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Title: Embodying Chaos, Struggle, Utopia Author: Komun Academy Date: November 30, 2018 Language: en Topics: democratic confederalism, libertarian socialism, kurdistan, youth, youth liberation, utopia, class struggle, Komun Academy Source: Retrieved on 2019-09-13 from https://komun-academy.com/2018/11/30/embodying-chaos-struggle-utopia-the-revolutionary-role-of-the-youth/
Youth distinguishes itself ontologically in its mode of life, thought
and emotionality from other sections of society. It also differs from
other temporal stages of individual human life; it expresses the end of
an era of dependency and reliance on the care of others, as well as a
departure onto deep quests for meaning and purpose in life. Youth marks
the period with which a person starts being able to work and organize
independently, while having great hopes and expectations for the future,
alongside questions and reactions to the status quo.
The hegemonic order is afraid of the youth. Modern developments turn the
youth into a class-like entity, while youth movements constitute strong
and fast-paced ideological and organizational foundations that can act
like a party or an army during periods of social rupture and
transformation. This leadership potential makes the youth a threat to
the established system. That is why youth are specifically targeted by
organized and planned policies and efforts to corrupt and obstruct
society’s tendencies, consciousness, organization and advance towards
freedom, equality and justice. The crucial role of youth, as a
sociological category, for social change and mobilization as a non-class
societal section with autonomous characteristics must be adequately
understood.
It is a policy of the hegemonic system to turn youth into selfish,
profit-oriented, foreign-determined, atomized entities and assimilate
them into the dominant order. Youthful features such as quests for
freedom, change, innovation, idealism, courage and excitement are
corrupted, distorted and emptied off their meaning through a variety of
means and methods under capitalism. Today, backward and conservative
systems worldwide are engaged in an active war against the youth,
ideologically, politically and psychologically. In an organized and
planned fashion, and with the involvement of scientific and
technological advancements, special experts, psychologists and
sociologists are hired to study the phenomenon of youth and to develop
policies and organizations to undermine and drain the youth’s otherwise
dangerously subversive energy.
It is possible to speak of a global effort to suffocate the youth in
this light. The struggle of the capitalist modernist system against
youth transcends all national borders and has taken a systematic shape
on a global scale. At the same time, the family, tribe, sect, school and
the constantly self-reproducing hegemonic system are all engaged in
vested efforts to project their attributes, behaviours and mentalities
onto the youth. Resisting this desire to deprive them off their will,
the youth often rebel against such impositions of external identities
and modes of living. Obtaining a self-determined personality requires an
engaged struggle with an appropriate spirit.
Youth can be defined as the section of society between 15 and 30 years,
an age group with particular attributes, consciousness of which will
define one’s ability to live youthfully. But just as toiling as an
exploited worker will not necessarily increase one’s class
consciousness, just as woman, as the most oppressed and enslaved part of
patriarchal society will not necessarily be liberationist simply by
means of her gender, merely being 18 or 20 does not make a person young,
if they do not understand, carry and feel the meaning of youth. It is
possible for someone to be twenty years old and yet live like an old
person. At the same time, a person who maintains and nourishes
attributes and ideals of youthfulness can remain young their entire
life. In this light, youth can be understood as the entirety of emotion,
thought and behaviour that express an age’s fundamental attributes. In
this sense, youth is above all a spirit.
Youth is the most energetic of all eras of human life. The era of youth
is the one in which new individuals emerge; it is a process of
transformation from the old societal life towards a new age. In this
sense, youth is always an embodiment of innovation. An organized and
conscious youth will make it possible for fast and deep changes to occur
in society, which in turn will contribute to the creation of free
individuals and a free society that is able to solve its own issues
without reliance on traditional authority. Youth’s main aspects consist
of its mobility and dynamism. In this sense, youth has a revolutionary
character or is at least prone to revolution. Any development that youth
can bring about has great consequences and effects on society as a
whole.
When defining the phenomena of yesterday and today, people often say
that “we are ahead of yesterday, but behind tomorrow”. A child is
defined as being ahead of its parents but behind its own offspring.
These notions express societal renewal. This means that individual human
beings or society do not in fact express the repetition of life, but its
potentiality to develop, transform, change and create itself. As is the
case with all else, we can speak of a constant innovation, development
and transformation of individual and societal life, an aspect that is
primarily owed to the youth. Youth in other words is a rejection and
challenging of the old. The one, who does not confront and stand up
against the old in the desire to overcome it, cannot meaningfully be
considered young. The same applies in fact to all living beings,
movements and phenomena, but especially to socialist and revolutionary
movements that have a claim to philosophies, ideologies and actions to
bring about radical change.
