Abdullah Öcalan’s model of democratic confederalism, with social ecology as a key principle, was inspired by Murray Bookchin’s political ideas, Vincent Gerber told freelance journalist Serkan Demirel in a Medya News interview. Furthermore, the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) has adopted this paradigm, making it ever still relevant for the 21st Century, Gerber, a historian and environmental activist, said.
“There was a political connection: Öcalan was looking for a way to make a revolution without creating a new state, and inspired by Bookchin’s political ideas, he tried to establish a kind of confederation of communes tied together by ecological principles,” Gerber said. In the early 2000s, imprisoned Kurdish leader Öcalan exchanged letters with Bookchin (1921-2006), an anti-capitalist American social theorist.
“While Bookchin focused more on ecological problems, Abdullah Öcalan focused more on feminism or women’s freedom,” Gerber said. “Inspired by Bookchin’s thoughts, Öcalan aimed to develop an alternative [social theory] based on bottom-up politics, without waiting to take power by force of arms.”
The AANES has integrated Öcalan’s model of democratic confederalism into their recently launched Social Contract, a new constitution, engaging in groundbreaking work determining pathways towards women-led grassroots eco-democracy for the war-torn region known as Rojava, including unprecedented elections scheduled for August 2024.
The historian Gerber stressed a “great wisdom” in questioning the existing nation-state system, exposing its inadequacies, and working towards a more inclusive future for Rojava. The multi-ethnic northeast Syrian region, which has been leading a unique social revolution since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, “allows many different people to have their say,” Gerber said.
“According to Bookchin, this is the purpose of democracy: to allow all voices to come together under one roof, regardless of nationality, culture, history and similar factors. To put everyone on an equal footing,” he added.
Debbie Bookchin has continued her father’s work, recently interviewed by Medya News on her US tour with the Emergency Committee for Rojava, formed after the invasion of Syria’s Afrin in 2018, and partnered with the Institute for Social Ecology.
Gerber also condemned the prolonged solitary confinement imposed on Öcalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the high-security Turkish prison on the island of İmralı. The political prisoner has had absolutely no contact with the outside world, including lawyer and family visits, for the last three years of his 25-year imprisonment. “This isolation is a disgrace,” Gerber said.
Gerber compared Öcalan’s situation to that of South African icon Nelson Mandela, a parallel drawn frequently by supporters of the Kurdish cause. “Mandela was also imprisoned for similar reasons, accused of ‘terrorism’ and many other things,” Gerber said. “When he came out he was hailed as a hero and saviour…. Why do we not accept that Öcalan is in the same situation?”
