NEWS CENTER – Continuing our interviews with Internationalists collectives that have practical solidarity actions and line towards the Revolution in Kurdistan we had the opportunity to interview the comrades from the Italian-Mexican collective Nodo Solidario, the interview can be seen as it follows:
WHO IS THE NODO SOLIDARIO
The Nodo Solidario is a collective of international solidarity that was born to connect the struggles in Italy and Mexico in 2006, it was created upon the travel of comrades from social movements from Italy, in special from the city of Rome that connected to the struggle’s in Mexico, from Oaxaca and Chiapas, like the Popular Assembly of the People’s of Oaxaca and with the Zapatista struggle. So they started to see the importance to make a bridge between struggle and communicate, share the forms and solidarity and praxis on what we call as “global complicity.”
So nowadays the Nodo Solidario has a collective in Mexico, most of our members are in San Cristovan and other parts of the country, like Mexico City and Guerrero, there is also a comrade in Brazil and another part that is in Italy in a collective that is like a “brother” collective, in the sense that we are part of the same organization but they organize themselves in Italy. There have being some year of evolving and learning about the people’s that we had the immense luck to resist together. To say that we were present in those process of resistance is to say that we were present in mobilizations, in moments of clashes with the system, with companies, the state, in the actions, the barricades, the demonstrations…But also throughout the years we developed we developed forms of solidarity from the bottom, that is for example the construction of projects in the communities like bakery workshops, construction of ovens, workshops on communication workshops about communitary radio and what we call by “formation pretexts” to be in the communities and barrios, and from that develop our relations of complicity with the comrades.
GLOBAL COMPLICITY, REINTERPRETING INTERNATIONALISM IN OUR TIME
One of the things we have learned, as comrades that came here from a European context here in Mexico was the opportunity to organize from the community and the construction of autonomy that is present in the social organization of the people’s in Mexico. As well as from the social movements from here, and to learn how this social construction from the bottom is fundamental for the proposal of alternatives and that can’t be conflicts without the social construction of autonomy. Reason why, we have being promoting in the territories were our small organization is present communitary projects, rooted in the barrio, in the community, such as wealth projects and sports for the children in that barrio production cooperatives, libraries, it not exectly the proper work of the collective but we believe that every person is a promoter of autonomy, the one that promotes in the territory of struggle that are present, this propositions of popular power from the bottom, of popular organization. It also worth noticing that a lot of us had the opportunity to learn not only from the struggles in Mexico, where we could have developed some projects as we said, but we also have learned from different travels about the struggle’s around the world. For example, from Argentinazo, the experiences of the Mapuche people, many travels to Palestine, the presence of many comrades in Kurdistan and from that we were developing the idea of the global complicity. Seeing how many times the oppression apparatus are the same, sometimes even the companies are the same and the resistance of the people declines in each place differently but also with similar tactics from resistance, sabotage, alliances, to resist assimilation and analysis of the relations with the institutionalized politics. All of that we call for global complicity not much to be a new category but to reinterpret internationalism from this similarities and common conditions that we the people have against the global capitalism.
We can say that before the capitalist hydra of many heads that destroy the places were we are, where we live, were we fight we see that we are all under this same conditions with different nuances of the relapses of barbarism on our lives differently, because it’s not the same to resist in Europe, in the Middle East or the Latin America but the mechanisms against us, the companies against us, are the same and we – the ones that fight, with all of our differences are in the same frontline so to share this strategies, to share this tactis in communal living – the ones that will be on the barricades, in the brigades, in the villages, when even thought we don’t share the same language, we share a fire, a guitar, a confrontation and bread. This building together we call global complicity.
Well in this walk of building bridges among struggle’s and to connect the movements that exists in Latin America and Mexico with the ones existing in Europe we also met with the Kurdish struggle. And this struggle is a big inspiration source to keep walking, deepening and contributing to different places but we think that the experience of the liberation of the Kurdish people has a lot to say to the people of Latin America and the whole world. Because although it has it’s own characteristics in it’s own context, it has general principles of liberation that can be discussed and practiced in the rest of the world. Totally, and one of the sentence that moved us was that “does not need to be Kurd to defend the Revolution in Kurdistan” this was something that was repeated a lot, and continue to do so in Rojava, in north of Iraq (Bashur), in Rojhilat and Bakur, and we identify ourselves a lot because the democratic aspirations from the bottom…feminists, ecologists, that is embodying the Kurdish movement in their freed territories are the same desires that we have here on the other side, but as we are saying from the sharing the ways to construct the global resistance with the exporting of the Kurdish Revolution and it’s strategic forms, it’s paradigm, and it’s organizational propositions have influenced us a lot. To also make clear the historical format that we have, the historical left from Latin America or Europe that we are carriers. So we also have being learning to make self-critics in some formats that we had and trying to improve to be able to construct this common desires that we have.
KURDISTAN AND CHIAPAS ARE INSPIRATIONS TO US
As internationalists comrades, as Kurdistan inspire us, we are in Chiapas because it inspired us and continue to do so, the Zapatistas Revolution. From the rise up in 1994 in these territories the process of democracy from the bottom was developed, from the indigenous communities, showing to us that is possible to build socialism without state. It is possible to build a better society, ecological based on the respect and integration with the mother nature, and from that rethink the social figure of the man and women. It seems like big words only, but in the facts the Zapatistas with their assembly system have created an anticapitalist society to hundreds of thousands of people and we have noticed from our humble observation and life, a lot of contact points between the Democratic Confederalism from Rojava with the experience of the Zapatistas people. We keep learning, but from these common points we can weave and enlarge our dream to build a world of autonomies.
