provinces,” Hamou said.

Asked how goods are flowing in Kurdish and other areas as the war drags on, Hamou said that they are being moved through “war brokers,” also called “war traders.” One of the officials in charge of the Simalka crossing to the Syrian side told Al-Monitor, “The crossing prioritizes the entry of basic foods, in addition to vegetables and energy drinks. Sheep are also being exported to the Iraqi Kurdistan region.”

Ahmed Yousef, head of the Economic Body and chairman of Afrin University, claimed that the Kurdish-controlled areas’ economic output, which includes agriculture, industry and oil, accounts for about 55% of Syria’s gross domestic product. Jazira’s agriculture accounts for 17% of Syrian production. “In a bid to secure our initial needs, we have come to develop plans adapted to the [realities of the] war, so we have used the resources of our area, especially agricultural ones,” Yousef said.

One big challenge for the Kurds is that goods from abroad are usually priced in foreign currencies, which are high compared to the Syrian lira. Yousef noted, “This leads to higher prices. Added to this is the lack of some essential items, such as medicines, sugar and rice.”

The Syrian Kurds held a conference in Afrin last October, followed by another conference that month in Rmelan with the aim of developing an economic plan for the Kurdish areas. “The two conferences discussed agriculture, trade, electricity and the development of an advanced program aimed at easing the blockade and developing an agricultural [plan],” said Yousef. “The plan contributed to moving about 50% of the industrial factories and workshops from the destroyed city of Aleppo to Afrin, and the [Kurdish authority] is securing the needs of those workshops and providing shipping companies, which total 20 in Afrin.” Yousef also said there is a plan to establish an industrial zone for traders in Afrin.

The Kurdish areas experience sporadic shortages. In April, tomatoes were scarce and their price soared. At the beginning of the year, no sugar was to be found. As a result, on April 19, the customs administration in Jazira province scrapped the tariffs imposed on food entering the Kurdish areas to encourage the entry of more products.

Asked about Afrin’s ability to become self-sufficient, overcome the economic blockade and serve as a model for the other Kurdish areas, Yousef said that the idea dates back to 2012, when a group of Kurdish traders and industrialists in Aleppo formed the Producers Union in Syria’s Western Kurdistan. That step was followed by the establishment in April 2014 of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Afrin, which includes about 300 traders and industrialists. In 2014, the Council of Investment Management was established by the democratic autonomous administration, according to Yousef, “to organize work in Afrin and approve the implementation of several projects.”

Yousef pointed to the production of 32 tons of laurel soap and its exportation to Syrian cities and Turkey as one of the economic successes of autonomous rule in Afrin, in addition to this is the garment industry. “Two million pairs of jeans are produced per month and exported across Syria,” he said.

One of the major difficulties for the autonomous administration is providing reliable power. The Kurdish regions have been plagued by power outages for three years now, resulting in reliance on generators.

Surrounded on all sides by hostile forces intent on destroying them, in a part of the world that Western pundits claim can only be ruled by dictators, the Kurds of Syria are intent on creating a society more democratic than any found in North America or Europe. This is not simply a matter of creating institutions of direct and communal, as opposed to representative, democracy but, most importantly, democratizing the economy. In the words of the imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan, “In self-government, an alternative economic system is necessary, one that augments the resources of society rather than exploiting them, and in that way satisfies the society’s multitude of needs.”

The many sides of that equation are explored in detail in Revolution in Rojava: Democratic Autonomy and Women’s Liberation in Syrian Kurdistan,* a study of Rojava’s experiment in radical democracy by three activists who spent months in Rojava studying the society being constructed, and who themselves have been involved in Rojava in various capacities. One of the authors, Anja Flach, spent two years in the Kurdish women’s guerrilla army. Her co-authors are Ercan Ayboga, an environmental engineer, and Michael Knapp, a historian. Although the three authors make clear their sympathies for the Rojava revolution, their book is not hagiographic, but rather a serious analysis of a developing process.

The Kurdish people are split among four countries — Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey — and have long suffered persecution in each of them. Their persecution in Turkey is well known; successive Turkish governments have attempted to disrupt organizing, obliterate Kurdish culture and ban the Kurdish language through waves of lethal military crackdowns. Mr. Öcalan escaped Turkey after a military coup that led to hundreds of thousands of Kurds thrown into jail; he and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) he leads were granted asylum in Syria. In the late 1990s, under Turkish pressure, Syria expelled the PKK, and a year later, Mr. Öcalan was abducted from a Greek consulate (a kidnapping believed to be a CIA operation) and has been imprisoned in Turkey since.

