On January
27th, exactly four years ago, the city of Kobane in northern Syria
was freed from the hands of the gangs of the so-called Islamic State
after months of fierce fighting by the courageous fighters of the YPJ
and YPG. At that time, we poured onto the streets in our millions,
day after day, week after week, to express our solidarity with the
Kobane resistance and to compel the world to act. Nonstop, powerful
actions outside the Middle East gave the comrades fighting in the
city courage to continue and forced the international powers to act.
The weeks of
resistance in Kobane became a symbol of the will, power and hope
brought into the world by the young Rojava revolution. Through this
resistance, Rojava’s principles of direct democracy, an ecological
and collective economy, and the liberation of women became known
around the world. Kobane has become a symbol of international
solidarity and common struggle - our solidarity across borders and
ideological differences, as democrats, socialists, feminists and
eco-activists. Countless emancipatory forces united their voices in
defense of Kobane. And so, the revolution in Rojava has become an
inseparable part of the history of these forces all over the world.
For four years we have gone through ups and downs together, shared
successes and losses, grief, suffering, anger, pain and joy. We have
seen how the darkness of IS barbarism has been driven out of Manbij
and Raqqa, and witnessed the building of a completely new social
order. Today, after many years of tough struggle, the Democratic
Federation of Northeast Syria has been proclaimed, one-third of Syria
has been liberated and the Islamic State is on the verge of complete
defeat.
However,
during this time we also witnessed the invasion of Afrin by the
fascist Turkish army and its Islamist mercenaries and faced the
deadly silence of the world community over the occupiers’ crimes.
We have lost many valuable friends along the way and yet never given
up our courage.
Despite many
difficult challenges, we did not let ourselves become divided. We
have always stood shoulder to shoulder together, learning, building a
new society and defending this revolution together. We have
constantly emphasized that democratic, feminist, socialist and
ecological forces are our only allies in the struggle for a different
world. And in the defense of Kobane, the liberation of Raqqa, and the
resistance of Afrin, our isolated voices have become a common call
for another world. Together we have grown into an indispensable force
that the rulers of the world can no longer ignore.
New declaration of war
against Rojava and the societies in Northeastern Syria
Today,
almost a year after the beginning of the fascist Turkish state’s
fierce war of aggression against Afrin, almost four years after the
liberation of Kobane from IS, the revolution faces perhaps its
greatest challenge yet. The fascist AKP / MHP regime under Erdogan
has again declared war on Rojava. Their words are clear and leave no
room for doubt: the revolution must be destroyed once and for all.
And in the campaign for public opinion, in the media and behind
closed doors where regional and imperialist powers are negotiating
the future of the peoples of northeastern Syria, this war has long
since begun.
In these
negotiations we hear the voices of the rulers, talking over the heads
of the people of Syria and Rojava. They are concerned only with the
redistribution of Syria’s wealth and land. Cities such as Idlib and
Manbij, whole regions and peoples: all are carved up and traded for
one another by the imperialist powers. The people themselves have no
voice in this process. Yet it will be they alone who end up suffering
when the Islamist gangs of Turkey get the green light to invade, to
murder and plunder. And if Russia and the US allow the airspace of
the Turkish Air Force be opened for extensive bombardments, it will
be they alone who die.
Despite the inception of ethnic cleansing, the settlement of
Islamists in Rojava, and gross violations of international law, the
Western world is silent once again. And what should these states be
expected to say, if their tanks, airplanes, helicopters, drones and
assault rifle sales do skyrocket thanks to another war in Turkey? We
know only too well that we can expect nothing from them. To these
states, war, death and destruction mean nothing but profit. It was
they who provided Turkey with arms to turn against its own population
for decades. And they were the ones who made the war against Afrin
possible.
This reality
has not changed to this day. Despite superficial distortions in
bilateral relations between individual states, international support
for the Erdogan regime continues unabated. Without the red carpets
for Erdogan, financial aid, arm deliveries and secret service
cooperation in the fight against the democratic opposition in Turkey,
Turkish fascism could not survive a single day more. But so long as
the money continues to flow freely, human rights, peace and freedom
are in scarce supply. To trust the humanity of the ruling powers in
this situation is nothing short of madness. And so we do not want to
waste our breath calling on these powers to intervene.
We call for: organizing
– protesting - civil disobedience
Our call is
to all those who dream together with us of another world and are
ready to fight for them. We address all revolutionaries, all those
who regard themselves as democrats, anti-fascists, feminists, all
those who stand up for an ecological future. If we don’t do it,
nobody will. By defending the Rojava revolution together, we defend
all our hopes. And that's why, in the spirit of liberation of Kobane,
the World Kobane and World Afrin Days, we call for:
* Let’s
organize resistance committees in our neighborhoods and cities to
defend the revolution
* Let's come together and
protest on the streets to send a clear signal of our solidarity with
the revolution in Northeast Syria on 27 January. Let us remember
together the resistance and liberation of the city of Kobane.
* Let’s use determined
and creative actions of civil disobedience to interrupt the
production and export of arms, and the daily life of the political
parties responsible for the deals with the Turkish regime on 28
January. Let’s make visible the identities of those who benefit
from the war, those who finance and drive it.
Together we will make 27 and 28 January two days of global resistance
against Turkish fascism. Together we will intervene in the numbing
routine of war and oppression, expressing our solidarity with various
forms of action. Together we will show that this revolution is not
alone!
Let us stand shoulder to
shoulder against fascism!
Long live the
international solidarity!
The revolution in Rojava will be victorious! Fascism will be crushed!
Internationalist
Commune of Rojava
Democratic
Federation of Northeast Syria
02/01/2019
