INTERVIEW. THE KURDISH REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT SPEAKS (IRANIAN KURDISTAN)

NOTE: This interview was done to a socialist activist in the Kurdish revolutionary movement inside Iran and done with the help of the International Office of the Communist Party of Iran. 

Due to the internal situation in Iran, the development of the interview has been particulry difficult and has taken time. 

 

How did the Kurdish revolutionary movement begin? When did it begin? In what context/political conditions?

If we want to talk about the starting point of the revolutionary movement in Iranian Kurdistan, we must refer to the political and social conditions that gave rise to that revolutionary movement. In this sense, the revolutionary movement in Iranian Kurdistan was born at the very moment when the contradictions of the Pahlavi monarchy with the people of Iran, workers, and the oppressed led to a revolutionary crisis at the societal level. The stolen revolution of the Iranian people provided the political and social grounds for the formation of the Kurdish revolutionary movement. Of course, prior to this, revolutionary elements and progressive forces were present and actively engaged in the Kurdish society, just like in any other part of Iran. However, when we speak of the birth of a movement, we must emphasize the 1979 revolution in Iranian society and the millions of workers and the oppressed who stepped into the arena to determine the political fate of society on a mass scale. The people of Kurdistan, from the very next day after the fall of the Pahlavi regime, pursued the struggle for a better life and the elimination of oppression and inequalities in capitalist society with more hope than before, aiming to bring the revolution to victory. If Palestine is the wound of the world, after the suppression of the 1979 revolution, Kurdistan also became the wound of Iran. From this wound, as blood dripped, the red flowers of resistance and struggle also bloomed. The Kurdish revolutionary movement emerged in opposition to the suppression of the 1979 revolution and became the stronghold of the Iranian people’s revolution against the Islamic Republic.

Given that Islam is part of the identity of Iranian society, what are the ideological components of the Kurdish revolutionary movement?

With the Islamic government taking the power in Iran, the people of Kurdistan, relying on their daily awareness and experiences and the role of the free presence of political parties, quickly realized that the Islamic  regime was not improving their living conditions. It continues the same class, gender, national and political oppressions of the previous regime, and had whitewashed the faces of the previous criminals in their criminality and brutality. It was because of this bourgeois-reactionary nature that neither the policies of Islam of the Islamic Republic type nor the unified policies of the Shiite regime in Kurdistan, which represented Sunni Islam in the Kurdish organization of the Quranic school, were able to enjoy such social acceptance that they could stifle the revolutionary movement of Kurdistan in its infancy through deception or through force and repression. Ideologically, the revolutionary movement of Kurdistan relies mostly on the intellectual base of the two main classes: labour and capital. The political struggle of the people of Kurdistan has been influenced by class interests and alignments both before and after the 1979 revolution. Nationalism and socialism have been the two main ideological components in the Kurdistan movement. But specifically, if I talk about the revolutionary part of the political and social movement in Kurdistan, then we can claim that the intellectual components of this movement have been socialist thoughts and beliefs. In this respect, in the last 47 years of the dictatorship of capital and the religious tyranny of the Islamic Republic, to the extent that the revolutionary movement in Kurdistan has been strengthened under the leadership of socialists, the Islamic bourgeoisie has found themselves in a weaker position. The revolutionary movement of Kurdistan, which pursues issues from the perspective of the interests of the working class and the oppressed in society, not only provides more realistic answers to the Palestinian and Kurdistan issues, but also, from a socialist perspective, can better organize an effective struggle against imperialist interference. It also does not compromise, appease, or partner with any faction of the bourgeoisie, whether it is the monarchist or political Islam of the Islamic Republic or the secular and liberal type that the bourgeois opposition promises, over the auction of the rights and privileges of the suffering masses, and it is resolutely and unyieldingly at the forefront of any just struggle against exploitation and various injustice

The Islamic Revolution was victorious in 1979. What impact did this have on the development of the Kurdish revolutionary movement? How do you define the Islamic Republic from the perspective of class struggle and capitalism?

From the perspective of class struggle, how do you define the Islamic Revolution? Was it the product of contradictions between the bourgeoisie or the result of the contradictions between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat?

The 1979 revolution was victorious in the sense that it overthrew the Pahlavi monarchy.

However, it is important to realised that this revolution was not Islamic from the beginning. Socialists and national groups played a significant role in overthrowing the monarchy. The 1979 revolution was suppressed by the Islamic counter-revolution. However, the revolutionary conditions arising from these political developments had the greatest impact on the birth and development of the Kurdish revolutionary movement in its mass sense. The opportunity that was created in the vacuum of central government power in the country generated a situation of dual power at the national level  that particularly allowed the revolutionary forces in Kurdistan to operate freely. In fact, the Kurdish revolutionary movement grew alongside the revolutionary movement of the Iranian people. Simultaneously, as the national revolutionary movement regressed, the Kurdish revolutionary movement also became isolated, placed in a defensive position, and lost its original strength and power.

