The call for peace and a democratic society is a 21st century Internationalist Manifesto

On the occasion of first of May we share a video from the memorial of the internationalist martyrs and declare: The call for peace and a democratic society is a 21st century Internationalist Manifesto.

“On February 27^th 2025, after 26 years of solitary confinement, Abdullah Ocalan made his call for peace and a democratic society. From Imrali prison he opened a door to reconciliation amongst the people of the Middle East pointing the way towards a democratic renaissance. As he has done many times in the history of the Kurdistan Freedom Struggle, Abdullah Ocalan called for weapons to be silent so that democracy may speak. As he wrote already 20 years ago, in 2005 in the defence writing “Beyond state, power and violence”, he is writing that “The struggle for peace and democracy is harder than any military battle.”

As Internationalists in Rojava we follow his call and share with the world:

The call for peace and a democratic society is a 21st century Internationalist Manifesto

This year, on the Day of Internationalist Martyrs, we remember all the internationalist martyrs of the Rojava revolution and the revolution of Kurdistan and the world, through the figure of Şehid Legerin Chiya – Alina Sanchez. Re renew our promise: we will continue struggling and working to bring about their dreams.

We are in a moment of human history when wars of oppression, chaos, genocide, feminicide and ecocide have escalated to the most extreme level. In this moment, the life and struggle of each one of the martyrs has become a guiding light to the meaning of a life lived right and in dignity. They showed us that true internationalism means creating unity of thought and feeling as we advance the shared life and common struggle of the people. Our futures and our destinies are entwined. Just as an attack on women or society anywhere in the world is an attack on the dignity of humanity itself, so too achievements of the freedom struggle anywhere open the door to a free life across the world. Şehid Legerin headed for the mountains of Kurdistan and the Rojava revolution with this consciousness, in a search for truth and justice. Rêber Apo had opened the way to a new era of liberatory revolutions of the 21^st century, with his analysis of the failings and shortcomings of socialism until now. The reality of the women’s revolution and the democratic nation, embodied in the regions of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria have became a source of inspiration and hope for women’s freedom struggles and the people of the world. 14 years of the Rojava revolution have proved that it is both possible and necessary to create and defend a democratic society on the foundations of the women’s liberation ideology. As much as the Turkish state and all the forces of capitalist modernity have tried to defeat the Autonomous Administration, from the isolation system of Imrali to genocidal attacks and occupation, the seeds of democratic modernity have over the years spread to every continent in the world. In opposition to the chaos and massacres of the Third World War, women and societies in many different regions are attempting to create models of democratic self-government, communal economies, and self defence, based on indigenous cultures of an ethical and political society.

Once again, the calculations of the hegemonic forces were defeated, in part by the international attention from the intense campaign for the freedom of Rêber Apo, and in part by the power of the peoples’ resistance in defending the Rojava revolution and building a democratic Syria. It’s clear that society no longer accepts violence and oppression. People no longer bow their heads in the face of massacres. War and conflict will not solve problems. In the words of the historic resistance at the Tişreen Dam: “We are greater than death!”

On the February 27^th 2025 Rêber Apo began a new campaign to overcome the Gordian knot of war and genocide, with the Call for peace and a democratic society. Rêber Apo has demonstrated his commitment to solving the problems in Turkey and the Middle East through democratic conflict resolution. Fundamental to his position is respect for all identities, freedom of thought, democratic organising, and the creation of communal economies and politics for all ethnic groups. With his message on the 8^th of March he also made clear that “the road to socialism is paved with women’s freedom and democracy”. In the knowledge that “The struggle for peace and democracy is harder than any military battle”, the Call for Peace and a Democratic Society can be a new manifesto for the internationalist struggle and a compass pointing toward Democratic Confederalism of women and the peoples’ of the world in the 21^st century. From Rojava all across the world, following the footsteps of our comrades who have fallen for freedom, we will struggle ever harder for peace and democracy, and we will achieve victory in the campaign for Rêber Apo’s physical freedom!

Internationalist comrades in Rojava”