Activists call on international left to speak up for progressive Kurdish Rojava

Turkey has launched aerial and ground attacks on northern Syria, targeting the de facto Kurdish autonomous region of Rojava — "a society that is unparalleled right now in the 21st century," says Debbie Bookchin, co-founder of the Emergency Committee for Rojava. "It is a society that is focused on the ideals of grassroots democracy, feminism and ecology." Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's assault on the region was effectively given the green light by President Trump, who cleared the way for the Turkish offensive by ordering U.S. troops to fall back from their position on the Turkey-Syria border, leaving the Kurds — who are U.S. allies — to fend for themselves. Bookchin argues that Rojava ought to be central to the conversation on the American left. "It is truly incumbent on all of us who claim to care for progressive values to stand up to demand no-fly zone for Rojava, to go to our representatives and saying, 'Tweeting your crocodile tears is not enough.' We have to become active in the progressive left to play a huge role in this."

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