Medya News reporter Erem Kansoy conducted an interview with Hilary Zhou, a people’s organiser for the Zimbabwe Peoples’ Land Rights Movement (ZPLRM).
Enjoy the full interview, slightly shortened and edited for clarity, below:
Erem Kansoy:
After 43 months of isolation of the Kurdish leader, Mr. Abdullah Öcalan, his nephew Ömer Öcalan visited him. And after the visit it was reported that Mr. Öcalan said that the isolation will continue and that he has the power to solve the Kurdish question in a peaceful way. How do you evaluate this statement? As I said, the isolation is still going on and Turkey is still attacking Kurdistan. So what is your call for peace?
Hilary Zhou:
First of all, I think this statement by Öcalan talks about both his solitary confinement and his imprisonment, and also the isolation of the Kurdish people and the Kurdish movement from the global arena. So the statement shows that only the Kurdish people can solve their problems and that the freedom of their leader is the key to the solution of the Kurdish question. So it shows both the struggle of the Kurdish people and the isolation of the Kurdish leader.
Erem Kansoy:
Thank you. And secondly, how is the international solidarity with the Kurds in Zimbabwe? Are there any groups that know about Öcalan and his ideas? The ZPLRM also supports the Freedom for Öcalan campaign. How much is known about Öcalan in Zimbabwe?
Hilary Zhou:
I’ll just go a bit back to the relationship of the ZPLRM and the Kurdish struggle. Two years ago we had an exchange visit with comrades from the Academy of Democratic Modernity, who also introduced us to the broader struggle of the Kurdish people. From that point when we had that exchange two years ago, when we came back here with a fellow comrade who I was with during the exchange program, we then started to spread the word among comrades among issues pertaining the long incarceration of Öcalan the long arbitrary deprivation of his rights by the Turkish government. We then spread the word among colleagues, civil society partners, also some in government, also members of the parliament to also let them know. Because very little is known particularly in this part of Africa in terms of the incarceration and the suffering of the Kurdish people.
So from those two years ago, We have managed to start a group which we call the Freedom for Öcalan Zimbabwe chapter. We have about sixty active members from various organizations all around the country, some members of parliament, some civil society activists and some are just ordinary citizens. Also within our civil society networks, we are doing solidarity works with the Kurdish struggle and the struggle of Öcalan. So in Zimbabwe, there is quite an active group. Among us, interactively, we update each other on current issues.
For example, the recent removal of mayors in Turkey by the Turkish government who were representing Kurdish communities. We strongly believe in self-governance and we think that is the only way forward people can do. The colonisation which we see of the Kurdish people by the various states is a very grave cause of concern for us. So we are in solidarity and we also identify as a country and as a people who have got their freedom through liberation struggle to get back our land and also through a lot of protected other means to also finally be able to be in a position to have our own land.
Erem Kansoy:
Thank you. So in Zimbabwe, do you read Öcalan’s books? Are there events as well for Öcalan?
Hilary Zhou:
So there are some logistical challenges to get the books here because of postal systems, so we only have a limited number of books. We do have books and flyers and we’re also printing out particular chapters and distributing them. And also recently, during the solidarity events in October, we were planning to have a very large demonstration at the Turkish embassy on 10 October, but due to constraints, we then decided to have a one-man demonstration at the Turkish embassy in Harare, which also coincided with a press conference which was being held in London, in solidarity with the freedom for Öcalan campaign. So there is quite a number of events which we hold in solidarity and in the region we’re also trying to reach out to other organizations and institutions to also bring out the word of the Kurdish struggle and bring out the word of Freedom of Öcalan.
Erem Kansoy:
What do you think of Mr. Öcalan’s ideas for bringing peace to the Middle East? How important are these ideas and is it inspiring for you? Why do you think Mr. Öcalan is an important figure and what do you think is the key role of Kurdish leader Mr. Abdullah Öcalan?
Hilary Zhou:
I think the key role that Öcalan plays, not only in terms of the Middle East crisis or the conflicts within the Middle East itself, but I think globally in many other places and regions, we see that the idea of democratic modernity is really a key component in terms of resolving many conflicts around the world, having people govern themselves, for themselves and by themselves.
This ideology that Mr. Öcalan has come up with, many countries, especially in the Global South, can identify with it because these countries have also gone through colonisation. We are also in neo-colonial states at the moment, where you have freedom, but freedom is only literal. It’s just there, but you don’t enjoy freedom, you don’t own freedom. There is no independence in terms of how people can survive, how people live, how people relate, how people interact culturally or socially.
