Since 2011, the people of Syria have seen their country fall apart in the quest for freedom, while combating a dictatorial regime and radical jihadist groups such as ISIS.

The international community has failed all attempts to bring about a peaceful solution to the war in Syria. In 2012, the people in northern Syria, which the Kurds refer to as “Rojava”, have started to organize their communities in the form of secular, grassroots-democratic and feminist structures. There, a radical democracy project in the form of multi-ethnic communes, councils, assemblies and an autonomous women’s movement is engaged in reorganizing the premises of self-determination in the form of a democracy without a state. This system, based on grassroots-democracy, ecology and women’s liberation is called Democratic Confederalism.

Thousands of women have taken up arms to defend this people’s revolution against reactionary forces like ISIS. With the leadership of women, Kobane became the city that defeated ISIS. We are proud to present a seminar with Salih Muslim, co-president of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) from Rojava. Having experienced heavy torture and imprisonment under the Baath regime and having lost his son in the battle against ISIS, Salih Muslim is a highly profile politician and decision-maker in the Syrian and Kurdish context. The PYD is one of the most influential parties in Kurdistan and at the forefront in the struggle against Assad, ISIS and other anti-democratic forces and for a brighter future of the people in a secular, democratic, and gender egalitarian Syria.