Like whats its whole deal? it was western backed but doesn't it work with the syrian government? Are they communists?

  • Mardoniush [she/her]
    ·
    edit-2
    3 months ago

    They're good and cool and Marxist Communists (though not perfect, their beliefs are not dissimilar to the EZLN, as are their flaws) but were put in a shitty situation where they wanted to protect their full autonomy against Assad and also fight off Turkey. After they held off Turkey (heroically), and a bunch of Feds in the area started realising that they were the only sane people in the area except Assad, the US offered them a poisoned chalice of support. Given the choice of full autonomy under USA or partial under Assad, they took the dumb guy option.

    Of course the moment Syria became a lost cause and ISIS was crushed the USA threw them under the bus for mild concessions from Erdogan. Now they've taken a worse deal from Assad and Turkey still threatens them. But at least something of the project survives.

    As for their project itself. It's probably the second or third most successful Libertarian Marxist project, after the KPAM and the EZLN. But it had major issues with co-ordination, and Kurdish dominance caused power imbalances despite attempts by the KPG to bring minority groups into power as much as possible. Kurdish nationalists also formed their own parties and fuckery from Iraqi Kurdistan (Which is shockingly corrupt, and has gone from being run by two corrupt families (one right wing and the other essentially the Union leaders from Disco Elysium) to one (the right wing one) worsened matters. The KPG should have kept more tight ideological control over the area but their ideology itself made this difficult.

    Nevertheless, critical support to our comrades, and there's a lot of good things to learn from them.

    • HelltakerHomosexual [she/her, comrade/them]
      hexagon
      ·
      3 months ago

      I support EZLN, but they are not vassals of empire. Its hard to critically support rojava when it is linked so much to western imperialism. Of course i believe in kurdish liberation, but its hard to support it in this case when its being used so opportunistically in favor of the west.

      its just confusing, and its rough, and i dont know who i should support, even critically. Its links with Israel also complicate things.

      • Mardoniush [she/her]
        ·
        edit-2
        3 months ago

        You can critically support the existence of Rojava while also recognising that ultimately accommodation with Assad is the only viable option and that the alliance with the USA was a stunningly bad idea in the long run.

        I mean that's what critical support is, you critique the dumb shit AES does, not to dunk on them but so you and others don't make those errors should your turn come around. The Soviets also supported Israel in the beginning, before the true nature of the state became clear and the atrocities couldn't be sweeped away as the "excesses" of a traumatized people.

        Do I think that China should have made detente with Nixon instead of mending the split with the Soviets? No. I think it was fucking stupid despite the Soviets being in the wrong. Do I still think China are comrades acting in good faith. Yes.