Skip to main content
What does the fall of Assad mean for Rojava and its women’s revolution?
The Kurdish women’s organisation Kongra Star argues that the system established in north-east Syria’s autonomous administration is a significant step forward for women’s rights and politics in the region and must be defended
A joint declaration on March 8

IN 2011, the winds of the Arab Spring blew into Syria and protests against the regime of the Ba’ath Party led by Bashar al-Assad gave rise to a civil war that continues to this day under the influence of a wide variety of political forces.

In north-east Syria, also known as “Rojava” (the Kurdish name for Western Kurdistan), the Syrian state largely withdrew after the people’s uprising in 2012. The majority Kurdish population in the region took the initiative and began to establish self-administration based on communes and councils and empowerment of women.

From the beginning of the revolution, women organised themselves independently, set up their communes and councils, participated in all political decisions and implemented a co-chair-system and gender quotas in all institutions, as well as women’s and family laws. A women’s revolution began in Rojava.

Donate to the Fighting Fund
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Confetti and flowers are dropped from a military helicopter
Opinion / 1 April 2025
1 April 2025
The transformation of a stable secular state into a fractured ruin largely ruled by Western-backed fundamentalists exposes the hollow nature of ‘multipolarity’ and the absence of principled anti-imperialism today, writes ZOLTAN ZIGEDY
IMPERIALISM CALLS THE SHOTS: Israeli army armored vehicles b
Books / 5 January 2025
5 January 2025
RON JACOBS recommends a timely pamphlet that provides both explanation and historical context for the fall of Assad
INTENTIONS ABOUT TO BE TESTED: Members from Bashar Assad’s
Features / 18 December 2024
18 December 2024
Following the sudden collapse of the Assad government, foreign powers and Islamist militias carve up the nation while Israel continues to drop bombs and expand its illegal occupation. Secular democracy is now a faded dream, writes LIBERATION