French activist Jan: Kurds represent the new world

Sylvie Jan is a board member of the France-Kurdistan Solidarity Association and, as an internationalist, took part in the “freedom ship” from Greece to Italy a couple of weeks ago. She demands the release of all political prisoners and says: “The Kurdish people, the peoples of the Middle East, the world and we all need peace. That is an urgent global need. And the Kurds represent a solution to the peace efforts in the Middle East, they represent an answer.”

Sylvie Jan advocates no longer speaking of a “Kurdish problem”, but rather of a Kurdish solution. The French internationalist has visited Turkey and the north, south and west (Rojava) of Kurdistan several times. On all her trips she only met people who were committed to peace. For a solution, she says, it is necessary to release Abdullah Öcalan as a representative of the Kurdish people and to enter into negotiations with him.

The fact that the Kurdish people are leading a democratic, ecological and feminist project is cause for hope for Sylvie Jan. “I think that the Kurdish people represent the future of a new world,” she says. The Kurds had the ability to fight, to think about the future and to organize accordingly. Their grassroots democratic approaches to building a society with equal rights and peaceful coexistence of all social groups are future-oriented for a new world, she remarks, adding: “For this reason, the world can only win if solidarity with the Kurdish people is increased. However, there is an inevitable problem with this project: Abdullah Öcalan’s isolation must be lifted and he must be released. I think that is the key question that needs to be resolved. All global citizens have that in their hands. I am one of them.”

In addition, the PKK must be removed from the list of terrorist organizations, says Jan: “We live in a world in which opposition members are defined as terrorists. The states do not want to recognize them and condemn them. However, I think that will change. Everyone can contribute to this. We are like a drop in the sea, but as such we have to do our job. We must play this role for the future of the world and for peace. It’s about the future of all of us.”