The class nature of the Islamic Republic was clear from the very day it came to power. Despite its empty slogans about defending workers and the oppressed, this regime immediately began to rebuild the class order. For example, the houses that had been occupied by the homeless toilers during the revolution were gradually reclaimed, and the protection of the sacred space of private property became the most important task of the Hezbollah. Capitalist institutions aimed at dispossessing society in favour of bourgeois rule were maintained, only adopting new names and guises. The Pahlavi Foundation and the Pahlavi Charity Society were replaced by the Martyr and Veterans Affairs Foundation, the Islamic Revolution Underprivileged Foundation, the Imam Khomeini Relief Committee, and the Executive Headquarters of the Imam’s Command. The capacities of the security organizations of the deposed Pahlavi regime were also used to suppress the revolutionary forces, and the former Savak (Pahlavi’s intelligent service) were transformed into a worse and terrifying intelligent service called Savama. In fact, the Islamic Republic took on the mission of defending the interests of the capitalist class against the uprising of the workers and toilers.

I partially answered the first part of this question when I responded to the  previous question. I  explained that the nature of the Islamic Revolution was not Islamic; on the contrary, the

Islamists, as a counter-revolutionary force, took on the task of suppressing the revolution. The  Islamic Republic gradually established a new form of authoritarian and capitalist rule and  defeated the goals and ideals of the revolution. I say gradually because the Islamic Republic  Party could not hold back all the forces from the very beginning. Other political movements such  as the National Front, the People’s Mojahedin Organization, and the Organization of Iranian  People’s Fedai Guerrillas had considerable power and an undeniable position. The leaders of  the Islamic Republic, who knew the political and intellectual atmosphere of Iranian society well,  implemented a plan to eliminate their opponents and rivals through deceit and trickery. For  example, by using deceptive phrases and concepts such as Mostasaff Panahi, they tried to hide  their exploitative class nature. Or, by using unfounded anti-arrogance and so-called  anti-American slogans, they scattered and divided left wing political parties. The theory of  defending the Islamic Republic, under the pretext of the main conflict between the people and  imperialism, turned the Tudeh Party into a counter-revolutionary collaborator, the struggle  collapsed, and a devastating split happened in the Organization of Iranian People’s Fedai

.Guerrillas which was the largest  left wing organisation in the Middle East at that point

The blessing of war also helped the Islamic Republic eliminating not only the rivals but some capitalist groups partnering with the regime one by one. After  it  had established its totalitarian and single-party rule, put its opponents to the sword. In this sense, it can be said that the process of gaining power of the Velayat-e-Faqih was both the product of the political domination of the bourgeois class over the proletariat, and the result of the domination of a faction of the Islamic bourgeoisie over other bourgeois parties and organizations.

What role did the proletariat, the working class, play in shaping the Kurdish revolutionary movement?

The process of forming the working class in Kurdistan accelerated simultaneously with other parts of Iran and after the land reforms of 1963. After the land reforms, hundreds of thousands of peasants in Iran and Kurdistan were deprived of their only source of income and livelihood – land – and were forced to move to the outskirts of the cities in the hope of finding work and a better life. The speed and extent of the separation of peasants from their land was much greater than the speed,  extent and the capacity of new industries. A part of this class that was able to sell their labor power worked in municipalities, in road construction, as agricultural workers and migrant workers. To the extent that the urban working class developed in Kurdistan, the role of the Kurdish proletariat in the revolutionary movement also became more prominent. The migration of Kurdish workers to large cities and industrial centres provided a golden opportunity to gain experience and knowledge in their struggle and establish contacts with their class peers throughout Iran. In this way, the working class in Kurdistan became one of the main pillars of the revolutionary movement in Kurdistan. The formation of unemployed organizations, banks, and people’s councils in working-class neighbourhoods and the outskirts of cities in the early days of the revolution, the formation of the Industrialist Union in the city of Sanandaj, and the holding of May Day ceremonies in these years were examples of organized struggles of the working class within the context of the revolutionary movement in Kurdistan.

What are the main elements of the strategy and tactics of the Kurdish revolutionary movement? How does it proceed? What role does armed struggle and people’s war play?

Let me say the last thing right away. The main strategy of the revolutionary movement of

Kurdistan is the revolutionary overthrow of the capitalist regime and the victory of the workers’ revolution, relying on the organized struggles of the workers and toilers, and under the leadership of socialists organized in a progressive political party. But one way to explain more precisely what the strategy of the revolutionary movement is that to say what the strategy of the revolutionary movement is not! In other words, which political strategies do not fit within the framework of the strategy of the revolutionary movement of Kurdistan? The revolutionary movement’s strategy is at odds with the policy of promoting expectation and creating illusions towards the government reformist movement, with the political strategy of alliance with the monarchist chauvinist movements and the neoliberal opposition that have turned territorial integrity, preservation of territorial integrity and the keyword of separatism into the code name for suppressing the basic rights of the people of Kurdistan, with appeasing sanctions and imperialist attacks and finally with the policy of inciting and mobilizing the masses around ethnic, national and religious prejudices and creating division and enmity among the people. In contrast, the responsible policy of the revolutionary movement of Kurdistan is class unity with the revolutionary movement of women and workers and left and democratic forces at the national level and strengthening the solidarity and sense of brotherhood of the oppressed nationalities. Another strategy of the revolutionary movement is to prevent bourgeois forces controlling the waves of the revolutionary movement of the people of Kurdistan by diminishing the goals and demands of the people of Kurdistan and their intention of compromising and bargaining it opportunistically with the Islamic regime.

