A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #370 - International - Northeast Syria: Democratic Confederalism in Question (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

As we discussed last month[1], the Syrian government's military invasion 
of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) did not 
annihilate the revolutionary forces that built it. However, it did call 
into question its fundamental pillar: a direct, multi-ethnic democracy 
based on the coexistence of peoples. ---- The trauma is severe for the 
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF, the AANES armed forces), who had to 
abandon the territory they had liberated at the cost of their lives from 
ISIS, due in particular to the defection of Arab tribal forces. The 
French media widely circulated images of jubilant crowds in the cities 
of Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor tearing down statues of women who had liberated 
the city from ISIS. Some even concluded that the military offensive by 
the transitional government was a liberation for the Arab peoples and 
that, therefore, the AANES's multi-ethnic revolutionary project was at 
best a failure, at worst a front for a Kurdish-dominated project. 
Conversely, these events reinforced criticism of the multi-ethnic 
project within the Kurdish political landscape, favoring a nationalist 
solution.

A Disparate Armed Forces
Let's begin by providing some context. At the start of the civil war, we 
can roughly distinguish four camps: the forces of the Assad regime, the 
anti-Assad opposition (including Islamist and non-sectarian forces), the 
Kurdish forces, and the forces of the Islamic State. The SDF is a 
coalition of military forces that emerged as the Kurdish military forces 
liberated the Arab areas under the control of the Islamic State. Faced 
with the heinous crimes of ISIS, integration into the SDF appears to be 
the best option for the Arab tribal forces, who see it as an opportunity 
to gain a degree of autonomy. The other Arab component of the SDF comes 
from the forces opposing Bashar al-Assad. Within the opposition 
coalition, the rise of Islamist influence will eventually exclude the 
marginalized non-sectarian forces. Since the ideological project of the 
Arab Nationalist Movement (ANAS) is compatible with their ideal of a 
free Syria, they joined the SDF.

Caption: In March 2026, the conference of women from Northeast Syria, 
representing the multi-ethnic administration, reaffirmed "the need to 
recognize linguistic and cultural diversity as a sacred duty managed by 
the community without interference from the central state."

Credit: Pydrojava.org
The shifts in allegiance among the tribal forces in January were neither 
spontaneous nor natural. The United States had used its support for 
Kurdish forces against ISIS to exert pressure against the multi-ethnic 
project and for the strengthening of an ethnic Kurdish camp based on an 
alliance between the Kurdish left and the Syrian branch of Barzani's 
center-right party, a Kurdish ally of the US in Iraq. Turkey will also 
view the establishment of a multi-ethnic autonomous administration based 
on the principles of a democratic nation-principles it opposes on its 
own soil-with great suspicion. A long-term effort has therefore been 
undertaken by Turkish intelligence, aided, starting in 2025, by the new 
Syrian regime, to win over the Arab allies of the Kurdish forces, 
notably through promises of financial support, pressure, and threats. 
Since the tribal forces were the least ideologically committed to the 
autonomous administration, they preferred to defect to the victor's side 
and now enjoy the favor of Western arbiters in the region. Nevertheless, 
some Arab forces remain within the SDF. These are the secular forces 
opposing the Assad regime and those of the Jabour tribe who support the 
political project of a federal and pluralistic Syria.

Diverse populations

Scenes of jubilation were observed in Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa following 
the departure of the SDF. These cities were central strongholds of ISIS 
in Syria, but also the areas furthest from the historical sphere of 
influence of the Kurdish left. In addition to being the site of regular 
clashes between still-active ISIS cells and the security forces of the 
Syrian Arab Nationalist Movement (SANMSM), ethnic and religious 
prejudice is rife there. In Assad's Syria, Kurds were treated, at best, 
as second-class citizens. And many officials in the Syrian transitional 
government were notorious for their hateful rhetoric towards them. 
Moreover, the feminist revolution was more recent, less deeply rooted, 
and viewed as foreign by a significant segment of the population. Apart 
from a few allies, such as NGOs, the Kurdish revolutionaries initially 
had no connections among Arab women. When the troops of the transitional 
government entered Deir ez-Zor, it wasn't women who were demonstrating 
in the streets.

Caption: During Akitu, Syriacs celebrate their millennia-old heritage, 
while the new Syrian government seeks to erase minority cultures, in 
contrast to the pluralistic experience championed in the Northeast by 
AANES, which encourages coexistence and the expression of peoples.

Credit: Levi Clancy
The French press, even left-leaning outlets like Mediapart, portrayed 
AANES as a Kurdish entity whose Arab populations were supposedly 
liberated by the new government's military offensive. In doing so, it 
accomplishes two things. First, it amplifies the narrative of the new 
reactionary regime, which seeks to discredit the multi-ethnic 
confederalist project and exacerbate conflicts among the peoples of 
Syria. This framing is also that of the imperialist powers operating in 
Syria. Turkey, of course, but also Israel, which hopes to exploit the 
Kurds as an anti-Arab minority that must be defended. The second is to 
perpetuate a colonial view of the Middle East. Peoples there are reduced 
to their ethnic makeup and deprived of any political project that 
transcends ethnic lines or ideological divisions within their own ranks. 
Thus, Arab populations are reduced to supporters of the new jihadist 
government, while Kurdish populations are reduced to a people fighting 
solely for their rights. Peoples are thus essentialized, their conflicts 
appearing inevitable and masking the culpability of local and global 
imperialisms.

It is indeed possible to point out the errors made by the Kurdish left 
in constructing its multi-ethnic project. But our criticisms must not 
obscure the major obstacles posed by the war and the maneuvers of 
imperialist forces seeking to partition the Middle East, for whom a 
multi-ethnic project is a threat. It would be a mistake to view this 
experiment, or the very project of a democratic nation built on a 
multi-ethnic organization, as a failure. UCL has stood by this project 
for the emancipation it represents. Its survival now depends on its 
ability to maintain itself and spread throughout Syria.

Corentin (UCL International Relations Committee)

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[1]"Rojava: Crushing or Adapting," Alternative libertaire no. 369, March 
2026. 
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Rojava-Ecrasement-ou-adaptation

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Nord-Est-syrien-Le-confederalisme-democratique-en-question
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