{"id":4800,"date":"2019-05-22T13:20:47","date_gmt":"2019-05-22T12:20:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mesopotamia.coop\/?p=4800"},"modified":"2022-04-07T12:07:49","modified_gmt":"2022-04-07T11:07:49","slug":"agriculture-autonomy-in-the-middle-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mesopotamia.coop\/agriculture-autonomy-in-the-middle-east\/","title":{"rendered":"Agriculture & Autonomy in the Middle East"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Spotlight on Rojava, North Kurdistan, and the Mesopotamian Ecology Movement<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editor\u2019s Note (March 29th, 2018): An earlier version of this article incorrectly described MEM as operating in Rojava. In fact, MEM only operates formally in North (Turkish) Kurdistan, though its goals and principles are also being pursued by groups in Rojava, including the <\/em>Internationalist Commune of Rojava<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the predominantly Kurdish regions of Syria and Turkey, known respectively as Rojava and North Kurdistan, a groundbreaking experiment in communal living, social justice, and ecological vitality is taking place. Devastated by civil war, the Middle East is often seen as a place where little more than a cessation of hostilities can be hoped for. But Rojava and North Kurdistan have set their sights much higher. What started as a movement for political autonomy has blossomed into an attempt to build a radical pluralist democracy on the principles of communal solidarity\u200a\u2014\u200awith food security, equality for women, and a localized, anti-capitalist economy at its core.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Tigris River. Photo credit: Ercan Aybo\u011fa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0Mesopotamian Ecology Movement (MEM)<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0has been at the heart of the region\u2019s democratic revolution since its inception. Though it only maintains a formal presence in North (i.e. Turkish) Kurdistan, its principles and platform have led to a growing informal movement for ecological resilience in neighboring Rojava as well. MEM grew out of single-issue campaigns against dam construction, climate change, and deforestation, and in 2015 went from being a small collection of local ecological groups to a full-fledged network of \u201cecology councils\u201d. Its mission, as one of its most prominent founding members, Ercan Aybo\u011fa, says, is to \u201cstrengthen the ecological character of the Kurdish freedom movement [and] the Kurdish women\u2019s movement\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not an easy process. Neoliberal policies, war, and climate change have made for an impressive roster of challenges. Crop diversity has been undermined due to longstanding subsidies for monocultures. Stocks of native seeds are declining. The region has been hit by trade embargoes from Turkey, Iraq, and Syria, and villages have been subject to forced displacement and depopulation. Groundwater reserves are diminishing, and climate change is reducing rainfall. Many wells and farms were destroyed by the self-described Islamic State (ISIS), and many farmers have been killed by mines. Much of the region is without electricity. And there has been an influx of refugees from southern Syria, fleeing civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hasankeyf, a predominantly Kurdish historic town in Turkey, and the proposed site of a large hydroelectric dam which would threaten the local ecosystem and water supply. MEM has been active in opposing the project.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As MEM sees it, the solutions to these overlapping problems must be holistic and systemic. Ercan gives an impressive rundown of MEM\u2019s priorities: Decreasing the Kurdish regions\u2019 dependence on imports, returning to traditional water-conserving cultivation techniques, advocating for ecological policy-making at the municipal level, promoting local crops and livestock and traditional construction methods, organizing educational activities, working against destructive and exploitative \u201cinvestment\u201d and infrastructure projects such as dams and mines\u200a\u2014\u200ain short, \u201cthe mobilization of an ecological resistance\u201d towards anything guilty of \u201ccommercializing the waters, commodifying the land, controlling nature and people, and promoting the consumption of fossil fuels\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2016, MEM published a declaration of its social and ecological aims, and it is a thing of beauty. \u201cWe must defend,\u201d it says, \u201cthe democratic nation against the nation-state; the communal economy against capitalism, with its quick-profit-seeking logic and monopolism and large industries; organic agriculture, ecological villages and cities, ecological industry, and alternative energy and technology against the agricultural and energy policies imposed by capitalist modernity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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