The main driving force of the revolutionary movement of Kurdistan is based on the struggles of the working class, wage earners and toilers of the villages and the outskirts of the city, and oppressed women. Those who have put the fight against all kinds of oppression, suppression, and exploitation on the agenda with the aim of achieving freedom, equality, and the right to self-determination of the Kurdish people. The nature of the revolutionary movement’s strategy is consistent with the main goals of this movement, namely ending multiple class, national, and gender oppressions and achieving individual and collective democratic rights and freedoms. The Komala Program for People’s Council Rule and the creation of mass organs for direct rule by the majority of the working people of Kurdistan is opposed to bourgeois strategies such as federalism and the division and creation of political power from above the masses, or party rule. The revolutionary movement of Kurdistan has adopted various tactics in different periods to realize this strategy. Mass armed resistance is one of these tactics which was adopted with the slogan «We do not want war, but we will not surrender either” against the Khomeini’s Fatwa and Jihad against the people from August 19, 1979.  At the same time, the people of Kurdistan tried to prevent the war imposed by the Islamic regime and its allies or at least postpone this war and reduce its dimensions, by using mass struggle tactics. This was while the ruling counter-revolution would not be satisfied with anything less than the surrender of the revolutionary forces. The armed struggle and resistance of the people of Kurdistan emerged as a continuation of this counter-revolutionary war against unconquered strongholds and arose from the necessity of defending democratic rights and the ideals of the revolution. In this strategy, the capacities of the armed struggle of the people of Kurdistan are not used to serve the adventurous and sectarian goals of various political parties and groups, but rather to strengthen and continue the revolutionary movement of the masses, and it moves in response to the political needs of the expansion and progress of revolutionary movements.

What is your opinion on Öcalan’s proposed democratic confederalism, which no longer seeks to build a socialist society?

Abdullah Öcalan has been arrested since February 1999 as a result of a global conspiracy and  collusion and is currently imprisoned by the fascist Turkish regime on the island of Imrali. Since I  will continue to criticize his thoughts and opinions, it is necessary to defend his right to  unconditional freedom before saying anything else. Abdullah Öcalan, known as Seruk Apo by  his supporters, is the leader and main theorist of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The party  was initially founded with a Marxist-Leninist worldview and held party congresses and meetings  with a red flag, the hammer and sickle emblem, and photographs of Marx, Lenin, and Engels  during the first (1978) to fifth (1995) congresses. However, since the early 1990s and after the  fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, a clear intellectual and political shift  has occurred in the thoughts of Öcalan and the PKK leadership. At the same time the formation  of a unified Kurdish state mixed with nationalist ideology became the main ideal of Öcalan and  his party. Öcalan claims to have scientifically broken away from Marx’s thoughts and to continue  to seek to eliminate the shortcomings of Marxism and socialism from the perspective of  criticizing the capitalist system and capitalist modernity. For this purpose, he formulated the idea  of  democratic confederalism based on a socio-political system based on the peaceful  coexistence of various national and cultural identities, direct democracy and local.self-government, gender equality and protection of nature

Öcalan’s theoretical effort is to resolve the fundamental contradictions of social life and human civilization by intellectually delving into the history and culture of the Middle East, especially with the pioneering role of the Kurdish people. But in fact, the class nature and real political strategy of the PKK is coexistence, compromise and partnership with the capitalist AKP government under the slogan of helping to establish the democratic process in Turkey and the Middle East. In addition to the fact that the principle of irreconcilable class struggle and the necessity of abolishing private ownership of the means of production are removed from Öcalan’s worldview and ideals, the PKK’s political strategy for achieving democratic goals also has fundamental and insoluble contradictions with the authoritarian and repressive nature of the ruling regime in Turkey. At present, with the dismantling of feudalism and the dominance of capitalism in the world, neither democratic confederal reformism nor even bourgeois-democratic revolutions are capable of solving democratic tasks (eliminating national and gender oppression, securing individual and collective rights and freedoms). The real achievements of democratic goals in authoritarian countries such as Iran and Turkey is tied to the fulfilment of anti-capitalist tasks more than ever  and will come to fruition through the path of radical struggles of the working class.

