Janet Biehl is an American author,copyeditor,translator,and artist. She authored several books and articles associated with social ecology,the body of ideas developed and publicized by Murray Bookchin. Formerly an advocate of his antistatist political program,she broke with it publicly in 2011 and now identifies as a progressive Democrat.
The Democratic Union Party is a Kurdish left-wing political party established on 20 September 2003 in northern Syria. It is a founding member of the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change. It is the leading political party among Syrian Kurds. The PYD was established as a Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in 2003,and both organizations are still closely affiliated through the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK).
The Kurdish National Council is a Syrian Kurdish political party. While the KNC had initially more international support than the ruling Democratic Union Party (PYD) during the early years of the Syrian civil war and a strong supporter basis among some Syrian Kurdish refugees,the overwhelming popular support the PYD enjoys has eroded support for the KNC in Syrian Kurdistan,losing almost all popular support.
Salih Muslim Muhammad is the co-chairman of the Democratic Union Party (PYD),the main party of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. As the deputy coordinator of the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change,he has been the most prominent Kurdish representative for much of the Syrian civil war.
The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES),also known as Rojava,is a de facto autonomous region in northeastern Syria. It consists of self-governing sub-regions in the areas of Afrin,Jazira,Euphrates,Raqqa,Tabqa,Manbij,and Deir Ez-Zor. The region gained its de facto autonomy in 2012 in the context of the ongoing Rojava conflict and the wider Syrian civil war,in which its official military force,the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF),has taken part.
Afrin Region is the westernmost of the three original regions of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.
The Women's Protection Units or Women's Defense Units is an all-female militia involved in the Syrian civil war. The YPJ is part of the Syrian Democratic Forces,the armed forces of Rojava,and is closely affiliated with the male-led YPG. While the YPJ is mainly made up of Kurds,it also includes women from other ethnic groups in Northern Syria.
The Movement for a Democratic Society is a left-wing umbrella organization in northern Syria founded on 16 January 2011 with the goal of organizing Syrian society under a democratic confederalist system. TEV-DEM is currently chaired by co-chairs Zalal Jagar and Kharib Heso.
The People’s Council of West Kurdistan,is one of the main overarching coordinating bodies of Rojava Syria. It is a directly democratic "people's" council founded by various Syrian Kurdish political groups including the Democratic Union Party (PYD),in 2011.
A number of different symbols have been used to represent the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES),commonly known as Rojava. The Autonomous Administration adopted an official emblem in December 2018. The emblem consists of the words "Autonomous Administration" in Arabic,surrounded by seven red stars representing the regions of northeast Syria,as well as a branch of olives and spike of wheat,two crops grown in the region. Surrounding all of the symbols is the words "Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria" written in Arabic,Kurmanji,Syriac,and Turkish,the languages spoken in the region. The blue and yellow semicircles the whole emblem is put upon represents the Euphrates river and the "permanent spring" of the region. A flag with the Autonomous Administration's emblem on a white field is also used occasionally to represent the Administration itself.
The foreign relations of Rojava are the external relations of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). The AANES,consisting of three regions,was formed in early 2014 in the context of the Syrian Civil War,a conflict that has caused the involvement of many different countries and international organizations in the area.
Democratic confederalism,also known as Kurdish communalism or Apoism,is a political concept theorized by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan about a system of democratic self-organization with the features of a confederation based on the principles of autonomy,direct democracy,political ecology,feminism,multiculturalism,self-defense,self-governance and elements of a cooperative economy. Influenced by social ecology,libertarian municipalism,Middle Eastern history and general state theory,Öcalan presents the concept as a political solution to Kurdish national aspirations,as well as other fundamental problems in countries in the region deeply rooted in class society,and as a route to freedom and democratization for people around the world.
HêvîÎbrahîm Mustefa is the Democratic Union Party (PYD) prime minister of the Afrin Region,a de facto autonomous region of the Democratic Federation of North and East Syria.
The Rojava conflict,also known as the Rojava Revolution,is a political upheaval and military conflict taking place in northern Syria,known among Kurds as Western Kurdistan or Rojava.
Jineology is a form of feminism and of gender equality advocated by Abdullah Öcalan,the representative leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the broader Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) umbrella. From the background of honor-based religious and tribal rules that confine women in Middle East societies,Öcalan said that "a country can't be free unless the women are free",and that the level of women's freedom determines the level of freedom in society at large.
Îlham Ehmed,also rendered as Îlham Ahmed,is a Syrian politician from the Democratic Union Party currently serving as the co-president of the Executive Council of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (Rojava) and member of the executive committee of the Movement for a Democratic Society (TEV-DEM) coalition. Until July 2018,she was a co-chair of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC),a political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces that acts as the legislature for Rojava.
The Kurdish Democratic Progressive Party in Syria is one of the oldest Kurdish parties in Syria,having been active since seceding from the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria the 1960s. Prominently led by Abd al-Hamid Darwish for much of its history,who was described as "one of the last remaining of the original Kurdish political activists",the PDPKS serves as the Syrian sister party of the Iraqi Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. Known for its moderate and conciliatory politics,the party has sided at different times during the Syrian Civil War with the Syrian opposition,the Ba'athist government,the Kurdish National Council,and the Democratic Union Party.
The first Rojava regional elections were held on 1 December 2017. Local councils for the Jazira Region,Euphrates Region and Afrin Region were elected as well as for the subordinate cantons,areas and districts of the regions of Rojava. This followed the communal elections that were held on 22 September and was to be followed by a federal parliamentary election of the Syrian Democratic Council,the region's highest governing body,initially scheduled for January 2018,but was later postponed.
BesêHozat is a leader in the Kurdistan Workers' Party and is the co-chair of the Kurdistan Communities Union alongside Cemil Bayik. She is the sixth member of the General Presidential Council,the highest authoritative body in the PKK.
Anarchism in Syria emerged as a largely disorganized movement during the authoritarian rule of the Assad government,but following the initiation of the Arab Spring has been a particularly notable factor in the Rojava conflict during the civil uprising phase of the Syrian civil war.
