The events in Syria are an embarrassing human disaster. For four years, we have witnessed the attempts to brutally crush the liberation movement that had erupted so unexpectedly. Consequently, the social upheavals for rights and justice became an armed rebellion which culminated not only into a full-scale civil war in Syria but also into a proxy war between important regional and international powers. But although the promise of democracy has not been fulfilled yet the hegemony of the old Republic of Fear, omnipresent until recently, is broken. And thus, despite everything, unexpected spaces have opened for all those who dared to resist in the name of freedom for themselves and for everyone. Perhaps nowhere is this more apparent than in the Kurdish region in the north of Syria.
The Kurds form the country's largest ethnic minority, the Kurdish region is called Rojava, meaning „the West“ in Kurdish. The region has a unique cultural and religious diversity. Eventually, after nearly all state authorities had left the territory the 2.5 million people that live in this „West“ saw a chance to gain the autonomy they have been longing for. Today, the region is trying to implement direct communal democracy and to develop social capacities for conflict resolution that reach beyond the old methods of surveillance and punishment established by a culture of violence. The new political bodies attach particular importance to a high percentage of women in politics, a new health care system is being established, the region will have its own security forces and the schools broke a fundamental taboo when they recently started to teach Kurdish along with Arabic.
Rojava, which stands for an utterly important peace effort and provides shelter for more than 1.2 million internally displaced persons from Syria's civil war regions, is at risk. Relief aid for the Kurdish territories in Syria is blocked at the border by the regional power Turkey and at the Kurdish/Iraqi border the free movement of goods is hindered as well. Inside Syria, radicalreligious militias which belong to the Al-Qaida network have built a circle of siege around the Kurdish settlements. Islamic hardliners will not forgive the Kurds, neither their experiment to set up a democratic autonomy nor the guarantee of equality for women.
The impact of war has long since reached Rojava; important medicines are no longer available, infectious diseases are reappearing, there is no insulin, chronically sick such as diabetics or dialysis and cancer patients can no longer be treated. There is a lack of basic food such as sugar, oil, rice and tea as well as a lack of heating materials for emergency shelters.
History has shown that all fledgling democracies have their roots in the prospect of their very existence, in their particularities and the clear difference between themselves and the power they are fighting against. The Kurds in Syria, the excluded among the excluded for decades, now have won for themselves the right to speak, to make their culture visible and to self-determine their political background. They understand themselves as an indispensable component of a future federal and free society for all Syrians.
We are defending the right to freedom and equality of all Syrians and Kurds. The democratic experiment in Rojava has reawakened the ethnic, cultural, religious and political diversity in Syria. Right now, Syria needs peace and democracy. And Rojava in Syria needs our recognition and our solidarity.
We are therefore appealing to you to donate and support the humanitarian emergency relief aid for the Kurdish territories in Syria. Keyword for the solidarity campaign: „Rojava”
Account for donations:
International Bank Account Number:
Beneficiary: medico international
IBAN: DE21 5005 0201 0000 0018 00
BIC/SWIFT: HELADEF1822
Frankfurter Sparkasse
Reference: “Rojava”
Donate online: www.medico.de/en/donations
An appeal of medico international in cooperation with Civaka Azad - Kurdish Centre for Public Relations e.V. (April 2014)
Initial signers:
Prof. Elmar Altvater (Free University of Berlin)
Imran Ayata (Author, Berlin)
Ercan Ayboga (International Spokesman of Initiative zur Rettung Hasankeyf, Erfurt)
Jan Ole Arps (Editorial desk of AK - analyse & kritik)
Edgar Auth (Journalist, Bonn)
Dr. Manuela Bojadzijev (Humboldt-University, Berlin)
Christine Buchholz (Member of the German Bundestag, DIE LINKE)
Prof. Andreas Buro (Spokesman of the Committee for Civil Rights and Democracy, Coordinator of the Dialog Group: „Die Zeit ist reif für eine politische Lösung im Konflikt zwischen Türken und Kurden“, Grävenwiesbach)
Reiner Braun (Director of IALANA, Berlin)
Dr. Mario Candeiras (Director of the Institute for social analysis of Rosa-Luxemburg-Foundation)
Murat Cakir (Director of Rosa-Luxemburg-Foundation Hessen, Forum for Education and Analysis e.V.)
Noam Chomsky (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)
Dersim Dagdeviren (Physician and chairman of Network of Kurdish Academics -KURD-AKAD e.V.)
