#democratic confederalism

[scottishcommune]

Emergency aid for Rojava!

Humanitarian aid for the victims of Turkey’s aggressions

Turkey has been bombing civilian infrastructure in Rojava (North and East Syria) since 4th of October 2023, and the region is heading for a humanitarian catastrophe. Turkey has bombed more than 150 targets so far: Much of the region's vital infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed in a matter of hours. Turkey’s attacks have so far caused dozens of civilian deaths and injuries and destroyed 80 per cent of civilian infrastructure, including water and power supplies, hospitals, residential areas, schools, oil fields, factories and warehouses. Hundreds of thousands of people have been cut off from electricity and water supplies for days now. The Covid hospital in Dêrik, one of the most important hospitals of its kind in the region, was completely destroyed by the Turkish air strikes. Numerous other health facilities have been destroyed, hospitals cut off from electricity, cold chains broken - there are calls for blood donations. As Turkey’s attacks continue, the humanitarian situation is expected to deteriorate further and the death toll to rise. The Kurdish Red Crescent (Heyva Sor a Kurd) is on the ground providing vital humanitarian assistance. Support the work of Heyva Sor a Kurd with your donations!

Bank account

Heyva Sor a Kurdistanê e. V.

Kreissparkasse Köln

IBAN: DE49 3705 0299 0004 0104 81

BIC/SWIFT: COKSDE33XXX

Reference: Rojava

PayPal: paypal.me/heyvasorakurdistane

*please note:

Due to an order from the ADD Rheinland-Pfalz, they are currently unable to accept donations from Rheinland-Pfalz.

Contact and further information:

www.heyvasor.com

E-Mail: [email protected]

Phone: [phone]

Instagram: heyvasor

Twitter: @Heyva__Sor

Facebook: Heyva Sor a Kurdistanê e.V.

#kurdistan #Rojava #Red crescent #democratic confederalism #anarchism #communalism #socialism

[crynwr-drwg]

The thing that honestly put me off of anarchists is they seem to think everyone is equally qualified to do anything. Accessibility ramps built by hobbyists, building codes set by Minecraft girlies, etc. And when this inevitably blows up in someone’s face and hurts someone? How do you hold anyone accountable in an anarchist society? How do you have OSHA in one?

My head is killing me today, so apologies if any of this is worded poorly.

I can see where you'd get this idea, and where you're coming from, but I can assure you that these things are very much accounted for. A good example of this is in the Autonmous Administration of North and East Syria, where I can speak first hand that professionall schooled and trained engineers arein charge of rebuilding infrastructure. There is also equally trained and qualified people in most other risky-professional roles, like medicine and such.

There absolutely are anarchists that either go "idk lol" or say that nothing is needed. I hate doign this, because it makes me look like one too, but I would just recommend to ignore a lot fo these types, because they usually end up just liking Aanrchism as a "vibes" thing rather than as a mode of structure and organising.

It's hard to give many examples of it all in action, since most anarchist communtiies are small (which is part of the point) but that's also why AANES is a great example for a lot of this in action/

If any of this didn't answer your question, let me know and I'd be happy to rephrase or answer it better. I'm shite at words, haha.

#Anarchism #Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria #AANES #Rojava #NE Syria #Syrian Democratic Council #Democratic confederalism #Apoism #crynwrdrwg #ask #butter-and-too-much-bread

[nivenus]

Nations, States, and People

Hey all!

So, since November, I've been a member of the Libertarian Socialists of Portland, an affiliated group of the Democratic Socialists of America, Portland. I've been in charge of writing newsletters, but when I wrote this last one, I was unable to reach consensus on the subject matter I chose to talk about, Israel and Palestine.

Nonetheless, I felt it was important to share so while i've removed the editorial from this month's newsletter for the group, I'm sharing it here. Please note all opinions expressed below are my own:

It took me awhile to decide what I wanted to talk about for this editorial, but my mind kept coming back to one topic, over and over: the current disaster in Gaza. I think I avoided the subject on first impulse because of how fraught it is. But I also think it’s an important one to discuss.

With that in mind, let me make me clear that I speak only for myself on this subject, not for anyone else in the Libertarian Socialists of Portland or Democratic Socialists of America. I also would like to make it clear, first and foremost, that Israel is an apartheid state and that the occupation of West Bank and Gaza is immoral, illegal, and inhuman.

