By Morad Azimi, veteran of the failed Iranian revolution of 1979-81

England boasts that it was the cradle of democracy. Was it developed based on practicing democracy or did it create this mentality through the sheer power of its naval forces?

The emergence of capitalism in sixteen century required initial primitive accumulation of capital. The latter created through the confiscation and looting of the Catholic Church`s golds and jewelleries by the English Monarch Henry VIII, and the barbaric slave trade. In the sixteen century cargo vessels were quite small. The slave traders employed a vicious method of placing three rows of coffins on the floor of the vessel and the innocent females and males in shackles were made to lie down in the coffins. They had to endure these foul-smelling conditions for the entire three months voyage to America. At least 30 per cent would perish and the slave holders un-ceremonially threw them into the ocean. However, it was a very profitable business and brought at least 70% profit. 

Further, via the land enclosure, which caused riots in England mainly from the 1530s to the 1640s, the capitalists acquired a labour force. However, the dispossessed peasants were so numerous that the new manufacturing plants couldn’t employ them all. Additionally, many of them, who farmed in the fresh environment, didn’t like to work in the regimented discipline, polluted and dark indoor environment of the factories. Consequently, vagabonds overwhelmed the cities and towns. The state decided to force them to return to their homes.

If any of them came back to the city, first they would give them a good whipping. If they returned a second time, in addition to the whipping their foreheads would be branded with a hot iron. On the third occasion, the offender would be fastened to the back of a cart touching ground and were dragged along until their blood soiled the ground.  Such was the true face of this democracy, which appeared in the dawn of capitalism in England.

In the sixteen century a bunch of hereditary Aristocrats/Lords claimed, as educated and enlightened people, they were entitled to rule England. Further, the condition of holding property was so high that only some wealthy merchants were eligible to vote to get elected to the Parliament. These wealthy individuals gave meals to the wretched to buy their votes. Still more disgraceful than the latter, there were rotten boroughs, which could elect two MPs with very few electors whilst big towns or cities could not elect even one.  Oxford and Cambridge universities and the clergy had their own share of MPs. In this enlightened state governed by Lords, a hungry boy who stole a loaf of bread would be hanged.  

King and Parliament

King Charles I claimed he was only accountable to God, he asked parliament to grant him money, but parliament demanded certain pre-conditions. He came to the parliament with his guards and demanded the Speaker of the House leave the chair, but he refused. Then, Charles went to Oxford and the civil war, or the so-called bourgeois democratic revelation, unfolded in the first half of the seventeenth century. Parliament defeated King’s army and being frightened of the army`s power sought to disarm it. Soldiers declared they had not yet received salaries for the past six months. They fought for their rights, many died and many more wounded and maimed. But they got a share in the administration of the country.

Two political movements emerged:

1: The first council movement of soldiers and petty officers were known as the Levellers in Cromwell’s New Model Army. They challenged the army hierarchy and discipline and their representatives, led by Colonel Thomas Rainsborough, held a series of extraordinary debates, the Putney Debates in November 1647, at the height of the Civil War, with Cromwell and his son-in-law Henry Ireton, on the constitution and future of England. The Levellers’ movement were for the universal right to vote for men, provision of state budget for candidates, in place of personal wealth condition and finally annual parliament elections. ‘Freeborn’ John Lilburne, their famous leader, was in prison at the time.

2:  The Diggers, or True Levellers, were led by Gerard Winstanley. They advocated equality in property as well as political rights and were the first true social equality movement that emerged in nascent capitalism at the same time. Their slogan was land belongs to all those that cultivated it.

Realising these was challenging the rule and power of the state; parliament crushed the Levellers at Beauford Church in May 1649. John Lilburn survived the massacre but was persecuted until his death in 1657 at the age of 43. [1]

Theories of the necessity of the State and the Ideology of Liberalism

We saw on the above that by using very harsh physical methods capitalism ascended to the state power. Now, capitalism needed theoretical cover to legitimise its unjust and exploitative system.