Prof. Alex Demirović (Berlin)
Prof. Dr. med. Hans-Ulrich Deppe (Social physician, Frankfurt)
Krishanti Dharmaraj (Founder and chairman of Dignity Index, San Francisco, USA)
Helmut Dietrich (Research Association Flucht und Migration e.V., Berlin)
Iñaki Irazabalbeitia Fernández (Member of the European Parliament, DIE GRÜNEN/Free European Alliance, Basque Country, Spain)
Dr. Gundi Dilberz (Historian and Poet, Berlin)
Aref Gabeau (Journalist and Human Rights activist)
Prof. Dr. med. Gerhard Garweg (Physician, Hamburg)
Thomas Gebauer (medico international, Frankfurt)
Yvonne Gilli (Physician and Parliamentarian, Green Party of Switzerland)
Prof. David Graeber (London School of Economics and Political Science; UK)
Prof. Andrej Grubacic (California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, USA)
Prof. Michael M. Gunter (Tennessee Tech University, USA)
Dr. Zaradachet Hajo (Linguist, former President of Kurdish PEN-Centre, Bremen)
Tariq Hamo (Journalist, Münster)
Prof. Michael Hardt (Duke University, North Carolina, USA)
Maja Hess (Physician and President of medico international Switzerland)
Prof. Dr. Sabine Hess (Institute for Cultural Anthropology/European Ethnology, University of Göttingen)
Srécko Horvat (Philosopher, Zagreb, Kroatien)
Kirsten Huckenbeck (Editorial desk express, Lecture at FH Frankfurt)
Ehmed Huseynî (Poet, London, UK)
Christos Karagiannidis (Member of the Greek Parlament,SYRIZA)
Dr. Serhat Karakayali (Humboldt-University, Berlin)
Lucina Kathmann (Vice-president of the International PEN-Centre, Mexico)
Vassiliki Katrivanou (Member of the Greek Parlament, SYRIZA)
Rodi Khalil (Painter und mosaic artist, Bremen)
Angela Klein (Editorial desk Sozialistische Zeitung – SoZ, Köln)
Christoph Kleine (Interventionalist left)
Jürgen Klute (Member of the European Parliament, DIE LINKE)
Yüksel Koc (Vice-chairman of the Federation of Kurdish Associations in Germany, YEK-KOM e.V., Bremen)
Hagen Kopp (no one is illegal, Hanau)
Prof. Sandro Mezzadra (University of Bologna, Italy)
Abdulkadir Musa (Poet, Berlin)
Prof. Dr. Ueli Mäder (Sociologist, University of Basel, Switzerland)
Prof. Dr. Ronald Mönch (Jurist, Bremen)
Wolf-Dieter Narr (Free University of Berlin)
Toni Negri (Philosopher, Paris, France)
Jürgen Neitzert (Franciscan, Cologne)
Margaret Owen O.B.E (Director Widows for Peace Through Democracy, London, UK)
Dr. Gisela Penteker (Physician, Hemmoor)
Prof. Dr. Norman Paech (Expert in international law, Hamburg)
Elias Perabo (Adopt A Revolution, Berlin)
Ulf Petersen (Campaign TATORT Kurdistan, Cologne)
Dr. Michael Ramminger (Catholic Theologian, Institute for Theology and Politics, Münster)
Moustafa Rechid (Author, Kaiserslautern)
David Romano (Missouri State University, Springfield, USA)
Clemens Ronnefeldt (Referent for Peacemaking of the German section International Fellowship of Reconciliation, Freising)
Claudia Roth (Vice-President of the German Bundestag, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
Werner Rätz (Coordinating Group Attac Germany, Bonn)
Prof. Michael Rubin (American Enterprise Institute, Washington, D.C., USA)
Memo Sahin (Dialog Group „Die Zeit ist reif für eine politische Lösung im Konflikt zwischen Türken und Kurden“, Cologne)
Shreen Abdul Saroor (Women's Action Network Sri Lanka, Colombo)
Norbert Schepers (Head of the Office of Rosa-Luxemburg-Foundation in Bremen)
Dr. Omar Sharaf (Lecture, Ruprecht Karl University, Heidelberg)
Prof. Werner Schiffauer (Spokesman of the Council for Migration/RfM, Europe-University Viadrina, Frankfurt/Oder)
Bart Staes (Member of the European Parliament, Green Party Belgium)
Mani Stenner (Director Network Cooperative for Peace, Bonn)
Dr. Lokman Turgut (Kurdologist, Erfurt)
Peter Wahl (WEED - Weltwirtschaft, Ökologie & Entwicklung, Berlin)
Dr. Florian Wilde (Member of party executive DIE LINKE)
Helim Yusiv (Author, Wuppertal)
Uta Zapf (Former member of the German Bundestag, SPD, Offenbach)
Raul Zelik (Author, Berlin)