The Political Thought of Abdullah Öcalan: Kurdistan, Women’s Revolution and Democratic Confederalism

169 Pages·2017·1.03 MB·English

by  Abdullah Öcalan

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 ideas are being interpreted, negotiated, implemented and contested by
people. But there came a point in our enquiry when it was obvious to me that I
had to engage with the writings and ideas of Öcalan, in order to better
understand the ideas, attitudes and practices of the Kurdish women and men we
were talking to.
Let me make it absolutely clear: I have not studied Abdullah Öcalan’s prison
writings (he has been in prison for over 18 years now) carefully over the years,
as many of my peers and colleagues have done. Nor am I an expert in the
various intellectual and philosophical underpinnings of his work. Initially
influenced by Marxist-Leninist thought, in his more recent writings, as many
commentators have illustrated, Öcalan has been particularly stimulated by
Murray Bookchin, the American anarchist and social ecologist. Other influential
thinkers and movements often quoted include the American anarchist Emma
Goldman, Immanuel Wallerstein, V. Gordon Childe, Fernand Braudel, Friedrich
Nietzsche, Michel Foucault, the Frankfurt School and the Zapatistas.
To be quite frank, for a long time I was very sceptical about what I perceived
to be another male über-patriarch whose picture seemed to pop up everywhere.
If anything, I was slightly taken aback by his cult-like status. But my initial
scepticism and reluctance to engage was replaced by a great sense of
appreciation, respect, and excitement. I have come to recognise Abdullah Öcalan
not only as a political leader who has been able to engage in self-criticism and
change his positions radically, but also as a political philosopher and inspiring
civic rights figure.