Nonetheless, whenever I think about Israel and Palestine, I’m reminded of how it is a good example of how few conflicts are cut and dry, especially when states are involved. The dishonest, skewed framing of left-wing protesters as pro-Hamas by centrist and right-wing media is a perfect case of this, as is the German government’s severe crackdown on pro-Palestinian groups. But this tendency towards binary thinking can also be seen among many of us on the left, where some have either disregarded the suffering of Israeli victims on October 6 or the wave of anti-Semitism many Jews in the West have experienced during the ongoing war.

This is not to say that Israelis or Jews have suffered more than Palestinians or Muslims. Over 1,000 Israelis died on October 6, but since then almost 20 times as many Palestinians have been killed. In both cases, the majority have been civilians. The truth is both Muslims and Jews, Arabs and Israelis, have suffered enormously and peace would be beneficial to both sides. Which brings me to what I really want to talk about: the distinction between nation-states and people.

Part of the issue, I feel, with many narratives about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to talk about Israel and Palestine each as if they are uniform entities. When commentators talk about Israel, they often mean all Israelis (or worse than that, all Jews). When people talk about Palestine, they often mean all Palestinians (or worse, all Arabs or Muslims). This results not just in a skewed view of reality but unconscionable acts of violence and hate speech toward people who have nothing to do with the war aside from faith they practice or the language they speak, something that has happened repeatedly since this war began in multiple countries.

Israel and Palestine are not uniform. Israel is composed not only of people like Benjamin Netanyahu or Itamar Ben-Gvir, but also of people like Arik Ascherman, who has defended Palestinians in the West Bank against Israeli settlers, or Vivian Silver, who was tragically killed during the October 6 attacks. Palestine is not Hamas, but also Ali Abu Awwad, a nonviolent activist committed to peace between Jews and Arabs, and Hanan Ashrawi, a woman awarded the Sydney Peace Prize in 2003 for her work toward resolving the conflict. Although many Israelis support the occupation of the West Bank, many others do not. Although many Palestinians support Hamas, many others do not. Nations are not monolithic.

This doesn’t mean that both sides in the conflict are “equally wrong.” As I noted before, Palestinians have suffered far, far more in this conflict than Israelis have. Nor does it mean that the virtues of some can wash out the crimes of others. But it does mean that we should remember the essential humanity of both Israelis and Palestinians. There is no such thing as a victimless killing. There is no such thing as a war that does not engender cruelty and wickedness. And there is no such thing as a people who are all good or all bad.

This binary way of thinking, where we think one group is all the same, is not worthy of socialism. And it is certainly not what libertarian socialism should be. I think of Abdullah Ocalan’s words in his manifesto of democratic confederalism, the ideology of Rojava: “Diversity and plurality [have] to be fought, an approach that [leads] into assimilation and genocide… [the state] aims at creating a single national culture, a single national identity, and a single unified religious community. Thus it also enforces a homogeneous citizenship. The notion of citizen has been created as a result of the quest for such a homogeneity.” If the libertarian socialist fighters of Syria recognize that ethnonationalism is a trap, how can we, who do not face the same challenges and moral dilemmas as them, not be equally clear minded?

The state and the people it governs are not identical. Are all Americans guilty of the Bush administration’s crimes? Did the citizens of Japan deserve to have the atomic bomb dropped on them as punishment for the Rape of Nanking? Do all Russians in all countries deserve to be treated with contempt because of Vladimir Putin’s criminal invasion of Ukraine?

Such narratives can even be counterproductive towards the ones they mean to protect. Consider the case of modern Germany, where Germany’s historic (and in many ways commemorable) institutional memory of the Holocaust has led the state to declare Israel the German state’s “reason to exist.” This in turn has led Germany not only to persecute Palestinian activists but Jewish ones who criticize Israel’s policies! As Deborah Feldman, a German Jewish activist for Palestine said, the German government must now decide between Israel and Jews. Because they are not the same thing.

When we advocate for peace (and advocate for peace we must), I ask us all to do just one thing, which is to put ourselves in the shoes of the other, to think about the Gaza War not as an ideological cause celebre or a metric by which we measure our own righteousness, but as what it is: a calamitous conflict that has caused the deaths of tens of thousands of people and continues to bring suffering to millions.

Arthur Niven

#israel #palestine #libertarian socialism #anarchism #democratic socialism #democratic confederalism #socialism #leftism #apartheid #genocide #gaza war #human rights #rojava #germany #deborah feldman #jews #israelis #palestinians #arabs #humanism #politics

[nando161mando]

Fascist nazi capitalist bootlicking Confederates.

Call them what they are. Confederates.

