Dr. Brauns: Öcalan’s paradigm can end wars

Historian Dr. Nick Brauns stated that the hegemonic war between Russia and the western states has led to the collapse of Capitalist Modernity and that it is possible to get out of this war through the Democratic Modernity paradigm of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan.

Historian and journalist Dr. Brauns spoke to ANF about the hegemonic war between Russia and western states.

Dr. Brauns stated that history should be known well in order to understand this war. He said that following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US-led NATO attempted to expand into Russia. “Russia promised to reunite Germany and in return asked NATO not to enlarge, but in the last 30 years we saw that East Germany joined the Federal Republic and thus became a member of NATO. Afterwards, NATO gradually expanded towards the borders of Russia, and more and more countries joined NATO. Russia’s weakness was exploited by western countries.

UKRAINE TURNED INTO NATO’S BRIDGE

Dr. Brauns remarked that 7 years ago, there was a popular uprising against corruption and the autocratic system in Ukraine. “It was an uprising that was manipulated very quickly by the US with the help of the CIA. Neo-Fascist forces played an important role during the uprising, and since then Ukraine has been systematically strengthened by non-NATO members. Ukraine has been turned into a kind of NATO bridge against Russia, which the Russian President considers as a major threat, because of the missiles in Ukraine or the Baltic states, which belong to NATO. These can reach Petersburg or Moscow within minutes, and this is why Russian President Putin has repeatedly demanded in the past few weeks and months that a diplomatic agreement be introduced that would block Ukraine.”

UKRAINIAN PEOPLE VICTIMS OF HEGEMONIC WAR

Dr. Brauns cited the President of Ukraine, Zelensky, at the Munich Security Conference as saying that “we also want to have nuclear weapons”. He added that if the last war had not broken out, Ukraine could produce its own nuclear weapons relatively quickly.

The German historian remarked that the capitalist world system is a system which promotes capital interests in defiance of the interests of the peoples. “There are banks, corporations, oligarchs, and governments that favour profits against the interests of the people,” Brauns said. Ukrainian people could speak both Russian and Ukrainian, yet Russian was suddenly banned and only “Ukrainian should be spoken and learned”, the German historian pointed out, adding that the Ukrainian people are victims of a hegemonic war.

ÖCALAN’S IDEAS CAN BE APPLIED TO UKRAINE

For Dr. Brauns, the paradigm and ideas of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan provide peoples, different languages ​​and cultures with the opportunity to live together as an alternative to the capitalist system. “Öcalan’s idea of ​​Democratic Modernity is a system that can be applied to the peoples of Ukraine as well. If we manage to drive out the imperialists, we can put Öcalan’s old experiences and new ideas into practice. We can foil the imperialists’ ‘divide and rule’ tool which pits the cultural, ethnic, religious and linguistic diversities of the peoples against each other,” he said.

Dr. Brauns recalled that the people’s republics in Donetsk and Lugansk had been radical democratic projects until the mafia gangs came to power. “The idea of ​​Democratic Republics was the idea of ​​self-government. Who will suffer the most from this war? Who escapes in the first place? Women are fleeing now… I think that the idea of ​​Democratic Confederalism that emerged in Rojava will offer a lot to women in Ukraine and Russia. There were a lot of good experiences to get, but in the end, we saw that this socialist system was not working, and this is where Öcalan’s ideas come into play. Gender equality and women’s rights are guaranteed in this model of society that organizes itself democratically, as citizens do not expect everything from the state.”

NATO AND TURKEY DO THE SAME THING IN SYRIA

“Now we have to say to those who oppose Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; NATO and Turkey are doing the same thing in Syria, and Turkey cannot attack either Rojava or South Kurdistan without support from the US. The troops stationed in Rojava give Turkey the green light for these attacks. Air strikes against Shengal and Maxmur Refugee Camps cannot be carried out without the permission of the US, which controls air space over South Kurdistan.”

The German historian pointed out that, unlike Russia’s war on Ukraine, it is not possible to see Turkey’s attacks on North Syria in the mainstream media. “Because Turkey is a NATO partner close to Germany and the US. This is an imperialist policy. Neither side is better than the other. We see that, for the Western politicians and the press, some humans are more worthy of living than others. They treat Kurdish children and blond Ukrainian children differently.”

WE SHOULD FIGHT FOR DEMOCRATIC MODERNITY

Dr. Brauns also spoke about Germany’s 100 billion Euro budget for armament and the German government officials’ remark “Now we have to buy many tanks and weapons to protect and fight for our freedom and democracy.”

“I’m not going to let the government tell me that we need to save money to finance new tanks here in Germany. We should use heating less so that Putin doesn’t make money from us, and at the same time, we need to work harder to finance the armaments program. Socialist Karl Liebknecht (killed in 1919 with Rosa Luxemburg) was the only person who voted against war in the German Parliament during World War I. He said that “the real enemy of every people is in his/her own country. The main enemy of the German people is not the Russian people or the British people. The main enemies of the German people are German imperialism, German militarism and the German war party. German workers must eliminate them.”

Our task is to fight against the German militarists and imperialists in Germany. The Russian people must fight against Putin and the local Oligarchy. The important thing is that we should not be fooled by the nationalist propaganda of the relevant leadership. We must fight against capitalism, imperialism and racism in every country we live in. We must fight for gender freedom and democratic modernity. We must fight internationally; here, in the US, in Russia or in Turkey…”