Earlier in week of May 21st, Kurdish youth and supporters, including members of Plan C Rojava Cluster, occupied a vacant building near Edgware Road, Central London.
Kurdistan Place, Portsea Mews, W2. (Just off Edgeware Road). A newly occupied space by Anna Campbell’s friends to promote solidarity with the Kurdish people’s struggle. Please read below:
KURDISTAN PLACE PRESENTS:
Kurdistan Place is a political occupation in Marble Arch. We have taken over this space in solidarity with the Kurdish Freedom Movement and Anna Campbell’s comrades and family. We want this space to enable learning about Kurdish culture and Kurdish liberation’s emancipatory politics. We also want this space to enable solidarity and anti-capitalist organising.Anna was involved with a similar project in 2012 called Palestine Place, an occupation of a building in Chancery Lane, which was set up to highlight the need for solidarity, support and knowledge about the occupation of Palestinian territories in the West Bank and the ongoing siege of Gaza by Israel and Egypt. We want to use this space as a means to promote radical social change and revolution.
We welcome any group who wants to use the space to fight what Anna called ‘the forces of evil’. If you would like to hold a meeting or other talk/workshop within the space please contact kurdistanplace@riseup.net. We hope this space will honour Anna’s memory as something she could be proud of if still with us today.
When Anna made the decision to join the YPJ, it came as no surprise to her friends and loved ones. Although we worried for her safety, we all knew that Anna’s commitment to standing up for what she believed in could never be compromised. Even now after the worst has happened to her we are still extremely proud of her for standing up for her beliefs. We will always love you and remember you.
Our collective commitment to the cause of Rojava goes far beyond taking a particular side in a regional conflict. We are inspired by the courage of its inhabitants for daring to imagine an alternative to capitalist modernity and the nation state in the midst of an existential war against regional hegemonic states, global imperial powers, and the fascism of Daesh and their allies. In spite of constant threat to their existence the people of Rojava have struggled to build an autonomous polity committed to principles of gender liberation, ecological sustainability, and direct democracy amongst many others. In paying tribute to Anna, we also want to extend our solidarity to all of our comrades who continue to fight for these principles. This is also a space to honour all those who have fallen in the struggle for Kurdish liberation, as well as those who continue to fight for it.
Rojava is surrounded by enemies, in particular the Turkish state and its NATO allies including the UK. The Turkish state remains one of the UK’s largest arms importers, and in a recent visit to the UK by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Theresa May has made a declaration of the UK’s support to the fight against ‘Kurdish terrorism’- a gesture of support for Erdoğan’s attempts to destroy the Rojava revolution and his violent persecution of Kurds in Turkey.
We invite and encourage any group or individual committed to this shared vision of a society free from exploitation, domination and tyranny to join in the collective building of a space that confronts the state and capital not just by fighting them directly, but also through showing that an alternative is possible.
All info of events and workshops will be put on their Facebook page
