Beyond State, Power, and Violence

689 Pages·8.563 MB·English

by  Abdullah Öcalan

“Öcalan’s works make many intellectuals uncomfortable, because
they represent a form of thought that is not only inextricable from
action but also directly grapples with the knowledge that it is.”
—David Graeber author of Debt: The First 5,000 Years
“Öcalan’s writings, written in captivity, are in the tradition of the ideology
of the PKK, a left national liberation movement that seeks to change its
own society. However, Öcalan, apparently also one of those whose political
thinking have been sharpened by the forced abstinence from daily politics,
has succeeded in further developing his political thought in captivity.”
—Thomas Schmidinger, author of The Battle for the Mountain of the Kurds:
Self-Determination and Ethnic Cleansing in the Afrin Region of Rojava
“Öcalan’s plea to build a strong and complex self-organized civil society
without taking direct action against the state is similar to Zapatismo
in Chiapas. . . . Finally, this calls to mind Karl Marx’s realization: ‘An
idea becomes material violence when it seizes the masses.’ And
Abdullah Öcalan’s message has seized the masses in Kurdistan.”
—Nikolaus Brauns, historian and journalist, author of Partisanen einer
neuen Welt: Eine Geschichte der Linken und Arbeiterbewegung der Türkei
“Öcalan is the Gramsci of our time.”
—Tamir Bar-On, author of The World through Soccer and Beyond Soccer

Beyond State, Power,
and Violence
In ancient Greek philosophy, kairos signifies the right time or the “moment
of transition.” We believe that we live in such a transitional period. The
most important task of social science in time of transformation is to trans-
form itself into a force of liberation. Kairos, an editorial imprint of the
Anthropology and Social Change department housed in the California
Institute of Integral Studies, publishes groundbreaking works in critical
social sciences, including anthropology, sociology, geography, theory of
education, political ecology, political theory, and history.
Series editor: Andrej Grubačić
Recent and featured Kairos books:
Building Free Life: Dialogues with Öcalan edited by International Initiative
The Art of Freedom: A Brief History of the Kurdish Liberation Struggle by
Havin Guneser
The Sociology of Freedom: Manifesto of the Democratic Civilization, Volume
III by Abdullah Öcalan
The Battle for the Mountain of the Kurds: Self-Determination and Ethnic
Cleansing in the Afrin Region of Rojava by Thomas Schmidinger
Taming the Rascal Multitude: Essays, Interviews, and Lectures 1997–2014
by Noam Chomsky
A New World in Our Hearts: Noam Chomsky in Conversation with Michael
Albert
Between Thought and Expression Lies a Lifetime: Why Ideas Matter by Noam
Chomsky and James Kelman
Mutual Aid: An Illuminated Factor of Evolution by Peter Kropotkin, illus-
trated by N.O. Bonzo
Asylum for Sale: Profit and Protest in the Migration Industry edited by
Siobhán McGuirk and Adrienne Pine
Autonomy Is in Our Hearts: Zapatista Autonomous Government through the
Lens of the Tsotsil Language by Dylan Eldredge Fitzwater
For more information visit www.pmpress.org/blog/kairos/
Beyond State, Power,
and Violence
Abdullah Öcalan
Beyond State, Power, and Violence
©2023 PM Press
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be transmitted by any means without
permission in writing from the publisher.
ISBN: 978–1–62963–715–0 (paperback)
ISBN: 978–1–62963–763–1 (hardcover)
ISBN: 978–1–62963–780–8 (ebook)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019933027
Cover Image: Zümrüd-ü Anka by Ahmet Güneştekin
Cover by John Yates/www.stealworks.com
Interior design by briandesign
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
PM Press
PO Box 23912
Oakland, CA 94623
www.pmpress.org
Printed in the USA.
Published with International Initiative Edition
International Initiative
“Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan—Peace in Kurdistan”
P.O. Box 100 511
D-50445 Cologne
Germany
www.freeocalan.org
Original title: Bir Halkı Savunmak
First published in 2004 by Mezopotamien Verlag, Neuss
Translation by Michael Schiffman and Havin Guneser
Edited by Havin Guneser
Contents
foreword by Andrej Grubačić xiii
preface In Defense of a People xix
one Social Reality and the Individual 1
Introduction 1
Natural Society 4
two Hierarchical Statist Society: The Birth of Slave Society 12
On Method 12
The Advent of Hierarchy 15
Patriarchy 21
Gerontocracy 23
three The Statist Society: The Formation of Slave Society 32
four Feudal Statist Society 50
The Mature Slave Society 50
The Capitalist State and Capitalist Society: The Crisis of
Civilization 64
five The Democratic and Ecological Society 88
The Historical Essence of Communal and Democratic
Values 88
Prophets and Barbarians 118
Monasteries, Witches, and Alchemists 128
From the Renaissance to Marxism 133
six A Blueprint for a Democratic and Ecological Society 164
Democracy as a System for a Way Out of Crisis 176
Women’s Liberation 192
The Return to Social Ecology 201
seven Chaos in the Middle East Civilization and Ways Out 211
Introduction 211
Understanding the Middle East Correctly: What Is the
Problem and How Did It Develop? 216
The Mentality of the Middle East 216
The State in the Middle East 222
The Family in the Middle East 233
Further Particularities of Society in the Middle East 242
Ethnicity and Nation 243
Homeland 244
Class 245
Property 248
Economy 249
Dynasty 250
Tariqat 252
Civil Society 253
Violence and Dictatorship in the Civilization in the
Middle East 253
eight The Current Situation in the Middle East and
Probable Developments 260
The Middle East Today 263
State Power 268
Theocracy as the Foundation of Every State 269
The Situation of Women 272
The Economy 274
Scenarios 277
The Future of the Region 286
Democratic Politics 294
The Freedom of Women 302
Economy 304
Ecology 305
nine The Kurdish Phenomenon and the Kurdish
Question in the Chaos of the Middle East 312
Introduction 312
Some Distinctive Lines in the Kurdish Society 314
A Short Sketch of the History and Concepts of
“Kurds” and “Kurdistan” 314
The Struggle Over Kurdistan, War, and Terror 324
The Policy of Forced Assimilation Targeting the
Culture of Kurdistan 342
Ethnicity, Class, and Nation in Kurdistan 346
Official Ideology and Power in Kurdistan 357
Self-Awareness and Resistance in Kurdistan 374
ten The PKK Movement: Critique, Self-Critique, and
Its Reconstruction 383
Section A—Historical Sketch of the PKK 383
First Phase: Emergence 383
Second Phase 391
Some Thoughts on the PKK 394
Section B—Critique and Self-Critique in the Name of
the PKK 405
The Concept of the Party 408
Power and Violence 410
Democracy 413
Self-critique of the PKK 415
National Liberation 419
Section C—The Questions in the Restructuring of the
PKK 422
Kurdish-Turkish Relations 428
First Contacts 429
The Strategic Alliance 432
Capitalism in Turkey 435
The Era of the Republic 437
1920–1940 440
1940–1970 443
1970 to Today 444