Beyond State, Power, and Violence
After the dissolution of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) in 2002, internal discussions ran high, and fear and uncertainty about the future of the Kurdish freedom movement threatened to unravel the gains of decades of organizing and armed struggle. From his prison cell, Abdullah Öcalan intervened by penning his most influential work to date: Beyond State, Power, and Violence. With a stunning vision of a freedom movement centered on women’s liberation, democracy, and ecology, Öcalan helped reinvigorate the Kurdish freedom movement by providing a revolutionary path forward with what is undoubtedly the furthest-reaching definition of democracy the world has ever seen. Here, for the first time, is the highly anticipated English translation of this monumental work.

Beyond State, Power, and Violence is a breathtaking reconnaissance into life without the state, an essential portrait of the PKK and the Kurdish freedom movement, and an open blueprint for leftist organizing in the twenty-first century, written by one of the most vitally important political luminaries of today.

By carefully analyzing the past and present of the Middle East, Öcalan evaluates concrete prospects for the Kurdish people and arrives with his central proposal: recreate the Kurdish freedom movement along the lines of a new paradigm based on the principles of democratic confederalism and democratic autonomy. In the vast scope of this book, Öcalan examines the emergence of hierarchies and eventually classes in human societies and sketches his alternative, the democratic-ecological society. This vision, with a theoretical foundation of a nonviolent means of taking power, has ushered in a new era for the Kurdish freedom movement while also offering a fresh and indispensable perspective on the global debate about a new socialism. Öcalan’s calls for nonhierarchical forms of democratic social organization deserve the careful attention of anyone interested in constructive social thought or rebuilding society along feminist and ecological lines.

1138823718
Beyond State, Power, and Violence
After the dissolution of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) in 2002, internal discussions ran high, and fear and uncertainty about the future of the Kurdish freedom movement threatened to unravel the gains of decades of organizing and armed struggle. From his prison cell, Abdullah Öcalan intervened by penning his most influential work to date: Beyond State, Power, and Violence. With a stunning vision of a freedom movement centered on women’s liberation, democracy, and ecology, Öcalan helped reinvigorate the Kurdish freedom movement by providing a revolutionary path forward with what is undoubtedly the furthest-reaching definition of democracy the world has ever seen. Here, for the first time, is the highly anticipated English translation of this monumental work.

Beyond State, Power, and Violence is a breathtaking reconnaissance into life without the state, an essential portrait of the PKK and the Kurdish freedom movement, and an open blueprint for leftist organizing in the twenty-first century, written by one of the most vitally important political luminaries of today.

By carefully analyzing the past and present of the Middle East, Öcalan evaluates concrete prospects for the Kurdish people and arrives with his central proposal: recreate the Kurdish freedom movement along the lines of a new paradigm based on the principles of democratic confederalism and democratic autonomy. In the vast scope of this book, Öcalan examines the emergence of hierarchies and eventually classes in human societies and sketches his alternative, the democratic-ecological society. This vision, with a theoretical foundation of a nonviolent means of taking power, has ushered in a new era for the Kurdish freedom movement while also offering a fresh and indispensable perspective on the global debate about a new socialism. Öcalan’s calls for nonhierarchical forms of democratic social organization deserve the careful attention of anyone interested in constructive social thought or rebuilding society along feminist and ecological lines.

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Overview

After the dissolution of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) in 2002, internal discussions ran high, and fear and uncertainty about the future of the Kurdish freedom movement threatened to unravel the gains of decades of organizing and armed struggle. From his prison cell, Abdullah Öcalan intervened by penning his most influential work to date: Beyond State, Power, and Violence. With a stunning vision of a freedom movement centered on women’s liberation, democracy, and ecology, Öcalan helped reinvigorate the Kurdish freedom movement by providing a revolutionary path forward with what is undoubtedly the furthest-reaching definition of democracy the world has ever seen. Here, for the first time, is the highly anticipated English translation of this monumental work.

Beyond State, Power, and Violence is a breathtaking reconnaissance into life without the state, an essential portrait of the PKK and the Kurdish freedom movement, and an open blueprint for leftist organizing in the twenty-first century, written by one of the most vitally important political luminaries of today.

By carefully analyzing the past and present of the Middle East, Öcalan evaluates concrete prospects for the Kurdish people and arrives with his central proposal: recreate the Kurdish freedom movement along the lines of a new paradigm based on the principles of democratic confederalism and democratic autonomy. In the vast scope of this book, Öcalan examines the emergence of hierarchies and eventually classes in human societies and sketches his alternative, the democratic-ecological society. This vision, with a theoretical foundation of a nonviolent means of taking power, has ushered in a new era for the Kurdish freedom movement while also offering a fresh and indispensable perspective on the global debate about a new socialism. Öcalan’s calls for nonhierarchical forms of democratic social organization deserve the careful attention of anyone interested in constructive social thought or rebuilding society along feminist and ecological lines.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781629637150
Publisher: PM Press
Publication date: 10/25/2022
Series: Kairos
Edition description: None
Pages: 688
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.90(d)

About the Author

Abdullah Öcalan actively led the Kurdish liberation struggle as the head of the PKK from its foundation in 1978 until his abduction on February 15, 1999. He is still regarded as a leading strategist and the most important political representative of the Kurdish freedom movement. Under isolation conditions at Imralı Island Prison, Öcalan authored more than ten books that revolutionized Kurdish politics. Several times he initiated unilateral cease-fires of the guerrilla and presented constructive proposals for a political solution to the Kurdish issue. For several years, Turkish state authorities led a “dialogue” with Öcalan. Ever since the government broke off the talks in April 2015, he has been held in total isolation at Imralı Island Prison, with no contact whatsoever with the outside world.


