Abdullah Ocalan

This manifesto is the definitive work of Abdullah Ocalan, crucial for understanding the Kurdish revolution. Here Ocalan outlines a democratic alternative for the Middle East. A criticism that limits itself to capitalism is too superficial, Ocalan argues, and turns his eyes to the underlying structures of civilization. Rethinking the methods of understanding culture, politics, and society, he provides the tools for what he calls a sociology of freedom. In this work, Abdullah Ocalan distills 35 years of revolutionary theory and praxis and 10 years of solitary confinement in Turkish prisons. These reflections represent the essence of his ideas on society, knowledge, and power."

Civilization: The Age of Masked Gods and Disguised Kings

Manifesto for a Democratic Civilization

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

Venezuela has become a huge source of hope and inspiration for the Left throughout the world. Some see it as a shining example of how to begin building a successful socialist state, but Western leaders see it as a dangerous enemy and accuse President Hugo Chavez of being a dictator. This book reveals the truth by examining the country from the ground up. Iain Bruce explores the political changes underway in Venezuela at the level of the lives of ordinary people. Through grassroots investigations and extended interviews, he explores a series of key transformations: a new social economy around a network of cooperatives; workplace democracy; popular education; radical agrarian reform; participatory budgets and community planning. The result is a clear picture of everyday life in Venezuela. No other book on the country has this level of detail; it will be a key text for students of Latin American politics and social movements and of interest to anyone following the fortunes of the Bolivarian Revolution.

Thee Roots of Civilization

Prison Writings

In this essay Öcalan's political project, the Democratic Confederalism, is developed systematically. A fundamental criticism of the nation state is followed by a description of its possible alternative, a transnational grass-roots democracy. The texts that form this essay have been compiled from several of Öcalan's, as of today, still untranslated books.

Democratic Confederalism

Radha D'Souza

Abdullah Öcalan makes the convincing argument that capitalism is not a product of the last four hundred years but a continuation of classical civilization. Unlike Marx, Öcalan sides with Braudel by giving less importance to the mode of production than to the accumulation of surplus value and power, thus centering his criticisms on the capitalist nation-state as the most powerful monopoly of economic, military, and ideological power. He argues that the fundamental strength of capitalist hegemony, however, is the competition in voluntary servitude that a market economy has given rise to--not a single worker would reject higher wages--resulting in an unprecedented ability to convince people to surrender their individual power and autonomy. Öcalan further contends that the capitalist phase of city-class-state-based civilization is not the last phase of human intelligence; rather, the traditional morals upon which it is based are being exhausted and the intelligence of freedom is rising in all its richness.

The Age of Unmasked Gods and Naked Kings (Manifesto of the Democratic Civilization)

Capitalism

When scientific socialism, which for many years was implemented by Abdullah Öcalan and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), became too narrow for his purposes, Öcalan answered the call for a radical redefinition of the social sciences. Writing from his prison cell, he offered a new and astute analysis of what is happening to the Kurdish people, their freedom movement, and future prospects for humanity. The Sociology of Freedom is the third volume of a five-volume work titled The Manifesto of the Democratic Civilization. The general aim of the earlier volumes was to clarify what power and capitalist modernity entailed. Here, Öcalan presents his thesis of the Democratic Civilization, based on his criticism of Capitalist Modernity. This volume reveals the remarkable range of one of the Left's most original thinkers with topics such as existence and freedom, nature and philosophy, anarchism and ecology. Recognizing the need for more than just a critique, he has advanced what is the most radical, far-reaching definition of democracy today and argues that a democratic civilization, as an alternative system, already exists, though systemic power and knowledge structures, along with a perverse sectarianism, do not allow it to be seen. This monumental work gives profuse evidence of his position as one of the most influential thinkers of our day.

Manifesto of the Democratic Civilization

The Sociology of Freedom

Civilización capitalista

PRISON WRITINGS - THE ROOTS OF CIVILISATION Abdullah Ocalan was the most wanted man in Turkey for almost two decades until his kidnapping and arrest in Nairobi in 1999. He has been in Prison ever since. He is the founder of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). From 1984, under his leadership, the PKK fought for an independent Kurdish state in the Southeast of Turkey. In a sustained popular uprising, thousands of Kurdish fighters took on the Turkish army to protect their Kurdish identity, culture and language from annihilation and assimilation. Since his imprisonment, Ocalan has written a number of books on Kurdish history, Kurdish politics, and perspectives for a sustainable peace process and a democratic Turkey. His Prison Writings deal with the history of the region and its major religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) and define the Kurdish position in this context, from ancient civilisations to the feudal age through the birth of capitalism and beyond.

The Roots of Civilisation

Abdullah Ocalan was the leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party, the PKK, and the most wanted man in Turkey for almost two decades. He was eventually kidnapped while in Kenya in 1999, and has been in prison in Turkey ever since. From 1984, under his leadership, the PKK fought for an independent Kurdish state in the south east of Turkey. In a sustained popular uprising, tens of thousands of PKK guerrillas took on the second largest army in NATO. The conflict has remained unsolved till today and the fighting still goes on. While in prison, Mr. Ocalan has written a number of books, in which he analyses the situation in Kurdistan and offers proposals for a peaceful solution to the conflict.

Abdullah Ocalan

Books

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