The Rojava Model
How Syria's Kurds Govern
The rising influence of women in Syrian Kurdistan is a central part of the broader transformation of Kurdish politics there and in Turkey. Unlike the Iraqi Kurds, the Syrian and Turkish Kurds have moved away from nationalism. They instead seek local autonomy under a federal arrangement. The long-term idea is to secure democratic, decentralizing constitutions that provide for extensive local autonomy and protect human rights. (This shift has run in parallel with the ideological evolution of the jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, a former militant who now is an advocate of what he has termed democratic confederalism.)
In light of the region’s current turmoil, Rojava’s vision for a feminist, directly democratic society may seem unrealistic. Yet the failure of the negotiations to end the Syrian civil war has shown the limited capacity of diplomacy to put an end to conflicts inflamed by nonstate actors and funded by outside powers, and in recent decades, there have been few political models in Kurdistan’s neighborhood that seem to offer as much promise for egalitarianism and peace as what the Kurds call democratic autonomy.
So far, the United States has treated the Syrian Kurds as a short-term ally and given them military but not overt political or economic support; Washington did not insist that they take part in the Geneva talks to end the war in Syria. This approach is a mistake. Since the 1990s, the United States has positioned itself as a defender of women and sexual minorities. The Syrian Kurds are practicing a form of democracy that enshrines gender equality and opposes zero-sum notions of ethnic and national rights. Given its stated commitments, the United States should be willing to support those ends.
In light of the region’s current turmoil, Rojava’s vision for a feminist, directly democratic society may seem unrealistic. Yet the failure of the negotiations to end the Syrian civil war has shown the limited capacity of diplomacy to put an end to conflicts inflamed by nonstate actors and funded by outside powers, and in recent decades, there have been few political models in Kurdistan’s neighborhood that seem to offer as much promise for egalitarianism and peace as what the Kurds call democratic autonomy.
So far, the United States has treated the Syrian Kurds as a short-term ally and given them military but not overt political or economic support; Washington did not insist that they take part in the Geneva talks to end the war in Syria. This approach is a mistake. Since the 1990s, the United States has positioned itself as a defender of women and sexual minorities. The Syrian Kurds are practicing a form of democracy that enshrines gender equality and opposes zero-sum notions of ethnic and national rights. Given its stated commitments, the United States should be willing to support those ends.
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