Öcalan’s theory of democratic confederalism is an eclectic amalgam both ideologically and  class-wise. For example, although Öcalan’s party is called the PKK or Kurdistan Workers’ Party,  in recent years this party has increasingly aligned its policies with the goals and perspectives of  the bourgeoisie in Kurdistan and in practice does not represent the interests and concerns of  the workers of Kurdistan at all. In this opportunist strategy, the struggle of the people of  Kurdistan for the right to self-determination has given way to gaining citizenship rights and  participation in the process of so-called democratization of the fascist Turkish state. The nature  and class direction of the so-called democratization of the Turkish state is actually to involve the  Kurdish bourgeoisie in the metabolism of the state administration and the ruling class order, and  consequently the costly tactic of armed struggle has become a subordinate and a lever of pressure to realize the strategy of compromise and bargaining

Öcalan’s thoughts carry contradictory strands of thought, from Shia Alevi and Ashura passion to nationalist thoughts. Ignoring the class, anti-women, anti-scientific and reactionary aspects of Islam, he sympathetically considers religion to have a cultural and moral essence and introduces Shia Alevi supporters as fighters against the Turkish system. These views are in complete contradiction with secularism. We see the reflection of these contradictions in the practical policies of Öcalan’s parties and the official statements of the PKK on various national, religious and global occasions.

The Kurdish people are present in Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran. In recent months, after the overthrow of Assad, the genocide in Palestine, etc., the landscape has changed significantly. Subsequently, Abdullah Öcalan called for the dissolution of the PKK and an end to the armed struggle. What impact does this situation have on the struggles of the Kurdish revolutionary movement in Iran?

The recent developments emerging in the context of bloody and anti-people wars have redefined the roles of major powers and local actors in the Middle East. Ziono-fascism in Israel, facing deep internal crises and public protests, has, under the pretext of retaliating against Hamas’ terrorist attacks on October 7, slaughtered defenseless Palestinian women and children in a bid to escape its crisis of legitimacy. It has pursued its expansionist and criminal goals through genocide in Gaza and savage massacres in Lebanon. Netanyahu’s government and Erdogan’s administration, as two key actors and beneficiaries of the new Middle East order shaped amid war crimes, are competing for territorial expansion and occupation in Syria.

With the fall of the Ba’ath regime in Syria, the axis of resistance and the strategic depth of the Islamic Republic in Iran have collapsed. Thus, the policy of organizing proxy groups and igniting deterrent wars beyond borders—which the Islamic Republic spent millions of dollars on to ensure its survival—has reached a dead end. The Islamic regime has been the main loser in these developments and is now forced to abandon adventurism, bow to the Trump administration, and drink another cup of poison. In this context, with the weakening of the Islamic Republic in the region, it can be expected that the revolutionary movement in Kurdistan, despite the ever-present threats, will find new opportunities for advancement.

These developments demonstrate that the fate of the working people of the Middle East is being written in fire and blood. The lesson these events provide for the justice-seeking movement of the people of Kurdistan is that one can never place hope in Shiite, Sunni, Jewish fascism, or in the warmongering capitalist powers; real balance of power is the only reliable factor.Revolutionary movements can only achieve victory by relying on the inexhaustible strength of the working and toiling masses.  

However, these events not only offer lessons but have also brought new challenges and opportunities for the Kurdish people’s movement. With the fall of the Assad regime, Hezbollah in Lebanon facing a squeeze, and the Islamic regime’s reach being cut off from the borders of these countries, the smuggling routes and financial sources of the PKK have also been blocked. Moreover, the PKK’s guerrilla warfare strategy has reached an impasse. Against this backdrop of economic and political crises, Öcalan and the PKK leadership have to a large extent been persuaded to shift their political strategy closer to that of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey.

Although the PKK operates under the name of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, in practice it has always been distant from mass socialist organization of the working class. Now more than ever, it is clear that because its policies are disconnected from the objectives and interests of Kurdish workers and laborers, it cannot represent the revolutionary movement in Turkish Kurdistan. Currently, the PKK, in alignment with the HDP, is increasingly adapting itself to the goals and needs of the capitalist class in Turkish Kurdistan, and thus trades the resolution of the national question for meager political, cultural, and administrative reforms and local power through parliamentary elections within the authoritarian ruling system.

Spreading optimism and illusions about negotiating with the Justice and Development Party (AKP) stems from such a situation. This is while the AKP government continues its repression, pan-Turkist and neo-Ottoman policies; arrests of political activists and journalists, dismissal of elected mayors through legal processes continue unabated, and even Selahattin Demirtaş, the leader of the legal HDP, remains imprisoned. The PKK is unable to meet even the minimum conditions for negotiations or secure the fate of thousands of guerrillas. Therefore, it can be said with certainty that Öcalan’s message of “peace and democratic society,” the command to disarm and dissolve the PKK, and the PKK leadership’s welcoming of this message under the hope of Öcalan’s release, amount to nothing but unconditional surrender to the neo-Ottoman authoritarianism of the AKP and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

Öcalan’s peace message will cause despair and disillusionment among the unaware workers and oppressed masses who have been under illusions about PKK policies. The Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK) has been implementing the same PKK policies in Iranian Kurdistan, and in recent years has repeatedly shown its one-sided affection and green light to the Islamic Republic.