But that the Syrian régime found the PKK a useful lever against Turkey for a time did nothing to ameliorate ruthless repression against the Kurds of northern Syria. The Ba’ath Party of the Assad family implemented a policy of “Arabization” against Kurds and the other minority groups of the areas now comprising Rojava. Kurds were routinely forcibly removed from their farm lands and other properties, with Arabs settled in their place. Bashar al-Assad, in contrast to the misplaced hopes that he might institute a thaw upon succeeding his father in 2000, instituted a harsh neoliberalism. Mass privatization, suppression of unions, the shredding of the social safety net and a channeling of investment capital into tourism and away from production had a particularly devastating impact on Rojava.

After the uprisings in Syria against the Ba’ath régime began in 2011, the struggle quickly became militarized. The Kurds avoided being overrun by the Syrian army or the various Islamist forces because of their own organization. Grassroots organizing had been done steadily since the 1990s, and when local government collapsed following the 2011 uprisings, that organizing, a nascent council system and the formation of militias enabled the carving out of an autonomous territory. People surrounded government buildings, demanding the surrender of all arms while guaranteeing the safe passage of all Syrian government officials. This tactic worked, quickly sweeping through all three “cantons” of Rojava. (A canton is a portion of a province, perhaps bigger than a U.S. county or French department but smaller than a U.S. state or a French region.)

The aim here was to create a democratic territory through peaceful means. This takeover was accomplished nearly without bloodshed, although Rojava’s militias have had to repeatedly repulse attacks from Islamic State, al-Qaeda and other hostile forces, as well as fend off the sometimes active hostility of the Turkish government, which has allowed Islamic State terrorists to freely cross the border and re-arm themselves. Sadly, Rojava has also been subjected to periodic blockades and political harassment from the two corrupt parties that control Iraqi Kurdistan, which borders Rojava to the east.

The system of democratic autonomy

The basic units of Rojava’s organization are councils and commissions. These constitute the building blocks of Rojava’s system of “democratic confederalism.” The authors of Revolution in Rojava explain this concept in this way:

“Democratic Confederalism aims at achieving the autonomy of society, that is, a society that administers itself through small, self-governing decentralized units. It entails a permanent social revolution, reflected in every aspect of social structure. All institutions are self-organized and self-administered.” [page 44]

Concurrent with that concept is “democratic autonomy,” which is defined as “the autonomy of the commune” in an “anti-centrist, bottom-up approach.” The commune is the basic unit of self-government, the base of the council system. A commune comprises the households of a few streets within a city or village, usually 30 to 400 households. Above the commune level are community people’s councils comprising a city neighborhood or a village. The next level up are the district councils, consisting of a city and surrounding villages. The top of the four levels is the People’s Council of West Kurdistan, which elects an executive body on which about three dozen people sit. (“West Kurdistan” is the portion of Kurdistan that lies within Syria.)

Integrated within the four-level council system are eight commissions — women, defense, economics, politics, civil society, free society, justice and ideology — that work with councils at all four levels; in turn commissions at local levels coordinate their work with commissions in adjacent areas. There is also a ninth commission, health, responsible for coordinating access to health care (regardless of ability to pay) and maintaining hospitals, in which medical professionals fully participate. Except for the women’s commission, all bodies have male and female co-leaders.

Taking with upmost seriousness the full liberation of women (also expressed in the all-women’s militias that fight on the front lines the same as men’s units), the women’s commissions are tasked, inter alia, with adjudicating cases of patriarchal violence and forced marriage. An umbrella women’s movement organizes women across Rojava, taking on activities including educational work, publishing a newspaper, pushing for legislation, and investigating and documenting domestic violence. This work has roots in the 1990s, when PKK women organized door to door. When organizing by men was heavily suppressed after 2004, women organized clandestinely, giving them experience.

Making women’s participation central is of course a glaring contrast with the Islamist groups and the so-called moderate groups of the Free Syrian Army. Every organization in Rojava must include at least 40 percent women. Asya Abdullah, co-chair of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan, Rojava’s largest party, said the revolution is conscious of not repeating the mistakes of the past, in which women’s liberation was often put on the back-burner. She said:

“We’re a still long way from achieving our goals. … But we’ve learned from the failed revolutions in the past. They always said, ‘Let’s carry the revolution to success, and then we’ll give women our rights.’ But after the revolution, of course, it didn’t happen. We’re not repeating that old story in our revolution.” [page 70]

Creating a new justice system

As with many governmental functions, the judicial system has had to be rebuilt from scratch. Peace committees seek consensus through dialogue at the commune and neighborhood levels. The goal is rehabilitation rather than punishment. Most cases are settled in peace committees, but felonies and those cases not adjudicated in the peace committees are assigned to district-level people’s courts. There are separate women’s peace committees that handle cases of male violence against women in which all-women panels hand down decisions.

