Sociology of Freedom by Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan has been published for the first time in Castilian (Spanish), in a collaboration by publishing houses Catalan Descontrol and Meyman. In the book, Öcalan develops his alternative to capitalism, which is based on a deep analysis of social problems and reaches concrete proposals to overcome them.
Sociology of Freedom is the third volume of Abdullah Öcalan’s Manifesto for a Democratic Civilisation, a comprehensive five-volume work authored by the PKK leader between 2007 and 2010. These writings were produced during his ongoing isolation on the Turkish prison island of İmralı. Öcalan wrote the manifesto as part of his defence for the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), under stringent conditions of solitary confinement and with severely restricted access to literary resources.
Despite these limitations, Öcalan provides a critical analysis of fundamental social problems within capitalist systems. He proposes a democratic alternative centered on society, emphasising concrete steps towards transformation. The framework he outlines rests on three core pillars: grassroots democracy, women’s liberation, and ecological sustainability.
John Holloway, who penned the foreword to the English edition of Sociology of Freedom, commends the book as “an important contribution to the dialogue of hope, a dialogue that is taking place all over the world.” He points to the significance of the concept of a “moral and political society,” which lies at the heart of Abdullah Öcalan’s philosophy. Öcalan describes this as the “original state of societies”.
Holloway further advocates for “engagement with what Öcalan is saying” to foster meaningful debate on addressing social issues and constructing viable alternatives to capitalism.
Sociology of Freedom is 520 pages long and was originally written in Turkish. It has already been published in English, German, Italian, French, Kurmanci (Kurdish), Arabic and Persian.
