Book Launch. ‘Your Freedom and Mine: Abdullah Öcalan and the Kurdish Question in Erdoğan’s Turkey’. 11th July SOAS

“Only free men can negotiate. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts… I cannot and will not give any undertaking at a time when I and you, the people, are not free. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.”

—Nelson Mandela during his imprisonment, 10 February 1985

Join Black Rose Books, Peace in Kurdistan, Kurdistan National Congress UK, Kurdish People’s Assembly in Britain, Freedom for Ocalan Campaign – UK for a special event marking the release of Your Freedom and Mine: Abdullah Öcalan and the Kurdish Question in Erdoğan’s Turkey Edited by Dr Thomas Jeffrey Miley and Dr Federico Venturini.

Wednesday, 11 July, 6.30 – 8.30pm at SOAS, Russell Square, College Main Building, Room DLT, WC1H 0XG Register for the free event here:

A solidarity donation of £2 is suggested to help cover our costs. Copies of the book will be available for half price! £12.50 Paper back

Speakers include: Dimitrios Roussopoulos political activist, ecologist, and publisher; Dr Thomas Jeffrey Miley lecturer of political sociology at the University of Cambridge; Dr Radha D’Souza Reader in law at Westminster University; Julie Ward MEP (TBC); Jonathan Steele veteran journalist and author; Simon Dubbins UNITE international director; Joe Ryan Chair, Westminster Justice and Peace Commission. In addition, Adem Uzun, member of the Executive Council of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK), will send a video-message.

The event will be chaired by: Dr Federico Venturini independent activist-researcher

About the event

 “It is an objective, extremely well-documented analytical report of Turkish state terrorism against Kurds. Shocking revelations make this an emotionally powerful book.”

– Dr. Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, researcher and author.

A revolutionary imprisoned on an island fortress may hold the key to peace in the Middle East. From the confines of his Turkish prison cell, Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the Kurdish Freedom Movement, has proposed a political solution to the Turkish-Kurdish conflict, leading many to describe him as the ‘Kurdish Mandela’.

His ideas on direct democracy and women’s liberation are what inspired the Rojava Revolution in northern Syria.

As Syria exploded in civil war and Turkey descended into tyranny, an international peace delegation of European luminaries led by Mandela’s lawyer twice attempted to meet with Öcalan at his prison on İmralı Island. This book is the fruit of these momentous delegations.

Your Freedom and Mine offers crucial insight into the dramatic history, reality, and prospects of the Kurdish Question in Turkey by combining historical survey, human rights reports, interviews, personal accounts, geopolitical analysis, and political philosophy. The volume is the remarkable work of 25 contributors, including politicians, academics, journalists, Iceland’s former minister of justice, veteran war correspondent Jonathan Steele, and key leaders inside the movement.

For information in UK contact Peace in Kurdistan:

e-mail: estella24@tiscali.co.uk

Mobile 07846 666804

Red and Black Telly: WILL ENGLAND WIN THE WORLD CUP?

We’re moving…

If saying it’s a bad idea to work with fascists makes you a pro-war neoliberal, then who was phone? More on red-brown alliances, smears and all that

What I’d do, is pick up the phone and sort it out, or go for a beer and sort it out, or if all else fails go in the car park and sort it out.

Cautiously pessimistic

The Winter Oak has now replied to my article criticising their smear jobs against antifascists. Since positions are fairly entrenched by this point, with both of us feeling that we’re being wildly misrepresented by the other, it’s not clear how much further the discussion can go from this point; but, for what it’s worth, here’s an attempt at setting the record straight, as I see it.

To begin at the beginning: the headline and opening question, “Does opposing US imperialism and wars mean you’re not really an anarchist?” is clearly a total distortion, which bears no resemblance to my actual argument. Throughout the previous piece, I was at pains to make it clear that I also oppose US imperialism and wars. That’s why I recommended “criticising all powers intervening in the Syrian conflict, and so taking a genuinely internationalist anti-war stance”; repeatedly made positive mentions of “genuinely…

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Posters and flyers to download for anti-Tommy Robinson demo on July 14th

Anti-Fascist Network

We need to spread the word and get feet on the streets against the far-right ‘Free Tommy’ demo in London on July 14th. Facebook event here

To get you started, here’s some downloadable posters and flyers.

