I was wondering if anyone had some ML perspectives on the situation in Syria. I recently learned about Rojava, and I was wondering about the background of the conflict between the Assad government and the AANES, afaik they both have marxist roots and so I wanted to learn about the contradictions and reasons for the combat.
The AANES started with the PYD, the Syrian offshoot of the PKK, a Kurdish nationalist party fighting for some form of national rights (the right to speak their own native languages, the right to celebrate holidays associated with their culture, and in some cases against displacement) with offshoots in every country that includes part of ‘Kurdistan’ (Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Iran, IIRC).
The Assad government has been involved in repression of its Kurdish population including everything mentioned parenthetically above as well as efforts to displace Kurdish populations and replace them with Arab ones.
The AANES has other ethnic constituencies but many of them are also minorities in Syria. Minority rights, and in particular cultural rights and self-determination is a big deal in their philosophy and governance structure.
I guess the Assad government neither wants to cede that level of control, of devolution of power to local entities, nor that approach to the various ‘national questions’ for ethnic minorities in Syria.