A few years ago, the bourgeois-nationalist parties in Iranian Kurdistan also held meetings with lower-level officials of the Islamic Republic through the Norwegian organization Noroff. They justified secret dealings to climb the ladder of power and auction off the basic rights of the Kurdish people under the name of peace and pacifism. They tried to gain legitimacy for bargaining with dictatorial capitalist regimes over the heads of the Kurdish people using this coded language. All these realities, if accompanied by awareness-raising, can lead to a profound transformation in the political consciousness of the Kurdish people. In fact, whether the impact of these PKK policies is positive or negative depends on the propaganda and educational role of revolutionary and non-revolutionary forces.

The new situation places a duty on the communists and revolutionaries in Kurdistan to neutralize the negative effects of these compromising policies and to practically organize and guide the revolutionary movement through this sharp and sensitive curve with even greater strength.

What impact does Öcalan’s call have on the strategy of the Kurdish revolutionary movement and the organizations and struggles of the Kurdish people in general?

In recent decades, we have witnessed how bourgeois-nationalist parties in different parts of Kurdistan, out of desperation and incapacity, have promoted the discourse of compromise and dialogue under an unfavorable balance of power, detached from the goals and struggles of the working and toiling masses. These parties have obstructed people’s justice-seeking movement in Kurdistan, yet, due to their non-revolutionary nature and fear that the advancing waves of revolution might clash with their political and class interests, they have refused to take even a single step toward strengthening the Kurdish revolutionary movement or to contribute meaningfully to its foundation. Öcalan’s message should be viewed from this angle. Insofar as this surrenderist policy encourages Kurdish parties and organizations to adopt a strategy of compromise with repressive states and potentially diverts the justice-seeking movement in various Kurdish regions from its path, it will have harmful consequences.

One of the main goals of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in bringing Öcalan and the PKK to the so-called negotiation table is to ease political crises and create a rift between the struggles of the Kurdish people and the broader protest movements across Turkey. Over the past month, following the arrest of Ekrem İmamoğlu—the mayor of Istanbul and Erdoğan’s main rival in the upcoming presidential election—sparks of public outrage have ignited protests in major Turkish cities. Unfortunately, the cities of Kurdistan did not join these protests. In this context, Erdoğan seeks to neutralize the revolutionary potential of the Kurdish movement in Turkey. The Kurdish movement, by strengthening its revolutionary wing and uniting with the broader revolutionary movement of the Turkish people, can take advantage of Erdoğan’s socio-political crisis to advance its just and progressive objectives. Öcalan’s call contributes to the loss of such opportunities and weakens the revolutionary movement in Turkish Kurdistan.

During the fall of the Assad regime, the Turkish state also equipped and reinforced its proxy militias and used them to launch massive attacks against the fighters of Rojava. Should

Öcalan’s call be implemented — meaning if the PKK is dissolved and the guerrillas disarmed — Turkey will be able to take the initiative more effectively in reinforcing opposition groups to Rojava on Syrian soil and will intensify its suppression of this part of Kurdistan.

In Iraqi Kurdistan, the ruling parties have also looked favorably upon this process. The leaders of these parties, who have secured their share of the power pie under the guise of federalism, have now become major obstacles to the realization of the class-based and progressive goals of the Kurdish people’s revolutionary movement in Iraqi Kurdistan. They have even failed to secure the Kurdish nation’s right to self-determination, and as a result, national oppression in this part of Kurdistan remains an open wound. The opportunistic policies of the two ruling parties—the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party

(KDP)—align with their commercial, political, and security cooperation with the governments of Iran and Turkey. Therefore, the influence of these two parties is also damaging to the revolutionary movement in other parts of Kurdistan. Their divisive actions in Syrian Kurdistan and their welcoming of the so-called reconciliation process in Turkish Kurdistan must be understood in this context.

Meanwhile, workers, women, teachers, and the broader public in Iraqi Kurdistan have, in recent years, organized protests against these parties. Weakening the revolutionary movement in other parts of Kurdistan will also negatively impact the protest movements of the people in Iraqi Kurdistan.

What are the main elements of the tactics of the Kurdish revolutionary movement?

To answer this question, I will focus primarily on the tactics of the revolutionary movement in Iranian Kurdistan. Without a doubt, alongside the unique characteristics of each region, there are also shared elements among the core tactics of the revolutionary movement across different parts of Kurdistan. For example, one can point to the social organization and military arming of women, and the use of mechanisms for the direct involvement of the masses in determining their political destiny in Rojava. These, along with the voluntary coexistence and unity of various nationalities and minorities living in the cantons, are often cited as social achievements of the Rojava movement.

Now, let’s turn to the revolutionary movement in Iranian Kurdistan.

