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Democratic Confederalism (Excerpts) Colophon in collaboration with New World Summit New World Academy Reader #5: [email protected] Stateless Stateless Democracy www.newworldsummit.eu Editors: New World Academy Renée In der Maur and Jonas Staal in Research, Development, Democracy dialogue with Dilar Dirik and Realization Team: Şeyma Bayram (BAK), Younes Associate Editor: Bouadi (NWS), Vincent W. J. van Şeyma Bayram Gerven Oei (NWS), Maria Hlavajova (BAK), Robert Kluijver (NWS), Paul Design: Kuipers (NWS), Renée In der Maur Remco van Bladel, Amsterdam (NWS), Rens van Meegen (NWS), in collaboration with Niek van der Meer (BAK), Arjan van Corine van der Wal Meeuwen (BAK), Kasper Oostergetel (NWS), Sjoerd Oudman (NWS), Ga- Lithography and Printing: briëlle Provaas (NWS), Rob Schröder Drukkerij Raddraaier, Amsterdam (NWS), and Jonas Staal (NWS) ISBN: 978-90-77288-22-1 Cover and Chapter Images: The cover image depicts members of The texts in this reader are published neighborhood councils and coopera- according to individual agreements tives presenting themselves as can- with the authors and/or publishers; didates for the position of Co-Chair New World Academy Reader #5: no part of this publication may be of the People’s Council for the city of reproduced in any manner without Qamişlo, situated in the Cizîre can- permission of the publisher. ton, Rojava. This and all other images in the reader are part of a 2014 photo © 2015 the artists, authors, BAK, and series by Jonas Staal, titled Anatomy New World Academy of a Revolution — Rojava. Published by: NWA #5 has been made financially BAK, basis voor actuele kunst possible by the DOEN Foundation, Postbus 19288 Amsterdam and is additionally sup- NL–3501 DG Utrecht ported through BAK’s partnership T +31 (0)30 2316125 with the Centraal Museum, Utrecht, [email protected] on the project Future Vocabularies- www.bakonline.org Future Collections. Colophon in collaboration with New World Summit New World Academy Reader #5: [email protected] Stateless Stateless Democracy www.newworldsummit.eu Editors: New World Academy Renée In der Maur and Jonas Staal in Research, Development, Democracy dialogue with Dilar Dirik and Realization Team: Şeyma Bayram (BAK), Younes Associate Editor: Bouadi (NWS), Vincent W. J. van Şeyma Bayram Gerven Oei (NWS), Maria Hlavajova (BAK), Robert Kluijver (NWS), Paul Design: Kuipers (NWS), Renée In der Maur Remco van Bladel, Amsterdam (NWS), Rens van Meegen (NWS), in collaboration with Niek van der Meer (BAK), Arjan van Corine van der Wal Meeuwen (BAK), Kasper Oostergetel (NWS), Sjoerd Oudman (NWS), Ga- Lithography and Printing: briëlle Provaas (NWS), Rob Schröder Drukkerij Raddraaier, Amsterdam (NWS), and Jonas Staal (NWS) ISBN: 978-90-77288-22-1 Cover and Chapter Images: The cover image depicts members of The texts in this reader are published neighborhood councils and coopera- according to individual agreements tives presenting themselves as can- with the authors and/or publishers; didates for the position of Co-Chair New World Academy Reader #5: no part of this publication may be of the People’s Council for the city of reproduced in any manner without Qamişlo, situated in the Cizîre can- permission of the publisher. ton, Rojava. This and all other images in the reader are part of a 2014 photo © 2015 the artists, authors, BAK, and series by Jonas Staal, titled Anatomy New World Academy of a Revolution — Rojava. Published by: NWA #5 has been made financially BAK, basis voor actuele kunst possible by the DOEN Foundation, Postbus 19288 Amsterdam and is additionally sup- NL–3501 DG Utrecht ported through BAK’s partnership T +31 (0)30 2316125 with the Centraal Museum, Utrecht, [email protected] on the project Future Vocabularies- www.bakonline.org Future Collections. Table of Contents 9 Maria Hlavajova 131 The Social Contract Foreword 159 Ahmet Hamdi Akkaya and 15 Renée In der Maur and Joost Jongerden Jonas Staal Reassembling the Political: Introduction The PKK and the Project of Radical Democracy 27 Dilar Dirik Interviewed by Jonas Staal 195 David Graeber Interviewed Living Without Approval by Pınar Öğünç No. This is a Genuine 57 Havin Güneşer Revolution Feminicide 211 Janet Biehl 73 Zîlan Diyar Revolutionary Education: The Whole World is Two Academies in Rojava Talking about Us, Kurdish Women 223 Hito Steyerl Kobanê Is Not Falling 83 Gönül Kaya Why Jineology? 231 Jonas Staal Re-Constructing Theater of the Stateless the Sciences Towards a Communal and 247 Kajal Ahmed Free Life Bird (excerpt) 97 Abdullah Öcalan Democratic Confederalism (excerpts) 111 Murray Bookchin The Meaning of Confederalism Table of Contents 9 Maria Hlavajova 131 The Social Contract Foreword 159 Ahmet Hamdi Akkaya and 15 Renée In der Maur and Joost Jongerden Jonas Staal Reassembling the Political: Introduction The PKK and the Project of Radical Democracy 27 Dilar Dirik Interviewed by Jonas Staal 195 David Graeber Interviewed Living Without Approval by Pınar Öğünç No. This is a Genuine 57 Havin Güneşer Revolution Feminicide 211 Janet Biehl 73 Zîlan Diyar Revolutionary Education: The Whole World is Two Academies in Rojava Talking about Us, Kurdish Women 223 Hito Steyerl Kobanê Is Not Falling 83 Gönül Kaya Why Jineology? 