There is currently an immediate war reality in Rojava, with the political forces around the region. What makes someone come to a war zone to focus on ecology and why specifically Rojava when ecological work can be made everywhere else?
To come to Rojava was of cause a big step. All the questions of the security here, the lack of understanding from friends and family why I and others are going here. That makes it sometimes not so easy to leave. But Rojava is the revolution of the 21st century, so for everybody who sees a perspective in this revolution also has to think about how to learn from it, to help and to protect it. This is also part of our duty, as revolutionary internationalists.
And one important aspect, where we can contribute, are the ecological works. But of the cause, ecological works can be made everywhere else and it also has to be made everywhere too. The difference here is, that the ecological works are embedded into a general perspective of liberation, in a revolution that has the aim to build a democratic-ecological society. Thereby ecology is not seen as a side topic but as a fundamental aspect of the revolution itself.
And these works are really important because Rojava is facing a lot of ecological challenges. But every revolution begins with a positive utopia. And in terms of a democratic-ecological society, Rojava is given this utopia. Autopia not in the sense of something unrealistic and far away, but as a version, that already lies in the present, coming from the past. The ideological approach to ecology, as it can be seen as a theory of social ecology, is a revolutionary theory. It can give much inspiration for ecological struggle around the world. How it is connecting ecology with the question of women’s liberation and self-governance, making a clear stand against the positivist approach of the world. That’s also a reason for me to come, to learn that.
The works, related to ecological issues, we do in the name of our campaign “Make Rojava Green Again”. And this campaign is also an invitation to all revolutionaries, to be part of building an ecological society in Rojava and to fill international solidarity with life.
What is the current ecological status of the region, how do you aim to improve this with your work?
In many different ways, the current ecological situation in the region is related to the policies of the Syrian regime and the surrounding nation states. Rojava was seen and treated by the Syrian Regime as an internal colony. The Kurdish population has been suppressed, ripped off of their identity and their land. Also economically it was about keeping the region depending on the regime and other parts of Syria and not allowing it to grow. In a region which was known as the “fertile crescent” before, almost all trees and forests have been cut down and a strict monoculture of wheat was established. It was forbidden to plant new trees and to grow own vegetables. That was a direct attack on the traditional self-sufficient life in Kurdish villages. With missing work possibilities, the displacement of Kurdish families from the land and the forced settlement of Arabic tribes in the region, many people were forced to move to the industrialized cities and by this losing the connection to nature, the land, and the culture. The impact of this state policy, the disconnection of the people from society, is very visible in different aspects. Since the state was controlling almost all aspects of the economic life and taking every right of political participation of the Kurdish society, the will and ability of active participation and self-responsibility had to be regained with the revolution. But still, in the approach to nature, the surrounding, to deal with the trash and missing awareness, the impact of the state policies can be seen.
Another big ecological challenge is related to the water situation. In a lot of regions, people and nature are facing a lack of water. The dry soil in connection to the absence of trees is leading to desertification of the region, and the shortages of water lead to difficulties for agriculture and therefore causes economic problems. This situation is related to several reasons. Next, to climate change, which leads to a constant higher temperature and extreme weather conditions, this situation is influenced by the policy of the Turkish fascist state. Since decades, more and more dames along the three main rivers, coming from Bakur Kurdistan and passing through Rojava, are build to fully control the water supply for Rojava and even furthermore, of Iraq as well. Turkey is using this power they have, also a political weapon against the revolution.
We can not go into more detail, but we want to point out, that we described the ecological challenges and possible solutions in our book “Make Rojava Green Again”, which has been published some months ago (makerojavagreenagain.org/book).
Analyzing these problems and looking for possible solutions, we have to say, that without the fight against the Turkish state, without the democratization of Syria, the problems cannot be solved in their roots. In this way we understand our work here connected to the general struggle of the Kurdish Liberation Movement in the Middle East. We cannot separate the ecological problems from other problems, the solutions lie in a holistic approach.
But of course, there are things which can be done concretely on the ground to tackle the challenges. Many solutions and ideas exist already in theory, but there are resources missing. In this way we understand Make Rojava Green Again as a bridge between democratic forces and people all around the world with the aim of increasing international solidarity with Rojava by supporting ecological projects. One of the main focuses of our ecological work in North Syria lies in reforestation. In this, we are also participating as internationalists with our own trees nursery, an trying to organize funding for bigger scale projects.
Besides reforestation, we have many more ideas to tackle ecological challenges. In the field of electricity, we want to contribute to solar energy projects, we want to look at ways how we can reuse water.
What is the importance of internationalism within the region, and why are western countries attacking peoples rights to be here?
As we cannot separate the ecological struggle from social problems it is also not possible to separate the struggle and the revolution in Rojava from developments in the rest of the world. We can see how the international powers are coordinating their attacks on the revolution. As the enemy is organizing globally and to strike us everywhere we also have to organize us as democratic forces and find a global answer.
We are clearly putting the hypocrite stance of the Western states in the dirty war in the Middle East on the table. The governments do not like this of course and are trying to suppress these voices, knowing that if these voices could freely resonate people all over the world would not accept any longer the dirty power games of their governments and upper classes.
Especially people wanting to travel to Rojava and take part in the revolutionary process are being criminalized. The Federation of North-East Syria is, on the one hand, a liberated area. Being here means actually being closer to the truth. To the truth of society and how a liberation process can develop, but also closer to the truth in a way of understanding the false games of the different nation states in the war against the revolution.
How do you evaluate the global crisis on ecology and the demonstrations that are being made. Are they effective?
We evaluate the protest movement and school strikes now going on for more than half a year as very positive. For a long time, masses of young people are flocking the streets and presenting a clear stance against politics. Also, we can see how the movement is formed around the identity of youth and many many young people actually understand that they need to take responsibility for their own future.
We see at the same time how the movement is being influenced by the system, how the demands are getting softer and often stay on the level of demanding something from the politicians. It is clear that this will not be the solution. The analysis of climate change stays mostly on the level of ecology. The actual problem lies in the point that society is seeing itself as disconnected from nature, which of course is not possible because every human is part of nature. That is why we have to connect the question of climate change to social problems. Actually, the youth should not demand anything anymore and be the solution themselves. History shows us that the solutions the system has to offer in these questions are actually attempting to integrate the struggle into the system itself.
We see in the revolution in Rojava and the perspective of the Kurdish Freedom Movement, the ideas of Abdullah Öcalan a perspective for the climate protests and school strikes. Only in deepening the analysis and sharpening a common ideological understanding it will be possible to build up a truly ecological society!
