Global Rally for the freedom and reconstruction of Kobane

Thank you to everyone who took part in the Global Rally for Kobane on 1st November – now World Kobane Day. It is the second year in a row that thousands of people in dozens of countries have raised their voices for Kobane, which still suffers the consequences of a brutal 6 month ISIS siege which caught the conscience of many across the world. This time, over 400 separate actions took place in over 25 countries as far apart as India and Brazil, Denmark and Australia, Venezuela and Afghanistan, all calling for people and governments to support the reconstruction of Kobane and the lifting of the blockade. Demonstrations also took place in Rojava. Once again, it was a remarkable demonstration of solidarity and the spirit of internationalism. We send our thanks and solidarity to all those who took part and hope that collective efforts will lead to freedom and a new future for Kobane – and Rojava.

Global call for city of Kobane reaches activists across the world

PRESS RELEASE

29 October 2015

One year since a mass mobilisation of activists across the world created the largest-ever simultaneous action in solidarity with the Kurdish people, another appeal has inspired activists to once again rally for Kobane on 1st November.

Global Rally for the freedom and reconstruction of Kobane: London Rally

 

Sunday 1st November 2015

London march: 1pm, gather outside Haringey Civic Centre, High Road Wood Green, N22

London Rally: 2pm at the Kurdish Community Centre (KCC), 11 Portland Gardens, London N4 1HU. Nearest station: Haringey Green Lanes (Overground); Manor House (Piccadilly line)

 

With speeches, music, and festivities!

EVENT: Pedagogy for Revolution: The Case of Rojava

Public meeting and discussion with author Janet Biehl who will talk about the new women’s science of “Jineology” and the revolutionary transformation of eduction. She has visited Rojava twice and will report on her recent visit. You can view a video of the event here.

The meeting will be opened by Melanie Gingell, barrister, Doughty Street Chambers

Chaired by Elif Sarican, Kurdish Student Union

Date: Friday 23 October 6.30pm

Venue: Doughty Street Chambers, 54 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LS

CALL FOR ACTION: CHALLENGE CAMERON’S SILENCE ON TURKEY!

 

Wednesday 23rd September, 4pm

Join us for a demonstration outside 10 Downing Street!

 

“Help build peace with the Kurds, rather than extend the war.”

 

Kurdish women shout slogans during the funeral of a YPG (People’s Protection Units) fighter in the town of Suruc, Sanliurfa province, on October 14, 2014. 
AFP PHOTO / ARIS MESSINISARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images

On Wednesday 23rd September at 4pm, a delegation of women will deliver an open letter signed by a coalition of prominent women’s rights activists to 10 Downing Street. The letter urgently calls on David Cameron to use his influence with the Turkish government to stop the violence being perpetrated against Kurdish civilians in the south east of the country.

Mesopotamian Ecology Movement call to action against forest fires and ecological warfare

Please contact the organiser if you want to take part!

+++ Mesopotamian Ecology Movement +++

*10.000 hectares burnt down in Kurdistan by the Turkish Army – International Delegation needed more than ever!*

25.08.2015

We want to renew our call to form an international delegation to investigate the forest fires in North-Kurdistan caused by the Turkish Army. It is more and more urgent to raise international public as in the last one week the number of forest fires and burnt forests increase daily.

Around ten days ago activists of our movement did a first investigation together with a group of Turkish ecological activists in different parts of Kurdistan (the report will be published in the next days). According to this and further gathered information from local people the number of forest fires has exceeded the number of 50 in at least eight provinces: Dersim (Tunceli), Çewlik (Bingöl), Amed (Diyarbakır), Mardin, Siirt, Şirnex (Şırnak), Çolemerg (Hakkari) and Bitlis. The total number of forest areas burnt down in the last one month has reached 10.000 hectares land! We are concerned that this will be intensified in the next weeks as long as the military operations of the Turkish Army continue.

HDP calls for mass participation in march for Suruc victims

21 July 2015

CALL TO INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY FOR ISTANBUL RALLY ON 26 JULY 2015

Islamic State brutally attacked the internationalist youth group who met in Suruç on July 20. They had gone there to support the struggle for great humanity being waged in Kobani, and help rebuild the city.

As a result of this attack, 32 people were killed and over 100 people were injured. Although Islamic State has been held responsible for this attack, Turkey’s AKP Government, by resisting the taking of effective measures to prevent Islamic State and other reactionary forces, bears the real responsibility for these massacres of civilians.

EVENT – Witnessing HDP victory in Turkey: Election monitors report back

 Article and photos by Yasemin Kazan.

The event was organised by Peace in Kurdistan Campaign and chaired by Melanie Sirinathsingh. The meeting was held to provide insight into the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party, the HDP’s democratic project and to evaluate the progress of the party, in addition to the implications of the HDP’s electoral success for the Turkish-Kurdish peace process.

On 7th June, the HDP won a victory in Turkey’s general elections and gained 13.1% of the national vote, surpassing the 10% threshold for the first time with 80 seats a pro-Kurdish party will be represented in the parliament.

The success of the HDP has shifted the balance of power and ended 13 years of AKP (Justice and Development Party) rule and the dominance of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of which the HDP has been a stern critic.

The HDP was formed by a coalition of socialists, left-wing democrats, LGTB activists, greens and individuals from different ethnic groups and embraced the principles of democracy and human rights.

Victory in Kobane: What next in the Rojava Revolution?

DATE/TIME:
Sunday 22 February, 3-5pm

VENUE:
Djam Lecture Theatre (DLT), Main Building, SOAS, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG

Speakers:
Havin Guneser, spokesperson of the International Initiative – Freedom for Ocalan
David Graeber. anthropologist, author and political activist

Chair:
Margaret Owen, barrister and patron of Peace in Kurdistan Campaign

Public meeting: The Collapsed State Systems in Syria & Iraq and the Rise of ISIS & the Kurds

PUBLIC MEETING

Peace in Kurdistan Campaign and Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) invite you to

The Collapsed State Systems in Syria & Iraq and the Rise of ISIS & the Kurds

Monday 12 January, 6 – 7.30pm

Venue: Committee Room 3, House of Lords, Westminster, SW1A 0AA

With Professor Michael M. Gunter and guest speakers; hosted by Lord Hylton.

The immediate origins of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) lie in the opportunity spaces provided by two bitter civil wars that challenged the existing state system and borders created by the Sykes-Picot Agreement of World War I: (1) The bloody Sunni-Shia civil war in Iraq that followed the U.S. overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003, and (2) the even more horrific civil war that has been raging in Syria since 2011. ISIS has gained its strength from a wide range of political, sociological, economic, and military factors, among others, and Turkey has played a very controversial role in this complex situation.