Our Rojava Cluster Fundraiser is now live.
The recent ISIS attacks in Beirut and Paris, and the downing of a Russian jet by Turkey have refocused international attention on ISIS and the Syrian crisis. European states have responded with a racialised crack-down on civil liberties at home, whilst preparing for increased military activity abroad. Seemingly lost in the arguments for bombing campaigns or international “boots on the ground” is the fact that a progressive, democratic, and feminist force already exists in Syria and is already fighting ISIS – the democratic experiment in Rojava.
No Friends but the Mountains?
The intensifying geo-political conflict currently happening in Syria makes support for the Rojavan experiment even more important. The left has responded strongly in the wake of recent terror attacks resisting reactionary responses and highlighting the existence in Syria of a progressive force fighting ISIS – Rojava and its defence forces the YPJ and the YPG. Our support needs to go beyond the expression of support on facebook or our leftist blogs. We hope this campaign can be a small example of the kinds of practical solidarity we need to be showing with Rojava.
What Do We Want to Do?
We want to raise £3000 for projects connected to the struggle in Rojava. This money will be split into a few different parts:
1) £2000 to Kobane, to be split into two parts:
· £1400 to Kobane reconstruction, sent directly to Kobane.
· £600 for medical supplies to support direct medical work in the region.
2) £1000 to Kurdish projects in the UK. The struggle in Rojava is being supported by a large network of Kurdish communities across the world. By helping Kurdish projects in the UK, we are helping build the basis for longer term support for Rojava.
Any extra money we raise will go directly towards reconstruction in Kobane.
When?
We hope to raise this money by the New Year. If we are short we will continue raising funds until we reach our target.
£3000, is this all?
We hope not! Our plan is to start with something we think should be achievable and we hope to do larger fundraising campaigns next year. Hopefully we will involve more groups from the UK and Europe in our next campaign.
Follow this link to our IndieGoGo page to donate, and please share this call out through your channels.
For more information on our Kurdish cluster, you can see our opening statement here.
UPDATE: We reached our £3000 target in just five days! Thank you so much to everyone who has donated so far, we’ve been bowled over by the response. Rojava needs as much support as we can give so we’ll be keeping the fundraiser going for the full 31 days and dividing the money up along the same proportions we’ve already set. This was meant to just be the start of our fundraising for Rojava and it’s really encouraging to be able to raise so much so quickly, keep an eye out for future solidarity actions from the cluster and please keep sharing the fundraising link!
