The Emergency Committee for Rojava Reading Group is holding a series of meetings to discuss Democratic Confederalism. 

The first meeting will take place on Sunday, September 25th, 2PM EDT (US)/ 11AM PDT/ 7PM (UK) for our Fall-Winter Reading group session that will cover theories and history of democratic confederalism as practiced by the Kurdish Freedom Movement.

The sessions will start with an introduction of the historical context and overview, and then move to Öcalan’s theories of history and democratic civilization. We will read about state and class-based societies as well as capitalist modernity and then dive into democratic confederalism and social ecology as alternatives. We will end the sessions with a discussion of women’s liberation and eco-feminism and how these concepts and practices relate to democratic confederalism. 

The first session's readings will include:
"Learning from defeat: Development and contestation of the "new paradigm" within Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)" by Joost Jongerden.
"Building 'democratic modernity' " in The Kurdish Women's Movement by Dilar Dirik, pp. 118-126.

All the readings are accessible through a shared folder, available here.

Feel free to join even if you don’t get a chance to do the readings!

Inspired by the Kurdish and Zapatista women’s autonomous organizing, we will also host women and queer-only space half an hour before the beginning of every reading group. Stop by to socialize and share your gender-related concerns and experiences. 

Register to get the Zoom link