# In the heart of Syria's darkness, a democratic, egalitarian and feminist society emerges **URL:** https://www.infiniteconversations.com/t/in-the-heart-of-syrias-darkness-a-democratic-egalitarian-and-feminist-society-emerges/3637 **Category:** Cosmos Café **Tags:** news **Created:** [October 15, 2019, 7:52pm UTC](https://www.infiniteconversations.com/t/in-the-heart-of-syrias-darkness-a-democratic-egalitarian-and-feminist-society-emerges/3637 "2019-10-15T19:52:19Z") **Posts on this page:** 1 **Showing post:** 4
### Author: ![madrush](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/infiniteconversations/user_avatar/www.infiniteconversations.com/madrush/32/6452_2.png) [@madrush](https://www.infiniteconversations.com/u/madrush) #### Post date: [October 22, 2019, 2:45pm UTC](https://www.infiniteconversations.com/t/in-the-heart-of-syrias-darkness-a-democratic-egalitarian-and-feminist-society-emerges/3637/4 "2019-10-22T14:45:17Z")
Thanks for your responses, @achronon and @Michael_Stumpf. It’s been fascinating to learn more about the Rojava cooperative movement and the Kurdish people in general, who are so beautiful and interesting. How amazing it is that an actual feminist-anarchist radical democratic movement has taken shape in the most unlikely of places…making it perhaps exactly the sort of place (or the kind of conditions) where we should be looking—in a liminal zone between people and statehood, under intense, violent pressure from all sides, finding a new balance and social forms that could transcend the very conditions that gave it rise. I am reminded of W Heiner Mühlmann’s theory of “Maximal Stress Cooperation,” which was discussed in the “Generations” series of Cafés: > [@Generations I](https://www.infiniteconversations.com/t/generations-i/3135): > > (note: this page is a wiki. Please edit as you see fit) Generations I [[Generations I] ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwfEGvii3kw) [[download audio](https://www.metapsychosis.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2019/04/Generations-1.m4a)] In Attendance: TJ WIlliams Johnny Davis Barrett Avner Davor Löffler John, Barrett, Davor and TJ meet for a smaller arc of a conversation based around larger circles. Davor’s Generative Realities helped to frame the conversation as these four philosophers took an outside stance while circumnavigating the global malaise and various planetary issues. Tangental to… Are the Rojava not an example of a _generative reality_? We have also broached this notion of a postnational/stateless society here: [The end of a world of nation-states may be upon us – Jamie Bartlett | Aeon Magazine](https://www.infiniteconversations.com/t/the-end-of-a-world-of-nation-states-may-be-upon-us-jamie-bartlett-aeon-magazine/1444) And we’ve discussed municipal/democratic confederalism and the writings of Murray Bookchin (a major inspiration for Abdullah Ocalan) here: [A new model for the left?](https://www.infiniteconversations.com/t/a-new-model-for-the-left/825) * * * More background on the Kurds: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/IEw5FQaK0pI/maxresdefault.jpg "In the fight against ISIS, Kurds seek chance to govern themselves") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEw5FQaK0pI) And here is an interesting commentary (propaganda—but still…) from a Westerner who’s joined the cause for the _ideals_—echos of Republican Spain… [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Ut7sFPGvWaM/maxresdefault.jpg "American philosophy student: The Rojava Revolution is asking important questions") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut7sFPGvWaM) Another ideological (in the neutral sense of that term) explanation: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/LcndZ0nZ0mo/maxresdefault.jpg "Democratic Confederalism / Stateless Democracy explained.") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcndZ0nZ0mo) And finally, David Graeber, who had the opportunity to visit Rojava: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/5Gq16RO2XB0/maxresdefault.jpg "David Graeber - Trump and the American Economy") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Gq16RO2XB0) * * * As Trump said (in his Trumpian, amoral way): the Kurds are not angels. (Or are they?) My interest is not in the violent part of the Kurds’ necessary struggle—I still enjoy the privilege of living in the shell of American empire—but rather in how such a radical movement could undo the power dynamics that perpetuate political violence in the first place. If the Kurds can at least _attempt_ it (assuming they survive the latest incursions by Turkey, which I assume they will, by whatever means), why can’t we, who have it so much easier? --- _[View the full topic](https://www.infiniteconversations.com/t/in-the-heart-of-syrias-darkness-a-democratic-egalitarian-and-feminist-society-emerges/3637)._