Parallel to these systems of democratic self-activity is the Democratic-Autonomous Administration. This is essentially a dual government, created primarily for foreign governments. Because Rojava’s councils have been ignored elsewhere, the DAA was created so that world’s governments would have a government they could recognize. Each of three Rojava cantons has a DAA, which includes an elected parliament and ministries that are distributed among the various political parties so that each has at least one minister. These, however, rely on the earlier-established council system and work with the councils. The division of labor between the councils and the DAA has yet to be worked out, nor how to reconcile a dual-government structure.

Civil society associations also play large roles in Rojava. These groups perform educational work, organize grassroots activity and place representatives on the councils. Many of these associations are occupation groups. In contrast to what the Kurdish movement sees as the state existing as a means of extracting profits for favored social groups or classes and inculcating a fixation on authority, civil society is substituted for a state. The authors write:

“The Kurdish movement, in its anti-statism, thus draws on [Antonio] Gramsci’s concept of civil society in proposing to strengthen civil society for the purpose of overthrowing the state. In contrast to the abortive Bolshevist strategy of seizing state power, Öcalan posits, like Gramsci on the ideological, political struggle for civil society, a ‘war of position’ beyond military confrontation. Through empowerment, a civil society tries to free itself from the hands of the state and its religious, economic and administrative structures and so to build a counter-hegemony and to activate individual parts of the society to represent civil society in councils and communes.” [pages 122-123]

Economic development on a democratic basis

This democratic concept extends to the economy. Food and fuel prices are controlled, working conditions are negotiated among several interest groups, workers’ rights are defended and the pursuit of profit maximization is blocked to avoid the destructive tendencies of capitalism. The principals of the “communal economy” are described in this way by the Union of Civil Society Associations:

“The state system exploited the society’s labor power and trampled the rights of workers. Under Democratic Autonomy, civil society associations solve problems according to principles of moral politics and an ecological society. The unity of society is the foundation. These associations hold society together. They ensure the unity that is needed to satisfy everyday social needs. Of course, they do this as part of democratic, communal life. They are how society organizes itself.” [page 124]

Rojava, the authors write, was a “quasi-colony” under the Ba’ath régime. There was an enforced agricultural monoculture with no local production allowed. Oil, gas and agricultural products were shipped out, and canned food and finished products from elsewhere shipped in. Not even trees were allowed to be planted. So although there is much productive farmland, Rojava could not come close to self-sufficiency in food as all farmers were forced to raise wheat or cotton. Farming is now being re-oriented toward local needs so that a much higher percentage of food can be produced locally; this is partly a necessity as the area is often blockaded by neighbors.

The councils, already in existence, organized the economy to prevent a collapse after Rojava’s liberation. Price controls, measures against hoarding food and medicine, agricultural diversification, planting fruit trees, and building grain mills and industry were implemented and are ongoing projects. Rojava’s economic underdevelopment is seen locally as a disadvantage and an opportunity. It is the latter because, the authors write, it “allows the traditional social collectivism of the Kurdish people to be channeled positively to build a new, alternative economy.” [page 197]

Much of this new economy rests on cooperative enterprises. Cooperatives are required to be connected to the council system; independence is not allowed. Cooperatives work through the economics commissions to meet social needs. Much of this cooperative production is in agriculture or small shops but there are plans to create more industry to meet local needs. Thirty percent of all coop proceeds must be given to local self-government administrations. And this is seen as a route to eliminating unemployment. The authors write:

“The cooperative system is solving the problem of unemployment. ‘Through the communes and cooperatives and the needs-based economy,’ explains [Afrin University chair] Dr. [Ahmad] Yousef, ‘each person can participate in production in his own way, and there will be no unemployment. Where communes are established, it will become clear that unemployment is a result of the capitalist system itself.’ ” [page 206]

Such a system can’t work without an educated population:

“To ensure that society is able to make decisions about the use of water, soil, and energy, information about the society’s needs are taken out of the hands of the experts and socialized. Education is critical for this purpose. ‘We school the people in how cooperatives can form a social economy,’ says [Union of Kurdish Communities leader Cemil] Bayık. ‘We are establishing economics academies to advance this.’ ” [page 207]

Surrounded by a hostile world

All this is at odds not only with the existing institutions and state organizations surrounding them, but with the capitalist powers as well. How can Rojava’s experiment possibly survive in a such a hostile world? The authors of Revolution in Rojava strongly urge the building of Left support sufficiently strong to influence North American and European governments. The people of Rojava, the authors stress, are in need of material support from the West at the same time they are acutely aware of the dangers of a U.S. embrace.

