Abdullah Öcalan

This manifesto is the definitive work of Abdullah calan, crucial for understanding the Kurdish revolution. Here calan outlines a democratic alternative for the Middle East.A criticism that limits itself to capitalism is too superficial, calan 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.Civilization: The Age of Masked Gods and Disguised Kings is the first book in a new five-volume work called Manifesto for a Democratic Civilization. In this work, Abdullah calan 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.

These are the essential writings of a man who inspired a new, egalitarian socialist regime in the Middle East, which is currently fighting for survival against religious extremism and state violence. Abdullah Ocalan led the struggle for Kurdish liberation for more than 20 years until his capture in 1999. Now, writing from prison in Turkey, he has inspired a new political movement. Called Democratic Confederalism, this revolutionary model is developing on the ground in parts of Syria and Turkey; it represents an alternative to religious sectarianism, patriarchy, capitalism and chauvinistic nationalism, providing the blueprint for a burgeoning radical democratic society. This selection of Ocalan's writings is an indispensable introduction for anyone wanting to engage with his political ideas. His central concepts address the Kurdish question, gender, Democratic Confederalism and the future of the nation. With The Political Thought of Abdullah Ocalan, his most influential ideas can now be considered and debated in the light of his continuing legacy, most notably in the ongoing revolution in Rojava.

These are the essential writings of a man who inspired a new, egalitarian socialist regime in the Middle East, which is currently fighting for survival against religious extremism and state violence. Abdullah Ocalan led the struggle for Kurdish liberation for more than 20 years until his capture in 1999. Now, writing from prison in Turkey, he has inspired a new political movement. Called Democratic Confederalism, this revolutionary model is developing on the ground in parts of Syria and Turkey; it represents an alternative to religious sectarianism, patriarchy, capitalism and chauvinistic nationalism, providing the blueprint for a burgeoning radical democratic society. This selection of Ocalan's writings is an indispensable introduction for anyone wanting to engage with his political ideas. His central concepts address the Kurdish question, gender, Democratic Confederalism and the future of the nation. With The Political Thought of Abdullah Ocalan, his most influential ideas can now be considered and debated in the light of his continuing legacy, most notably in the ongoing revolution in Rojava.

'Only those who bear the responsibility for war can assume the responsibility for peace' – Abdullah Öcalan For decades, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, have fought against the Turkish state. Now, the possibility for peace seems closer than ever. In his first major work for over a decade, the leader and the architect of the peace process, Abdullah Öcalan, delivers a roadmap for the reconstruction of society based on communalism, eco-industry, and radical democracy. Written from the prison island of Imrali, this is Öcalan's political philosophy, manifesto and strategic intervention in the ongoing peace process in Turkey. He includes rich interventions on the nature of Kurdish existence, their relationship to freedom, the dissolution of the PKK and the future society they will continue to build. Direct and profoundly hopeful, this manifesto offers a conceptual bridge from decades of conflict toward a future of democratic confederalism.

Abdullah calan makes the convincing argument that capitalism is not a product of the last four hundred years but a continuation of classical civilization. Unlike Marx, calan 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. calan 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.

Abdullah calan makes the convincing argument that capitalism is not a product of the last four hundred years but a continuation of classical civilization. Unlike Marx, calan 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. calan 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.

To understand how capitalism has come to engulf our world, we must understand how it developed out of classical civilization. Its historical roots lie in the emergence of hierarchies, power, monopolies, and the nation-state, argues Abdullah Ocalan.Capitalism: The Age of Unmasked Gods and Naked Kings is the second book in a new five-volume work called Manifesto for a Democratic Civilization. Together, they present the synthesis of Ocalan's political thinking. This volume completes his journey through the history of civilizations, preparing the ground for the upcoming volume on The Sociology of Freedom.

Vi är i behov an en analys av det civiliserade samhället som möjliggör överskridandets kritik. Att enbart kritisera den kapitalistiska moderniteten har visat sig otillräckligt, vilket många tankeströmningar, i synnerhet marxisterna, har erfarit. Den främsta orsaken till detta tillkortakommande är att analyserna har bortsett från det civiliserade samhället, trots att det är oupplösligt förbundet med moderniteten. Den eurocentriska världsbilden tycks ha tystat även de mest högljudda kritiska rösterna. Därför är det avgörande att tydliggöra det historiska och samhälleliga förhållandet mellan den europeiska civilisationen, tidigare civilisationer och den neolitiska kulturen. Även om jag saknar formell expertis ser jag det både som min rätt och min plikt att försöka mig på en sådan analys, eftersom denna civilisation har dömt mig till ett liv under svår repression.

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 calan 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, calan 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.

To understand how capitalism has come to engulf our world, we must understand how it developed out of classical civilization. Its historical roots lie in the emergence of hierarchies, power, monopolies, and the nation-state, argues Abdullah calan.Capitalism: The Age of Unmasked Gods and Naked Kings is the second book in a new five-volume work called Manifesto for a Democratic Civilization. Together, they present the synthesis of calan's political thinking. This volume completes his journey through the history of civilizations, preparing the ground for the upcoming volume on The Sociology of Freedom.

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.Civilization: The Age of Masked Gods and Disguised Kings is the first book in a new five-volume work called Manifesto for a Democratic Civilization. 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.