Letter from an antifa militant in Rojava

We were born and raised in Europe. We asked ourselves some questions. The ones we all ask ourselves. What am I doing here, what is this society in which I live. We were socialized, we went to school. We followed, for a time, the path that is determined by our environment. One day, we questioned everything. What makes us live, why hold on in such an unequal, unfair society. We felt the anger and rage that invade our hearts. We have lived through precariousness, the exclusion of the marginalized, the repression of social movements. We decided to get organized. Anarchists, autonomous, communists, we have all gone through one or more organizations. We have experienced the ZAD, the deaths from the police and fascists. We have all developed social initiatives, opened places, resisted. We all found ourselves under the slogan of antifascist struggles. We found a way out of life by all these means.

By different ways we were interested in what it was like to be internationalists. Our history, that of the struggle against fascism, imperialism and feminism, does not stop at our borders.We understood that our generation was that of the Rojava revolution. This landlocked territory in which a whole society of women and men have risen up to defend themselves and build without waiting their utopia: democratic confederalism. One by one we made the choice to make the trip. To learn, to fight, to see this uprising with our own eyes. This time in our collective history is totally connected to the values and struggles we defend.

One day, we left. When we arrived in Rojava, we came from different continents, countries and cultures that were not necessarily supposed to meet. Yet we have found a way and a unity. A living environment to learn together what this ongoing revolution is all about. We work in society, in self-defence, with the women’s movement, we learn above all, on how to learn to organize together.

Today, the entire society is under the weight of an overwhelming threat. First of all, Turkey, which threatens to invade Rojava very soon. Starting by entering the territory, advancing jihadist militias in the front line and then destroying every force and every part of society. The regime of Bashar El Assad then, which is not to be outdone and has always wanted to regain control over this territory. Also, the coalition forces support their imperialist interests in the region and sell the weapons that allow massacres to be perpetrated here. We are presented with the Middle East as a total bazaar, an uncivilized place. Yet chaos, wars and crises are organized in contempt of those who live and build communities. This will always be done with the indifference of our world. However, we are counting on all of you to inform yourself and to be able to discuss everywhere, to take action, to check up on us. Each of your words on the walls, each banner has a resonance right up into our lives. A call to each of you has been launched by the riseup4rojava campaign. Antifascists, we all have to do with what’s going on here.

What is being targeted is not only the resources of the region, but also and above all the political experience of self-organization that is taking place in the region. It is against fascism that we are fighting here. In this context, our struggle makes perfect sense with what you are still going through in Europe. We have names and stories. Our hearts are burning and so alive. We probably think of you very often. We will return one day, to unite our struggles. In the meantime, let’s get in touch, get to know each other right away.