#fascist #nazi #bootlicking #fuck the confederacy #confederacy of independent systems #democratic confederalism #a confederacy of dunces #confederate #confederates #ausgov #politas #auspol #tasgov #taspol #australia #fuck neoliberals #neoliberal capitalism #anthony albanese #albanese government

[poodleman]

Hmmm...should I look for literature about democratic confederalism on Amazon or try theanarchistlibrary.org? Which to choose?

#democratic confederalism #anarchism #fuck amazon

[opstandelse]

Rojava, Maxmûr & Chiapas: Οικοδόμηση και υπεράσπιση μιας εναλλακτικής επιλογής στην καπιταλιστική νεωτερικότητα

Source: Rojava, Maxmûr & Chiapas: Building and Defending an Alternative to Capitalist Modernity – INTERNATIONALIST COMMUNE Rojava, Maxmûr & Chiapas: Οικοδόμηση και υπεράσπιση μιας εναλλακτικήςεπιλογής στην καπιταλιστική νεωτερικότητα By InternationalistCommune / June 20, 2023 Οι Ζαπατίστας από την αυτόνομη περιοχή της Τσιάπας έχουν αναφέρειαυξανόμενη παρουσία στρατιωτικών, αστυνομικών,…

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#Abdullah Öcalan #Academy of Democratic Modernity #Apoist Movement #capitalist modernity #Chiapas #democratic confederalism #Gilberto López Sántiz #Maxmûr #Moisés Gandhi #nation-state #ORCAO #Rojava #Sehid Bage Nûjiyan #Subcomandante Insurgent Galeano #zapatistas

[republicansaredomesticterrorists]

#republican assholes #maga assholes #maga morons #traitor trump #crooked donald #traitor #trump #Republican fascists #Republican Neo-Confederates #Republican Nazis #VOTE BLUE #VOTE DEMOCRATIC #DEMS DELIVER

[rebelyells]

The Scalawag Roy Eugene Barnes, the Disgraced Governor of Georgia, testified on behalf of Fanni Willis as a character witness of sorts this week regarding her corruption. He was the 80th Governor of GA. He is responsible for removing the battle flag from the GA state flag. He’s still a scalawag!

#georgia #Fanni Willis #civil war #southerners #confederate #states rights #history #atlanta #gravestones #confederacy #democrats are corrupt #corruption #debasement #alabama #scalawag #carpetbagger #robert e lee #virginia #flaggers #Texas #central texas #texasmade #missouri

[mouthmoodz]

it's actually so crazy how the republicans still yank their own dicks about how they're "the party of lincoln" as if the southern strategy never happened

#missingno.exe #the republican party freed the slaves and that's why 100% of confederate flag owners today are registered democrats

[scottishcommune]

In Northern Syria, 2.5 million people are living in a stateless, feminist, religiously tolerant, anti-capitalist society of their own creation. They call their territory Rojava, and they defend it fiercely. They’re at war with the extremist group ISIS, and they’re doing better than anyone in the world expected — least of all the Western powers who seek to treat them as pawns.

It’s a complicated situation, but we in the rest of the world have much to learn from the Rojava revolution. To that end, we offer this long-form introduction to the history and the present struggle of the Kurdish people.

Long live the Rojava revolution!

#Rojava #A mountain river has many bends #democratic confederalism #communalism #YPG #YPJ #PYD #Solarpunk #Anarchism #Revolution #Libertarian #Freeblr

[crynwr-drwg]

Actually, going off recent convo, are you:

1. In wales

2. Believe in/support: anarchism, libertarian socialism, democratic confederalism, agrarian socialism, anarchist communism, and other such similar things?

If so, hit up this post, or me directly. Would love to get in touch.

#wales #welsh #welshblr #Cymru #Cymreig #cymblr #dunno if thats a tag lol #anarchism #anarchist #democratic confederalism #libertarian socialism #libsoc #agrarian #agrarian socialism #anarchist communism #anarchocommunism #anarchiaeth #cydffederaliaeth ddemocrataidd #sosialaeth ryddfrydol #sosialaeth amaethyddol

[little-ajax-56793]

APUSH is fun because the Federalist party, The Federalist, the federalist system, the federal government, and the Federalist party are all different things you have to keep track off :)

#feds are 1) party supporting constitution over articles of confederation 2) essays defending the constitution #3) system of government with multiple levels 4) federal government 5) party opposing democratic-republicans

[calicojack1718]

The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederation)'s Law of Peace and Seventh Generation Principle Can Save our Democracy and Climate

The Haudenosaunee taught the Founding Fathers about functional successful democracy, and they can teach us the same lessons again. And, brother do we need them if we are going to save ourselves from the GOP Dystopia and the climate disaster.