In recent years, the persistent ignition of struggles by teachers’ associations, independent retirees’ unions, construction workers’ groups, the bakers’ syndicate, environmental organizations, municipal workers’ strikes, and the activities of workers’ committees in workshops and factories; the establishment of children’s rights advocacy groups; the avant-garde efforts of cultural and artistic collectives; aid to victims of natural disasters; road blockades and the organization of street protests by the laboring classes against deprivation and lack of urban and welfare facilities; the funerals of fallen revolutionaries; protests against inflation, unemployment, the killing of kolbars (border couriers), honor killings, and the fight against executions and torture with the aim of freeing political prisoners both behind bars and in the streets; the organization of large political rallies in support of the oppressed people’s struggles in other parts of Kurdistan; the celebration of international days such as May 1st, March 8th, November 25th, and Newroz ceremonies marking the new year—these are some of the progressive tactics of the revolutionary movement in Kurdistan.

During the nationwide uprisings of December 2017 and November 2019, the revolutionary movement in Kurdistan, like the broader revolutionary movement across Iran, employed urban protest tactics to advance its progressive and freedom-seeking goals. In the mass uprising of “Woman, Life, Freedom” also known as the Zhina Uprising, the revolutionary conditions that emerged gave rise to other innovative tactics and forms of struggle—such as neighborhood-based protests by revolutionary youth, grassroots student committees, and the activism of independent women’s organizations and student unions—all of which became particularly prominent.

The tactic of general strikes has also been successfully used multiple times in Kurdistan. During the revolutionary uprising of 2022, dozens of general strikes were carried out triumphantly. Another key tactic of the Kurdish revolutionary movement has been the cultivation of progressive and socialist cadres, class-conscious education, and the dissemination of ideas to strengthen a socialist strategy for ending national oppression—countering the opportunistic and surrenderist solutions proposed by the bourgeois-nationalists.

In conclusion, at any given historical moment, one or several of these tactics have proven to be the most effective in ensuring and enabling the advancement of the revolutionary movement in Kurdistan.

In the current period, we are faced with the crisis of imperialist capitalism and the increasingly fierce contradictions between the various imperialist forces in the struggle for hegemony. Events in the Middle East, the war in Ukraine, Israel’s intention to annex new Palestinian territories, the rearmament of Europe, the US threats against Iran for its nuclear weapons, etc. Currently, two imperialist poles have emerged: one led by the US and the other by Russia and China, with Iran being part of this second pole. How do you define imperialism? What are its main characteristics today? What role does war play in building the new imperialist order?

Imperialism represents a stage in the evolution of the capitalist system that has introduced new mechanisms. To understand imperialism, one must grasp these mechanisms. The social relations that have emerged across the globe as a result of imperialist policies are based on the intensified exploitation of women, the growth of patriarchal ideologies and institutionalization of gender inequality, racism, the spread of poverty and violence, ethnic and religious conflicts, militarism, and the propagation of fascism in every corner of the world.

Today, imperialism is no longer solely associated with countries like the United States, Britain, France, and Russia, or with policies of direct military occupation. Imperialist agendas are carried out through economic and military alliances and treaties. For instance, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank implement neoliberal imperialist policies on underdeveloped capitalist countries even more effectively than any individual state. Both imperialist camps you mentioned in your question align in these strategies.

The economic model of the new imperialist order is neoliberalism. The hallmarks of this system include labor deregulation, precarious employment contracts, unbounded exploitation and minimization of wages, layoffs and forced unemployment, the intensification of gender inequality to maximize profit, increased privatization and dispossession of the majority, the incitement of ethnic, national, and religious wars and the arms trade, the exploitation and destruction of nature, turning the world into a hell for the poor, and driving the planet toward annihilation. These neoliberal imperialist policies have plunged many countries into debt and forced their economies to the brink of collapse, confronting governments with crises of legitimacy and sovereignty due to the imposition of anti-worker and anti-people economic agendas.

One of the key features of imperialism in this era is new forms of non-military competition. This includes the strategic battle between China and the U.S. over lithium — widely regarded by experts as the most vital raw material of the future — propaganda and media cold wars, and their rivalry in various scientific fields and artificial intelligence technology.

Today, imperialism is not just involved in the plundering of countries; its criminal policies have fueled the rise of religious fundamentalism in the Middle East, turning it into a catastrophic disaster. Therefore, the most important allies and partners of imperialism in the Middle East are religious fundamentalist groups and governments (Sunni, Shia, Jewish, Hindu, etc.). Bourgeois forces, empowered by financial and media resources, alongside religious states and fundamentalist groups, serve as one of the social bases for advancing imperialist agendas in the region. These two forces—imperialism and religious fundamentalism—sometimes compete, and at other times enter into dangerous alliances, sacrificing the people of Iran and the Middle East for their mutual interests.

