A new kind of society is being built in Syria, but it's not one you
would expect. Surrounded by deadly bands of ISIS and hostile Turkish
forces, the people living in Syria's Rojava cantons are carving out one
of the most radically progressive societies on the planet today. Western
visitors have been astounded by the success of their project, a
communally organised democracy which considers women's equality
indispensable and rejects reactionary nationalist ideology whilst being
fiercely anti-capitalist. The people of Rojava call their new system
democratic confederalism. An implementation of the recent ideology of
the imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, it boasts gender quotas
of 40 percent, bottom-up democratic structures, deep-reaching ecological
policies and a militancy which is keeping ISIS from the gates.
Revolution in Rojava is the first full-length study of this ongoing
social and political transformation in Syrian Kurdistan. It is the first
authentic insight into the complex dimensions of the revolution. Its
authors use their own experiences of working and fighting in the region
to construct a picture of hope for Middle-Eastern politics and society,
and reveal an extraordinary story of a battle against the odds.