The idea that Rojava’s acceptance of Western aid is a “betrayal” is called “naïve” by the authors, drawing parallels with Republican Spain of the 1930s. Describing Rojava as an “anti-fascist project,” they note that the capitalist West turned its back on the Spanish Revolution, allowing fascism to triumph.

The danger of U.S. material support, of course, can’t be underestimated, given that a communal economy oriented toward people’s needs rather than private profit is anathema to U.S. corporate and government power, which have teamed up to throttle many a revolution attempting to transcend capitalism or simply assert independent development. Moreover, the U.S. wrongly classifies the PKK, which seeks to implement the same system as their fellow Kurds in Syria, as “terrorists” and has long supported Ankara’s scorched-earth repression of Kurds.

In the short term, material support from the West is needed if Rojava is to successfully defend itself from Islamic militants and the Turkish government. Syrian (and Turkish) Kurds, who see their model as one that can be expanded across Syria and the entire Middle East, have their eyes open to the narrowness of the path that must be thread through these contradictions. Nor are their eyes closed to their unsolved problems of pollution, water, waste management, and the stop-gap use of diesel generators that is causing serious environmental problems.

The book ends on an optimistic note, readapting Rosa Luxemburg’s famous phrase to declare the future is “communalism or barbarism.” Although brief discussions of Thomas Jefferson, Luxemburg and Gramsci (who was no opponent of the Bolsheviks) are poorly argued and their views misstated, this is at most a minor irritant in a work ably presenting the first comprehensive study of Rojava’s inspiring experiment in mass-participation democracy. Revolution in Rojava is an excellent introduction to a revolution that is not yet well known but should be.

* Ercan Ayboga. Anja Flach and Michael Knapp (translated by Janet Biehl), Revolution in Rojava: Democratic Autonomy and Women’s Liberation in Syrian Kurdistan [Pluto Books, London 2016]

The conference was the first of its kind in Rojava, and was held in Afrîn’s Centre for Culture and Arts. The attendants were representatives and deputies from the economic committees, the executive body in Afrîn, Customs Administration, Investment Advise Bureau, the People’s and Women’s Protection Units, industry and trade chambers, civil society institutions, organisation of human rights, Rojava Centre for Strategic Studies, the Democratic Union Party, the Yezdi association and the organisation of families of martyrs.

During the economic conference, which started on Thursday morning, many discussions were held and economic studies were submitted by specialists. The participants discussed mechanisms for developing the economy in Afrîn.

There were readings of the leader of the Kurdish people, Abdullah Ocalan’s ideas about economy and some of his suggestions to solve the problems of society that result from the economic practices of the nation-state and the capitalist system.

There were also some short lectures by specialists about the ways to deal with the economic problems, potential resources and how to invest them in a sustainable way.

The first lecture was delivered by Dr Ahmed Yousef, president of the Trade and Economy Council, about the developing approach in Rojava, which he called ‘ecological development’, which is based on economy, politics, environment, history and society.

Yousef said that ecological development equates the social profit with the economic profit and takes it as a basic standard, through activating the role of society in economy, building social and economic units, protecting natural resources and adopting environmentally-friendly technology.

There was another lecture by engineer Murad Rashid, member of the Committee of Urban Development, about the reality of housing, public services, and the ways to develop them in the region.

Rashid said that the whole region is suffering from high prices in real estate, as a result of the high cost of residential buildings, also because of the growing demand for residential apartments which is creating many problems with public services and infrastructure, which are under pressure due to the absence of any plan to develop real estate and improve the economy.

Nojiun Osman Yousef, an engineer specialised in telecommunications, talked about ways to develop information technology and communication, appreciating the role of telecommunication at the present time. He mentioned a list of procedures to be done, most importantly developing automation software, increasing electronic sevices for people, getting electronic equipment and making the necessary legislation for it, and launching an electronic education programme in Afrîn University.

Engineer Suleyman Abdul Fattah Suleyman gave a lecture about studying the methods to develop energy projects in Afrîn by using renewable energy to achieve environmental improvements and develop society, industry and agriculture.