SUMMARY: The Haudenosaunee have had an outsized influence on US history, and it is time for them to influence us again. They have used a consensus-based democracy for almost 1,000 years by following two principles that it would behoove us to start using: (1) EVERYONE in the country is committed to the principles of democracy and (2) we make our political and economic decisions based on…

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#5 Calls #52-Card Pickup #Cancer Alley #Climate Change #Democracy #Dystopia #Five Nights at Freddy&039;s #Flint Water #Florida Education #Founding Fathers #Go-Fund-Me Healthcare #GOP Dystopia #Haudenosaunee #I2I4 #Indivisible #Iroquois Confederation #Mad Max #Minority-Rule #Oligarchy #Pseudo-Democratic #Single-Party #Sustainability #Sylent Green #Texas Utilities #The Great Law of Peace #The Seventh Generation principle

[xtruss]

The EU’s 🇪🇺 Liberals Need Better Ways To Deal With Populists! Demonisation Isn’t Working

— September 14th, 2023 | Leaders | The Real Threat From Europe’s Hard Right

NPD Demonstration on the 8, May 2005, 60 Years of Ending of the World War II. Image: Justin Metz/Getty Images

Aspectre is Haunting Europe: the spectre of a rising hard right. In Germany the overtly xenophobic Alternative for Germany (AFD) has surged to become the country’s second-most popular party. Its success is polarising domestic politics and it seems poised to triumph in state elections in the east next year. In Poland the ruling Law and Justice Party is leading the polls ahead of a general election on October 15th, and it is being drawn further to the right by an extreme new party, Confederation.

As we explain in this week’s Briefing, there could be more grim news to come. Next year the hard right could gain more sway in elections for the European Parliament, due to be held in June. Marine Le Pen, the leader of National Rally, could win the presidential election in France in 2027. If she did, France would become the second big country to be run by the hard right, after Italy, where Giorgia Meloni and her Brothers of Italy took power last year in a coalition with the Nativist League.

Make no mistake, Europe is not about to be overrun by fascists, in a repeat of the 1930s. But the new right-wing wave presents a big challenge. Handled badly, it could toxify politics, disenfranchise a large share of voters and prevent crucial reforms of the European Union (eu). Rather than trying to exclude hard-right parties entirely from government and public debate, the best response is for mainstream parties to engage with them, and on occasion do deals with them. If they have to take some responsibility for actually governing, they may grow less radical.

Europe’s hard right has enjoyed several surges over the past quarter of a century. In 2000 Jörg Haider, an anti-establishment demagogue, shocked the continent by entering government in Austria: his Freedom Party is now the most popular there. A migration crisis in 2015, when over 1m people from poor and war-torn countries crossed the eu’s borders, led to another wave of support for xenophobic and Eurosceptic parties, including Britain’s Brexiteers.

The new wave that is breaking is different in three ways. First, the hard right has opportunistically found new topics to drum up fury about. Most such parties are still anti-foreigner, but having seen Britain’s experience, some have moderated their hostility to eu membership, and fewer want to ditch the single currency. All are animated by new concerns, most obviously hostility to pro-climate policies, which they argue are an elitist stitch-up that will fleece ordinary people. In Germany the afd has successfully mobilised opposition to a government push to require people to install expensive heat pumps in their homes, forcing the government to water down the measures.

The second shift is the breadth of their support. Our calculations show that 15 of the eu’s 27 member countries now have hard-right parties which have support of 20% or more in opinion polls, including every large country bar Spain, where the nationalist Vox did badly in July’s elections. Almost four-fifths of the eu’s population now live in countries where the hard right commands the loyalty of at least a fifth of the public.

The final shift is that the stakes have been raised, particularly at a European level. The war in Ukraine has created a pressing need for the eu to welcome new members in the east, ultimately including Ukraine. In tandem, it will need to streamline decision-making to reduce the veto powers member states wield. The presence of a larger bloc of anti-immigrant nationalists could make that crucial task far harder. Hungary’s Viktor Orban, a guru to other populist-nationalists, has consistently tried to block eu reform. Imagine if he gains more allies.

How should centrist voters and parties respond to the threat from the hard right? The old answer was to erect a cordon sanitaire. Mainstream parties refused to work with the insurgents; mainstream media refused to air their views. That approach may have run out of road; in places it is becoming counter-productive. In Germany the isolation of the afd has reinforced its narrative of being the only alternative to a failed establishment. Mainstream parties cannot pretend for ever not to hear the voice of 20% of voters without eventually corroding democracy.