At all stages, human and social life encompass serious change and
innovation in the realms of thought, emotion, material and spiritual
life. This is not a mere repetition of life, but rather an expression of
life’s continuation in a dialectical manner, wherein differences can
reach symbiosis. Furthermore, the greater the diversity of a society,
the more open and prone it will be to transformation and change.
In a way, youth can be understood as an entire revolutionary process
undergone within an individual. Youth is an attitude and act of
overcoming, rejecting, fighting, and contradicting all that is old,
within society, as well as within the family. Playing a leading role in
societal change, youth often rebel within their families and
revolutionize them in some ways. This is an expression of their
unwillingness to accept the old ways of life that prevail in society in
a hegemonic manner. While this process sometimes happens in a passive,
limited and inefficient way, at other times, this rebellion can cause
major ruptures. Traditionally, as required by their social
positionality, the old don’t trust the youth and attempt to dominate
them by employing a variety of methods. The youth’s curiosity and
explorative nature is seen as a sign of instability and subversion. In
turn, the young people refuse to accept the conditions of a life in the
service of the rulers, who dare to kill their futures and dreams by
imposing a self-repetitive sociality alongside an individualism of
isolation and alienation.
Another important element of youth is its being in a constant quest.
This has to do with the future-oriented-ness of youth, which has often
little to gain from the status quo of the present. The youth’s conflict
of interest with the gerontocratic, oppressive system, their distance
from power, their open-mindedness render them prone to having
revolutionary, socialist personalities. That is why it is often said
that “Young people are leftists”. Youth question the existing structures
and therefore favour change that could better their conditions and
secure their futures. The precondition for this is an embracement of
freedom.
These features very much resonate with qualities of militants of
socialism, equality and freedom. In the past, due to dominant statist,
class-reductionist paradigms, youth movements often did not adequately
find their space in revolutionary movements. This is due to a
pre-occupation with the leadership role of the proletariat in the
revolutionary process, a mission that was attributed overwhelmingly more
space than other social dynamics. Women and youth were seen as
supplementary to the proletarian-led struggle. This understanding lies
at the heart of the flawed statist, modernist logic of real-socialism.
The real-socialist movements that have been based on a fetishization of
the working class and on a statist paradigm, have traditionally pursued
narrow and economistically motivated goals of seizing power. Many of
them ended up settling for less than their original utopias of equality
and justice and turned into syndicalist movements.
With his radical democratic, ecological and women’s liberationist
paradigm, Abdullah Ă–calan contributed new definitions to revolutionary
democratic and socialist movements. In his definition, utopia exists in
the movement of youth. Youth is above all a symbol of utopia, the
longing and hope of the future. The same goes for women’s liberation.
More than a material aspect, it embodies the desire to render social
life balanced, ordered, peaceful and democratic. It embodies freedom and
equality. Neither the women’s liberation movement, nor the youth
movement possess approaches to equality that are based on narrow,
mechanic and material notions, as traditional real-socialism envisioned
for the role of the proletariat. Our movement defines this fixation as
the “petty-bourgeois tendency”. Without a doubt, this tendency has to do
with an ideological approach. The essence of the women’s liberation
movement is its ability to emancipate freedom utopias from narrow
profit-driven notions and to adjust them to fundamental societal needs.
This means the deepening of socialism. A similar analysis can be made
regarding the role of the youth movement.
We can thus say that the era of youth is the one that is closest to
socialism, filled with ideals of freedom and equality, an era of mutual
aid, sharing and standing in solidarity. Youth is an era that has not
yet been co-opted by interest or profit and therefore does not resort to
tricks and deceptions. It is a pure and plain era. This is what
distinguishes youth from other times. The youth movement in turn is one
that mobilizes these features within it to generate a transformative
force in society. It is therefore not to be reduced to a simple, narrow
or temporary movement.
We must not detach or decontextualize youth from social life by
romanticizing or idealizing it too much, nor mustn’t we pathologize the
condition of youth as a difficult phase of life. At the same time, we
ought not hesitate to define and share with society the meaning of youth
and the fundamental dimensions that keep it alive. To help the
advancement of meaningful change in society, we must have a greater
appreciation for the meaning and role of the youth by way of its
revolutionary potential. We can call those societies with weak dynamics
for transformation “aged” or “elderly societies”, a term that applies
most concretely to societies under advanced capitalism.
The most powerful and precious value of any society is its ability to
keep alive attributes of the youth, which represent transformation
potentiality. To the extent to which this youth spirit is internalized,
a society has the potential to be revolutionary.
The gender struggle became an important site especially in the 21^(st)
century, due to its ability to accelerate social change. In terms of
society’s transformation dynamic, the youth however plays a different
essential role.
Youth movements have emerged throughout history as radical forces of
change. Their power to transform, disrupt and revolutionize lie at the
heart of the dialectics of social change and development. Especially
since the past century, against its own interests, the sociality
developed in the era of capitalist modernity prepared the ground for
this youth dynamism to come to the forth in terms of action and
organization.
