A Small Key Can Open a Large Door: The Rojava Revolution

The world watched in horror as the ruthless Islamic State (commonly referred to as ISIS) marched on the small city of Kobane in northern Syria. No one expected the city to survive the attack. But it did. Mixed-gender militias with small arms held one of the most feared armies in the world at bay. The smoke cleared, and Kobane still stood. And western media attention moved on. The YPG and the YPJ, the militias who held the city, were fighting for their lives and their land. But even more than that, they were fighting to defend their their revolution: the Rojava Revolution. When the Assad regime began to fall, Kurds and other ethnic minorities in northern Syria carved out pockets of liberty and started one of the greatest social experiments the world has ever seen. Based on their own history of struggle and on the writings of social ecologist Murray Bookchin, the people of Rojava have developed an anti-state and anti-capitalist way of life. It’s a way of life that values feminism, direc