People from different parts of the world show solidarity with Rojava and condemn the Turkish attacks on northeast Syria. This time, Tuareg poet and author Hawad has described parallels between Kurds and Tuareg. The poet Anastassia Politi has written a poem.

Kabylia representative Soraya Sough and Secretary-General of the Socialist Party of Malaysia Sivarajan Arumugam each made a short statement in solidarity.

Hawad, sometimes Mahmoudan Hawad, is a Tuareg poet and author born in the Aïr region of Niger and lives in France

When a nation is at the bottom of the abyss, what could make them feel like they exist? According to my personal experience, it is the abyss itself. When we are overwhelmed by a situation that exceeds us, with the references that we share with our parents, our people, our culture, our experience is enriched by something terrible, the pain of not being able to count on anyone, not even on his own. When we plunge into the suffering of one's own and of ourselves, that we accept to say to ourselves that it is our pain - I am not talking about masochism -, that this destiny is ours, this destiny after a while must stop overwhelming us, we are going to overwhelm it. This approach begins with art, thought, poetry, this is where this difficult work of taking care of yourself and your pain is done.

A Kurd, a Tuareg, at the bottom of the abyss, who has no companion, who has no ally and who will have none, who has no hope, even at inside his society, he must not lose hope in himself. Resistance, I don't only hear it with weapons in hand in front of the steamroller of the Turks, Syrians, Iraqis, Iranians, no, resistance for me is also to resist yourself when you accept the idea of being "defeated". Resistance by the imagination is the most terrible of resistances because it fertilizes all resistance, it is concentrated, solid, it feed those who endure, but it is also a reserve for others who can grab it. This resistance which arises from this wasteland, this hope in itself when all hope is dried up, when we are at the bottom of the abyss, I really believe in it because no army can defeat it, we can catch Kurds and Tuaregs, chop them up in small pieces, but each small pieces of a Kurd or a Tuareg nurtures a poetics of resistance, a self-love that is not only emotional but also art it is a state of self that has transcended life and death.

This is the strength of the imagination. There is no imagination for me except doubled by what I call the poetic heroism which makes any situation its own. It’s not easy to make an entire people step over the abyss by leaning on such a fragile rod. But the individuals who by their imaginations propel themselves beyond the sun, are those who go through times, it is them who go through storms. And those, beware of their gaze, and their determination because it is contagious, it does not die. So the Kurds or us Tuaregs, and other peoples who are in this state, we should not be afraid of our pain. Our causes are not going to die. Kurdish women and men armed only with their bodies in front of Turkish tanks made the whole world vibrate who heard them, even if the world is cowardly and it does not help them, they are in the heart and in the everyone's eye. We must overcome discouragement. The Kurdish cause as the others are poetic causes, they do not depend on the vagaries of the allies and small victories against the States. No, the cause is to exist and believe in the Kurds, who they are and above all what they want to be, the Kurd we want to build, the Kurd who refuses and will always refuse to be slave to others or the Kurds themselves. This freedom we won’t destroy it and it is those who are bent on destroying it who are destroying themselves.

But obviously, we, the Kurds or the Tuaregs, must not ask our actions, our efforts and even our imagination, to give us fruit right away. We do not ask for any benefit, except the one of not forgetting the self that we want to perfect and make exist above all defeats, all dramas and destructions. When the enemy tank tumbles and drips in the scree, you have to know from time to time to be like a toreador, to move aside and drop it into the abyss of our imagination, that of any man and woman who really believes in poetics of her cause and her pain. We have only started this debate on this poetics of resistance, resistance by the spirit which says no to no, no to destruction, no to domination. They will tell me: but we are dominated. Even in chains, if in our heads we refuse to be a slave, we will never be a slave, that's what I'm talking about, it's not the one who thinks he's not a slave, the one who thinks that 'he has no chain and is in fact a slave. The art that I mentioned is to make our heads free even when we are locked up. We, who are at the bottom of the abyss have this supreme form of freedom to perfect.

***

Soraya Sough, member of the leadership of the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylia (MAK), Barcelona, Spain

Kurdish forces find themselves alone on the battlefield to face yet another illegal and unjustified offensive by Turkey in northern Syria, after having fought for many years against the self-proclaimed Islamic State or DAEH in Arabic and before them against Al Qaeda. For the Kurdish people, the Ankara operation would not have been possible without the withdrawal of American troops from certain border areas.

The offensive allowed the Turkish forces and their Syrian auxiliaries to conquer a border strip almost 120 kilometers long, going from the city of Tal Abyad to the west of Ras al-Ain. We are witnessing an outright elimination of the Kurdish with this strategy of replacement by Arab citizens who have taken refuge in Turkish territory and who will be beholden to Erdogan. This strategy has one name: ETHNIC CLEANING! Unfortunately, Turkey is well aware that these crimes against minority peoples go unpunished, the genocide of the Armenian people (1915-1917) is a permanent reminder to all of us.