Youth is and must always be in a constant struggle against and conflict
with the older generation. We must recognize and accept this as a
reality. If no struggle and conflict can be observed between generations
in a society, this means that that society’s transformative dynamics
have been weakened. The greater this generational contradiction, the
greater the possibility of societal change. By its character, youth
cannot accept the world as it is, but is rather prone to seek that which
is good, beautiful, egalitarian and free.
Today, societies without youth moments cannot expect to see major
changes in favour of justice. Each one of their steps will be heavy and
yet remain aloof. They will turn into societies that have lost their
power and hope to move ahead, which will have consequences for all other
dimensions.
On the other hand, those societies in which the youth is highly
organized, politically conscious and able to play a vital role in favour
of dynamic change by inciting contradiction, struggle and conflict with
previous generations, are those that are prone to experience
revolutionary ruptures that carry the potential to re-set the terms of
life. Such societies experience major material and spiritual changes
that have the potential of exploding prevalent structures and mechanisms
of the organization of life. If this change is consciously directed,
there is a great chance for the individual and society to re-create and
re-build themselves on new terms.
Therefore, we must understand the youth’s role in society and make sure
it can play its role adequately. If we want to claim such attributes for
ourselves, we must know the meaning of being and acting young.
Otherwise, we will fail at building, developing or protecting our
alternative systems.
There is nothing more damaging to individuals and societies than the
killing or corruption of young people’s curiosity, spontaneity and quest
for change. Without an active effort to organize youth dynamics, the
repression of their desire for justice and change can actually further
deepen the existing troubles in society.
Thus, political movements, especially those who claim to act on behalf
of revolutionary, libertarian and egalitarian ideals, must properly
understand and analyse individuals’ and society’s lived contradictions.
Being aware of human and social psychology, of sociological phenomena
and related conflicts and contradictions matters to be able to draw
conclusions to solve such deep issues through theoretical perspectives,
organization and action.
The process of youth radicalization in Turkey happened parallel to youth
mobilization around the world, which is commonly referred to as the 1968
generation. The Revolutionary Youth Movement in Turkey began developing
at the end of the 1960s. In this atmosphere, the Kurdish youth movement
found a fruitful platform as well.
The early republican era of the Turkish state focused on developing
policies of denial and annihilation. What has often been termed as a
“white genocide”, namely one that makes use of tools subtler than
violence, has historically been methodically applied to the youth in
Kurdistan in particular. Historically, one pillar of this policy to
enforce cultural extinction has been education. That is one reason why
the education system of the state was implemented so quickly and deeply
to reach even the smallest village. Against the state’s vision however,
a sizable, conscious young student body emerged in Kurdistan, in the
same schools that were supposed to be the gatekeepers of the state
project. These spaces became the birthplace and hubs of Kurdistan’s
first youth movements.
At the same time, petty-bourgeois tendencies developed among students
and youth from middle class or elite backgrounds. While this tendency
primarily developed in the early 1970s in northern Kurdistan and Turkey
in the form of the Revolutionary Eastern Culture Hubs (DDKO), a
revolutionary patriotic tendency emerged with the Kurdish freedom
movement at the same time. The youth movement that came to emerge in
Kurdistan in fact contributed to the overcoming of primitive nationalist
movements. Primitive nationalist movements and their conservative nature
never manage to develop youth movements. For instance, since the
traditionalist Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) does not host youth
attributes within its mindset and perspective, it has never really been
associated with an active development of a movement of young people. The
very nature of the KDP and similar feudal, tribal parties does not allow
for youth movements to develop that truly embody demands for change. At
best, they can gather several young people in one place and give them
tasks; their very political identity however does not permit a genuine
mobilization with a youthful spirit, as this would challenge these
parties’ own hegemony and claims to authority. Youth movements can only
flourish in an atmosphere of democratic and liberationist ideals.
Against this backdrop, the youth movement and the democratic, popular
revolution in Kurdistan went hand in hand, against the imposition of
classical urban elitist nationalist groupings. The PKK was born and grew
by relying on the power of youth. The poor and labouring youth in the
schools took advantage of some of the tools that the system provided to
use them against the state and to politicize their communities. Such
people were the founders of the PKK.
The Apoists defined themselves as a movement from the very beginning.
Upon closer examination, one will realize that the Apoist movement,
despite being influenced by national liberation struggles and
real-socialism, emerged primarily as a radical youth movement. It was
this forerunning group of politically literate youth that tried to
enlighten and organize the wider society. Its guerrilla has been a youth
organization; the war was the struggle of the young people. Youth also
played a crucial role in the societal mobilization efforts; they worked,
joined, and shouldered important tasks for the struggle.
