The delegation from the Kurdistan Youth Diplomacy Committee (Komîteya Diplomasi ya Ciwanên Kurdistan) has spent one month in South Africa.

Nuçe Ciwan spoke to some members of the delegation about their experiences. 

In the last month, a delegation from the Diplomacy Committee of the Youth of Kurdistan has visited South Africa to meet organizations in different cities. The young people travelled most from the west to the east, and, as they said, “saw many reality, many different faces of this really diverse and rich country. Mostly we talked with these organizations, about what is going on in Kurdistan, because as you know, the fascist Turkish state is once more threatening the North Administration of North and East Syria with an invasion, with a war of aggression. In the same way that they are waging war on the free mountains of Kurdistan, where the guerrillas are heroically resisting these attacks. So for us, it is really important to raise awareness of this, find strategic allies in the struggle against statism, against capitalist modernity and, therefore, we talked to a lot of people about the paradigm of Rêber Apo (Abdullah Öcalan, about the struggle of the Kurdish Liberation Movement. For this, South Africa has an important historical, and for us, a really important role, because, as you know, Rêber Öcalan was supposed to come to South Africa. In 1999, he was supposed to come here on political asylum and continue his work in the search of political solutions to the conflict not only in Kurdistan, but also for the wider democratic struggle. So coming here, we always imagined what this country would have looked like if Rêber Öcalan had had the chance to come here and continue his work, as it was intended.”

By coming here and talking to the people, said the Kurdish delegation, “we also learned a lot about not only the living conditions that are present now, but also the history, especially the post-apartheid history of South Africa. In the last 30 years  there was a time for the South African people where there should have been a revolution, it should have been liberating, a time of harmony and equality for South Africa. But we have seen and what our comrades have told us, is that South Africa has become the most unequal country in the world. Just coming here for a brief moment really makes it visible that this is not an exaggeration, the post-apartheid period in South Africa has nothing to do with harmony and liberation. This is a classic example that we can also to very much when we see the situation for example, in South Kurdistan, where we see when gaining the state power by people, from the bourgeois elite taking over the power of the state (Barzani’s Family), what this is doing to the people. Also, in South Africa now, a small elite is governing and exploiting 80% of the people that live in poverty, that live in poor living conditions. Seeing the reality of South Africa, comparing it also with what we have seen in different parts of Kurdistan and the world, we see the paradigm of Rêber Öcalan, the philosophy of Rêber Öcalan as the alternative, as an alternative to the state system.”

The delegation added: “As we see, the people of Kurdistan have made huge successes in organizing their life communally. As we see the South African people as well, have started to organize this way. We not only see that this is a very natural way of organizing, but we see that the paradigm of Rêber Öcalan is actually bringing people to the truth. It’s bringing humanity back to its own truth and identity. Coming here, the broader and wider aim of the Democratic Nation is, to bring together the struggling people, bring together those who are fighting for an alternative to the capitalist system. This is also what we can see here, that there is not a big awareness of each other's struggle yet. When we think of South Africa, many people don’t know about the daily struggle of the people, the living conditions of the people, as well as if South Africans, for example, think about Syria or the Middle East, they don’t know about this alternative. The alternative gives hope to people around the globe, so bringing this struggle together is really essential for us and, in this sense, working with the idea of internationalist solidarity. Of building up the internationalist struggle, because we see that, unfortunately, the global left, global internationalism is in a really weak spot. It’s not strong enough to take up the responsibility that comes with fighting the capitalist system right now.”

The delegation continued: “The system that has struck down every revolutionary force in the last thousands of years, so is it clear that this internationalist struggle that we are trying to build, has to be stronger than this oppressive system and we seen a lot of progress, especially in Rojava – North and East Syria, we have seeing a lot of valuable comrades coming to the liberated areas, taking their places in the Revolution, also falling martyrs for this Revolution. But to win this fight and take a decisive step, we have to think bigger, we have to connect, especially with the global south to our struggle. Because in the western world and in Europe we have seen that people, and especially young people – the youth, that is meant to be the element of change, the revolutionary element in the struggle is totally disconnected and separated from its own society. It cannot fulfil its responsibilities, and of course, here the youth is struggling with big challenges.”