{"id":5144,"date":"2024-07-19T14:24:30","date_gmt":"2024-07-19T12:24:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/?p=5144"},"modified":"2024-07-19T23:12:40","modified_gmt":"2024-07-19T21:12:40","slug":"all-that-rojava-is-a-poem-on-the-revolutions-12th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/all-that-rojava-is-a-poem-on-the-revolutions-12th-anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"All that Rojava is: A Poem on the Revolution\u2019s 12th Anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"

July 19, 2024, marks the twelfth anniversary of the Rojava Revolution<\/a><\/span>. Two years ago, on the tenth anniversary<\/a><\/span>, I was asked by Hawar News Agency<\/a><\/span> to give my thoughts on the occasion and what it signified for the world, based on my trips to the region. My time in Rojava (north and east Syria) witnessed events spanning from the Battle of Koban\u00ea<\/a><\/span> in 2014, to Turkey\u2019s invasion and occupation of Ser\u00ea Kaniy\u00ea<\/a><\/span> and Gir\u00ea Sp\u00ee in 2019. This allowed me to observe the perseverance of martyrs\u2019 widows living and educating themselves at the Jinwar Women\u2019s Village<\/a><\/span>, the small joy of children riding a Ferris wheel in Am\u00fbd\u00ea, and the psychological scars left from the liberated dungeons and former execution sites of ISIS in Raqqa<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Interviewing ISIS prisoners and their wives showed me the dark alternate reality that was planned for this region if the YPG<\/a>, YPJ<\/a><\/span>, and SDF<\/a><\/span> had not sacrificed so much to free it from their grasp. And now, as the Turkish Air Force continues to rain down death<\/a><\/span> upon the valiant population of Rojava, while threatening to renew and complete the extermination that their mercenaries in ISIS<\/a><\/span> began, it is incumbent on the outside world to remember what is at stake. Rojava is more than a geographical place; it is a philosophical idea brought to life, a seed scratched out of the sky by blistered hands grasping for a better future, and watered with the blood of countless \u015feh\u00eeds (martyrs) who gave their lives so it could live.<\/p>\n

Every day Rojava survives is a testament that another world is not only possible but essential, which is why outside forces continue to conspire to suffocate the collective gasp for air that it represents. Rojava has already changed the world by etching its example into the annals of history, but on this 12th<\/sup> anniversary<\/a><\/span>, we are left with the uncertainty of whether it can continue to inspire the next generation to fight for their due deliverance. So, perhaps when considering that question, it is useful to reflect on what the Rojava Revolution represents. I am including my poem \u2018All that Rojava is\u2019 (2022)<\/em>, which aims to do just that.<\/p>\n

\n

All that Rojava is<\/span>
\n<\/em><\/strong>by Thoreau Redcrow<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The Rojava Revolution is historically rooted in the Paris Commune, Spanish Civil War streets of Barcelona, and the Zapatista\u2019s uprising.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rojava Revolution is an idea standing on the shoulders of women martyrs like Arin Mirkan, Zozan Cudi, Hevrin Khalaf, Ceren Gunes, and thousands of other heroines.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rojava Revolution is sacred ground where over 13,000 martyrs laid down their life in pursuit of freedom.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rojava Revolution is the city of Kobane heroically refusing to accept defeat even when it was surrounded, outnumbered, and turned into rubble.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rojava Revolution is proof that brave people, armed only with guns, books, and ideals, can repel the invading Turkish Army with all of its jets, tanks, missiles, drones, and artillery.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rojava Revolution is a battlefield where the YPG and YPJ fight alongside diverse allies from the International Freedom Battalion and Turkish Left, for a better world.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rojava Revolution is the inspirational example that women do not belong hidden in black shrouds as invisible ghosts, but as essential members of public life.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rojava Revolution is a groundbreaking experiment in democratic confederalism with Imrali Island as its flashing beacon and humanity as its guiding moral value.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rojava Revolution is a vision where corporations are replaced with communes, plutocrats are replaced with councils, and isolation is replaced with social responsibility.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rojava Revolution is a community where every citizen has a political voice and life is organized to ensure they are active participants in controlling their own destiny.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rojava Revolution is the belief that our planet\u2019s collapse can be prevented with social ecology and that no society is free if its women are not fully liberated.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rojava Revolution is a culture where women\u2019s mandatory black burqas under ISIS have been swapped out for university graduation gowns.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rojava Revolution is an alternative model of governance where offensive armies have been replaced with self-defense units concerned with protecting the people.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rojava Revolution is a commitment that Sunnis, Shias, Alevis, Alawites, Christians, Jews, Yazidis, and Zoroastrians should all be free to worship without fear.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rojava Revolution is a multi-ethnic democracy where Kurds, Arabs, Armenians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Circassians, Turkmen, Chechens, and Western volunteers are all welcome to contribute.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rojava Revolution is a little Kurdish girl being able to go to school in her mother tongue for the first time.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rojava Revolution is an Armenian family building a happy life atop the forgotten graves of their ancestors who were death-marched through these lands during the Armenian Genocide.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rojava Revolution is a young Arab woman from Deir ez-Zor telling her tribal father that she now wants to be a lawyer, and him accepting her dream.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rojava Revolution is a young Syriac man deciding to defend his family\u2019s village against Turkish military shelling and occupation.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rojava Revolution is displaced families from Afrin who know that Turkey may cut down and steal their olive trees with their barbarism, but eventually the fascist invaders will be defeated.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rojava Revolution is every laughing child in Derik, every busy restaurant in Qamislo, every Kurdish song being sung on the streets of Hasakah, and every smiling family having a picnic in Amude.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rojava Revolution is taking ISIS dungeons in Raqqa and transforming them into centers of art or libraries, and Arab families from southern Syria relocating to Manbij for the safety and stability that SDF provides.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rojava Revolution is a promise that ropes will never again be used to hang Sheikh Said, Seyid Riza, and Qazi Muhammad, that chemical gas will never again be dropped on Kurdish cities, and that thousands of Kurdish villages will never again be burned to the ground.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rojava Revolution is a burning candle amidst the darkness, illuminating a path towards a brighter future for Kurdistan and the entire Middle East.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

July 19, 2024, marks the twelfth anniversary of the Rojava Revolution. Two years ago, on the tenth anniversary, I was asked by Hawar News Agency to give my thoughts on the occasion and what it signified for the world, based on my trips to the region. My time in Rojava (north and east Syria) witnessed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":5148,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"jnews_post_split":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[212,61],"tags":[868,869,48,90,725,174,39,62],"ppma_author":[79],"class_list":["post-5144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-culture","category-slider","tag-all-that-rojava-is","tag-poem-on-rojava","tag-rojava","tag-rojava-revolution","tag-sdf","tag-western-kurdistan","tag-ypg","tag-ypj"],"authors":[{"term_id":79,"user_id":9,"is_guest":0,"slug":"thoreau-redcrow","display_name":"Thoreau Redcrow","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Thoreau-Redcrow-5.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Thoreau-Redcrow-5.jpg"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5144"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5177,"href":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5144\/revisions\/5177"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5144"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nlka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=5144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}