Beyond and against homogenisation: Advancing diversity through Democratic Confederalism

By Yavor Tarinski

“The homogenic national society is the most artificial society to have ever been created and is the result of the social engineering project.”

— Abdullah Öcalan^[1]

One of the defining characteristics of contemporary humanity is undoubtedly that of homogeneity. It is a phenomenon with global proportions that has affected, in varying degrees, almost all corners of the planet. This leads to the homogenization of cultures.^[2] Increasingly, people, regardless of where they come from, have the same cultural references, adopt similar dress codes, and embrace one of several popular world languages.

Ecology Councils: Grassroots Climate Strategies from Mesopotamia

By Yavor Tarinski

“The councils have always been undoubtedly democratic, but in a sense never seen before and never thought about.” ~ Hannah Arendt

As Greece and other parts of the world are once again engulfed by wildfires, while almost each day a new heat record is reached, an increasing number of people are realizing that the effects of climate change are here and are changing the face of our localities, while years of neoliberal policies have left preventive public services underfunded and ill-equipped for the disaster periods to come. It is also becoming crystal clear that there seems to be no plan for action to stop the forthcoming catastrophe. The summits of the ruling classes—the so-called COPs—have been widely recognized as failures.

A Legacy of Autonomy & the Kurdish Freedom Movement

by Yavor Tarinski

“Many different alternative movements around the world simply refused to stop imagining that another world is possible: Öcalan and the Kurdish freedom movement belong to this category.”

~ Havin Guneser

Session of the Peace in Kurdistan Ecology Network with Yavor Tarinski & Felix Padel

Two members of Peace in Kurdistan Ecology Network, Felix Padel and Yavor Tarinski, made short presentations, followed by a group discussion. The meeting was chaired by Stephen Hunt and Connor Hayes, both members of the PIK Ecology Steering group. The topics addressed were highly related to Social Ecology and grassroots democratic organizing.

Interview with Yavor Tarinski about direct democracy, ecology, and self-determination

Dr. Jeff Miley of Peace in Kurdistan interviews Yavor Tarinski about the relationship between direct democracy and social ecology, and about the question of self-determination in the 21st century.

Defend Kurdistan Against Turkish Occupation

International call, signed by over 100 activists, scholars and political organizations:

We – politicians, human rights advocates, journalists, academics, members of parliaments, political activists, ecologists, and feminists from all over Europe – have been closely following the dangerous developments resulting from Turkey’s attacks on South Kurdistan (North Iraq) since the 23rd of April, 2021. As a result, we have gathered in Erbil today and decided that we must speak out.

Do Not Let Afrin Become Another Kobane

Over 100 academics, politicians, and human rights activists call for immediate halt to Turkish aggression toward Afrin in Syria.

Towards Autonomy: The Social Experiment in Rojava

By Yavor Tarinski and Michalis Koulouthros 

The autonomous region of Rojava, as it exists today, is one of few bright spots – albeit a very bright one – to emerge from the tragedy of the Syrian revolution.

David Graeber[1] 

In the last decades the Kurdish struggle for freedom was not only a firm voice of resistance against the dominant social and political order, but also managed to formulate and initiate practical steps towards the realization of a liberated society. After many years of oppression, the Kurdish forces began to regroup, forming armed units of self-defense. During the period in which the leftist Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) was quickly turning into a regional political power, a new antagonistic example appeared in the midst of the Kurdish liberation movement, based on the values of democratic confederalism and autonomy.