Decentralist vanguards: women's autonomous power and left convergence in Rojava. Issue 5 (3rd July 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Rasit, Huseyin; Kolokotronis, Alexander
• Is Part Of: Globalizations. Volume 17:Issue 5(2020)
• Page Start: 869
• Page End: 883
• Publication Date: 2020-07-03
• Subjects: Rojava -- revolution -- Marxism -- Leninism -- anarchism -- decentralization; Globalization -- Periodicals; 327.17
• DOI: 10.1080/14747731.2020.1722498
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1474-7731

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Since 2012, the Rojava Revolution in Northern Syria has attracted the attention of the global Left. Although this project has been subjected to many analyses from different political perspectives, there has not been a systematic analysis of the way it brings together anarchism and Marxism. By focusing on the question of how a revolutionary movement should be organized, we arrive at the argument that Rojava features a specific hybrid of anarchist and Marxist-Leninist revolutionary methods in the form of 'decentralist vanguardism'. The most advanced form of this hybrid method in Rojava is represented by women. By virtue of being theorized as a revolutionary agent, having autonomous organizations, and carrying a leading role in educating the general public, women in Rojava become what we call 'a revolutionary middle stratum': a distinct revolutionary group with autonomous power that can push forward the revolutionary process while dispersing the authority of the vanguard movement.