Meanwhile, there is more evidence that hard-right parties in Europe tend to moderate their views when they have to take responsibility for governing. Exhibit A is Ms Meloni, the first hard-right prime minister of a western European country since the second world war. Despite liberal fears, she has not, or at least not yet, picked fights with Europe, upended migration policy, or restricted abortion or gay rights. She has remained a supporter of nato and Ukraine, by no means a given on the hard right. In the Nordics a similar pattern has played out. The Finns and the Sweden Democrats, two nationalist parties, have become more pragmatic since either joining or agreeing to support a governing coalition.

Any decision to include a hard-right party in local or national government should be taken with extreme caution, especially in places where a history of fascism arouses acute sensitivity. Some rules of the road may help. One is that to be considered, any party must agree to renounce violence and respect the rule of law. Just as important is the constitutional context: at what level of government should they be included? What are the checks and balances created by the electoral system and other institutions? It may make sense to allow the afd to take part as junior members of local-government coalitions in Germany, for example. It would be a disaster if the hard right were to win France’s presidency, with its enormous powers.

Tame or Flame

Last, mainstream parties must accept that they have not done enough to satisfy a large and angry minority of their citizens. Trying to accelerate the green transition by loading people up with costs they cannot afford (Germany’s rules on boilers, for instance, or Emmanuel Macron’s ill-fated attempt to increase taxes on fuel) is just making greenery unpopular. Better communication and compensation for the worst-hit are both essential. Failing to control national borders alienates people, whereas a well-managed migration system could be shown to benefit them. The new success of the hard right in Europe is in part a failure of the centre—so the centre needs to raise its game. ■

— This article appeared in the Leaders section of the Print Edition Under the Headline "The Real Threat From Europe’s Hard Right"

#European Union 🇪🇺 #Liberals #Populists #Denomination #Leaders #The Real Threat From Europe’s Hard Right #Alternative For Germany 🇩🇪 (AFD) #Overtly Xenophobic #Poland 🇵🇱 | Ruling Party | Law and Justice Party #Extreme New Party | Confederation #Marine Le Pen | Leader | National Rally | France 🇫🇷 #Italy 🇮🇹 | Giorgia Meloni #Jörg Haider | Anti-establishment Demagogue #Freedom Party | Austria 🇦🇹 #Xenophobic | Eurosceptic | Britain’s 🇬🇧 Brexiteers #Spain 🇪🇸 | Nationalist Vox | Ukraine 🇺🇦 #Hungary’s 🇭🇺 | Viktor Orban #Finns 🇫🇮 | Sweden 🇸🇪 | Democrats #Fascism #Emmanuel Macron

[inconvenientobservations]

Nerdrotic Reacts To Swedish Leftie Journalist

USA/SWEDEN. The youtuber Nerdrotic was brought up as a scary example of “nerd rage” by Lotta Ilona Häyrynen in an article in the paper Arbetet (strange, ’cause I’ve never seen Gary rage). Here’s some background. The magazine Arbetet (The Work) is published by The Swedish Trade Union Confederation (Landsorganisationen, shortened LO) which is an umbrella organisation for fourteen Swedish trade…

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#Media #Sweden #The Culture War #The Swedish Social Democratic Party (S) #The Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO) #USA

[republicansaredomesticterrorists]

One of the most ignorant and foolish Republican talking points is the lie that the Democratic Party started the KKK. It was started by disgruntled ex-Confederate soldiers and had no ties to the Democratic Party at all-that is undisputed historical fact!

Today Klansmen belong to the Republican Party and the Confederate flag is flown by Republican politicians and prominently at Republican events like Trump rallies. Today’s Klansmen openly endorse Trump and other Republicans.

While the Southern states that joined the Conederacy were largely Democratic at the time there is no proof that the Klans founders even voted Democratic and they were definitely not acting as its functionaries. This is cheap propaganda to try and get African-Americans to stop voting Dem and start voting for their oppressors in the Republican Party, aka the GOP.

Anyone who ever took an American history course should know that all the remaining racist “Dixiecrats” were expelled from the Democratic Party in the 1960’s, the Civil Rights Era. These ancient racists were warmly and openly welcomed by the Republican Party as part of its “Southern Strategy” to win Congress and the Whitehouse by creating a geographical/geopolitical base in the former Confederate states.

#republican assholes #ukraine #fuck Putin #traitor trump #the KKK was not started by the Democratic Party #America First is a KKK slogan #the KKK was started by disgruntled former Confederate soldiers who had no ties to the Democratic Party #today Republicans support the KKK