William I. Robinson, Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara (USA), sent a message of support to the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) regarding Abdullah Öcalan’s Call for Peace and a Democratic Society made on February 27:
“I write to Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan and to the DEM Party to express my support for the peace process underway in Turkey. We are living through a time of deep crisis and momentous transformations in the world order. Our epoch is full of great dangers but also opportunities that force us to rethink how poor and dispossessed majorities may push forward the struggle for emancipation in our tormented global society. The Kurdish experience in recent years with Democratic Confederation gave us a window into how autonomous struggles from below based on participatory democracy – even when faced with the most adverse of circumstances – can challenge patriarchal oppression, class exploitation, and political domination. The PKK has proposed now to transition from an armed struggle into a peaceful socialist social movement. Several things must happen for this process to move forward. First, there must be a political opening in Turkey that allows for this transition. Second, the Kurdish struggle against ethnic oppression must unite with the proletarian class struggle for social transformation through peaceful mass mobilization in the civic arena, as there can be no real peace without social justice. And third, Abdullah Öcalan must be released from prison as the undisputed leader of this peace process and as someone who is central to Turkey’s future.”
Robinson is an American professor of sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His work focuses on political economy, globalization, Latin America and historical materialism.