The Kurdish Dilemma
Will the most promising democratic experiment in the Middle East be allowed to survive? The answer increasingly depends on the geopolitical whims of the Trump administration.
75 Search Results for: Rojava
The Clintons Are Making a TV Show About Female Kurdish Fighters. That’s Absurd.
Hillary and Chelsea Clinton are producing a new TV series about female Kurdish fighters. We can expect a sanitized production that somehow fails to mention that YPJ forces in Rojava are leftists who oppose everything the Clintons represent.
Turkey Is Waging a Brutal Campaign in Iraqi Kurdistan
In its latest assault against the Kurds, Erdoğan’s Turkey is targeting civilians and refugees along the Iraq border — a brutal campaign to stamp out democracy and self-determination in Kurdistan.
Fighting for the Right to Heal
In 2016, 14 health workers tried to help civilians trapped in Turkey's besieged town of Cizre. Today, Erdogan's government wants to jail them for this act.
Erdoğan’s Bloody Gambit
The Turkish government is using the massacre in Suruç to wage war — not on ISIS, but on the Kurdish liberation movement.
Portraits of the Kurdish Struggle
A new collection of photography captures the Kurdish struggle against ISIS — and their efforts to build a radically egalitarian society based on principles of peace and democracy.
Abdullah Öcalan’s Isolation May Be Coming to an End
After 43 months without outside contact, jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan has been allowed to meet with left-wing MPs. He has encouraged calls for a peace process — but there’s little sign that Turkish authorities are serious about the idea.
Murray Bookchin’s New Life
Whatever their limits, Murray Bookchin's ideas should be studied by today's left.
Turkey’s War in Iraq Is About Building Its Regional Power
Turkey’s war on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party has seen it build a permanent military presence in Iraq. But its de facto occupation is also about building the “Development Road” — a megaproject meant to strengthen Turkey’s power across the region.
Turkey’s Decisive Year
Chaos, violence, and authoritarian rule reign in Turkey. Is there any opening for the Kurdish liberation movement?
Syria’s Kurds After Assad
Months after dictator Bashar al-Assad fled Syria, the country’s Kurdish population faces continued uncertainty — and Turkish air strikes. A photo series by Angéline Desdevises portrays the hardships of Kurds adapting to an ever-unstable reality.
With Victory in Ukraine Out of Reach, Putin Is Stepping Up His War on Domestic Enemies
Vladimir Putin promised to “denazify Ukraine,” but this week he suppressed Russia’s own watchdog monitoring the far right. Unable to crush Ukraine, his government has turned its fire on domestic critics of war and nationalism.
Remembering My Friend, David Graeber
David Graeber will remain for me a model for how to live to the fullest a scholarly and activist life.
Erdoğan Will Never Defeat the Fight for Democracy in Turkey
Sebahat Tuncel is an MP for the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) who has spent almost five years in Turkish jail on fabricated terrorism charges. She writes from prison on how President Erdoğan is using the courts to suppress dissent — and why Kurdish and democratic forces will never give in to his regime.
Israel Is Kurd-Washing Its Crimes in Gaza
Faced with criticism of the war in Gaza, Israeli leaders cynically ask why the world worries about the Palestinians and not the Kurds. Israel’s supposed pro-Kurdish stance is empty posturing — and risks damaging the Kurdish fight for liberation.
Bringing the Resistance to Parliament
The bombing of a Peoples’ Democratic Party rally in Diyarbakir shows how threatened Turkey’s rulers have become.
What Happened in Aleppo?
Democratic forces have always been the main target of the Assad regime.
An End to the Darkness
In recent decades the Kurdish New Year has become a festival of resistance against tyranny. This year’s celebrations coincide with victory over the Islamic State.
The Women of Raqqa Are Rebuilding Their Future
Four years since Raqqa was liberated from ISIS, women are playing a leading role in rebuilding the Syrian city. Their activism shows that socialist feminism isn’t just about gender parity in top jobs — it’s about women taking control of their own lives.