Both Thomas Hobbes and John Locke witnessed how capitalism faced challenges from radical demands of social movements. Both set out to construct theoretical justification for a system inherently based on plunder and the inhuman slavery trade. Thomas Hobbes advocated a despotic monarchy, as soon as the civil war (1640-49) began, because of how the situation would be in a society without a government. He wrote in his famous book Leviathan, that a ‘natural state’ was where each individual holds the right to everything in the world and this situation would lead to war between every individual, thus creating disorder and chaos.

Therefore, to overcome such disorder, each individual has to give a portion of her/his right to state, in order to restore peace and order to the society! However, the imperative of the existence of a state, whether with right or left label is a flawed conception or an ideology/religion.  I will discuss below the real nature of the Hobbesian state. However, it is sufficient to mention that the state neither existed primordially nor will continue to exist eternally. In fact, there have been non-state social formations in the past and present. The current Democratic Confederalism of North and East Syria (previously named Rojava) is a living testimony, where, in the course of the past eleven years women and men administer the society through organised Communes and Councils or direct democracy.   

John Locke and the theory of Liberalism

John Locke postulated his theory of Liberalism on the basis of ‘natural right to life, liberty and private ownership’. His natural right to life is an empty slogan. But what about liberty? The latter is a French word for freedom. John Locke prefers to employ the French word of liberty that isn’t the customary word for freedom in English. Liberalism as the ideology or religion of capitalism got to be looked at in its theory and practice.

Aside from a few individual rights, such as right to expression, writing and organising and judiciary system, Liberalism is an eclectic ideology/religion. It jumbles up a number of different conceptions, such as universality, relativism, positivism, essentialism, linear progression of history, political economy, individuality and so on. At the same time, Liberalism ignores society as essential to human beings; Margaret Thatcher, the late British prime minister, proclaimed in 1987:

“They are casting their problems at society. And, you know, there’s no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbours”

Thereby ignoring morality. Liberalism breeds individual greed and the cult of money. Everything including honour is evaluated to the extent an individual possesses money.

Man is free and not free. Capitalists are free to appropriate surplus value of workers. However, the latter is not free or hasn’t any rights during the process of production. It is up to the capitalist what, how and for which purpose to produce. Freedom for capitalists is dictatorship against workers.

At the domain of praxis, the ideology/ religion of Liberalism has to be assessed by launching endless bloody and devastating wars, domination, occupation, plunder, colonisation, exploitation, inequality, lack of freedom, slavey, sexism, and the production of lethal and horrible weapons.

  Raising the banner of Levellers’ chart

Almost two centuries after the Levellers’ universal demand for male right to vote which was crushed by the state-power. In 1819, 60,000 women, men and some with their children organised a peaceful rally at the St Peter’s Fields in Manchester to raise the banner of the crushed demand of the levellers. Upon the first speaker walking to the podium and starting to speak, all the sudden soldiers mounted on the horses and waving bare sabres attacked the rally killed 18 and injured up to 700, some crushed under the feet of horses, the Peterloo massacre, as it is known. The harsh response of the liberal capitalist state for the demand of democratisation and the male right to vote and participation at the administration of society. [2]

By the time of the 1831 general election, out of 406 elected members, 152 were chosen by fewer than 100 voters each, and 88 by fewer than fifty voters. Old Sarum in Wiltshire infamously had just 7 electors for its two MPs. In the Reform Act 1832 the rising bourgeoisie overwhelmed the aristocracy and abolished the majority of these rotten and pocket boroughs. Further, the state defeated the great Chartist workers’ movement for the right to vote in 1848. Eventually, the state began introducing a piecemeal right to vote.

Finally, when the State power implemented full suffrage for both female and male in 1928, the essence and spirit of the character of Leveller’s right to vote of the seventeenth century had faded away. Now, the right of people to participate in the life of society was restricted to one-day representative democracy; you can go to the polling stations and put their votes in the ballot box and then retreat to your home until the next election.

Columbus 1492 October 12

White Racist Settlers and US Democracy

When the ship of the Christian Christopher Columbus anchored at the Bahamas island in 1492, the indigenous female and male greeted them with trays of fruits. When Columbus noticed a golden necklace, he immediately grabbed it. [3] This reaction looked quite bizarre to his welcoming group.

