ISTANBUL – Stating that the ideas of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan are an excellent, rich and creative idea that renews critical thinking starting from Karl Marx, writer Raúl Zibechi said, "Öcalan's thoughts are ahead of the time."

 

Abdullah Öcalan who is the Leader of PKK, delivered to Turkey on 15 February 1999 with an international conspiracy, has been held in solitary confinement in Imrali F Type High Security Prison for 22 years. The paradigm introduced by Öcalan has been written as a subject in many parts of Europe, numerous books and articles on this subject have been written. Some of the articles were brought together by Aram Publishing in the book "New Life Construction Dialogues".

 

We spoke to Raúl Zibechi, who is the author of the section titled "Imaginary dialogues with Öcalan: Updating critical thinking", about the isolation on Öcalan,and his paradigm coming to life.

 

KURDISH PEOPLE PUT ON TARGET

 

Stating that the isolation imposed on Öcalan is an isolation imposed on all people, Zibechi said, "Even though Öcalan's body is in prison, the target is the Kurdish people." Emphasising  that the isolation imposed upon Öcalan should be addressed in two ways, Zibechi said, “On the one hand, it is a warning that something can happen to the Kurds, just as they did to Öcalan. This is a deterrent effect, a clear threat to stop the fight. On the other hand, Turkey deprives the direct support of Öcalan, to the Kurdish people's struggle. This is applied to weaken the resistance. Because if Öcalan had been directly active in this struggle, he could have been a guide by determining the paths and goals.”

 

A DIFFERENT PARADIGM

 

Another reason for the severe isolation according to Zibechi as he said: “It is about supporting the power factors in the Middle East and attacking all the elements that disturb the imperialism  from an imperialist point of view. Öcalan has a different paradigm from those imperialist states. Those imperialist powers, of course are the USA, Russia and the regional powers Syria, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Iran."

 

ERDOĞAN HAS DIRTY PLANS

 

Pointing out that the isolation imposed upon Öcalan is not directly proportional to international law, Zibechi continued as follows: “Immanuel Wallerstein's world system theory deals with the key concepts of 'center and periphery' and talks about the increasing pressure from the center where the capitalist system is concentrated to the periphery. In other words, it implies an increasingly chaotic world. In this context, nobody thinks whether what the Turks do is right or wrong. These forces look at whether it suits them  geopolitically rather than international law. Erdogan also plays hard and dirty, because he can. Because he knows that regional powers need him. "

 

ÖCALAN'S PARADIGM

 

Stating that Öcalan's ideas are an excellent, rich and creative one that renews critical thinking starting from Karl Marx, Zibechi said, "The reference point is Marxism and Leninism, especially in the Soviet version. I can see in Öcalan's ideas that there is a clear and radical break from the debt of capital to the state and the logic of the state, from thinking of capitalist modernity. As far as I know this was a radical and complete break from economics, from the centrality of the economy as a way of seeing the world. Öcalan manages a clean area in this sense. He defines capitalism as power, not economy. He explains it as a specific type of power that can be summed up in modern nation-states. In this way, it can be said that a legacy that focuses on discovering the operation of the laws of the economy can be managed by eliminating the key to understanding the system as it crushes us. This is a great addition to popular and anti-capitalist movements. Because from now on, aside from the theories that focus on observing how economic data develops, the system is changing. And in reality the system is moving towards a greater power density."

 

ÖCALAN MUST BE RELEASED

 

Emphasising  that the isolation imposed on Öcalan is completely unfair, Zibechi stated that Öcalan should be released. Zibechi, who also spoke about the hunger strikes continuing in prisons demanding an end to the isolation on Öcalan, continued his words as follows: “I see the hunger strike as a way of sensitizing the peoples and showing the injustices of the system to the people. But unfortunately, I do not believe that those who defend their liberty can obtain a source of power from those who are closed to any kind of dialogue. I know that those of us who defend their freedom are in a position to fight all kinds of oppression. If the peoples fight to destroy this oppression and advance in this direction, Öcalan's freedom will be closer as they will cut the power that feeds the government. As I said, it is not a matter of law or justice, but of a solution. Peoples do not yet have this power, but they can grow as women and indigenous peoples of the world in the process of self-organizing, starting to fight for their own freedom.”