BEHDÎNAN – Duran Kalkan, a member of the Executive Committee of the PKK, in an interview with the ANF news agency, assessed the past year in detail and stated that the year 2023 will be more marked than ever by the struggle in Turkey and Kurdistan and the ongoing war between Kurdish society and the colonialist-genocidal Turkish Republic.
Below we have translated the section in which Duran Kalkan evaluated the work of the youth movement and made important comments about the position and role of youth in Kurdistan, but also worldwide.
That section read as follows:
What was the level of organization, awareness and action of youth worldwide in 2022, especially of Kurdish youth; to what extent can it fulfill its pioneering tasks?
“Undoubtedly, the youth in the Middle East, particularly in Kurdistan, as well as throughout the Middle East and around the world, are the social group that are the most active, the most committed to freedom and democracy, and the most courageous and self-sacrificing struggle . Together with women, she has taken the lead in the revolution of democratic modernity. She also fights according to these requirements. In Zap, Avaşîn and Metîna they put up heroic resistance as guerrillas. It reveals a heroic resistance that will destroy the fascist, colonialist-genocidal mentality and deal it severe blows. She is the representative of a very brave and self-sacrificing struggle leading Kurdish society in four parts of Kurdistan and abroad. The youth are undoubtedly one of the bravest and most self-sacrificing groups bearing the burden of struggle around the world. With this in mind, I salute the Kurdish youth and the world youth. I wish the youth great success in their struggle for freedom and democracy.
I believe that she will always lead this fight. Rêber APO said: “We started young, we will win young”. The PKK is indeed a youth party. The Apoist group was born as an enlightened youth group and grew into a youth movement on that basis. Under the leadership of the youth movement, it became a party, a guerrilla, and now a democratic nation. She is waging a great struggle to successfully implement the revolution of democratic modernity in all four parts of Kurdistan. She expresses this clearly in her struggle, which is based on the most heroic guerrilla struggle in her history. Their stance and struggle in the form of the United Revolutionary Movement of Youth in the form of YPS, YPS-Jin expresses such a position. In this sense we can safely say that the burden of the struggle is mainly borne by the youth and led by the youth. From this point of view, it is undoubtedly a situation to be celebrated, welcomed and wished for success.
While that is a fact, how much contentment does it express, can it be more than that? How far has the pioneering role of young people progressed in practice? How appropriate is she? We must have a discussion based on these questions. We have to deal with the youth movement. Especially in 2022, we must look at and assess the situation of the youth of Kurdistan and the world in a more realistic, objective, holistic way and while doing justice to the struggle they are waging, the courage and sacrifice they have shown, we must also Criticize mistakes and shortcomings she has experienced and steer her in the right direction. There are indeed shortcomings from this point of view. There are also deficits in the organization of the Kurdish youth. There are also deficits and weaknesses in the youth movement worldwide. If we assess the situation of the women’s movement as the vanguard of the revolution of democratic modernity, we can easily see that the youth movement is very insufficient and weak. However, let’s look back at the mid-20th century and see how progressive, organised, conscious and active the youth movement was worldwide. The youth waged the most conscious and organized struggle against the system of capitalist modernity, and it was the revolutionary youth movements that most consciously stood out before all others against the mistakes and inadequacies of real socialism. that the youth movement is very inadequate and weak. However, let’s look back at the mid-20th century and see how progressive, organised, conscious and active the youth movement was worldwide. The youth waged the most conscious and organized struggle against the system of capitalist modernity, and it was the revolutionary youth movements that most consciously stood out before all others against the mistakes and inadequacies of real socialism. that the youth movement is very inadequate and weak. However, let’s look back at the mid-20th century and see how progressive, organised, conscious and active the youth movement was worldwide. The youth waged the most conscious and organized struggle against the system of capitalist modernity, and it was the revolutionary youth movements that most consciously stood out before all others against the mistakes and inadequacies of real socialism.
If you look closely, the women’s movement was not that developed at that time. The women’s liberation revolution has existed in a way. There was a groundbreaking women’s consciousness, but it was very narrow and incomplete. It was far, far below today’s levels. Now, of late, the women’s movement has become so organized and conscious. The 21st century has already become the century of women. In 2022 she organized two major international meetings. She fights in all areas. She fights massively and selflessly against reactionary attacks, molestation and rape caused by all kinds of male dominated mentality and politics. We cannot see a youth movement on the same level. Neither in Kurdistan nor in the world. We cannot understand the situation of young people in the 1960s at all. If we pay attention, their organization is weak and their consciousness low. The organizational development of youth movements in different countries, their influence on social life and the struggle for freedom are weak.
