The Third World War is shaping our world today. What we are witnessing all around the world is part of a war that has been perpetrated against humanity over the last 30 years. The democratic forces, grassroots movements and other groups that struggle against this oppressive system must win this war, for all our sakes.

It is a relief that Assad has fallen, but when the replacement government is driven by fascist forces like HTS, it’s not certain that peace is around the corner. Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the especially the Syrian National Army (SNA) are backed by the Turkish State and are little more than mercenaries acting on its behalf. Although Assad, his government and his allies are clearly responsible for countless massacres in Syria, others are being perpetrated as we speak and more are surely yet to come. At the same time as people celebrated the fall of the regime, and even before it, we could see clear links between these groups and the Turkish state, al-Qaeda and the mentality that drove ISIS not so long ago. Despite media and state attempts to legitimise HTS, this does not change the reality of their massacres and denial of fundamental human rights in the areas under their control. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced already in Syria. At the same time, we are seeing multiple European countries suspend or stop processing Syrian peoples’ asylum claims, claiming that there is no basis for claiming asylum any more, as the war is over.

The same day as the HTS attack on Damascus, November 27^th, arrests were carried out in Britain as part of a coordinated campaign of repression, following a lobbying campaign by Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan, who paid a visit to several European leaders in the weeks prior to the HTS operation. As well as the seven arrests in dawn raids at the Kurdish Community Centre (KCC) and Kurdish homes in London, there were 200 arrests across Turkey and Bakur (the occupied territories of North Kurdistan), and several dawn raids in Germany.

This wave of repression was intended to create obstacles for the Kurdish Freedom Movement (KFM) at a critical moment, and limit the support it might receive from Europe. In London, six people have been charged with membership of a proscribed organisation (the Kurdistan Workers’ Party [PKK]) and one person has been remanded in prison until the trial, which might not be for a year. The Metropolitan Police also shut down the KCC for over a week, a place that is a great support for refugee and asylum seeker communities. The courts also froze the funds of several bank accounts, including the Kurdish Red Crescent (Heyva Sor), stopping money from reaching people who need it in the middle of a humanitarian crisis. On top of that, many Kurdish Londoners were arrested for public order charges for taking to the streets to defend their communities.

We shouldn’t forget that in 2020 the highest court in Belgium found that the PKK is not a terrorist organisation, but rather a non-state party to an internal armed conflict; a conflict that has been threatening the existence of the Kurdish people for decades. This ruling was the latest in a series of similar court rulings in Belgium and at the European level.

In the meantime, the Rojava revolution that began in 2012 is still deepening its experience of putting revolutionary ideas into practice, and the revolutionary forces stand ready to support and defend the people of Syria at risk during these uncertain times. The army that once defeated ISIS and liberated ethnically diverse areas of North and East Syria—the YPG, YPJ and all the forces of the SDF—are now fighting to defend free life once again. During all this time they have been defending their revolution, serving as a beacon of hope for Kurdistan, the Middle East and for all revolutionaries, political organisers and activists around the world. They have enabled untold numbers of people to participate in direct democratic processes in which women, life and freedom are at the forefront. In North and East Syria, Kurds, Arabs, Syriac, Assyrians, Turkmen, Armenian, Circassian, Chechens, Muslims, Christians and Yazidis found a place which responds to the demands of their peoples to live together in shared dignity.

The Kurdistan Solidarity Network (KSN) calls on all the democratic and antifascist forces of Britain, Europe and the world to shout with one voice a message of resistance against these foul attacks, and in defence of the Rojava revolution. Learn about the Rojava revolution, write to your MP to take action on decriminalising Kurdish communities, talk about these issues with others, recognise the links between different struggles ongoing all around the world, and fundraise money for Heyva Sor or for the the Kurdish communities affected around Europe. Take action in your community, or your workplace. It’s possible for us all to act, wherever we are.

Check out these resources for how you can take action in your local area:

• Stickers and posters from the #RiseUp4Rojava campaign: https://riseup4rojava.org/poster-sticker/
• Read the report from Hands Off Kurds about the arrests in Britain, and ask your MP to bring up concerns in Parliament about the ongoing prosecutions
• Join the global campaign to free PKK founder and Kurdish peoples’ leader Abdullah Öcalan: https://ocalanvigil.net/

Thousands of martyrs from the Middle East but also from around the world have given their lives already in one of the strongest struggles against fascism in the 21^st century. We carry all of them in our hearts to remind us everyday that our struggles are real, and our resistance too. And from here on our islands, we send a message of solidarity, strength and love, to all the comrades that are currently fighting and resisting, both in Rojava and around the world.

Rojava must not fall. We cannot and will not let the people of North and East Syria down. Their revolution is a hope for change, their revolution is in defence of freedom, their revolution is for the liberation of life. Their revolution is ours.

Resistance is life
Berxwedan Jiyan e

Kurdistan Solidarity Network (KSN), 14 December 2024

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