More than 11,000 Kurdish died in the war on the ground which made it possible to defeat Daesh and preserve Europe from thousands of jihadists still retained on Syrian territory in order to prevent them from perpetuating other attacks everywhere in Europe.

The struggle against the Islamic State in Kurdistan has generated a greater degree of unity among the Shiites, Sunnis and Kurdish. For the time being, the mutually agreed social contract is based almost exclusively on security capable of bringing lasting peace to the Kurdish people as well as the other minorities on their territory and the international community.

The history of the permanent and courageous struggle of the Kurdish people for their survival, perfectly reflects the existential dilemma of Kurdish intellectuals and thinkers: “We pact or the genocide of our people?”

It is high time to stop this Attacks, and it will only be thanks to the union between the different Kurdish political, cultural, religious and military factions.

The Kurdish people haven prove their strength, their courage, their ability to adapt to the worst crimes and imaginable living conditions throughout their history. The battles that have fascinated the world and forcing respect: the battle of Kôbane, the battle of Shengal… etc. should not be the only victories of the valiant Kurdish people. They should also be the realization of their project for a peaceful society, preservation of the environment, protection of ancestral languages, customs and religions originating in Mesopotamia which are also heritage of humanity.

***

Sivarajan Arumugam, Secretary-General of the Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

We from the Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) are deeply concerned over the situation in Rojava, as the Erdogan-led Turkish government has continued its aggression against the Rojava and its people. Despite ceasefire deals, the Turkish armed forces has continued to launch attack into the ceasefire-designated areas of northern Syria.

The military aggression by the Turkish forces is an attempt to commit genocide against the Kurdish people in the region as well as to destroy the radical democratic and egalitarian social revolution in Rojava.

The Rojava Revolution is the beacon of hope, not just for the Kurdish people who have been oppressed for many years in the region, but also people from all walks of life in the Middle East region. The efforts to build a a democratic, anti-capitalist, self-emancipatory, feminist and egalitarian society in the Rojava, provide an alternative to the oppressive and despotic regimes in the region. This has caused the uneasiness of the autocratic regime of Erdogan in Turkey.

The people of Rojava and their revolution for a better society deserve our solidarity around the world. We stand with the people of Rojava in resisting the ongoing aggression of anti-democratic forces.

***

Anastassia Politi, Theatre director, actress, policy adviser, lives in Greece and France

We wanted a statement from her. She responded in her own way with the following poem.

 

ROJAVA

 

Rojava

Your name

to the consonances

of rose

Strange name

promising

luminous

 

Rojava

Your girls

to the eyes of hinds

with black hair

holding in hand

defense weapons

and the defense of the

"civilized" world

assaulted by the monster

that he himself gave birth

 

Amazons

galloping

smile on the lips

going to fight

to save our lives

Flowers bloom then

in their blood

 

Rojava

Our freedom

has the price

of your sacrifice

 

Rojava

Your mountains

free as your heavens

stars

your rivers

impossible to follow

your children

men and women

from all horizons

hope blowers

in the surrounding darkness

splinters of beauty

in the ugliness of the world

 

Rojava

Country of promises

dreaming of

inclusion

of love

respect

harmony

justice

 

Country where the woman

contemplates the nature

as well as the man

in the public space

in order to take

her right place

the one deserved

 

Rojava

your guardian angels

to the girls hair

fought

pushed away

mafia demons

 

Rojava

Exhilarating land

exalted fields

congratulated on having saved

lambs of the wolf

 

Now

Rojava

thrown in prey

to the wolves

by his own allies

cynics

perverted

criminals

 

Rojava

Your time is the proof

that innocence

is not of the world

of the powerful

 

Rojava

A universe collapses

under the yoke of ingratitude

profit

forgetfulness

 

But never darkness

is stronger than the sun

 

Rojava

You are light

 

The whole planet

without knowing

is following you

 

The crual

the ungrateful

the thieves

the murderers of the peoples

assault you

want to see you down on your kneels

 

The iron hand

of the tyrant

oppresses you hardly

the Sultan

can not see

your women

outside of closed session

in forbidden harems

so he declared the war

 

Rojava

you are in

my heart

 

My sister

my child

I lament

in front of your rubble

do not forget you

 

Thank you

 

Your sacrifice is not vain

He made us grow

fed with hope

with faith

you forces us

to raise our eyes

 

the faces revealed

hoisting our vertebrae

aspiring up

where another century lives.

 

 

 

 

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