So experiences like the one in Rojava in Kurdistan and the Zapatista autonomy with their deep analysis about the capitalist modernity, give us the understanding that there is not possible to have a “good capitalist modernity” or just, that capitalism and state are structures of domination power so to be able to build a free society, it has to be build oppon other basis. Under direct democracy and collectivism, of horizontality, so this is what we see that we can learn from the praxis and examples of these experiences, they can be font of inspiration for different people’s, different societies, in different contexts in the world. They can show forms to relate to each other freely, another point of analysis and inspiration that we share from the Zapatistas in Chiapas and from Kurdistan, not only to build a democratic society from the bottom but to do it among different people. I believe, specially on the Kurdish movement, that there is no other way besides to get to an agreement among the different worlds that we are. In fact the Zapatistas say “We need to build a world where many worlds can exist in” that anyone can follow to be the world they are, the world they live. This is easily said but it is extremely hard in our militancy line, revolutionary, political, social, even human we came to realize that the most difficult is to stop and to coincide with different people, this differences that are the richness of humankind sometimes is the same obstacle for the political movements from the revolutionary left, could enhance their influence capacity, capacity to liberate territories. It’s extremely inspiring the capacity of Rojava, the different people’s with different languages, cultures, religions, but were able to create a latter of values that is a communal practices to be lived in the communes and assemblies, it reproduce itself in the most democratic way possible. It’s an amazing social experiment because it’s made on what is considered the “hell” of the Middle East. What capitalism has done in this part of the world was to create the conditions of impossibility to coexist in the middle of this thrid world war that is happening there, as the Kurdish comrades says or as the fourth world war as the Zapatistas say this flower has sprouted, in reality many flowers because each people has it’s own color, belief, culture and this is really amazing and an example inshallah we could learn form it. In this way we think that the Democratic Confederalism is a great input in Internationalism, in the current form to replicate it. That our differences are not an excuse to us to be isolated but to be able to join our struggles without losing our identity. A multiplication of autonomies.
‘THE ANALYSIS MADE BY THE KURDISH WOMEN’S MOVEMENT IS TRULY REVOLUTIONARY’
One of the biggest contributions for us from the Kurdish movement was the analysis on patriarchy and the example of the Kurdish Women’s Struggle. We think that the analysis made by the Kurdish movement on patriarchy it’s a great contribution and discussion to all the movement that here in Latin America has called itself as anti-capitalist, and brings a new reflection. This reflection and practice has a lot to contribute to our movements, in particular the practice of the autonomous women’s structures. We think that the experience from the autonomous structure, that the Kurdish people teach us, to after come back to the mixed structure that is a truly revolutionary practice, that transforms the movement to be able to connect the critics to patriarchy and the critics of the capitalist exploitative economy, the exploitation of nature, because imply for the struggles from different parts of the world to advance into the construction of autonomy much more integrated that not only is focused in the construction of the good government, an autonomous education, autonomous health, autonomous communication but also a real democracy coming from the families and the houses. That is, in the life of the persons, the women, this is really a contribution that we think is very essential and it’s necessary to keep developing. To connect what happens in the public sphere, the politics of social level into the politic of private level. The construction of autonomy is also possible to be made in the familiar scale, and we see this discussion with great importance. For us, a great lesson from the Kurdish struggle was to understand how the structures of power cross us as persons the teaching that the revolution starts within ourselves, it’s collective but also a personal work, that is done with the practice of critics and self-critics, we see it as a changing engine very strong, that help the people and the militants to evolve.
We see the proposition of jineolojî, the science of liberation of Kurdish Women that is also being shared with the movements in Europe, is very important to put it in dialogue with movement of women’s in Latin America, we see that there are many things to be said, and that the political formations – the camps of Jineolojî are an excellent place to share practice, ideas and analysis from the women’s perspective. In Latin America we are evolving to strength this spaces. Well, this learning that we had trough the closing with the practice of the Kurdish movement, has also influenced our practice as Nodo Solidario we tried and are experimenting the practice of critic and self-critics, also meetings with only women and mixed meetings, we are also in the process of discussing our analysis about the structures of oppression, we are evolving from the example that came from their movement. We see that the legacy of the experience that moved us from the Kurdish Revolution, like the comrade said, it’s generating a deep transformation in the structure of the collective at least on the will to keep analyzing ourselves, because in the Revolution starts from within, but within a collective space, from that, another thing that is common with the Zapatistas as well is that the Revolution, every time you go to a community one will ask them how one can support it and it’s amazing how the answers are the same words, that is multiplies the struggles in your country, multiplies the struggles in your village, widen your trench, in the place where touches you to live and to be.
‘WE ARE ALL KURDISTAN’
In this sense, as we know it everyone from it’s own side to make a bigger whole in the oppressive wall of capitalism, of the state and patriarchy. But this means to make this bigger compromise, to support Rojava, to support Chiapas, we have to struggle where we are. We have to multiply our offensive capability against capitalism and its different heads of the hydra. But we also know that is important to answer the solidarity calls. mobilize ourselves, because we know that the war in Kurdistan and the invasion that the people are submitted is completely silenced by the mainstream, it’s not a conventional war to say, so it’s a fundamental mission to keep mobilizing with this brotherhood with the Kurdish people, because we are all Kurdistan. All the ones that hope for a better world with more justice, at the same time when the aggression against the Zapatistas communities are silenced it’s the duty to all comrades to diffuse information’s, to break the media surrounding this Revolutionary experiences and to be side by side with our hermanos and hermanas in Chiapas and in Kurdistan, in evey place in the world that resits against this nightmare.”
