Faculty of humanities, department of philosophy/program islam in the Modern World, university of amsterdam, amsterdam, the netherlands ABSTRACT This paper traces the ideology of democratic autonomy, as developed by PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan from the libertarian and anarchist writings of Murray Bookchin, as an alternative to the authoritarian and centralist nation state, not only in the Kurdish-inhabited provinces, but in Turkey at large. It explores, first, the ideological underpinnings and second, the practical implementation of democratic autonomy both in south-eastern Turkey and in north-eastern Syria, or Rojava. Divergences between the two, I will argue, are not merely the result of contradictions between ideology and practice, or of the PKK's enduring Leninist vanguardism, but also arise because the ideology itself remains ambiguous or implicit on the questions of party organization and the legitimacy of armed resistance. These ambiguities help to account for the apparent tension between grassroots anarchism and Leninist centralism in democratic autonomy, not only in practice but also in theory.

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This paper argues that closer attention to social factors, and especially to power relations, may enrich the theoretical study of language. It takes its departure from Searle's work in the philosophy of language and on the foundations of social reality. Searle's analysis of language and institutional facts implies a consensus view of society, and rests upon an ideology of language as a kind of social contract. Some problems for such a contract view are pointed out, and an alternative approach, which may be qualified as a conflict view of language and communication, is outlined. Power is a crucial variable in such a view; some of the desirable features of such a power concept are discussed. A conflict view of language may have non-trivial implications for the division of labor between semantics and pragmatics, and provide a fresh perspective on the notions of literal language and language change.

This paper traces the ideology of democratic autonomy, as developed by PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan from the libertarian and anarchist writings of Murray Bookchin, as an alternative to the authoritarian and centralist nation state, not only in the Kurdish-inhabited provinces, but in Turkey at large. It explores, first, the ideological underpinnings and second, the practical implementation of democratic autonomy both in southeastern Turkey and in northeastern Syria, or Rojava. Divergences between the two, I will argue, are not merely the result of contradictions between ideology and practice, or of the PKK's enduring Leninist vanguardism, but also arise because the ideology itself remains ambiguous or implicit on the questions of party organization and the legitimacy of armed resistance. These ambiguities help to account for the apparent tension between grassroots anarchism and Leninist centralism in democratic autonomy, not only in practice but also in theory.

Michel Leezenberg, «Humanitarian Aid in Iraqi Kurdistan», pp 31-48. Humanitarian aid has been an important economic and political factor in Iraqi Kurdistan, but it has had unforeseeable, and at times even paradoxical, effects ; to some extent, it has exacerbated existing negative trends and tendencies. This paper tries to trace some of its main features and implications. After some background, the main stages of this humanitarian involvement will be outlined : from initial relief effort and the establishment of a 'Safe Haven1, aid shifted to a focus on long-term development. Such efforts were increasingly hampered by the progressive social and political disintegration of the region, until a measure of stability was regained with the end of the Kurdish infighting and the implementation of the famous 'food-for-oil' resolution no. 986 of the UN. CPC