Ecological Solidarity and the Kurdish Freedom Movement: Thought, Practice, Challenges, and Opportunities

Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
List of Figures and Tables
	Figures
	Tables
Foreword
	Social Ecological Theory and Practice
	Anti-Patriarchal Revolution
	An Ecological Ethos
	Social Ecological Solidarity
Acknowledgments
Introduction
	Theory, Practice, and Activism
	What are the Ecological Challenges?
	The Ecological Pillar of Democratic Confederalism
	Notes
	References
Part I: Theory
Chapter 1: The Value of Social Ecology in the Struggles to Come
	Murray Bookchin’s Social Ecology
	Between Freedom and Domination: The Motor of Social Ecology
	Dialectical Naturalism, Reconstructive Ethics, and Liberatory Power
	The Praxis of Social Ecology: Direct Action
	A Political Project: Communalism
	Eco-community: Toward Post-scarcity and New Urban Futures
	Anarchism and Social Ecology
	Critically Assessing Communalism
	Conclusions: Building a Culture of Resistance
	References
Chapter 2: Social Ecology in Öcalan’s Thinking
	Ecological Awareness
	Technology
	Political Transformation
	Social Ecology in Öcalan’s Thinking
	The Philosophy of Social Ecology
	The Politics of Social Ecology
	Note
	References
Chapter 3: Ecological Self-Governmentality in Kurdish Space at a Time of Neoliberal Authoritarianism
	From the Arab Spring to the Rojava Revolution in the Time of Global Uprising
	Kurdish Self-Government: An Experiment in a Stateless Society
	The Social Forum and the Ecological Movement in Bakûr
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
Chapter 4: Radical or Reactionary Tomatoes?: Organizing against the Toxic Legacy of Capital’s Environmentalism
	Trapped by Language—Whose “Environment”?
	Climatology: Don’t Ask, Don’t Act
	The Revolutionary Promise of Plurality
	New Alliances—But with Whom?
	References
Part II: Positive Initiatives for Ecological Change
Chapter 5: Ecology Structures of the Kurdish Freedom Movement
	Mesopotamia Ecology Movement
	Ecology Discussions and Theoretical Approach
	Practice in North Kurdistan
	Practice in Rojava
	References
Chapter 6: From an Interview with Menekşe Kizildere, HDP Ecology Commission Co-Spokesperson
	What Are the HDP Ecology Commission’s Objectives?
	What Are Some of the Practical Challenges That You Are Facing?
	What Do You Think Are the Commission’s Successes?
	Is There International Political Support for What You Are Trying to Achieve?
Chapter 7: Greening and Feeding the City: The Difficult Path to the Implementation of Political Ecology in Diyarbakır/Amed, 2015–2017
	Greening the Cityscape: Parks and Gardens as Sites of a Modern Kurdishness
	Feeding the City: The Municipal Bostans at Work or the Difficult Embrace of Democratic Economy
	Bostans for Food Sovereignty and Reconstructing an Agricultural Kurdistan
	The Municipal Bostans in Practice
	Creating a Bostans’ Culture: The Work of Diyarbakır Ecology Association
	Closure of the Public Space, Preservation of the Bostans’ Work
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
Chapter 8: Regenerating Kurdish Ecologies through Food Sovereignty, Agroecology, and Economies of Care
	A Brief History of Changing Agricultural Ecologies in Kurdistan
	Kurdish Peoples’ Response to Destructive Industrial Agriculture
	Agroecology for Food Sovereignty
	An Economics of Care and Solidarity
	Democratic Confederalism
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
Chapter 9: Free Life Together: Jinwar, the Women’s Eco-Village1
	Winter
	A Women’s Eco-village
	Free Life Together
	Notes
	References
Chapter 10: Women’s Subjectivity and the Ecological and Communal Economy
	Social Economy
	AborîyaJIN: The Experience of Women in the Social Economy
	Notes
	References
	Interviews
Part III: Social Movements and Environmental Activism
Chapter 11: Environmental Activism in Rojhelat: Emergence and Objectives
	Environmental Activism in Rojhelat
	Chya, Rojhelat’s Green Platform
	Chya’s Diversified Focus
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
Chapter 12: The Kurdish Freedom Movement and Gezi: Strategic Reluctance and Tactical Ambiguities
	The Gezi Park Protests and HDP: Renegotiating Nation and Democracy
	Kurds at Gezi?
	BDP’s Hesitation and Its Istanbul Office’s Active Participation
	Demirtaş’s “Belated” Endorsement and PKK’s Acknowledgement of Mistakes
	Continuity between Gezi Ecological Groups and HDK-HDP
	HDP as an Emerging Idea at the İmralı Negotiations during the Gezi Protests
	Conclusions: Strategic Reluctance and Tactical Ambiguity at Gezi as an Opportunity
	Notes
	References
Chapter 13: Hasankeyf, the Ilısu Dam, and the Kurdish Movement in Turkey
	“Protected with the Most Utmost Care”
	Hasankeyf is (not) Kurdish
	“You Can Go to Jail for Picking up a Stone”
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
Chapter 14: The Kurdish Ecology Movement and Human Rights
	The Relationship between Ecological Harm and the Kurdish Question
	The Kurdish Ecology Movement
	Human Rights: Tactics and Strategy
	Human Rights Tactics: The Right to Water
	Human Rights Strategy: Potential Pitfalls
	Rearticulating the Right of Self-Determination
	Conclusion
	Notes
	Bibliography
Chapter 15: The Internationalist Project to Make Rojava Green Again
	Notes
	References
Part IV: Nature Protection and Kurdish Alevism
Chapter 16: Dersim as a Sacred Land: Contemporary Kurdish Alevi Ethno-Politics and Environmental Struggle
	Jiar u Diyar (The Sacred Land)
	The Instrumentalization of Nature within Ethno-Politics of Dersim
	Concluding Remarks
	Notes
	References
Chapter 17: The Philosophy of Ecology and Rêya Heqî: Religion, Nature, and Femininity
	Rêya Heqî/Kurdish Alevism
	Gola Buyêr: The Sacred Femininity, Law, and Life
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
Part V: Conflict and Environmental Destruction
Chapter 18: Forest Fires in Dersim and Şırnak: Conflict and Environmental Destruction
	The Fire and Conflict Nexus
	Media Coverage
	Social Media
	Notes
	References
Chapter 19: Breaking the Kill Chain: Exposing to Challenge British State and International Corporate Complicity in Turkey’s Killer Drone Industry
	The Hornet Bomb Rack
	The ANCA Report
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
Part VI: Conclusions
Chapter 20: “To Plant the Tree of Tomorrow”: Seeding and Spiraling Ecologically Aware Democratic Autonomy beyond the Kurdish Freedom Movement
	Zapatistas
	Democratic Autonomy in Central and South America
	Democratic Autonomy and Conflict in the Middle East
	Democratic Autonomy in the West
	Notes
	References
Chapter 21: Concluding Reflections on the Kurdish Ecology Initiatives
	Note
	References
Introduction
Index
About the Editor
About the Contributors