In North America, there lived many million indigenous people. White immigrant colonialists massacred them to the point of annihilation. Further, they savagely exploited African Americans. The Fathers of the so-called American independence revolution in 1776, taking their cue from England, said if we grant the right to vote to these people they will take back the land we have stolen from them. [4]

Therefore, the structure of the formal constitution system placed most power in the hands of the Senate. The latter was not elected until 1919, rather it was picked by the legislatures and sat for long terms and were selected from the wealthy. Using president Monroe’s Doctrine of 1823, American Liberalism attacked Mexico from 1847 and conquered half of Mexico, including California, Florida, Texas, and New Mexico. American Liberalism turned Latin America into its backyard. The US waged wars and engineered many coup d’états, they killed and maimed millions, they wreaked havoc with nuclear weapons, etc.

With the onset of the crisis in late 1970, the ultra-right-wing governments of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan ascended to state power in US and England in 1979 and 1981. The welfare/Social Democracy governments had been based on primacy of industry and trade unions lost their grace and financial sector held the helm of state power and Neoliberalism succeeded Liberalism. Neoliberalism pursued the Liberalism policies favoured by the financial oligarchy both on theory and practise. Neoliberalism is broadly defined as the extension of competitive markets into all areas of life, including the economy, politics and society.   

Neoliberalism, like its predecessor, is alien to morality. It apparently recognises individual’s private and confidential information. However, Edward Snowdon, an employee and whistleblower at NSA, disclosed that the Government illegally collected huge amounts of peoples’ personal information. What is now called the mainstream media, it enacted in the interest of status quo, in consequence betraying the principle of the fact-finding mission and telling the truth. The software instruments such as the “war against terrorism” or “lack of Democracy/dictatorship” were used arbitrarily against countries or opposition parties, which disobeyed the US and Co. The emancipatory and progressive arts turned into a vulgar entertaining industry.

Neoliberalism viciously attacked the working and living conditions of the working class and toilers. Severe anti-trade union laws were introduced. And, by contrast, regulatory laws which restricted the banking and finance operation were annulled, as a result gave way to the unbridled banking and finance gambling which led to ‘casino capitalism’. Thus, it led to the biggest Capitalist crisis in the form of the financial crisis of capitalism in 2008.

 To tackle the crisis Neoliberalism pumped over thirty trillion dollars into the bankrupt banks and finance houses and imposed austerity on the people at large. Neoliberalism wages wars and causes bloodshed and destruction. It is obvious that everywhere fascist parties and governments are raising their heads. In the US the semi-fascist Republic party openly advocates a totalitarian state and will curb lack-lustre representative parliamentary democracy. In Europe, a bunch of oligarchs take decisions, and the role of the European parliament is limited to rubber stamp their decisions.

Yanis Varoufakis Greek finance minister in 2015 related: “I told Wolfgang Schauble the finance minister of Germany that Greek people elected us in order to fairly resolve its financial crisis. He arrogantly answered me, “Democracy cannot be involved in the Economy!!!”

What is Democracy?

Democracy is a Greek word and is constituted of ‘demo’ meaning people and ‘kratos’ meaning authority. Therefore, Democracy literally means people to administer society or implement direct democracy. For almost a century people of the Athens’ City-state annually gathered in the city centre to elect administrators to carry out people’s decisions.

If a candidate introduced himself with a complicated, upper-class speech, citizens not only refused to support him, but would ostracise him from the city- ostracise “to exclude from society” derives from Ancient Greek ostrakízein “to banish”. The reason was that the way he talked he hindered the election of a candidate who spoke the language of common people. However, the shortcomings of Athens` democracy were that women, slaves and immigrants were denied the vote. The City-state of Athens was just one amongst many of the direct democracy or people administered Society.

Democratic Confederalism

Abdullah Ocalan took the Paradigm of Democratic Confederalism from Murry Bookchin and developed it. [5]

Democratic Confederalism of the North and East Syria- previously known as Rojava- developed a sublime alternative to capitalist modernity. It radically amended the flaws of the Direct Democracy of the Ancient City-state of Athens. On the morning of the US and UK invasion of Iraq, the ‘Democratic Union Party- PYD’ was established at Aleppo in 20004 [6].