231 Jonas Staal Re-Constructing Theater of the Stateless the Sciences Towards a Communal and 247 Kajal Ahmed Free Life Bird (excerpt) 97 Abdullah Öcalan Democratic Confederalism (excerpts) 111 Murray Bookchin The Meaning of Confederalism Foreword Maria Hlavajova Entrance to a training camp of the autonomous people’s armies of Rojava, the People’s Defense Units (YPG)(YPJ), near and the Women’s border Defense between Units Southern Kurdistan (Iraq) and the autonomous canton of Cizîre in Western Kurdistan (Syria). Foreword Maria Hlavajova Entrance to a training camp of the autonomous people’s armies of Rojava, the People’s Defense Units (YPG)(YPJ), near and the Women’s border Defense between Units Southern Kurdistan (Iraq) and the autonomous canton of Cizîre in Western Kurdistan (Syria). Brought to life together with the Kurdish Women’s Move- 10–11 ment — with both its conceptual vocabulary and the ways it enacts them in the midst of concrete struggles — this State- less Democracy reader accompanies the fifth edition of New World Academy (NWA). New World Academy is an alterna- tive educational platform that invites stateless organiza- tions invested in the progressive political project to share with artists and students their views on the role of art and culture in sociopolitical movements. Established in 2013 by artist Jonas Staal in collaboration with BAK, basis voor actuele kunst in Utrecht, to date four sessions of NWA have taken place: Towards a People’s Culture, organized with the cultural workers of the National Democratic Movement of the Philippines; Collective Struggle of Refugees: Lost. In Between. Together., realized with the Amsterdam-based collective of refugees We Are Here; Leaderless Politics, the learning curriculum of which was set up with the open- source advocates of the international Pirate Parties; and the session titled The Art of Creating a State, developed in collaboration with Mouvement National pour la Libération de l’Azawad [the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad]. Unlike previous sessions of NWA, however, this fifth iteration unfolds throughout 2015 as a nomadic plat- form for learning and practice, and takes place at various venues in Utrecht, the Netherlands, and internationally. The decision to institute NWA was prompted by the yearning to rethink the space between art and the political, and to inquire into how their relationship could be both en- visioned and enacted differently than how we have come to know it under the regime of advanced financial capitalism. If our lives are subject to this regime’s workings, in a seem- ingly inescapable squeeze between powerless politics and politicless power in a world that markets itself as an all- encompassing one, NWA commits to the continuous (re) negotiation of this reality in spite of such totalizing claims. Brought to life together with the Kurdish Women’s Move- 10–11 ment — with both its conceptual vocabulary and the ways it enacts them in the midst of concrete struggles — this State- less Democracy reader accompanies the fifth edition of New World Academy (NWA). New World Academy is an alterna- tive educational platform that invites stateless organiza- tions invested in the progressive political project to share with artists and students their views on the role of art and culture in sociopolitical movements. Established in 2013 by artist Jonas Staal in collaboration with BAK, basis voor actuele kunst in Utrecht, to date four sessions of NWA have taken place: Towards a People’s Culture, organized with the cultural workers of the National Democratic Movement of the Philippines; Collective Struggle of Refugees: Lost. In Between. Together., realized with the Amsterdam-based collective of refugees We Are Here; Leaderless Politics, the learning curriculum of which was set up with the open- source advocates of the international Pirate Parties; and the session titled The Art of Creating a State, developed in collaboration with Mouvement National pour la Libération de l’Azawad [the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad]. Unlike previous sessions of NWA, however, this fifth iteration unfolds throughout 2015 as a nomadic plat- form for learning and practice, and takes place at various venues in Utrecht, the Netherlands, and internationally. The decision to institute NWA was prompted by the yearning to rethink the space between art and the political, and to inquire into how their relationship could be both en- visioned and enacted differently than how we have come to know it under the regime of advanced financial capitalism. If our lives are subject to this regime’s workings, in a seem- ingly inescapable squeeze between powerless politics and politicless power in a world that markets itself as an all- encompassing one, NWA commits to the continuous (re) negotiation of this reality in spite of such totalizing claims.
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