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Nicol Wistreich

“Though still largely unknown, today roughly 1/3 of Syrian territory is governed not by a nation-state but through a federation of participatory local councils… based on the principles of… women’s liberation, ethnic and religious pluralism, a democratized economy, and ecological … [through] a decentralized system of in which decision-making takes place through local popular assemblies”

Incredible to only now learn of this: bioneers.org/rojava-revolution

Bioneers · Rojava Revolution: Women’s Liberation, Democracy and Ecology in North-East Syria - BioneersActivists from the Emergency Committe for Rojava discuss the Rojava Revolution: a society rooted in principles of direct democracy, women’s autonomy, cultural diversity, cooperative economics, and social ecology. 
Jun 21, 2024, 10:21 AM·Public·IceCubesApp
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Nicol Wistreich

Also mind-blowing was how this began when the Worker's Party leader was imprisoned & read Vermont ecologist :

"it abandoned the demand for an independent state because now argued that all nation states were inherently oppressive. Instead, he advocated the building of a decentralized system of direct democracy in which decision-making takes place through local popular assemblies, so people can come together and decide what they need for their collective affairs."

Quote from article linked above: "In 1999, the movement's leader, Abdullah Ocalan, was captured by the Turkish state in an international operation in which the CIA was involved. He was captured and imprisoned by Turkey on an island where he is the only detainee with thousands of guards. In this prison, his lawyers were able to help him get hold of a wide range of books of philosophers and social and political thinkers, ranging from Foucault, Fernand Braudel, Immanuel Wallerstein, a long list. This included books by Murray Bookchin, a U.S. social radical from New York who spent most of his life in Vermont, who developed a theory called “social ecology” during the ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s. He had been one of the first people to recognize the urgency of the climate crisis and that ecological problems were social problems. Ocalan was very impressed by Bookchin's ideas and actually tried to get in touch with Bookchin and communicate with him through his lawyers. Bookchin's ideas helped Ocalan rethink the ideology of the Kurdish liberation movement. He even passed the word down to movement members that they should start reading Bookchin's books. After a while Ocalan came out with a new philosophy that represented a radical break from where the movement started out in the '70s: it abandoned the demand for an independent state because Ocalan now argued that all nation states were inherently oppressive"
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Nicol Wistreich

Lots of people have said similar about participatory democracy and citizens assemblies in alternative, lefty and coop groups (ntm teal organizations) for as long as I remember.

But how many of us know that there's apparently a group of 5 million running their society and economy like that, right now?

And in the aftermath of a horendous civil and interstate war (while facing ongoing attacks).

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