Solidarity with Kurdistan

Developments in the de facto autonomous cantons of Rojava in the northeast of Syria allow for a qualified optimism despite that the ineffable terrors of the Syrian Civil War continue into 2016. Rojava Revolution's stated claims of equal treatment and democratic participation for people with different gender, ethnicity or religious affiliations together with largely Kurdish-driven advances against Daesh in 2015 precipitated an increase in the state violence waged by Turkey on its Kurdish citizens in the south east region known by the Kurds as Bakur.

Turkish forces have put over a million citizens under curfew and subjected Kurdish-populated cities to sustained use of deadly force, killing civilians and leaving many wounded and displacing more than 100,000 people. In Rojava, the embargo by Turkey and the Kurdistan Regional Government in neighboring Iraq, has left humanitarian efforts at a great disadvantage in reconstruction efforts.

This workshop session discusses the recent developments in Rojava and Bakur, and their respective contexts, and it also addresses ways in which solidarity for Rojava can be organized and realized by Netherlands-based activists.

This workshop will be in English as well as Dutch

Alex de Jong is actief bij Actie voor Rojava. Hij werkt bij het International Institute for Research and Education en is een redactielid van grenzeloos.org.

Carla van Os is sinds de jaren negentig betrokken bij de strijd voor mensenrechten van de Koerden in Turkije. Ze is een van de oprichters van 'De Koerden', het tweemaandelijks tijdschrift van het Koerdisch Instituut in Brussel. Onlangs richtte ze met enkele mensen Kurds & Friends op, een comité van mensen uit ngo's, wetenschap en advocatuur dat via lobby de situatie van Koerden in Turkije op de Nederlandse agenda houdt.

Florence Bateson is a recent MA Conflict Studies graduate. She conducted her research in Rojava in 2015 on the YPJ. She is an activist, and member of Help Kobane.