"In fact PKK’s new ‘democratic autonomy’ promotes a ‘democratic, ecological, gender-liberated society.’ This egalitarian model is being tested in de-facto autonomous zones known as Rojava Cantons. When we look into details of the Rojava’s constitution, one can identify a deliberate articulation of a desire for a free, socially and ecologically responsible, multicultural, multiethnic democracy. In that regard, if PKK is successful in Syria in establishing and sustaining these cantons, this could very well be a viable model for the Turkish Kurdistan and beyond. Well, that is the problem at least for the AKP government in Turkey.
“The cantons have far-reaching importance, because we can imagine a possibility of a new Middle East. Instead of unitary nationalistic state rules, diverse ethnic and cultural traditions can be represented via networks of democratic enclaves/cantons. As a secular ‘real democracy’ experiment, the Rojava cantons rises as an oasis within the Islamist infected territories. Of course, in order to commonize and localize this model, the idea of democratic autonomy has to be discussed extensively in regard to different contexts. The success of this optimistic model depends on providing the life support that Kobane needs at the moment. The world has to support secular force success against the Islamists in Kobanê. This would be far more effective than a raging war on Islamist terrorists by the US.”
