Reading for Revolution
After discussing Öcalan’s text on “Democratic Confederalism,” the group decided to continue studying his work. We chose to read “Liberating Life: Woman’s Revolution.” The text is available as a .pdf from this link: http://www.freeocalan.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/liberating-Lifefinal.pdf
As always, we meet at 7pm at Camas Books on 2620 Quadra st on unceded Lekwungen territory.
Last week’s discussion introduced us to Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the Kurdish Worker’s party, who, after he was jailed indefinitely by the Turkish State, turned to a number of new sources to revisit his previous Marxist-Leninist nationalist ideology. He did a ‘180’ and turned to the writings of the anarchist social ecologist Murray Bookchin, and from there developed his own vision of anarchism, which he called “Democratic Confederalism.”
In keeping with this theme, members of the Anarchist Reading Circle have decided to read Öcalan’s pamphlet called just that, “Democratic Confederalism.”
The text can be downloaded from this website. We will be referring to the updated 4th edition: Democratic Confederalism Booklet
As always, we meet at Camas Books and Infoshop, 2620 Quadra St, unceded Lekwungen Territory. It is scheduled for Tuesday, March 12, 2019; doors @6:50; discussion @7pm. See you there!
Our next reading circle is scheduled for Tuesday, February 26th from 6:45 – 9pm; discussion starts at 7pm. As always, we meet on unceded Lekwungen territory at Camas Books and Infoshop (2620 Quadra Street).
In preparation for our discussion, we are reading two chapters from Revolution in Rojava: Democratic Autonomy and Women’s Liberation in Syrian Kurdistan. The text was written by Michael Knapp, Anja Flach, and Ercan Ayboĝa. It provides an excellent foregrounding on the history of the Kurdish Worker’s Party (PKK), and the theoretical turn towards anarchism by one of the Party’s co-founders, Abdullah Öcalan. We will also learn about the authoritarianism and geopolitical machinations of the colluding nation-States with interests in the region known as Rojava, located in Northern Syria. Any participants with knowledge of current affairs about Rojava are welcomed to share updates and any other pertinent information.
Note: This topic was originally scheduled to take place on February 12th, but had to be postponed due to inclement weather.
For our next meeting we are reading Murray Bookchin’s classic text “Listen Marxist!” from 1971. This historical text was a significant intervention in the cultural milieu of the Left. This was the time when Marxism was considered the supreme ideology and dominated radical spheres, except for the anarchists.
You can get the reading from this link to the Anarchist Library.
A Conversation with anarcho-Indigenous Sovereigntist, Mel Bazil
Saturday, Jan. 19: doors, 6:30 PM; talk, 7 PM. David Lam Auditorium, room A144, McLaurin Building, University of Victoria
Unceded territories of the Lekwungen-speaking Songhees and Esquimalt peoples and the SENĆOŦEN-speaking W̱SÁNEĆ peoples
Indigeneity, Decolonization, ReIndigenization, and Anarchism
Join with Mel Bazil to explore the long-term relationships that we can forge for the sake of real relations with Indigenous peoples and their struggles. Mel was born to Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en origins. He is a father, a counselor, community leader, and is participating in Nation building on his home territories. Anarchy, Indigeneity, Decolonization and Re-Indigenization have served Mel well.
Mel is also a supporter of the Unis’tot’en Action Camp (ongoing since 2009). The camp asserts Wet’suwet’en sovereignty over unceded territories. It enforces a ‘Free and prior informed consent protocol’ to ensure only those who support Wet’suwet’en interests are allowed access.
Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs statement regarding the recent RCMP assault – THIS IS NOT OVER
http://unistoten.camp/thisisnotover/
Presented by the Victoria Anarchist Reading Circle
In Spring 2011, the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) of Northern Syria (Rojava) established a People’s Council of West Kurdistan around the concept of “democratic confederalism” wherein diverse peoples and political actors united under an autonomous anti-state structure of self-governance. Three regional “Cantons” formed a federated structure encompassing most of northern Syria. Rojava’s revolution was defended by two militias — the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Women’s Protection Units (YPJ). The emergence of a secular, feminist, anti-authoritarian system of self-governance in the midst of Syria’s civil war was an extraordinary event and military victories against the Islamic State (notably the heroic rescue of minority Yezidi peoples besieged by Islamic State forces in the Sinjar Mountains) brought the Rojava revolution to world attention.
Join Professor Ozlem Goner to learn about the roots of the Rojava revolution, its ecological, feminist, and anarchic democratic vision, as well as current threats to Rojava poised by Turkish armed forces in alliance with Russia.
Two events are planned:
Monday, January 13th, 7:00pm, Room 129 MacPherson Library, University of Victoria (unceded WSÁNEC & Lekwungen (Songhees & Esquimalt) Territories).
Tuesday, January 14th, 7:00pm at Camas Books & Infoshop (unceded Lekwungen Territory)
Ozlem Goner is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, College of Staten Island, City University of New York. Goner has written on a range of issues, including memory and historicity; political economy and the environment; and outsider identities. In 2017 her book, Turkish National Identity and its Outsiders: Memories of State Violence in Dersim, was published by Routledge. She is a steering committee member of the US-based Emergency Committee for Rojava.
Donations In support of Rojava are welcome!
Happy New Year and welcome back from the holidays. To begin 2019, we are proposing a reading arguing for the need to abolish all political parties. It was originally written in 1957 by the French socialist, mystic, and activist, Simone Weil.
The reading is available as a .pdf on the right side of our website. Start on page 8.
As always, we will be meeting at Camas Books, 2620 Quadra st (unceded Lekwungen territory) at 7 pm sharp.
We are taking a break for the holidays, and will return to a regular reading schedule on January 15th, 2019.
In the interim, please enjoy this audio zine broadcast, and if you like it, take a look at the other podcasts the distro has to offer! https://resonanceaudiodistro.org/
Our first meeting was very insightful. The texts went well together and we came away with some new ideas about the pitfalls of ‘allyship’.
For the next meeting, we will be reading Harsha Walia’s Decolonizing Together. If you haven’t had a chance to read our previous texts, please consider looking them over as well.
Again, we will be gathering at Camas Books, 2620 Quadra Street, on unceded Lekwungen Territotory. We start at 7pm, and will not go longer than 9pm. See you there!
