The key dam of Tishreen on the Euphrates River and surrounding farmlands, taken from ISIS by Syrian Democratic Forces (QSD) and Arab rebels in December, 2015. DIHA/ABACA/Press Association. All rights reserved.As 151 delegates from various northern regions of the Syrian state, including Rojava, proclaimed the "Federation of Northern Syria–Rojava" on March 17, 2016, the reactions of regional and international states were almost exclusively negative. Most of the Syrian opposition groups, too, rejected it or were reluctant to make positive statements. Nonetheless, delegates and the organizations and sections of society standing behind the new entity went ahead and approved the Social Contract which has been in preparation over a long period of time.
We spoke to Hediye Yûsîf, Co-Chair of the council of the new political structure, renamed ‘Democratic Federation of North Syria’. First, we wanted to know why this project was attempted, even though the three Democratic-Autonomous Administrations (DAA) of Kobanî, Afrîn und Cizîrê exist and have functioned since the beginning of 2014. She went into some detail, briefly depicting the development in Rojava [Kurdish for “West”=Western Kurdistan] and the whole Northern Syria. This had begun with the Movement for a Democratic Society (TEV-DEM) which established the People's Council of West Kurdistan (MGRK) and its substructures, consisting mainly of communes and people's councils.
The radical-democratic structure ventured on the first steps towards the self-organization of society and when Rojava was liberated in summer 2012, this set off the revolution. In order to include even larger parts of society, the DAAs were formed, incorporating most sections of society (ethnic-religious as well as political organizations). This proved to be an enormous challenge, because this world has hardly ever seen something comparable: the set-up of a political structure encompassing such diversity, which on one hand is a rejection of the nation state, and on the other hand integrates the existence of radical democratic communes and people's councils in villages, streets and districts built by TEV-DEM.
