From June 18 to 26, the Initiative of Mutual Studies of the Students of Rojava and Bremen (IMS) is organizing a symposium on "Revolution in Everyday Life and Everyday Life in Revolution" together with the Rosa Luxemburg Initiative (RLI). Events will take place at KlimaWerkStadt, Kukoon and via Zoom. Several lectures, panel discussions, films and workshops are dedicated to the topic from different perspectives. This series of events was developed in cooperation between students from Bremen and Rojava, who met regularly online over a period of nine months, developed ideas, exchanged experiences and shared knowledge. This direct exchange will also be the focus of the symposium.

"The social revolution in Rojava is a historic project - in the middle of a war-torn region - from which and with which we want to learn together. And in doing so, we are not relying on books or newspaper reports, but on direct exchange with the people on the ground - face to face - even if thousands of kilometers separate us," explained Bente Stitz from IMS-Bremen.

Academic, social and activist perspective

What does everyday life look like in Rojava? How do they keep capitalism at a distance in their everyday social life? In which respects does resistance show up in the everyday life of some people in Bremen and elsewhere in Germany? What role does solidarity play in this? How does mourning become a resistant practice? The project approaches these and many other questions from academic, social and activist perspectives. Contributions will come from academics John Holloway and Andrej Grubačić, the Hanau February 19 Initiative, Nilüfer Koç (spokesperson for the Foreign Policy Commission in the Kurdistan National Congress), activists from Lützerath and the "Rheinmetall Disarm!" campaign, Rûken Ahmed of TEV-DEM, and students from Rojava and Bremen, among others.

Bilingual events with simultaneous translation

The "Initiative of Mutual Studies of the Students of Rojava and Bremen" (IMS) is an initiative founded by students to promote transcultural exchange. It has existed since summer 2021 and is organizing a series of events on the topic of revolution and everyday life for the first time this year.

All events of the IMS take place bilingually with simultaneous translation between Kurdish and English/German and can be followed in presence and online. More info is available on Twitter: @IMS_2022 , Instagram: @initiative_of_mutual_studies and by mail: [email protected]