July 19th Revolution: from marginalization to pluralism

July 19th celebrates the 14th anniversary of the Rojava Revolution, which had its first fire lit in the town of Kobani in 2012, becoming a pivotal moment in the history of the Syrian and overall Middle Eastern scenery. While most of the protest movements around the country at the time were heading towards militarization and reliance on external agenda, this movement took a completely different path, becoming one of the "Third Way." Unlike other revolutions that became nothing more but a fight against the existing power with weapons in hand, Rojava Revolution turned into a broad intellectual and social endeavor to change people's consciousness and develop a culture of coexistence and pluralism. It made many historic accomplishments, such as defeat of ISIS mercenaries and development of a model of governance that saved the region from the disaster faced by other provinces of Syria.

Historical roots and chauvinistic policies against the Kurdish people

The July 19 Revolution was not a product of chance; rather, it represented the inevitable eruption of decades of oppression, denial, and exclusionary chauvinistic policies pursued by successive governments in Damascus against the Kurdish presence in its historical homeland, particularly since the mid-twentieth century.

Arabization and policies of denial

Systematic discriminatory practices against the Kurds began with the declaration of the union between Syria and Egypt in 1958 under the name of the United Arab Republic, led by Gamal Abdel Nasser. During this period, the Agrarian Reform Law was implemented, targeting the expropriation of agricultural lands owned by Kurdish citizens and transferring them to state ownership as a prelude to demographic change.

Although the union dissolved in 1961, exclusionary nationalist ideology continued to intensify. The country's official name was changed from the Syrian Republic to the Syrian Arab Republic, a move widely regarded as an explicit denial of the country's national diversity.

The unjust 1962 census

In 1962, the Syrian government conducted an exceptional census in al-Hasakah Governorate, where Kurds constituted the majority. As a result, hundreds of thousands of Kurds were stripped of their Syrian citizenship, becoming overnight classified as "foreigners" or "unregistered persons" and deprived of the most basic civil, political, and cultural rights in their historical homeland.

The" Arab Belt" project

Following the Ba'ath Party's seizure of power through the March 8, 1963 coup, chauvinistic policies became further institutionalized with the adoption of the Arab Belt Project in 1965, which entered practical implementation in 1973.

The project involved establishing a settlement strip between 10 and 15 kilometers deep and approximately 275 kilometers long along the artificial border separating Rojava from Northern Kurdistan (the Syrian–Turkish border) in al-Hasakah Governorate. Kurdish-owned lands were confiscated and redistributed to Arab families re-located from areas flooded by the Euphrates Dam in Raqqa and al-Tabqa. The objective was to fragment the geographical continuity of Kurdish-populated areas and alter the demographic composition of the region.

The 1998 Adana Agreement and policies of economic deprivation

The Ba'ath regime continued to tighten its grip on the Kurdish population until the signing of the Adana Agreement with the Turkish government in 1998. At its core, the agreement focused on joint security coordination aimed at suppressing any Kurdish movement demanding legitimate rights.

Following the agreement, the regime adopted systematic policies of economic deprivation, forcing many Kurds toward displacement and migration to Damascus and other major Syrian cities, while simultaneously tightening its security apparatus and suppressing the emerging Kurdish political movement.

Political mobilization and the turning point

The party formed in September 2003 amidst increasing economic and political oppression and gained widespread popularity because of its overtly pro-Kurdish policies and political activism against the dictatorship. This wave of politics domestically took place in the backdrop of major geopolitical changes, including the invasion of Iraq by the United States, the fall of the government of Saddam Hussein, and federal status accorded to Southern Kurdistan.

All these changes were considered a threat to the centralized political system of the Ba'ath regime. As a result, they tried to undermine the strength of the Kurdish street by creating ethnic conflict between Arabs and Kurds through the rioting around a football match in the city of Qamishlo, which has the largest Kurdish population in Syria, on March 12, 2004.

The stadium massacre, during which dozens of young Kurds were killed and thousands arrested, quickly evolved into a widespread uprising that spread across cities throughout North and East Syria, as well as Kurdish neighborhoods in Aleppo and Damascus.

Despite the violent repression it faced, the 2004 Qamishlo Uprising became a measure of the Kurdish people's organizational strength and commitment to reclaiming their denied rights. It laid the solid foundation and served as the true rehearsal for the later Arab Spring movements and the outbreak of the Rojava Revolution. The slogans of freedom, dignity, and justice raised in 2004 would later re-emerge with the launch of the broader Syrian uprising on March 15, 2011.

The intellectual and political incubation of the July 19th Revolution

When the Syrian uprising erupted in 2011, the Kurdish community in Rojava distinguished itself through a high degree of organizational capacity and political awareness. This was rooted in a long history of activism shaped over two decades during which Abdullah Ocalan resided in Syria. Throughout those years, intellectual efforts focused on educating Kurds and the other communities living alongside them, including Arabs, Syriacs, and Armenians on how to build what was described as "the organized revolutionary personality."