The economic researcher and specialist Jalnak Omar gave a lecture about the role of the cooperative economy in developing agriculture and industry. He talked about adopting the philosophy of the cooperative economy that is based on the principles of unity, strength and work. Omar pointed out that the cooperative economy forms a special organisational tool that can contribute greatly in solving the problems of production, funding, marketing, distribution, and consumption, and it is effective and fair to all the sides of the economic process, and can be considered a democratic alternative for globalisation, capitalism and state socialism.

Economist Abdullah Yousef gave a lecture about the importance of tourism in developing the economy, referring to the most important tourist attractions and the cultural and healing significance of the region.

Also, Faisal Ali, economist and a commander of the People’s Protection Units, gave a lecture about the role of integrated economic policies in building the wartime economy in Rojava.

The lectures were concluded with a final lecture by Risan Qosho about natural resources in Rojava in terms of growth and sustainability, in which he referred to the economic policies that should be adopted in order to obtain the optimum investment of the economic resources.

There were many discussions among the attendants about the proposals in the conference, and their economic significance and influence on the region.

There were a number of recommendations for the democratic economy conference on the level of the three cantons in Rojava: Cizîrê, Kobanê and Afrîn, that will be held in Cizîrê on 18/10/2015, which were…

1. Adopt a clear development approach that ensures the integration of society and the environment, called the approach of ecological development.
2. Open a special economy academy to become the centre for planning and ecological development.
3. Change the Centre for Economic Development to become the Centre for Planing and Ecological Development.
4. Adopt indicative planning in the fieldwork of the private sector.
5. Accomplish functional integration among the institutions of the Self Administration and communes and the Centre for Ecological Development.
6. Make socio-economic plans at the level of the cantons and adopt the commune system as the foundation of economic development.
7. Propagate the idea of cooperation in society, and highlight the importance of cooperative work through seminars and workshops.
8. Offer financial and moral support for cooperative societies in order to improve the quality of their services.
9. Establish a centre for agricultural studies to find ways of increasing productivity and deliver the findings to the cooperative societies.
10. Give common agricultural land to cooperative societies with symbolic prices, prioritising farmers who do not have any land.
11. Regulate the domestic economy sector and provide it with the necessary information and assistance.
12. Enhance competitiveness and fight monopoly.
13. Reduce the random spread of internet companies by establishing a company with public ownership.
14. Take advantage of the infrastructure of the communications equipment in the region in order to develop the internet and communications systems.
15. Determine appropriate places to establish plants for renewable energy in Afrîn.
16. Ensure that the diesel-powered generators work on a capacity of no less than 10 mega volts, and ensure that they are cooperatively owned.
17. Encourage citizens to use renewable and environmentally-friendly energy.
18. Make accurate studies to locate the archaeological sites and determine the natural environment of each site.
19. Preserve tourist attractions in the region.
20. Consider the environmental consequences of all economic projects.
21. Locate the places where urbanisation is allowed.
22. Form a regional committee of engineers whose job is to create master plans for the villages in the region that don’t have master plans.
23. Encourage village and urban life, away from city centres.
24. Oblige builders not to sell residential buildings without furniture.
25. Encourage people with capital in the region and in the diaspora to invest in Rojava, and provide the necessary facilitation for it.
26. Establish sewage networks in all the villages of the region and build recycling centres for the waste material of the factories.
27. Secure agricultural equipment to implement greenhouse projects in order to enhance agriculture and provide scientific supervision for it, especially because their efficiency has been proven.
28. Take advantage of the coarse straw by establishing agricultural fungi farms.
29. Take advantage of the water in Medanki by raising fish in floating cages.
30. Take advantage of the water in Jeft to provide manure for agricultural land in a scientific way.
31. Establish a house for seed multiplication.
32. Establish a special centre for olives.
33. Support women’s communes by all ways and means that lead to their success.
34. Establish special cooperative societies for women.
35. Train and raise awareness among women so that they realise their economic role in history.
36. Spread the education of war economics among the people of the region through all available means.
37. Activate and develop the communal economy which will lead to self-sufficiency in basic needs.
38. Raise awareness about consumption.
39. Work towards developing employment programmes.
40. Develop the Emergency Council in order to provide military equipment and provide basic services during the war.
41. Work towards the remote management of war without getting involved in it directly.
42. Consider the rights of the next generations to have access to natural resources.
43. Adopt economic policies that focus on avoiding local and foreign debt and the accumulation of interest in the general budget.
44. Support clothes manufacturing.
45. Develop a plan to bring back the people of the region who are abroad.