The world youth movement is not very well organized. For example, there can be no youth meetings and conferences on a global level and international efforts towards youth federalism are very weak. Such a meeting could not take place in 2022, while the revolutionary youth could have organized some meetings. It should be so. The theory of democratic modernity, the dissolution of capitalist modernity, the concretization of the revolution of democratic modernity requires first of all that youth, as its vanguard, attain a very conscious, organized and globally active position. In this respect, it is flawed and open to criticism.
The same applies to the Kurdish youth. Let’s look at the situation of youth in Bakur, Rojava, Rojhilat and abroad. There is a limited reach, this organization is very weak. It cannot mobilize the entire mass of young people. She cannot dictate the will of youth. First of all, the reading, study and learning of the theory of democratic modernity, the deeper understanding of the apoist theory and ideology through its examination and discussion, the raising of awareness on this basis and the corresponding organization and implementation in practice are weak. In Bakur, she is particularly stuck in the narrow forms of democratic politics. However, the youth should have an awareness and a level of organization that goes far beyond that. However, the field of democratic politics could have been one of the 5-6 fields of the youth movement, but now it is almost trapped there. The free democratic revolutionary youth organization, the party organization and the development of the democratic confederal system are weak, and we have not been able to sufficiently develop our party organization. We were not able to organize the party youth, the PKK youth, sufficiently and effectively. Of course, Komalên Ciwan’s development is also weak, it appeals to a small mass of young people, it is unable to lead the development of democratic nation-building in every dimension. In this respect there is a weakness in the consciousness, a weakness in the organization and it is definitely necessary
Apoist youth must emphasize this with great seriousness and attention. She needs to read more, analyze more, internalize the apoist line more, and engage in more discussion. Where there is no consciousness there can be no organization and no action. Everything is based on consciousness. Therefore they must have a very high consciousness against the individualistic, pacifistic, materialistic and corrupting effects of the liberalism of capitalist modernity. Becoming aware also means getting organized. In the organization, it must reach a multifaceted, rich and developed level, fully expressing the will of the youth. Above all, it must be rich in actions. The youth movement must be able to
It is not that young people are convinced of full leadership, or there are flaws in their understanding of leadership, they say they are supposedly leaders, but in reality they are detached from society. The youth movements are detached from the mass of youth, so they treat the youth as detached from society, they stay within narrow youth organization and activism. They cannot fully combine originality and pioneering spirit, they remain cramped in the name of freedom, they live in a situation that is content with a general discourse in the name of pioneering spirit and does not fulfill its requirements in practice. There is definitely a need for serious criticism, To develop self-criticism and correction in these questions. The apoistic youth must be able to do this. The apoist youth movement has the strength and will to do this. The line of democratic modernity reveals the methods for this, the rest is the correct appropriation of this line and its successful implementation that needs to be developed and realized. In this sense, Komalên Ciwan’s work needs to be reorganized and reshaped. She must be able to develop these based on a correction. She must be able to overcome her mistakes and shortcomings by running them through the filter of apoistic criticism—self-criticism. She must be able to make the required course correction. This is also necessary to shape the future of youth and it is also necessary for youth leadership to win victories in the revolution of democratic modernity. It is also necessary to bring the reality of the youth party, which is the essence of the PKK, to a level that more influences all sides. Based on this, we believe that young people will develop more discussions within themselves, will intensify their search and will approach it in a lighter, deeper and more holistic way.
They will be stronger in criticism and self-criticism, by showing the power to distinguish between right and wrong and by uniting ourselves more strongly in apoistic truths, we will strengthen the spirit and will of the 1968 youth revolution based on the freedom of Kurdistan. In the revolution of the first quarter of the 21st century, in unity with the women’s liberation struggle and on the basis of the women’s liberation line, a youth leadership will emerge that will mobilize strongly and surpass the youth movement of the 1960s, determining the destiny of humanity and the revolution of the democratic modernity will lead to victory in all fields by quickly recognizing the collapse of capitalist modernity. This is the level that the youth of Kurdistan should reach and this is the level that the worldwide youth movement should achieve. On this basis, I once again salute the Kurdish youth, the apoist youth movement, and express my belief that it will successfully play a leading role in the development of the revolutionary youth movement both in Kurdistan and in the world.”
