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A Kurdish-Speaking Community of Change: How Social and Political Organising Takes Shape in the PYD-Controlled Areas in Syria

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A Kurdish-Speaking Community of Change: How Social and Political Organising Takes Shape in the PYD-Controlled Areas in Syria A Kurdish-Speaking Community of Change: How Social and Political Organising takes Shape in the PYD-controlled Areas in Syria Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts In Middle Eastern Studies Author: Harriet Ida Rump Advisor: Lory Janelle Dance Examiner: Vittorio Felci Date: 11.12.14 Acknowledgements I devote my deepest gratitude to the brave and engaged participants of this research, without their reflections, insights, and generous will to share ideas, this thesis would never have been realised. In the same breath I sincerely thank Lina Myritz for taking the travel with me to Syria, and for inspiring me continuously. I strongly thank my supervisor Lory Dance, she is an inspirational role model with her critical thoughts and writings, which open up for new methods of research. I am particularly appreciative of all the inputs and perspectives from Farhiya Khalid, Mia Sung Kjaergaard, Søren Rafn, Frederik Johannisson, and Mette Lundsfryd, who all have encouraged me with significant comments. A special thank goes to Lasse Sander for carefully proofreading the thesis in high speed. Finally, for the love and support of all my wonderful friends and family, I am truly thankful. 2 Abstract This thesis explores current trends in social and political organising in Northern Syria, an area controlled by the PYD.1 The research is built on discussions between eight participants from the Syrian Kurdish-speaking community living in the areas. While most discourses on Syria and the Kurdish-speaking community have a macro-political focus and produce racialising descriptions of “Kurdishness” in Syria, less attention is granted to bottom-up organising and the plurality of Kurdishness. Inspired by the writings of Frantz Fanon,2 Sari Hanafi,3 and Hamid Dabashi,4 I wish to highlight situated perspectives in relation to the ongoing developments. I conduct a ‘double research’5 that challenges essentialising discourses of Kurdishness, and the thesis builds on partial and situated knowledge, which is combined with concepts of contentious politics, in order to deeply explore the field of tension between top-down regulations and bottom-up social and political organising within the Kurdish-speaking community in Syria. This thesis concludes that the opportunities and potentials of self-organising depend exceedingly on the PYD party. Furthermore the thesis unfolds the embedded paradox of the idea of Kurdishness in the organising methods and discourses in the areas. Keywords: Top-down regulations; bottom-up organising; contentious politics; partial and situated knowledge; racialising; essentialisng discourses; PYD; Syrian Kurdish speaking community; Kurdishness. 1 Please note that on page 76, in the Appendix, I present all abbriviations used in the thesis. 2 Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth, trans. Constance Farrington (London: Penguin Books, 2001) 3 Sari Hanafi, ”The Arab revolutions; the emergence of a new political subjectivity,” Contemporary Arab Affairs 5 (2012): 198–213. 4 Hamid Dabashi, The Arab Spring: The End of Postcolonialism (London and New York: Zed Books, 2012) 5 Yasmin Gunaratnam, Researching 'Race' and Ethnicity: Methods, Knowledge and Power (London, Thousand Oaks and New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2003), 35. 3 Table of Contents Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................. 2 Abstract ................................................................................................................................. 3 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 6 2 Disposition .......................................................................................................................... 8 3 Literature Review .......................................................................................................... 10 3.1 Orientalist Analyses of Syrian Developments ............................................................... 10 3.1.2 Opportunities in Time ................................................................................................................. 10 3.2 Authoritarian Upgrading ................................................................................................... 11 3.2.1 Expressions of Dissent ............................................................................................................... 11 3.3 The Kurdish-speaking Community ................................................................................. 12 3.3.1 The Syrian Kurdish-speaking Community .......................................................................... 13 3.4 Social organising and the Syrian Uprising ..................................................................... 14 3.4.1 Developments in the PYD-controlled Areas ....................................................................... 14 3.5 Social organising and a Bottom-Up Approach .............................................................. 15 4 Methodology ................................................................................................................... 17 4.1 Mixed Methodologies .......................................................................................................... 17 4.1.1 Double Research ........................................................................................................................... 17 4.1.2 Oral History .................................................................................................................................... 18 4.1.3 A Grounded Method ................................................................................................................... 19 4.2 Ethics and Security Considerations intertwined .......................................................... 19 4.3 Partial and situated Knowledge ........................................................................................ 20 4.3.1 Situational Intuition and Participant Introduction ............................................................. 20 4.3.2 Discussions in Nap ...................................................................................................................... 21 4.3.3 How can I describe the Taste of Banana if I did not eat It? ........................................... 22 4.4 Obstructions in Anonymity and Trust ............................................................................ 23 4.5 Limitations in Security and Textuality ........................................................................... 24 5 Theory .............................................................................................................................. 26 5.1 Contentious Politics ............................................................................................................. 26 5.2 Political Opportunities ........................................................................................................ 27 5.2.1 Media Opportunities .................................................................................................................... 27 5.2.2 Opportunities and Authoritarianisms ..................................................................................... 27 5.3 Mobilisation and Demobilisation ..................................................................................... 28 5.3.1 Movements, Non-movements and ‘Free-Riders’ .............................................................. 29 5.4 Framing Processes ‘Beyond Identity’ ............................................................................. 30 5.4.1 Culture, Politics and Power ...................................................................................................... 31 5.4.2 Linking Colonialism and Minority Formations ................................................................. 32 5.5 Theoretical Eclecticism in Search of the Third Space ................................................. 33 6 Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 34 6.1 An Uprising of Political Differences ....................................................................... 34 6.1.1 The Current Situation in the PYD-controlled Areas ................................................ 36 6.1.2 Democratic Autonomy ..................................................................................................... 37 6.1.2.1 Top-Down Implementations of Democratic Autonomy .............................................. 38 6.1.2.2 Bottom-Up organising of the Democratic Autonomy .................................................. 39 6.1.3 Benefitting from the Changes in the PYD-controlled Areas ................................... 40 6.2 Mobilising structures ................................................................................................. 41 6.2.1 The Party Movement in the Light of Contentious Politics ...................................... 42 6.2.1.1 Power-holding ‘Free-Riders’ ................................................................................................ 43 4 6.2.2 Revolutionaries in Difficult Times ................................................................................ 46 6.2.2.1 The TCK and the Comrades ................................................................................................. 46 6.2.3 An International Society
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