Along Syria's borders with Turkey and Northern Iraq, lies a mainly Kurdish area with a population of 4.6 million where a huge social experiment is taking place at the centre of a crossfire between Syria's dictatorship, ISIS's collective insanity and Turkey's ongoing hostility towards the idea of Kurdish autonomy, with the US and NATO looming large in the background. The Democratic Union Party (PYD) and Kurdish National Council (KNC) established in the region of Rojava a society that mixes fierce libertarianism (guns are everywhere and there are no taxes – none) and Occupy-friendly anarchist thought with a healthy dose of feminism. While most Kurdish groups, especially those the US is friendly with, would some day like to establish a Kurdish state, in Rojava they have leap-frogged over the idea of the nation state into a more advanced system that they call Democratic Confederalism.
In the cantons of Rojava, there is a small central government with an absolute minimum of 40% female delegates, but most of the day-to-day work of running society happens at a local level, street by street and village by village. Democratic Confederalism's chief architect, Abdullah Ocalan, says that “Ecology and feminism are central pillars”? of the system he has spearheaded, something that you would have to go very far to the margins to hear from Western politicians. In Rojava, men who beat their wives face total ostracism from the community, making their lives in a highly social, connected society virtually impossible. Instead of a police force and jails, 'peace committees' in each municipality work to defuse the cycles of inter-family revenge killings by consensual agreements between both sides – and it works.
The only part of Rojava's experiment that has received any international attention has been the YPJ, the female-only paramilitary forces that have been fighting, and winning, against ISIS and the Syrian Army. NBC, the Guardian and even Marie Claire have all covered the YPJ's bravery without even paying lip service to the ideology that makes it possible.
Heavily-armed Kurdish feminist environmentalist anarchists
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- Pointedstick
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Heavily-armed Kurdish feminist environmentalist anarchists
Discuss.
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Re: Heavily-armed Kurdish feminist environmentalist anarchists
This should give Quentin Tarentino a good idea for his next movie - an army of feminists defeating the radical Islamists (Re: Inglorious Bastards, Django Unchained).
- MachineGhost
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Re: Heavily-armed Kurdish feminist environmentalist anarchists
I'm just laughing at the title and photo...
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- Pointedstick
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Re: Heavily-armed Kurdish feminist environmentalist anarchists
For the purpose of generating discussion, maybe posting the picture was a mistake!
Women take note.
Women take note.
Human behavior is economic behavior. The particulars may vary, but competition for limited resources remains a constant.
- CEO Nwabudike Morgan
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Re: Heavily-armed Kurdish feminist environmentalist anarchists
I like watching female biathlon during Winter Olympics - somewhat the kind thing. But with snow.
Re: Heavily-armed Kurdish feminist environmentalist anarchists
Nice pic, it reminds me of pictures of Israeli Army women, some of which are pretty damn hot.
If ISIS is a bunch of badasses who are going to conquer all the way to Rome, how come they can't beat a bunch of paramilitary women?
If ISIS is a bunch of badasses who are going to conquer all the way to Rome, how come they can't beat a bunch of paramilitary women?
- Kriegsspiel
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Re: Heavily-armed Kurdish feminist environmentalist anarchists
In for the jpegs.fnord123 wrote: Nice pic, it reminds me of pictures of Israeli Army women, some of which are pretty damn hot.
If ISIS is a bunch of badasses who are going to conquer all the way to Rome, how come they can't beat a bunch of paramilitary women?
You there, Ephialtes. May you live forever.
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Re: Heavily-armed Kurdish feminist environmentalist anarchists
"Heavily-armed Kurdish feminist environmentalist anarchists" would be a pretty good name for a rock band if it weren't so long.