On Sunday 10 November, a cultural event entitled ‘Meeting of the peoples and internationalist struggles’, organised by the Dialogue with Öcalan initiative took place in Brussels, Belgium.
At the beginning of the event, the Academy of Democratic Modernity held a workshop on the “democratic nation” (1), a political concept proposed by the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan. The workshop discussed the need for the peaceful coexistence of different people and their cultures, especially in times of rising fascism.
Following the workshop, a variety of musical artists from places such as Chile, Kurdistan and Senegal gave cultural performances, inviting the audience to experience and participate in their traditional songs and dances, as well as telling stories of socialist struggles in their respective countries.
In a cultural performance by the Khidmatoul lamp fall group from Senegal, traditional dances and songs were presented.
The Kurdish group Pel Müzik played a handful of well-known Kurdish songs such as Ay Dîlberê by Aram Tigram.
The Trino Colectivo from Chile performed a ‘folclore’, called ‘Cueca‘, and spoke about the importance of music within the Chilean society.
A Chilean activist spoke to Medya News about his reasons for joining the event: “I got to know the Kurdish struggle for the first time in Chile, when Chilean comrades visited Kurdistan or internationalist comrades gave presentations about the Kurdish struggle. Here [in Brussels], I had the possibility to get to know the “Dialogues with Öcalan” campaign, start to participate and to come to the event with them. There’s the need to struggle for the freedom of Abdullah Öcalan and to put light on the massacre against the Kurdish people.”
1 “The definition of a democratic nation that is not bound by rigid political boundaries and a single language, culture, religion and interpretation of history, signifies plurality and communities as well as free and equal citizens existing together and in solidarity. The democratic nation allows the people to become a nation themselves, without relying on power and state – becoming a nation through much-needed politicisation. It aims to prove that in the absence of becoming a state or acquiring power, and without politicisation, a nation can be created with autonomous institutions in the social, diplomatic and cultural spheres as well as in economy, law and self-defence, and thus build itself as a democratic nation.” (Democratic Nation – Abdullah Öcalan, brochure by the International Initiative)
