LABOUR STUDIES SEMINAR SERIES 2020
The Neil Aggett Labour Studies Unit (NALSU), in partnership with the International Labour Research and Information Group (ILRIG), is proud to present a one-day workshop in Makhanda: "An Alternative for a World in Crisis: The Rojava Revolution, Kurdish Freedom Movement and Prospects for South Africa’s Incomplete Liberation."
Speakers: Ercan Ayboga and Rohash Shexo
Date: Monday, 9th March 2020
Time: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Venue: Amazwi South African Museum of Literature, 25A Worcester Street, Makhanda
Two speakers from the revolutionary Rojava zone of Syria will discuss how ordinary people have been building a contemporary alternative to neo-liberal capitalism that offers a model of a democratic, egalitarian and ecologically sustainable post-capitalist society. Ercan Ayboga and Rohash Shexo are engaging with South African scholars and social movements countrywide on the Rojava transition, considering some of the implications for South Africa's own trajectory and arguably unfinished liberation.
Ercan and Shexo are part of Rojava’s system of “democratic confederalism.” This emerged from the Kurdish national liberation struggle, which has distinct parallels to the struggle in South Africa but followed a different road. While South Africa’s transition centred on establishing a democratic parliament and new legal framework, the Rojava road of “democratic confederalism” involves participatory democracy, common production, ecology and women’s liberation – and does not use the state. This unmatched real-world experience of a non-state, non-racial, non-sectarian, anti-sexist system of self-governance based on assemblies, committees and cooperative production is worth examining in today’s crippled South Africa.
The event in Makhanda is a one-day workshop that will draw in interested people and grassroots groups, as part of the larger process of renewal and change in South Africa today. It represents the Eastern Cape leg of the Rojava Speaking Tour, covering Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape, which is coordinated by IRLIG.
The most important revolution of the 21st century, events in Rojava signal an alternative for a world in crisis.
SPEAKERS:
Rohash Shexo is a member of the Kongra Star Women’s Organisation of Rojava and Northern Syria and sits on the diplomacy committee of the Kurdish women’s movement. She will focus on the anti- patriarchal aspects of the Rojava Revolution, Democratic Confederalism and the struggle for women’s liberation and gender equality.
Ercan Ayboga is co-author of "Revolution in Rojava," an environmental engineer and activist and is politically involved in the Mesopotamian Ecology Movement, particularly in water struggles. He will focus on the ecological aspects of the Rojava Revolution and Democratic Confederalism
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) in making this event possible. We thank the Amazwi South African Museum of Literature for making space available. We also thank the East Cape Agricultural Research Project (ECARP) / Phakamani Siyephambili, the Unemployed Peoples Movement (IPM), and Sakhuluntu Cultural Group / Workers World Media (Makhanda).
ALL WELCOME
QUERIES: Valance Wessels, 046 603 8939, v.wessels@ru.ac.za