Clare Baker: Ocalan freedom campaign extends

In an interview conducted with Clare Baker, an officer in the campaign in which she clarified some points as well the activities undertaken and efforts exerted for the release of leader and steps taken in this regard recently.

Clare Baker a very warm welcome to you at ANHA.  

Up to date, you have you achieved?

The campaign in the UK is the UK Trade Union Campaign that was launched in 2016 for the freedom of Ocalan, we were able to launch it in the UK parliament by two trade unions called Unite the and GMB and since then we have being grown to include 15 of the biggest trade unions in the United Kingdom and the support of the Trade Union Confederation the TUC along with the Trade Union solicited  called Thompson Solicited. So in that short period of time we have managed to all of those trade unions on board. We have been the main international theme for two of the biggest working class festivals in the UK the Dorin Minus Gala and the Tod Martis Festival which takes place every year and combined 200-300 thousand people have been basically exposed to the Campaign to who Abdullah Ocalan is? And obviously the plight of the Kurds as well, so in this period of time the campaign became an important one  for the Trade Union Movement in the UK.

Is the campaign confined to the UK borders or goes beyond?

We have worked alongside other Kurdish solidarity groups and other the Free Ocalan International Initiative, but I suppose it quiet unique that just it focus on the trade union campaigns and follows in the footsteps of other international campaigns around Colombia, Palestine, Cuba and others, although it has been five years but it is true it concentrates in the UK but we are branching out to include colleagues from other trade union across Europe in particular there is a number of European trade union federations that bring together trade unions from various sectors. We have got a lot of those federations on board and the unions that are involved in to make statement and to give support to the campaign itself. We had an online rally last year  in which we had unions from Italy, Spain from Iceland and from France all contributed to it calling for the release of Ocalan. Mainly it is in the UK but for the moment we are trying to spread it out of the UK not only to Europe but to North America and Canada.

Do not you believe that the isolation imposed on Ocalan must be ended ?

Absolutely the isolation imposed on Abdullah Ocalan must be ended. Abdullah  Ocalan needs to be free in order to  play his part in  peace for the region, the isolation against him is against many human rights and laws and against laws in Turkey itself. But the isolation is indicative of a wider Turkish state attitudes not towards just Kurds but also all people oppose them. His isolation is indicative s isolation of the Kurdish people as a whole within Turkey and also outside it's borders obviously we are looking to what  Turkey is doing in Rojava as well. It is an isolation against any voice that speaks against Erdogan and his policies. He must be allowed to his lawyers and have his voice heard and of course he must see his family but one of the awful things is the international silence on his isolation, we have got the European Commission, we have got the UK government, we have got the Council for the Prevention of Torture, they are very very silent on Ocalan's isolation, basically for Turkey was able to blackmail the European Union with the refugees that come from the Syrian War and also for the geopolitical situation they have oversees and the military position that Turkey holds within NATO. It is the isolation of one man but it has extended it has to be ended with the support of the international community that we have to stand up and speak for him and for the people inside Turkey.

As Rojava surrounded by enemies, what is the way to peace and success ?

Rojava is absolutely surrounded by enemies on all sides it is a threat to Erdogan in particular because it represents freedom, equality women liberation that are basically the opposite of what he believes. It sounds a huge huge threat, the situation following Trump's removal of the US military basically opened the door for Turkey's invasion that shows how vulnerable Rojava is . I could not answer the question because of what would guarantee the safety of Rojava into the future , but I do think that enough voices that speak up in defence of it will help, there are people in the international community who support Rojava and will fight for that new society they are trying to build there, but they are massively vulnerable and do need   us to advocate for them in the government where we live in within the United States, within the EU. It would be a hard battle to make sure that Rojava can continue but we are always standing by and supporting them and if Turkey takes more and more of their lands or Assad take more and more of their lands even the idea is very well known that Rojava is there it is happening and it will continue to happen for ever because of so many people have taken into their hearts to see there is another way to life.

L.A.

ANHA