The Political Thought of Abdullah Öcalan The Political Thought of Abdullah Öcalan Kurdistan, Woman’s Revolution and Democratic Confederalism First published 2017 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA www.plutobooks.com Copyright © Abdullah Öcalan 2017 Translated by Havin Guneser and International Initiative ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan – Peace In Kurdistan’ www.ocalan-books.com The right of Abdullah Öcalan to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 0 7453 9976 8 Paperback ISBN 978 1 7868 0087 9 PDF eBook ISBN 978 1 7868 0089 3 Kindle eBook ISBN 978 1 7868 0088 6 EPUB eBook This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental standards of the country of origin. Typeset by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England Simultaneously printed in the United Kingdom and United States of America Contents Foreword by Nadje Al-Ali Introduction 1. War and Peace in Kurdistan: Perspectives on a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question Introduction Etymology of the Words Kurd and Kurdistan Kurdish Settlement Area and Kurdish Language A Short Outline of Kurdish History Struggles for Resources, War and State Terror in Kurdistan European Colonialism and the Kurdish Dilemma The Ideological Basis of Colonial Oppression and Power Politics in Kurdistan Kurdish Identity and Kurdish Resistance The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) New Strategic, Philosophical and Political Approaches The Present Situation and Suggestions for a Solution 2. Democratic Confederalism Introduction The Nation-State Democratic Confederalism Principles of Democratic Confederalism Problems of the Peoples in the Middle East and Possible Ways to a Solution 3. Liberating Life: Woman’s Revolution Introduction Women’s Revolution: Neolithic Era The First Major Sexual Rupture How Patriarchal Authority became Deep-Rooted All Slavery is Based on Housewifisation The Second Major Sexual Rupture Family, Dynasty and State Women’s Situation in Kurdish Society Capitalism Economy Killing the Dominant Male: Instituting the Third Major Sexual Rupture against the Dominant Male Jineolojî as the Science of Woman Democratic Modernity: The Era of Woman’s Revolution 4. Democratic Nation Introduction Capitalist Modernity and the Nation Democratic Modernity Democratic Solution The Democratic Nation Model To Be a Seeker of a Democratic Nation Solution Conclusion Index Foreword Nadje Al-Ali THE CONTEXT OF READING ABDULLAH ÖCALAN TODAY For many of us around the world, the historical juncture unfolding is very frightening indeed. We are faced with multiple existential challenges – ranging from violent wars and conflicts, particularly in Africa and in the Middle East, as well as an ongoing large forced displacement of people from war zones, but increasingly also due to devastating environmental damage and climate change. Meanwhile, fascism is on the rise again, most notably in the form of Daesh or ISIS, the so-called Islamic State, as well as right-wing governments and movements promoting racism, Islamophobia and anti- immigration/anti-refugee sentiments and mobilisations in Europe, the US and other places around the globe. Many of us are rethinking the meaning of democracy at a time when anti-intellectualism, populism, outright distortions and lies appear to not only have gained credibility but also increasing authority. Those of us who have been invested in various struggles and causes linked to social justice, equality, and a fairer distribution of resources have also frequently been involved in discussions and practices, trying to find more participatory and democratic ways of decision-making and engaging in politics. Personally, as a feminist academic and activist, the question of how to do politics has been as important as the actual content of feminist politics. Despite the existence of exciting and inspiring social movements and political struggles around the world that have tried to apply more horizontal ways of decision-making, the current global social, political and economic crises fill many people with horror and sadness. We seem to have reached a dangerous tipping point, when populations everywhere are extremely polarised, when nationalist and essentialist identity politics are on the rise, and when the scapegoating of religious, ethnic and sexual minorities is being normalised yet again. Speaking truth to power has become increasingly rare and in numerous contexts, a very risky, if not life- threatening, act. Looking specifically to the Middle East, the region I am most familiar with through my research and activism, the situation seems to be particularly dire. The enormous hope and joy evoked by the revolutionary processes, protest movements and creative acts of resistance against the various authoritarian regimes in the region appears to have been replaced by fear and despair. This is due to a rise in violent repression of any form of dissent, escalating sectarian tensions and conflicts, the continuing militarisation of politics, the ongoing neoliberalisation of economies, in addition to the growth and expansion of radical Islamist ideology, whether in the form of established political parties and regimes or militant groups. However, I agree with those commentators who note that any revolutionary processes and radical transformations in the region require long- term commitment and analytical lenses, and not all is lost even if it might appear like that. There is a critical mass of people in the Middle East and within its diasporas who do wish for freedom, equality and democracy. But their aspirations, visions and efforts are too often brutally repressed by current governments and by fiercely conservative social and political constituencies. It is in the context of seeking out those voices, activists, organisations and movements in the region that pursue radical and creative ideas and practices of democracy, freedom and social justice that I began to get more and more interested in the Kurdish political movement. My feminist instincts and curiosity led me to try to understand the ideas and history behind the all too often superficial and glossy representations of attractive female Kurdish fighters engaged in armed conflict with ISIS militants in Kobanê and elsewhere in northern Syria (the area also referred to as Rojava). I was puzzled by the contradiction of the glorifying narratives and accounts of the female fighters while the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) continues to be criminalised in many contexts and accounts. From readings and conversations, I was aware that one of the major ideological and political underpinnings of the Kurdish resistance to ISIS in northern Syria, northern Iraq and Sinjar (Shengal), was rooted in the political experiences and ideas linked to the PKK. I was also curious to understand why the Kurdish political movement in Turkey (northern Kurdistan), particularly the women’s movement, would be so different from the Kurdish women’s movement in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), that is southern Kurdistan, a region I had known over a longer period through research and travel. Kurdish women’s organisations in the KRI seemed to be challenged by far more conservative gender norms and relations propagated by their political leadership. And aside from a few outstanding exceptions, Kurdish women’s rights activists in the KRI tend to be more neoliberal in their interpretations and practices of feminism, often focusing on women’s leadership and empowerment as conceptualised by international funders and NGOs. It is through my collaborative ethnographic research over the last two years with my colleague at SOAS, Dr Latif Tas, that I became more and more interested in the relationship between the political development of the Kurdish movement, particularly the women’s movement, and the ideas of Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader not only of the PKK but a much wider Kurdish political movement in Turkey (northern Kurdistan) and beyond. My encounters, conversations and interviews with Kurdish women’s rights activists in Turkey and in the diaspora, MPs belonging to the multi-ethnic, progressive People’s Democratic Party (HDP), co-mayors, journalists and academics were humbling and profoundly inspiring. On several occasions, it was mind boggling for me to hear Kurdish women’s rights activists tell us that nationalism was bad for women, whether Turkish nationalism or Kurdish nationalism. These were activists who were part of a large ethnic minority that had been systematically marginalised and deprived of basic cultural and political rights in Turkey, such as Kurdish language teaching in schools. I was genuinely puzzled that they were not advocating for an independent Kurdish nation state but for more democracy and recognition within Turkey. While the activists and MPs we talked to were clearly drawing on their own experiences as women within a wider political movement, they all referred to the prison writings of Abdullah Öcalan as highly influential, transformative and instrumental in shaping their political ideas and struggle. As a social anthropologist specialising in women and gender issues within the Middle East and its diasporas, I tend to focus less on texts, but more on the ways in which texts and