Andrej Grubačić is the founding chair of the Anthropology and Social Change Department at the California Institute of Integral Studies–San Francisco and coauthor of Wobblies and Zapatistas: Conversations on Anarchism, Marxism and Radical History.


International Initiative “Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan—Peace in Kurdistan” is a multinational peace initiative for the release of Abdullah Öcalan and a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question. It was established immediately after his abduction from Nairobi and handing over to the Republic of Turkey on February 15, 1999, following a clandestine operation by an alliance of secret services. Part of its activity is the publication of Öcalan’s works.

Table of Contents

Foreword Andrej Grubacic xiii

Preface In Defense of a People xix

1 Social Reality and the Individual 1

Introduction 1

Natural Society 4

2 Hierarchical Statist Society: The Birth of Slave Society 12

On Method 12

The Advent of Hierarchy 15

Patriarchy 21

Gerontocracy 23

3 The Statist Society: The Formation of Slave Society 32

4 Feudal Statist Society 50

The Mature Slave Society 50

The Capitalist State and Capitalist Society: The Crisis of Civilization 64

5 The Democratic and Ecological Society 88

The Historical Essence of Communal and Democratic Values 88

Prophets and Barbarians 118

Monasteries, Witches, and Alchemists 128

From the Renaissance to Marxism 133

6 A Blueprint for a Democratic and Ecological Society 164

Democracy as a System for a Way Out of Crisis 176

Women's Liberation 192

The Return to Social Ecology 201

7 Chaos in the Middle East Civilization and Ways Out 211

Introduction 211

Understanding the Middle East Correctly: What Is the Problem and How Did It Develop? 216

The Mentality of the Middle East 216

The State in the Middle East 222

The Family in the Middle East 233

Further Particularities of Society in the Middle East 242

Ethnicity and Nation 243

Homeland 244

Class 245

Property 248

Economy 249

Dynasty 250

Tariqat 252

Civil Society 253

Violence and Dictatorship in the Civilization in the Middle East 253

8 The Current Situation in the Middle East and Probable Developments 260

The Middle East Today 263

State Power 268

Theocracy as the Foundation of Every State 269

The Situation of Women 272

The Economy 274

Scenarios 277

The Future of the Region 286

Democratic Politics 294

The Freedom of Women 302

Economy 304

Ecology 305

9 The Kurdish Phenomenon and the Kurdish Question in the Chaos of the Middle East 312

Introduction 312

Some Distinctive Lines in the Kurdish Society 314

A Short Sketch of the History and Concepts of "Kurds" and "Kurdistan" 314

The Struggle Over Kurdistan, War, and Terror 324

The Policy of Forced Assimilation Targeting the Culture of Kurdistan 342

Ethnicity, Class, and Nation in Kurdistan 346

Official Ideology and Power in Kurdistan 357

Self-Awareness and Resistance in Kurdistan 374

10 The PKK Movement: Critique, Self-Critique, and Its Reconstruction 383

Section A Historical Sketch of the PKK 383

First Phase: Emergence 383

Second Phase 391

Some Thoughts on the PKK 394

Section B Critique and Self-Critique in the Name of the PKK 405

The Concept of the Party 408

Power and Violence 410

Democracy 413

Self-critique of the PKK 415

National Liberation 419

Section C The Questions in the Restructuring of the PKK 422

Kurdish-Turkish Relations 428

First Contacts 429

The Strategic Alliance 432

Capitalism in Turkey 435

The Era of the Republic 437

1920-1940 440

1940-1970 443

1970 to Today 444

Section D Reform and Social Transformation in Turkey 445

Nationalists 451

The Liberal Bourgeoisie 453

Democrats 455

11 Contribution to the Debate about the Refoundation of the PKK 461

Introduction 461

Tasks in Reconstructing the PKK and the Time of Koma Gel 463

Theory 465

Practice 466

Program 467

Political Objectives 469

Social Objectives 474

Women 476

Ecology and Economics 478

Internationalist Aspect 479

Individual Rights 480

Organizing 482

Cadres 482

The People's Congress 493

The People's Defense Forces 507

Options for Democratic Action and a Democratic Solution 515

The Second Path 516

12 The Role of the ECtHR and the EU in the Lawsuit against Abdullah Öcalan 519

Critique of the ECtHR 526

13 An Identity That Must Be Accurately Defined 541

Afterword 575

Appendix Letter 584

Annex A Modern History of Turkey 605

Annex B Chronology of the Recent History of Kurdistan 607

Annex C Chronology of the PKK 609

Notes 612

Index 638

About the Contributors 652

Publications by Abdullah Öcalan in English 654

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