More generally, in the Kurdish freedom movement, the family revolution
has meant the development of individuals, liberated from repressive
aspects of the otherwise crucial bonds established by family, tribe,
clan, etc. by creating new, freedom-based bonds. This revolutionization
of social structures has meant an acculturation towards principles and
notions of democracy and freedom in society. It is of vital importance
to create new human beings and induce individual revolutions within
personalities. The revolution for individualization, alongside the
effort to break with repressive elements of traditional family were
intertwined struggles. Over time, these difficult fights introduced new
concepts in traditional Kurdish society and its conservatively
socialized individuals. In this sense, youth is the era in which
personality revolutions take place; a process in which free, democratic
individuals reach a state of becoming their autonomous selves.
As a result, the democracy and freedom movement in Kurdistan is
genuinely a youth struggle. It developed by relying on the radicalized
and politicized youth from the popular masses, who dared to demand
utopias. This in turn, increasingly established the general society’s
belief and faith in the youth to be the saviours of the people under
oppression and violence, as well as the builders of new worlds. The
youth that the Kurdish freedom movement aspires to develop is a
mobilized, radical societal power that will defend itself against all
kinds of backward, exploitative, assimilationist, alienating, and
modernist forces.
In Kurdistan, the socialist, national and youth movement this developed
holistically and hand-in-hand. Seen in this light, the national
democratic movement is at the same time an enlightened youth movement,
one that comes from the people and is supported by a popular base. Yet,
the driving motor of the struggle has always been the youth, because it
led an active war and struggle against the colonialist and genocidal
Turkish state. The Apoist movement that began as an ideological youth
group established a youthful guerrilla army over time. The ideological,
theoretical foundations of the movement, its educational efforts were
also led by the youth. Even as these young people aged, they maintained
a youthful, revolutionary spirit that keeps attracting young people
every day. In the words of Abdullah Öcalan “Young we started and young
we will be victorious”.
In own struggle, past and present, the youth has been an essential
driving force. Yet, historically, they did not manage to constitute an
autonomous, pioneering youth movement within the struggle. It is one
thing for youth to join an existing struggle, it is another for them to
organize as a movement on their own. While the former constitutes a
participation in any given political, militant or ideological struggle,
the latter means for youth to play a leading role as an organized force
in the democratic revolution. This is essential.
Without this, democratic revolution cannot develop or deepen. Societal
transformation cannot gain depth or dynamism. The organized leadership
will remain weak. Our revolution’s ideological essence lies here; the
fundamental characteristics and features of revolutionary change derives
from the power of youth and women. It is with the organized-ness of the
movements of youth and women that democratic transformation can be
revealed, spread and defended.
Today, there is no doubt that the Kurdish freedom movement is a struggle
drenched in the spirit of youth, which is one reason why youth never
cease to flood to its ranks and structures. With the paradigmatic and
programmatic transformations within our movement, with the commitment to
develop a consciousness of a “democratic nation” against the
monopolistic sociality of the capitalist nation-state, the youth element
of our struggle became more autonomous and organized.
The women’s freedom movement has established itself as an
ideological-organizational force, as well as a force of action and
militancy. Likewise, the youth has obtained a strategic position and
identity. It has become a central aspect of our struggle to open spheres
for youth, especially young women, to take their decisions autonomously
and to become an ideological and practical leadership entity for the
wider society to take action against colonialist, statist, capitalist
and patriarchal violence and domination and to build free life
structures. We see the youth’s autonomy as a guarantee for societal
liberation.
Without activating the youth and engaging with their issues, no
meaningful resistance is possible. Furthermore, without youth
mobilization, the women’s movement would remain without strategic ally,
which in turn would create obstacles to our democratic struggle as a
people. We cannot speak of a rooted social struggle for radical
democracy and liberation without this strategic alliance of youth and
women with their respective autonomous qualities. Young women
particularly represent the pioneering revolutionary personages that can
set the standards and principles for a more just and free society.
Therefore, the youth movement is the most vital movement on our agenda
for the process of constructing our own alternative system.
To the extent to which the women’s liberation movement carries its
standards to society, to the extent to which the free youth movement
shares its attributes with society, democratic transformation and change
will take root. Thus, the quality and depth of democratic transformation
will be expressed most meaningfully by the women’s movement and the
youth movement.
Without any doubt, both are the guarantors for our struggle’s
ideological depth, direction, and flexible and creative openness to
transformation. Likewise, they constitute the most genuine and radical
driving forces for our ability to organize and act. These inherent
features qualify them as the strategic leaders, pioneers, and
forerunners of our movement.
For us, it is of utmost importance to treat the youth autonomously, and
to problematize and solve its ideological and organizational issues in
order to be able to demand the sustainable utopias of our liberated
future.