On October 6, the Trump administration announced it was pulling US troops out of northern Syria, essentially giving Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a green light to invade Rojava, carry out ethnic cleansing, and forcibly resettle the area. We are calling for people around the world to engage in protest and/or disruption at Turkish consulates, US government offices, arms manufacturers, and businesses connected with the Turkish government, such as Turkish Airlines.

Since 2012, the autonomous region of Rojava has hosted an inspiring multi-ethnic experiment in self-determination involving a network of councils, communes, and cooperatives, all while fighting the Islamic State (ISIS). After years of struggle, despite sustaining massive casualties, fighters from Rojava participated in liberating all of the territory that ISIS had occupied and freeing those who had been held captive in ISIS strongholds.

In an attempt to justify permitting Turkey to invade Syria, Trump has tweeted that US taxpayers should not have to pay to keep ISIS fighters detained. In fact, the US has not paid a cent to detain captured ISIS fighters; that has been completely organized by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The reality is that the Turkish invasion of Kurdish territory will create the conditions for ISIS to reemerge and resume operations in Syria and around the world. For years, Turkey has permitted weapons, recruits, and resources to reach ISIS through its borders.

For years, anarchists, socialists + antifascists have given their lives in the fight against ISIS + in support of the autonomous confederation of Rojava in so-called Northern Syria. Praised by US politicians + pundits as heroes against ISIS, yet demonized at home as "terrorists." pic.twitter.com/TwjZuQxF5b — It's Going Down (@IGD_News) October 8, 2019

Both ISIS and the Turkish invasion pose an existential threat to all the ethnic and religious groups indigenous to the region, including Arabs, Christians (Armenians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Syriacs), Turkmens, Chechens, Alevites, and Yazidis. Many of these groups have gained a voice in their own lives for the first time, yet now face massacre at the hands of the Turkish military and the jihadists.

Turkey’s invasion of Rojava sets a new precedent for military aggression, ethnic cleansing, and the destruction of egalitarian and feminist experiments like the one in Rojava. It sets the stage for more bloodshed and oppression everywhere around the world, paving the way for ethno-nationalist autocrats like Trump, Erdoğan, Bashar al-Assad, Jair Bolsonaro, and Vladimir Putin to dominate world politics for generations to come.

For months, people in Rojava have called for international solidarity in the event of an invasion. We must bring attention to the plight of the people in Rojava and make it known that there will be consequences for this.

Poster commemorating #YPG martyr from Denver, CO Jordan MacTaggart and urging immediate solidarity for #Rojava, going up around the city as soon as they're off the presses. #KurdsBetrayedByTrump will not be betrayed by freedom-loving people across the world! pic.twitter.com/ivOhO8SXc3 — Rojava Solidarity Colorado (@RojavaSoliCO) October 9, 2019

To keep silent is to be complicit.

We call on all people of good conscience to organize themselves, protest, and mobilize at Turkish consulates, US government offices, arms manufacturers, and businesses connected with the Turkish government, such as Turkish Airlines. The Rojava Solidarity Committee Europe has joined organizers in Rojava in calling for a day of action on October 12th, against the Turkish invasion; we endorse this call, and call for further actions before and after October 12th.

We need to build a context for broad-based direct action as a step towards building a global movement that can make such atrocities impossible. Together, we can stop the invasion.

See you in the streets.

Upcoming Events & Actions in Solidarity

Friday, October 18th:

Saturday, October 19th:

Sunday, October 20th:

Wednesday, October 23rd:

Santa Cruz, CA, 6:30PM, Teach-In. More info here.

Thursday, October 24th:

Highland Park, NJ, 6PM. More info here.

Friday, October 25th:

Montpelier, VT, 5:30PM, Front of the State House.

Timeline of Solidarity Actions



Monday, October 7th:

Toronto, ON, Canada: Solidarity protest outside of the US consulate.

Anarchist solidarity banners in Appalachia.

Tuesday, October 8th:

Solidarity banners dropped in Lincoln, Nebraska. Report and photos here.

Washington, DC: Rally held outside of White House by Kurdish groups and antifascists in solidarity with Rojava and against Turkish aggression.

Ottawa, ON: Protest outside of US embassy.

Wednesday, October 9th:

Boston, MA: Rally outside of capitol in solidarity with Rojava.

Protest outside of White House in Washington DC.

Protest and rally in Toronto, ON. Video here.

Rally in solidarity with Rojava outside of US embassy in Vancouver, BC.

We say” #Rojava not alone” it is part of our rally in front of the USA consulate in Vancouver. Long life for YPG and YPJ. We are going another one against Turkish fascist state on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/A5Dz4glUz4 — Diary Khalid Marif (@diary_khalid) October 9, 2019

Thursday, October 10th:

Rally and protest in Atlanta, Georgia.

Protests in Toronto take to the streets.

Rally in solidarity with Rojava in Montreal.

Friday, October 11th:

Solidarity demonstrations take place in Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto.

Solidarity demonstration in San Diego.

Rally in solidarity with Rojava in Nashville, Tennessee.

Saturday, October 12th:

Massive day of #RiseUp4Rojava actions around the world. Over 15 cities across North America organized a variety of actions from banner drops, to graffiti, to rallies in solidarity, to full on blockades of airports. See our full roundup here.

Sunday, October 13th:

Yesterday we blocked the airports, today we take the streets. #riseup4rojava pic.twitter.com/1yzxz5hrUC — AllOutBayArea (@alloutbay) October 13, 2019

Mass march in San Francisco, CA.

Rallies in Los Angeles, CA, South Bend, IN, Seattle, WA, Philadelphia, PA, Boston, MA, and Toronto, ON.

Tuesday, October 15th:

Banner dropped in Montpelier, VT.

Thursday, 18th:

Rally in Dallas, TX, Trump supporters tried provoke the crowd, but were unsuccessful.

Kurds of Dallas and their allies rallied for peoples of Rojava facing Erdogan's aggression and Trump's betrayal. They were in front of the AAC where Trump was ranting. Trump supporters tried to provoke violence by spewing hatred and bigotry, but demonstrators stayed peaceful 1/7 pic.twitter.com/z10ZCNyFvN — ☀️ Nujdar Zibari ☀️ (@nzibari) October 18, 2019

Flyers, Posters & Zines

Endorsements

If your organization endorses this call, please circulate this text and contact us at coordination.for.rojava@protonmail.com to sign on. This list will be updated regularly at crimethinc.com and itsgoingdown.org.