British philosopher Simon Critchley sent a message of support regarding Abdullah Öcalan’s “Call for Peace and Democratic Society”, stating the following:
“Abdullah Öcalan’s Call for Peace and a Democratic Society on 27 February 2025 came at a time when the drums of war were beating across the globe. I believe this call represents an inspiring breakthrough for anti-capitalist and opposition movements. While dissolving the organisation he founded, Öcalan also proposes an ideological transformation and, as a democrat who believes in the power of words, chooses public imagination over weapons.
I fully support the Kurds, one of the world’s largest stateless nations, in defending a non-nationalist form of belonging. I hope that Öcalan’s conditions are rectified as soon as possible and that the paths for his active participation in democratic politics are opened.”
Since 2004, Critchley has been teaching philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York, focusing on Continental philosophy, the history of philosophy, literature, ethics, and politics. He has served as a visiting professor at the Universities of Nijmegen, Sydney, Notre Dame, Cardozo Law School, and Oslo. In recent years, Critchley has increasingly focused on the possibilities of developing an anarchist-inspired leftist politics.