The lawyers of imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan have sent a message to the International Workers’ Day Festival in Zurich, Switzerland, after the event’s organising committee extended an invitation to Öcalan to deliver the keynote speech at this year’s May Day celebrations.
The message, shared by the Asrın Law Office on Öcalan’s behalf, sends greetings to “internationalist friends and comrades” and outlines a vision of democratic socialism rooted in five decades of political struggle. The letter reaffirms Öcalan’s commitment to a peaceful and democratic resolution to the Kurdish question in Turkey, and frames the wider struggle for peace as a global project for freedom, equality and justice.
Full translation of the letter:
Dear Friends,
Mr Öcalan sends his heartfelt greetings to workers gathering across the world. The history of humanity is, in part, the history of labour — a history of struggle. Despite immense sacrifices and historical suffering, this struggle has always sought justice for labour. A deep culture of resistance has developed under the leadership of the labour movement. Heavy prices have been paid. This effort has never waned; it has grown stronger each day, never compromising on its convictions.
With its historical legacy and resistance culture, the labour movement has made socialism more attainable. Today, it carries forward the consciousness of the oppressed — distilled through history — alongside its main ideological allies: feminist, ecological, and cultural movements.
Today, Mr Öcalan is putting forward a bold proposition for the success of this struggle, drawing on fifty years of political experience. The democratic society and peace process he advocates is a path towards building democratic socialism. The struggle for peace is a struggle for social freedom. Freedom is only possible through a perspective of equality that respects diversity.
The effort to build an oasis of democracy and freedom in the Middle East — a region turned into a bloodbath and condemned to poverty — is part of humanity’s broader struggle for justice and liberation. This process does not merely seek the free and equal unity of the Kurdish and Turkish peoples, but aims to ensure freedom and security for all the peoples, identities, and cultures of the region.
It offers a democratic unity of peoples in opposition to the oppressive, divisive, and antagonistic policies of ruling powers. Building an international alliance of the oppressed against capitalist modernity — which stands against the most meaningful values of life, nature, women, and labour — is the foundation of the struggle for peace and freedom.
With its class consciousness, the labour struggle opposes femicide, ecological destruction, hostility towards refugees, the exploitation of peoples, and the persecution of beliefs and cultures. The fight for democratic socialism, centred on women’s liberation, is also a pledge to uphold and expand the legacy of 1 May.
We are honoured to convey that Mr Öcalan extends his warmest greetings and love to all his internationalist friends and comrades. Greetings to the 1st of May — may it be celebrated together in the free days to come.