So I think the main issue or the most important issue or the most important role that Mr. Öcalan has to play within the Kurdish struggle, within the Middle East crisis, within the global crises where we see similar situations to the Kurdish people, whether it’s in Sudan, whether it’s in Sierra Leone, Congo, whether it’s in Latin America, we see people being oppressed or imposed or put into a government that really doesn’t care about them, that’s not made for them, that’s not for them.
There are quite a number, a lot of people around the world who are facing challenges that the Kurdish people are facing at the moment. For example, in Gaza, and other places like Sudan, like Congo, we have a lot of similar issues that are playing out, which I think Mr. Öcalan’s ideas are very important in addressing.
Erem Kansoy:
Thank you. So how important is the solution of Kurdish question for the region and for the whole world?
Hilary Zhou:
I think the issue of self-government is the key to all the disputes in the world – every people, every community, every people everywhere wants to govern themselves for themselves, by themselves, so it is a very important issue.
Erem Kansoy:
Mandela and Ocalan have some similarities in their struggle, but it is well known that Mandela was able to see his lawyers and his family during his imprisonment, the international institutions also mobilised to free Mandela, but still we don’t see the same action by the international institutions to free Ocalan. So what needs to be done to push the international institutions and the international community to act in this way?
Hilary Zhou:
I think there is a need for a global campaign. As you said, there are similarities between the role that Nelson Mandela played in South Africa and the role that Mr. Öcalan is playing in the Kurdish struggle. But the only difference is exactly what you say, that the world looks at these conflicts selectively and decides which people are more important than others. We see this in many conflicts in the world.
The Kurdish struggle is rarely talked about. And when it is talked about, it’s always mostly in the general media or in the Western media that we are very much used to, or in the social platforms that most of them control, you rarely hear or see issues related to the Kurdish struggle. The Kurdish struggle is not described as it is. So there is this vacuum, which I think is deliberate, because I understand that the Kurdish people, because of their resources, because of the resources in their land, are facing this persecution, this colonisation, this takeover, this violent seizure of their land by those who are considered to be perhaps allied with those who are politically correct or those who always seem to be correct globally.
There is a deliberate move to actually isolate the Kurdish struggle and the Kurdish people from the world and from what is actually happening. From my own point of view, I think it is necessary to go independently, not through the traditional international institutions, which we see are turning a blind eye to the biggest struggle that has been going on for perhaps over four decades now. And there seems to be no mention of it. We have seen very recent or other very recent conflicts happening around the globe, not that they are less, but they get more attention. There is more coverage of those issues on a daily basis, on a monthly basis. but there is deliberately limited coverage of issues. So I think there’s a need to come up with an independent network to actually start the campaign, to say, to get the word out there. There is very little that is known about the imprisonment, the long imprisonment of Mr. Öcalan.
In a lot of African countries, I have a lot of colleagues within the African continent that we work with in terms of civil society work. And very little is known about the Kurdish struggle because there is a deliberate ploy to actually isolate the Kurdish struggle and actually just like what happened during the land reform in Zimbabwe where anything that was the land reform itself was portrayed as a very negative thing, a very bloody incident, something that was not going to benefit the people.
But now, twenty years later, you can see the fruits of what the people wanted and what the people want. It is the same with the Kurdish movement and also with the imprisonment and isolation of the Kurdish struggle from the world. We have to go out there and set up our own networks to say no, we have to get the word out independently, without depending on those colonised or actually captured institutions that selectively choose to act on certain issues while turning a blind eye to other issues.
Erem Kansoy:
What is your message of support for the ongoing campaign ‘Freedom for Öcalan, Political Solution for the Kurdish Question’?
Hilary Zhou:
I want to say that there is no retreat, there is no surrender. Mr. Öcalan is a political prisoner who is being held unjustly and illegally by the Turkish government. He deserves his freedom. He hasn’t committed any crime that deserves him to be in such isolation, which is inhumane, considering that we are in the twenty-first century, considering that the regime or the government that [has him] actually in [its] hands is considered to be… Maybe for us in the Third World countries, they are considered to be of those countries that are considered to be developed, those countries that are considered to be countries that respect the legal systems or their legal systems, that respect their parliamentary systems.
But we’re seeing a violation of all that by the current violators of Mr. Öcalan’s rights. So we really think that this is a very clear human rights and international human rights violation of an individual that he does not deserve. So to all the comrades out there in the world, we say no retreat, no surrender. We will not rest, we will not stop until Mr. Öcalan is free, until the Kurdish people are free.
