
The False Friends of Kobanê
The significance of the struggle in Kobanê cannot be overstated. But real international solidarity won't come in the form of military intervention.
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The significance of the struggle in Kobanê cannot be overstated. But real international solidarity won't come in the form of military intervention.

Rojava, the site of a remarkable peoples’ revolution, is on the brink of colonization and extermination. The international left must stand against it.

The US government claims to be supporting the Syrian Kurds in the fight against ISIS. But it is attempting to bring a more moderate leadership to power in a bid to weaken the Kurds’ revolutionary project in Rojava. Washington will never be a friend of self-determination.

Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria is its latest effort to destroy the nascent democracy in Rojava. Where Kurdish-led forces crushed the Islamic State, its fighters are now coming back into the open.

Supporters of the revolution in Rojava, Oğuz Yüzgeç and Sercan Üstündaş spent the last three years in a Damascus jail. Following their release last month, they told Jacobin about the torture they suffered and what they expect from post-Assad Syria.

A Road Unforeseen is an inspiring account of the autonomous Kurdish region in Syria, but it glosses over Rojava's contradictions.

The revolution in Rojava — founded on principles of anticapitalism, Kurdish self-determination, and women's liberation — is at risk of being wiped out. And the Trump administration may just turn its back.

When two British volunteers died in Ukraine this month, they were duly hailed for selflessly joining its fight against invasion. Yet both men had also faced terrorism charges for supporting the Kurds — showing the double standards of British foreign policy.

Who are the British volunteers fighting with the Kurdish YPG in Rojava?

Stefan Bertram-Lee was an internet leftist. And then they went to Rojava and got a gun.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces played a key role in defeating ISIS. Now they are again forced to fight for their survival, as former jihadist Ahmed al-Sharaa’s transitional government seeks to crush Syria’s minorities.

Syria’s interim government, backed by Islamist mercenaries, has launched large-scale attacks on the autonomous Rojava region. While Western states endorse Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa, domestically his government relies on violent repression.

With all eyes on the war in Ukraine, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is planning a fresh invasion of northern Syria. For 70 years, Turkey has been a key NATO member — and NATO's backing for its aggression shows the alliance is no mere defense pact.

The Kurdish struggle has been undermined by world-power clashes over the future of Syria.

Turkey's war on Afrin is an attack not only on Kurdish self-determination, but on democracy and women's liberation in the Middle East.

Trump has settled on a cynical strategy in Syria: use the Kurds to try to promote regime change. He doesn’t care about the democratic aspirations of Kurdish revolutionaries.

A US withdrawal from Syria that cleared the way for the destruction of the Kurds’ radical democratic experiment would not serve the cause of peace — and it would not be a blow to US imperialism.

Israeli politicians often paint themselves as allies of Kurdish freedom against Arab dictators. Yet today Israel is dropping the act, now that it sees Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa as a potential ally against Iran.

Turkey’s military invasion isn’t just about wiping out the Kurds in Syria — it’s a bid to bolster the far right in Turkey. We must oppose this unconscionable act.

For a decade, the autonomous administration in northeast Syria has provided an alternative to dictatorship and Islamist terror. Yet still today Erdoğan’s Turkey is working to stop the revolution — including by cutting off its water and energy supplies.