Democracy under the bombs. Syria-Rojava between idealisation and repressionedited by Pierre Crétois and Edouard Jourdain

Collective work published by Editions du Bord de l'Eau.

The aim of this book is to raise awareness of the democratic experience that has been developing in Syrian Kurdistan since the end of the 20th century.^e century. Unjustly ignored, this democratisation movement, known as democratic confederalism, should be generating hope and support from Western democratic countries, but it is not. In the context of an intense war against the Islamic State and the Syrian regime, the Kurdish fighters of Syria are sometimes heroised but often wrongly equated with the Peshmergas of Iraq, which shows the extent of our ignorance.

Against this heroisation tinged with ignorance, this book aims to offer a nuanced and informed view of Rojava. Its aim is to show the tensions between the democratic ideal and the reality on the ground in a context of war.

It is also a haven of emancipation for women, a place where the eco-socialist ideal is trying to take hold, and first and foremost a fascinating political and social experiment driven by Bookchin's municipalist principles.

On the ground, then, we need to show the paradoxes of a feminist emancipation movement that is at the same time dependent on a leader, Abdullah Öcallan, and a single party. It is therefore important to see, on the ground, the tensions between the ideal and the real, and in particular how communalist forms of representation are organised in concrete practice.

Finally, at international level, it will be important to understand the reasons for the ambiguity of the Western position towards Rojava.