The republican ideal of freedom as non-domination and the Rojava experiment

Abstract

This article problematizes the republican reliance on contemporary ‘states as they are’ as protectors and guarantors of the republican notion of freedom as non-domination. While the principle of freedom as non-domination constitutes an advance over the liberal principle of freedom as non-interference, its reliance on the national, territorial, legal-technical and extra-economic contemporary state prevents the theoretical uncovering of its full potential. The article argues that to make the most of the principle of freedom as non-domination, a strong Athenian element is required. The democratic confederalist project that is being experimented with by Syrian Kurds in the cantons of Rojava, it is maintained, can contribute theoretically and practically to this republican ideal through its democratic and participatory mechanisms, despite fundamental challenges it has to face.

The ‘Rojava Revolution’ in Syrian Kurdistan: A Model of Development for the Middle East?

“…The central thread, however, is clear: disillusioned with vulgar versions of Marxism and what Bookchin calls 'lifestyle anarchism' (Bookchin 1995), he sets out to offer a sweeping social and ideological history that specifies 'hierarchy' almost as the source of all social, political and ecological evils. A concept broader than all other forms of domination, be they the contemporary state, class domination, or human domination over nature, hierarchy is also antecedent to these ills of society.…”

“…A concept broader than all other forms of domination, be they the contemporary state, class domination, or human domination over nature, hierarchy is also antecedent to these ills of society. Freedom, then, consists of overcoming these hierarchical relations and establishing relations based on 'equality of unequals', social complementarity, and access for everyone to an irreducible minimum of needs that they themselves define (Bookchin 1982).…”

“…While Bookchin is unwilling to suggest a determinate way to bring about this large-scale social and environmental change, he traces historically and proposes theoretically what he calls the 'legacies of freedom' that we inherited from 'organic societies', which knew no hierarchy and had an 'ecological sensibility' as well as an intuitive and practical knowledge of freedom (Bookchin 1982). Distinguishing between ancient Greek participatory democracy and Roman republicanism (Bookchin 1987: 43), Bookchin argues that the republican model with its representative system slides into a de-socialised elite rule, and creates professional rulers who govern, rather than administer (Bookchin 1982: 129) in an exclusive political space .…”

“…A full-scale struggle against domination and hierarchy is needed and an ecological society can only be built on non-hierarchical relations. A self-sufficient interdependence within the democratic confederation of libertarian municipalities, usufructory or use-oriented property relations in municipalities, direct democratic policymaking in all areas of social life, as well as a subjective and material transformation in human-nature and human-human relations to erase hierarchy, are preconditions for such transition (Bookchin 1982).…”

“…Among primordial forms of domination is men's domination over women, which grew organically, according to Bookchin, but then became institutionalised into a perennial patriarchal domination. Building on Bookchin's social ecology, Biehl (1991) concurred that this primordial form of domination must be destroyed along with all others, and added that women must make use of their full potential by liberating themselves from the trap of the oikos; that is, their domestic roles. While these activities have naturally emerged in the form of childbearing and childrearing, women's domination by men originates from women being exclusively associated with these roles.…”