This development helped shape a politically aware society that could detect and comprehend political moves within the region and internationally. Instead of falling victim to blind emotion, society adopted self-reliance and began to build civil and societal institutions slowly but steadily. With the fast transformation of the Syrian revolution from its peaceful beginnings into full militarization and power struggles, and some parts of the opposition growing more and more dependent on external countries such as Turkey and Qatar while many individuals were transformed into tools for promoting non-national interests, the major players in Rojava decided to follow the “Third Way” policy.

This policy involved abstaining from choosing either of the two sides of the conflict , the Syrian government or the opposition backed up by other countries and instead focusing on protecting society, raising its awareness, not engaging in competing for the power in the center, and working on organizing themselves and creating the foundation of the Autonomous Administration.

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The Spark from Kobani and the collapse of Ba'ath System

During the summer of 2012, developments in Syria accelerated dramatically. On July 18, 2012, the Ba'ath Party's Crisis Management Cell in Damascus responsible for overseeing and suppressing the uprising was targeted and eliminated. This dealt a severe blow to the regime's military command structure, triggering the rapid disintegration of its control over rural areas. On the same day, armed groups seized control of the cities of Jarablus and al-Bab, with indications suggesting that they intended to advance toward Kobani.

Faced with this immediate existential threat, organized political forces and the Kurdish population moved swiftly to protect their areas from the emerging administrative and security vacuum. On July 19, 2012, the revolution officially began in the city of Kobani, which was fully liberated following the expulsion of Ba'ath regime institutions. The revolutionary momentum quickly spread throughout the cities and towns of Rojava.

On the same day, the General Command of the People's Protection Units (YPG) officially announced its establishment as a national force committed to defending all communities of the region without exception.

The Intellectual dimension of the revolution

The July 19 Revolution was not merely a replacement of one military force with another. At its core, it was an intellectual and ideological revolution that sought to dismantle the concepts entrenched by the centralized nation-state. The revolution was grounded in the philosophy of the Democratic Nation, developed by Abdullah Ocalan, which advocates the construction of an ethical and political society that transcends ethnic and religious nationalism. The philosophy rests upon two fundamental pillars: women's freedom and environmental protection.

The revolution focused first and foremost on transforming the deeply rooted mentality of fear by challenging the belief, cultivated by the regime, that society was incapable of managing its own affairs without the authority of a centralized state. It also sought to strengthen coexistence and national cohesion among the region's diverse communities, including Kurds, Arabs, Syriac-Assyrians, Turkmens, and Circassians through the establishment of a pluralistic system that guarantees representation for all.

To this end, communes were established in neighborhoods and villages as the primary building blocks for raising social consciousness, enabling people to practice direct democracy and manage their own local affairs.

The revolution was also distinguished by granting women and youth leading and pioneering roles after they had been almost entirely excluded from decision-making under the former regime. Women became equal partners through the system of co-chairmanship across all political, administrative, and military institutions.

Building the defense system and protecting society

Given the security threats surrounding the region and the transformation of factions claiming affiliation with the so-called Free Syrian Army into extremist and mercenary groups backed by foreign powers many of which were responsible for widespread destruction and looting of infrastructure it became essential to establish a legitimate self-defense system capable of safeguarding the revolution's achievements.

This defense structure developed through successive stages. Following the official announcement of the People's Protection Units (YPG) on July 19, 2012, the Asayish forces were established on July 24 of the same year, later evolving into the Internal Security Forces. On April 4, 2013, the Women's Protection Units (YPJ) were officially announced. In July 2014, the Self-Defense Forces were established after the Autonomous Administration's Legislative Council approved the Self-Defense Law. At the beginning of 2015, the Community Protection Forces were formed following the adoption of the commune system as the organizational foundation of the Autonomous Administration. Finally, on October 10, 2015, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were officially established.

Administrative organization and the evolution of the Autonomous Administration

In parallel with these developments, the people of the region moved quickly to fill the administrative and service vacuum in the liberated areas by establishing community committees and local councils. These institutions were reorganized on the basis of decentralized democratic principles, moving away from the bureaucratic structure of the former state.

Following six months of extensive discussions led by the Movement for a Democratic Society (TEV-DEM), the Democratic Autonomous Administration was officially declared in January 2014 across the three cantons of Jazira, Kobani, and Afrin.

Through its intellectual vision, organizational structure, and military achievements, the revolution demonstrated in the years that followed that a well-organized popular movement, founded upon the principles of coexistence and the fraternity of peoples, could defeat even the most formidable extremist forces and present a democratic alternative for Syria's future: a pluralistic, decentralized Syria that guarantees equal rights for all of its historic communities and is built by the efforts of its own sons and daughters.

ANHA