ABSTRACT

This article discusses radical democratic citizenship in the context of the ‘Rojava Revolution’, an ongoing society-building effort that emerged in majority Kurdish regions in the context of the Syrian war. It describes aspects of the political vision of Abdullah Öcalan, as interpreted and applied by activists involved in the democratic self-governance system in Rojava (northern Syria), since 2012. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in the region, the article focuses on the ways in which activists frame their revolution and notions of radical democratic citizenship as consciousness-raising efforts against the state system. Centering the role of educational institutions, it argues that theoretical discussions within the Kurdish freedom movement seek to emancipate political action from state-centric ways of articulating political will, justice demands, and wider geopolitical interests. Lastly, it encourages studying radical democracy efforts by taking seriously the political vocabularies, everyday practices, and long-term perspectives advanced in collective self-organisation from below.

摘要

本文讨论了“罗贾瓦革命”背景下的激进民主公民身份，这是一场持续的社会建设努力，在叙利亚战争的背景下出现在大多数库尔德地区。它描述了自 2012 年以来参与罗贾瓦（叙利亚北部）民主自治制度的活动家对阿卜杜拉·奥贾兰的政治愿景的各个方面的解释和应用。文章利用该地区的民族志田野调查，重点介绍了激进分子将他们的革命和激进的民主公民观念描述为提高意识的反对国家制度的努力。以教育机构的作用为中心，它认为库尔德自由运动中的理论讨论试图将政治行动从以国家为中心的表达政治意愿的方式中解放出来，正义要求和更广泛的地缘政治利益。最后，它鼓励通过认真对待自下而上的集体自组织中提出的政治词汇、日常实践和长期观点来研究激进民主的努力。