What happened?
This morning, the police launched dawn raids at the Kurdish Community Centre (KCC) in Haringey  London, and the homes of members of the London Kurdish community, arresting six community leaders and occupying the Centre. Members of the Kurdish community and supporters gathered at the KCC to protest this extreme criminalisation, where they were attacked by police and kettled. Several people have been snatched by police and arrested. The police are using “anti-terror” legislation to justify the arrests as well as their ongoing occupation of the KCC, which they have indicated will last several weeks.

These raids and arrests are part of the ongoing criminalisation of the Kurdish community and the anti-capitalist political movement that has grown out of Kurdistan. The 27th November is the anniversary of the founding of the PKK (the Kurdistan Worker’s Party), who have been resisting the repression and violence of the Turkish state for decades. Members of the community had been planning to gather at the KCC for a celebration of Kurdish culture, which has been the target of state-led ethnic cleansing in Turkey.

Why is it important?
The Kurdistan liberation movement, a political movement that advocates an anti-capitalist, grassroots democratic, feminist and ecological worldview, has grown out of the organising of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and inspired thousands of people worldwide. The Rojava Revolution in northeast Syria, whose women-led military forces led the way in the defeat of the ISIS caliphate, has been held up as an example of a radically different way of organising society. Activists and organisers around the world have drawn on the analysis and experiences of the Kurdistan Freedom Movement in our attempts to resist the violence of the state and capitalism in our own contexts.

The Rojava Revolution and the Kurdistan Freedom Movement represent one of the biggest and most organised threats to the dominant system. Because of this, states around the world have criminalised the Kurdish community and political organising in solidarity with Kurdistan, declaring it to be “terrorist”. In order to defend the Rojava Revolution, Kurdish communities, and our chance at building a different kind of world, we must resist political attacks like this one.

What can we do?
The Kurdish Assembly has called a demo at Turnpike Lane, London on Thursday 28th November, 5pm. If you’re in London or able to get there, please come along and show solidarity, and send a clear message that we stand with the Kurdish community.

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