The Party adopted Abdullah Ocalan’s Paradigm of Democratic Confederalism. PYD radically challenged the traditional concept of left / right model of party and presented a radical approach to the mission of the Party. Thanks to the dictatorship of the Syrian Government, PVD was forced into clandestine activity. However, PVD didn’t set its task as seizing the power and establishing its own state, when the favourable condition came about. Rather it was enacted as a medium for educating, enlightening, and teaching how people can run the society through organising communes and councils of party members and beyond.

When the Arab Spring arrived in Syria proper on 2011- without going into details – the Syrian regime withdrew its forces from the then Rojava and in this unfolding of a rather free environment the PVD emerged from the clandestine activity and set to organise people with the projection of establishing Democratic Autonomy of the Rojava based on the construction of Communes and Councils within the national boundary of Syria.

Then, having succeeded in organising a fair section of Rojava, a year later on 19 June of 2012 people rose up and declared the Democratic Autonomy of Rojava. Further, by liberating a number of towns and cities including Raqqa, the capital of ISIS, with dominant Arab populations. The Democratic Autonomy saw it befitting to change its name to the Democratic Confederalism of the North and East Syria.

The Social Structure of the Democratic Confederalism of the North and East Syria

 1- Considering equality and Democracy principles, DCNE recognises equal social status of the Mosaic co-existence of religions, ethnicities, cultures and languages. Thus, creating a practical resolution, particularly, to the religious ideology which is the dominant ideology in the Middle East. (Revolution in NEDC is a process)

2- Women. The male dominance and the predicament of women goes back to five millennia, when the society based on equality and higher esteem for women transformed through the class division and emergence of the state.

Charles Fourier, a French thinker and socialist, declared the emancipation of women is the precondition for the liberation of the whole society. In other words, the women’s revolution is the revolution to transform capitalist modernity.

Abdullah Ocalan strongly believes that the emancipation of women is the condition for the freedom of society. As such the revolution of Rojava was in fact the women’s revolution. Thus, women’s liberation has been the pivotal point of Rojava and the Democratic Confederalism of North and East Syria. Rojava legislated a host of progressive laws and rules.

Though the latter measures were welcoming, however, without tackling the deep-rooted sexism/male supremacy ideology of capitalist modernity, these legislations and regulations were not sufficient to secure women’s liberation. Because, to prevail over sexist mentality requires both ideological and objective approaches. Abdullah Ocalan provided both. He developed genealogy/women science and strongly recommended women’s own various independent organisations.

Accordingly, initially in Rojava and then in DCNE women constructed their own independent organisations and institutions, such as women only people’s protection, Unite-YPJ, independent women academies, communes, commodity production and agricultural community and cooperatives, congresses, artistic workshops, various clubs, academies, women radio station with all female staff. They established Jenova as uniquely the world’s women only village.

They created a garden, cultivated foodstuff, and ran a genealogy/ women science academy, which was developed by Abdullah Ocalan; feminists from western countries coming to the village and working with women and participating in Genealogy courses.

Finally, since the emergence of the democratic autonomy of Rojava in 2012, it has earned the hostility of regional and global hegemonic powers. Erdogan, the authoritarian President of Turkey, employs multiple physical and psychological wars to obliterate DCNE. However, against all odds, the system has survived, and women and men are resolutely endeavouring to continue the process of building a free society.

Notes

[1] Paul Foot, The Vote, how it was Won and How it was Undermined. The blurb for the book explains: “The Vote is an account of democracy movements from the 17th century to the 21st. It argues that the limited democracy that has been won has failed to deliver on its promise.

Written by Paul Foot, regarded to be Britain’s greatest investigative journalist, this scholarly account is written with an energetic passion that makes it a great read. As democracy movements are taking place across the globe, Foot’s book is more relevant than ever.”

[2] Ibid.

[3] Howard Zinn. People’s History of US, Political Scientist and Historian.

[4] Noam Chomsky, Requiem for the American Dream.

[5] Murray Bookchin was a social theorist, political philosopher, author, orator, historian, a pioneer in the environmental movement. Bookchin formulated and developed the theory of social ecology and urban planning.

[6] Aleppo a city in Syria.▲

Charles Fourier, a French thinker and socialist, declared the emancipation of women is the precondition for the liberation of the whole society. In other words, the women’s revolution is the revolution to transform capitalist modernity.