In Iran, under the rule of the Islamic regime, we also see that despite its hollow slogans against so-called «global arrogance» and the «Great Satan,» the Islamic Republic has faithfully and fully implemented the neoliberal policies of the two imperialist institutions—the World Bank and the IMF. The Islamic Republic, with the backing of Russia, has also played a criminal role in the wars of the Middle East. From its inception, this regime dreamt of exporting the Islamic Revolution to the world and paving the way to Karbala and Jerusalem. Drawing from the experience of creating the Revolutionary Guards, it organized paramilitary groups in the region. Hamas, Hezbollah, the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF in Iraq), and the Houthis are among the groups Khamenei—the executioner—has created as part of his adventurous and expansionist policies, competing with the child-killing Netanyahu regime in Israel and Erdoğan’s fascist government in Turkey.

What emerged under the name of the “Shia Crescent” or the so-called “Axis of Resistance” never fits within the framework of anti-imperialist struggles. Rather, it has led to the establishment of reactionary and repressive powers in regional countries and turned the oppressed peoples of Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen into cannon fodder for war-driven policies. For the children, women, and working classes of the Middle East, this has brought nothing but poverty, repression, mass killing, and darkness.

That is why the people of Iran and other nations can never be liberated from the scourge of poverty, war, inequality, and oppression by relying on either of these rival factions.

What role should the poor people of the world play in this realignment of imperialist forces? Is it important to build a new revolutionary (communist) international today? Why?

In the current global situation, monopolies and financial capital dominate the world, plunging people into criminal wars by spreading poverty and misery. Statistics show that 2024 witnessed the highest levels of warfare and killing in over 80 years—since World War II. The world is observing the rise of the far right and neo-fascism as a symptom of capitalism’s weakness and crisis.

It has now become clear that the neoliberal model is also incapable of providing a solution to the structural and cyclical crises of capitalism, and once again, capitalism is turning toward economic nationalism. Economic nationalism will gradually lead to economic wars among major powers. These wars begin as currency wars, continue as tariff wars, and may ultimately culminate in full-scale military conflicts. The United States’ tariff war against major global powers, including China and the European Union—and in effect, against all 185 countries worldwide—is emblematic of this new state of affairs. Donald Trump’s economic team, as the executor of this nationalist American policy, seeks to disregard tariffs and economic commitments to all countries—even its closest allies—in order to prepare the U.S. for the post-empire era and to resolve the nation’s trade imbalance.

Climate change and geopolitical transformations are rapidly accelerating. Military and economic alliances are collapsing, and the global capitalist order is facing its most severe crises. On one side, fascism is being revived; on the other, the working class is once again turning en masse toward the ideal of liberation. The world is standing before the same historic choice that Rosa Luxemburg posed long ago: socialism or barbarism.

On the opposing front, a vast mass movement has always stood in solidarity with and in defense of the rights and freedoms of Palestine. This movement has generated international solidarity in support of the just and liberatory struggle of Palestinian workers and the oppressed nation, and has strongly condemned the racist policies of the Israeli government. The expansion of mass protests against states and the entry into a revolutionary era are other outcomes of this situation.

If all forms of capitalist systems—from liberalism and neoliberalism to fascism and bourgeois democracy—function on a global scale, then the alternative for liberation from this inhumane condition must also be inherently global. The necessity of workers’ internationalism stems from the very nature of the capitalist system. History has shown that even if a socialist revolution succeeds in a single country, it must ultimately support the advance of the global revolution and not limit its goals and ideals to the immediate interests of the revolutionary class in one nation. If a socialist state abandons proletarian internationalism, or reduces it to a tool for protecting its foreign interests at the cost of sabotaging revolutionary possibilities in other countries, it will soon be crushed under external pressures and attacks, and will gradually regress historically, losing the socialist essence of its revolution.

From the perspective of war, is there a difference between the democratic or republican government of the US in relation to the struggles of the revolutionary movement of Kurdistan?

Both rival parties—the Democrats and the Republicans—represent the interests of the U.S. bourgeois-imperialist state on a global scale, and in this sense, neither of their policies benefits global liberation movements or serves the revolutionary movement in Kurdistan. The U.S.government’s record in dealing with liberation struggles in Latin America and other parts of the world confirms this reality.

However, when it comes to the scale of damage caused by the policies of these two parties, more can be said. If we compare the Democrats and Republicans from this angle, we can argue that the Republican Party, due to its more aggressive militaristic policies, places revolutionary movements around the world in worse conditions for advancement. Similarly, within the United States itself, its fascist and anti-democratic policies impose harsher conditions on the working class, immigrants, civil rights movements, and racial, sexual, and gender minorities.

If the Republican Party is known domestically as the party of the wealthy—favoring tax cuts and shrinking the role of government—on the international stage, it also tends to more strongly support the war crimes of the fascist Israeli regime than the Democratic Party. It prioritizes increasing military budgets and adopting aggressive, war-driven policies. The people of the Middle East have borne the devastating consequences of the Republican faction’s warmongering policies since the days of George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.

