At least 50 cross-continent Dialogue Days events took place in 15 countries during June, a global effort to highlight the unlawful isolation of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan on the Turkish prison island of İmralı and encourage local communities to discuss his literary works and theories, which have inspired millions around the world and shaped revolutionary social movements.
Several discussion panels, book fairs, readings, art exhibitions, theatrical performances, and information stands sprang up in major cities and remote rural areas of Italy, Catalonia, the Basque country, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Greece, and France. Events were also organised in Finland, Poland, Cyprus, France, Belgium, Austria, Scotland, Kenya, South Africa and Brazil.
Öcalan, leader of the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), developed the bulk of his philosophy behind bars, and is revered by subjugated peoples the world over who live under threat of state-assimilation policies and cultural genocide. Pioneer of the modern day Kurdish freedom movement, Öcalan abandoned the idea of the Kurds regaining national independence from Turkey, and instead adopted a model of democratic confederalism, promoting self-determination through a form of decentralised grassroots radical democracy.
Öcalan’s ‘new paradigm’ has women’s liberation, direct democracy and ecology at its core. Revolutionaries in the Kurdish-led multiethnic region of northern Syria based their autonomous governance on Öcalan’s model, forging a unique social phenomenon, the Rojava Revolution, in the midst of the Syrian civil war.
Catalonians have a particularly strong affiliation with the Kurds. Parallels are often drawn between the struggles for greater autonomy and self-determination within the Spanish state, and the autonomy of different ethnic groups within the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES, or Rojava). Catalonia has officially recognised the AANES.
A student union in Valencia, Catalonia led a panel to discuss how language and culture can be protected from state assimilation policies and compared challenges in Catalonia and Kurdistan. Participants shared excerpts of Öcalan’s analysis, digging deep into the relevance of his works to the Catalan struggle for autonomy.
Meanwhile, an open-air festival held in the Swiss city of Zurich aimed to connect the anti-fascist struggles of people in the Philippines, Palestine and Rojava. An in-depth critique of Öcalan’s model of democratic confederalism was held in Marseille, France.
Over in Berlin, Germany a musical performance was staged to illustrate the urgency surrounding Öcalan’s isolated detention, in on-going incommunicado for the last 39 months. The PKK founder has been kept in solitary confinement since his capture in 1999. The policy of isolation used by Turkish authorities in prisons is deemed a tactic to stave off a peaceful and democratic resolution of the Turkish-Kurdish conflict.
International lawyers, human rights activists and dignitaries have been relentlessly campaigning for Öcalan to be released from his torturous isolation and renew a peace process. Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) has been criticised for not fulfilling its mandate in protecting Öcalan from torture.
Women in Turin, Italy led a well-attended art exhibition and educational event for Dialogue Days, sharing stories of women in Rojava, who led the struggle to liberate the city of Kobane in 2014, and continue to fend off constant bombardments by the occupying Turkish army along the Turkey-Syria border and into Iraqi Kurdistan. These Turkish offensives include indiscriminate attacks against civilians. Öcalan realised women’s freedom was key both to the resistance against fascism and to a truly democratic society.
The Kurdish leader coined the slogan ‘Jin Jiyan Azadî’ (Woman, Life, Freedom), well before it spread to global fame when the Iranian people protested the state-killing of Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amini. Women’s liberation, in Öcalan’s writings, pertains to gender equality and rights, but also to a recognition of women’s vanguard role in building a free society, and moving beyond the long history of class oppression and patriarchal domination.
Local groups united in Gothenburg, South Africa in a show of solidarity for the Free Öcalan campaign, chanting ‘Jin Jiyan Azadî’ as part of the Dialogue Days. Öcalan is frequently compared to Nelson Mandela, the South African freedom icon who was imprisoned for his part in struggling against the oppression of apartheid. Mandela’s release, like Öcalan’s, was seen as a necessary precursor to the end of the apartheid regime.
The week of events was marked by a strong involvement from marginalised communities who came together to discuss Öcalan’s work on social ecology, garnering inspiration for ways to overcome local challenges, particularly in rural areas, where the local economy is tied inextricably with the environment and natural resources.
Dialogue Days event was hosted as part of a wider campaign, ‘Freedom for Öcalan: a political solution to the Kurdish question’, launched in October last year. The campaign raises awareness of the relevance of Öcalan’s ideas and his illegal isolated detention. Significant pressure has been applied on international institutions to urgently address Öcalan’s situation and path the way for a peaceful resolution of the Kurdish issue, through campaigning efforts joined by MEPs, politicians and leading figures across continents.
