HAMBURG – The conference “Challenging Capitalist Modernity”, which took place for the fourth time in Hamburg and took place under the motto “We want our world back”, has come to an end with great enthusiasm after four days of intensive discussions, exchange, networking and lectures. In the run-up to the conference, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution tried to obstruct the conference by exerting influence on the University of Hamburg, which consequently no longer made its premises available at short notice. In the short term, these repressive measures by the German state were thwarted by the fact that the conference took place in the Wilhelmsburg community center.
Around 1300 participants from all over the world attended the conference, which ended with the determined shout of “Jin, Jiyan, Azadî”. Our news agency was also there and spoke to the conference participants about their opinions. All seven people we interviewed made clear the strong impact of the conference and the importance of this conference. The participants told our news agency the following:
It opens the world…
We also spoke to political scientist John Holloway, who was very impressed by the conference on an emotional level and explained: “My name is John Holloway, I live in Mexico where I teach at the University of En Puebla and I support came here for the conference and very glad I came. It’s been a long journey but it was worth it, it’s a very exciting conference. The atmosphere is wonderful, it’s very relaxed, welcoming and friendly, and it’s very It’s stimulating to see so many different people from many different countries coming together, which is very stimulating for me because I’m very used to the European and Latin American debates and to see how ideas flow in from the Kurdish movement but also from other countries , is very stimulating… it opens the world.”
Another world is possible
Of course there were also some technical problems. There was the university’s ban and attempts to criminalize the conference. We have to understand that too. There’s a very crazy healthy exciting outbreak. There is an opposition precisely against them. They also take their own positions from their own perspectives. My impression is that this has led to a very strong energy, a strong exchange, an exchange of experiences and knowledge. And I think it’s very important to show that the construction of alternative living spaces, of administrative models, of administrative systems in many regions, including Rojava, including the Zapatista region, including Latin America, can also be started worldwide, with projects that and continue to grow, expand and become more and more concrete and that what we call alternative is not a dream but realizable, sustainable, possible with cooperation, solidarity and an international solidarity network.”
Spread the revolution
Katjana from Hamburg explained: “Hello, I’m Katjana, I’m here at the conference and I’m very impressed and very overwhelmed and I wish the young people a lot of strength and that we all network here in Hamburg and bring the revolution here and spread it.”
We don’t want this conference to end
Marco said: “My name is Marco, I’m here at the conference for an alternative search network. It’s very dense, so many ideas and people from different places, so many languages and cultures, different ideologies, experiences that are different mix and share there were interruptions as I’m sure many others have mentioned and I have to commend the organizers for telling us otherwise we probably wouldn’t have noticed as it was very smooth and a real statement that challenges state control.
It’s a very good metaphor, but not even a metaphor because it actually happens, I don’t even know how to characterize it. It’s the embodiment of that, really. This is quite powerful, even beyond individual speakers or concepts that have been shown.
I think the most important thing about a conference like this is that it brings people together and a good indicator of that is the general feeling that we don’t want it to end and that we are here like a community, a village feel. I think many of us will share the same feelings of loss or missing as we all return to our own places because this doesn’t happen very often to many of us, but we wish it did and so we thank everyone who gave us this opportunity.”
A really big international movement
David expressed his excitement about the conference: “My name is David and I attended this conference today because I wanted to engage with the truly comprehensive theory of democratic confederalism. There is so much that people can think of is underestimated around the world, so I wanted to approach it personally and also make my own contribution, especially in the field of archeology and how we can eliminate patriarchy and nationalism within this discipline.
I enjoyed the conference itself immensely, I had a great opportunity to talk to many people I’ve heard of or followed on the internet or never met, it was one in that respect too great opportunity.
All in all, I think this conference really means that there is a really big international movement, from the core to the periphery, that symbolizes these ideals and embodies them both in their practice and in their ideological views, and that’s why I’m real Glad I had the opportunity to take part.”
As a woman, I learned a lot here
Zehra attended this conference for the first time and said:
“Hello, I’m Zehra. I’m a participant at the Hamburg conference, which was organized under the motto ‘We want our world back’. As a woman, I’ve learned a lot here. People came from many countries around the world.”
With this conference we draw great hope
Salih Amed said: “This is the 4th conference. It was very important to me. Because this is the first time I have attended this conference. It was very effective. I believe that there will be even more participants in the future. People from all over the world, leftists, attended this conference. This is really an example. It shows that Kurdish society is very important in its ideology. The thinking and philosophy created by Rêber APO takes steps in this system. This is how democratic modernity is built. These feelings give us hope. 1,400 people showed their presence. Of course, with their lives and their feelings, they are the bearers of the ideology. They give us great hope for the future.
The young people come from all over the world. Of course they are educated and conscious. In a short time the foundations of democratic confederalism will be laid, there will be changes and developments. That gives us hope. This is the fourth conference and the number of participants increases with each conference. This proves the effect of our ideology in practice.”
Once again, Rêber APO’s thinking, his ideology, was discussed at international level and will be disseminated in the different countries with all those who attended the conference and/or listened to the discussions from afar. The fruits of this conference will challenge capitalist modernity and with the thoughts and ideas of Rêber APO, people will take back their world by spreading the revolution in Kurdistan all over the world.
NC//Seher Deniz