However, it must also be noted that beyond the military policies of various U.S. administrations and other imperialist powers, another layer of intervention and containment of revolutionary movements in the Middle East proceeds through the creation of opposition groups and the proliferation of NGOs. Today, imperialist militarism is inextricably linked with feminist NGOs and large-scale funding in the Middle East, each reinforcing the other’s goals. Solidarity Center is another interventionist institution of imperialism, which interferes globally under the guise of supporting labor movements, but in reality promotes reformist tendencies and works against the revolutionary orientation of the workers’ movement.

What is the human rights situation in Iran? What is the situation of political prisoners? How many political prisoners are there? What is the situation of the death penalty? To whom is it applied?

According to the Iran Human Rights Organization, based in Geneva, the Islamic Republic executed more than 1,000 individuals in 2024—including 7 children, 34 women, and 119 members of the Baloch community. Some of these executions were carried out in secret. The number of executions increased by 16% compared to 2023. Given the regime’s repeated failures and the intensification of its economic, political, social, and regional crises, there is a real risk that these figures will continue to rise in 2025.

Executions in Iran are carried out against a range of individuals, including political and social activists, drug offenders, and prisoners convicted of ordinary crimes. However, the primary nature of executions under the capitalist rule of the Islamic Republic is political and class-based, mainly aimed at suppressing and silencing hungry and protesting masses.

The violent suppression of protesters in the streets is another clear example of the worsening human rights situation in Iran. During the «Woman, Life, Freedom» revolutionary uprising alone, nearly 700 people were killed by the Islamic Republic’s security forces—around 150 of whom were Kurdish citizens.

Currently, the Islamic regime’s judiciary, in an act of retaliation and intimidation against the women who led the mass uprising of 2022 following the state murder of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini in the city of Saqqez, has issued execution sentences for three women activists—Pakhshan Azizi, Verisha Moradi, and Sharifeh Mohammadi—who are labor and social rights defenders.

The number of political prisoners in Iran exceeds one thousand and is believed to be in the several thousands. However, as I mentioned at the beginning of this interview, due to the political-security structure of the ruling regime, access to accurate figures—especially on political topics—is not possible for ordinary citizens and labor and social activists.

To justify its warmongering policies in the Middle East, the Islamic Republic routinely accuses political and social activists, and even ordinary prisoners, of having links to foreign states and so-called “enemy” powers. To fabricate the necessary narratives and stage bogus stories of foreign plots, the regime puts well-known independent figures from labor, teachers’, women’s, and other progressive social movements under intense pressure to extract forced confessions.

Physical and psychological torture, job dismissals, threats to families, sexual assaults, long-term solitary confinement (commonly known as “white torture”), mock executions, lashings, and other inhumane pressures are used to break individuals’ spirits and brand activists as spies. These vile practices are also intended to spread fear among the masses and prevent revolutionary uprisings.

For instance, on Tuesday, October 29, 2024, in a barbaric act at Urmia Central Prison, regime executioners amputated four fingers from the right hand of two brothers using a guillotine-like device and then returned them to their cells. These brothers were under the age of 18 at the time of the alleged theft for which they were arrested.

While comprehensive statistics and information are lacking, these explanations and typical examples may provide you and your readers with a relatively clear picture of the human rights situation in Iran.

Finally, what is your call to the poor people of the world?

Since 2008, the financial crisis of global capitalism has plunged human society into an economic crisis, which has in turn led to a deep political and social crisis. This crisis has intensified imperialist rivalries among global powers and military and economic alliances. It has given rise to a new imperialist world order, one that has inflicted poverty, unemployment, homelessness, and environmental threats upon the people of the world—and has brought war, sanctions, and starvation upon the people of the Middle East and North Africa in particular.

The coronavirus pandemic clearly demonstrated that the capitalist order places no real value on human health and security. While the military arsenals of NATO, Russia, and the U.S. have stockpiled enough weapons to destroy the planet dozens of times over, the world, during the COVID-19 crisis, faced severe shortages of hospital beds, doctors, nurses, masks, and medicines.

Socially, suicide is rampant; pornography, addiction, and sex work have become lucrative industries; money and commerce trample every human value as if they were worthless commodities. In this landscape, women, children, and workers endure the harshest conditions. The internal contradictions of capitalism have once again revived fascism, once again bringing the world to the crossroads posed by Rosa Luxemburg: socialism or barbarism. Our call to the women and workers of the world is to choose socialism and to organize toward realizing this vision.

The poor of the world have no choice but revolution in the face of these conditions. But revolutions have never emerged solely from poverty, hunger, or structural crises of capitalism. The triumph of revolutions has always stemmed above all from the organization of mass and workers’ movements, and from the working class winning the class struggle against the bourgeois ruling class and exploiters.

Our call to the poor of the world is nothing other than the famous appeal of Marx and Engels in the Communist Manifesto:

“Workers of the world, unite!”

The formation of vanguard proletarian parties—as the historical agents of liberation and the revolutionary class of society, relying on proletarian internationalism—is the alternative for the poor and working people of the world to liberate themselves from the capitalist system.