Let us know what you do with them and any issues or thoughts.

Click on the images to download print-ready PDFs. Stick it through a photocopier and bob’s your uncle!

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Anarchist Reading Group #3

London Anarchist Federation

This month we will be looking at anarchist economics and have selected three pieces which cover this, including practical examples of anarchy in action. The meeting will be 7pm on the third Tuesday of the month (17^th July) at Freedom Bookshop, 7pm.

Chapter 3 of Anarchy Works by Peter Gelderloos (https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/peter-gelderloos-anarchy-works#toc21)

Eric Buck: The flow of experiencing in anarchic economies. In: Contemporary Anarchist Studies, p.57-69 (https://libcom.org/files/Contemporary_Anarchist_Studies.pdf)

Uri Gordon: Anarchist Economics (https://philosophersforchange.org/2012/02/15/anarchist-economics/)

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We need your help! Crowdfunding for the book “Make Rojava Green Again” — Internationalist Commune of Rojava

“Help bring a new world into being in Rojava. And spread its vision: that a free, ecological society is possible everywhere.” – Debbie Bookchin In the beginning of this year, we started the campaign “Make Rojava Green Again” together with the responsible entities within the self-administration for the ecological work. Several initial ecological projects, mainly […]

via We need your help! Crowdfunding for the book “Make Rojava Green Again” — Internationalist Commune of Rojava

Housing Justice in the new Newham!

Focus E15 Campaign

Over the last four years Focus E15 campaign has constantly raised the issue of intentional homelessness and highlighted the vicious policies of Newham Labour Council under Robin Wales, the previous Mayor, who presided over policies whereby if a homeless family refused to be sent out of London and refused what they called a suitable offer, then they had made themselves ‘intentionally homeless’ and the council could discharge their duty to house them.

This frightening process is what happened to Sara and her two young children, one in school in Newham and one preschool age.  Sara has been working with Focus E15 campaign since December 2017 and has been determined to get housing justice. Sara has family, friends and support networks in Newham and has employment in Newham as well. Read the latest on this story by journalist Kate Belgrave who rightly asks, ‘when will Labour Councils get stuck in’?

Since December…

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Stop Trump on July 13th – Stop Tommy on the 14th!

Anti-Fascist Network

The far-right are coming back to London on Saturday July 14th. Last time they brought 10,000 racists on to the streets united by their hatred of Muslims. They are bringing together all the disparate factions of far-right under the ‘Free Tommy’ banner, campaigning for release of EDL founder and ex-BNP member Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who got himself imprisoned for being a serial disrupter of important criminal trials.

They are also going to form a large ‘pro-Trump’ rally just one day after the massive anti-Trump protests on the 13th.

All the same figureheads of the alt-right who backed Trump and brought him to power are now backing Tommy Robinson – Steve Bannon, Breitbart, Milo Yiannopoulos, the Proud Boys, Info Wars. Trump’s Republicans have even raised the bogus ‘Free Tommy’ issue in the Senate. They are trying to build a Trumpian alt-right in the UK. It is essential that all anti-racists and anti-fascists…

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Repression news and general upcoming events for late June and July

Cautiously pessimistic

Following on from the workplace and antifascist roundups, here’s some other news and events that didn’t fit into those categories:

In the UK, Picturehouse security guards recently physically assaulted strike supporters. The brave miners who stuck out the entire length of the 84-85 strike in the heart of “scab country” in Nottinghamshire have launched a project to commemorate their story, and are raising funds for a museum. Also, it’s interesting to see that the Labour mayors of both Liverpool and Manchester spoke out publicly against the most recent round of RMT strikes, when they could have just called on Northern Rail to avoid the strikes by giving in – for all the hype about the brave new Corbynist Labour party, when faced with a test, there’s still prominent figures who end up sounding like Ed Miliband in 2011.

In international repression news, anarchists in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, are…

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