Co-operative Economy in Bakur | Co-operative Economy in Rojava and Bakur

Economic Self-Governance in Democratic Autonomy: The Example of Bakur (Turkish Kurdistan)

Report by Azize Aslan. Translation from an article in Turkish first published by Birikim in May 2016

The “Apoist”1 thread of the Kurdish Movement, which today involves many actors and organizations in military and political capacities, has gravitated away from the idea of founding a state. With the…

New book: Struggles for Autonomy in Kurdistan

Co-operative Economy in Bakur

By Eliza Egret and Tom Anderson, First published on Corporate Watch, May 2016

This book, by Eliza Egret and Tom Anderson, gathers together first-hand accounts of the struggles for a new society taking place in Bakur and Rojava – the parts of Kurdistan within…

A conversation with the Wan Economic Commission

Co-operative Economy in Bakur

By Eliza Egret and Tom Anderson, published in Corporate Watch's recent book, Struggles for Autonomy in Kurdistan, May 2016

The DTK has set up a number of regional commissions to deal with areas such as ecology, economy, education, language, religion, culture, science, diplomacy, women and young people. We interviewed Mehmet…

Democratic Confederalism in Kurdistan

Co-operative Economy in Bakur

A commune meeting in Amude in Rojava's Cizîrê canton, November 2015

By Tom Anderson and Eliza Egret. First published on Corporate Watch on 18 April 2016

The Kurdish region is currently undergoing a transformation. People are organising themselves in grassroots people’s assemblies and co-operatives, declaring their autonomy from the state and their wish for real democracy. Feminist…

Democratic Economy Conference in Wan

Co-operative Economy in Bakur

By Azize Aslan. Translated from Turkish. Published by the Institute for Social, Political and Economic Studies

The Democratic Economy Conference convened in 8-9 November in Wan, with the slogan ‘Let us communalize our land, water and energy; let us build a democratic and free life’. In the…

The functions of the co-operative

Co-operative Economy in Bakur

By Yusuf Gürsucu. This article originally appeared in Turkish on Özgür Gündem on 1 December 2015

Within our current predicament it is possible to resist and fight back against monopolies with the cooperatives. In their absence, it is not possible for producers to maintain their existence, or…

Co-operatives against the robbers: an interview with Çiftçi-Sen

Co-operative Economy in Bakur

Originally published in Turkish in Meydan on 7 September 2013

A struggle is being organized against the robbers, or the capitalist firms, that are between the producers and the consumers, in a world where industrialized production in agriculture has become commonplace,…

Bookchin, Öcalan, and the Dialectics of Democracy

Co-operative Economy in Bakur

A speech by Janet Biehl, given in February 2012. Published on New Compass

February 3-5, 2012, a a conference was organized in Hamburg, Germany. The theme was “Challenging Capitalist Modernity: Alternative concepts and the Kurdish Question.” The following text was delivered as a speech…

The new PKK: unleashing a social revolution in Kurdistan

Co-operative Economy in Bakur

By Rafael Taylor. Originally published on 17 August 2014 on ROAR Mag

As the prospect of Kurdish independence becomes ever more imminent, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party transforms itself into a force for radical democracy. Excluded from negotiations and betrayed by the 1923 Treaty…