Reddit reviews Prison Writings: The Roots of Civilisation
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Used Book in Good Condition
>Considering this sub focuses on leftism in the Muslim world, what should Muslim socialists take away from what's going on in Rojava?
>Should the Muslim world take heed of the revolution of Rojava and possibly adopt Ocalan's ideology themselves as well?
Hey all, just found your subreddit, and I think it's pretty cool. I'm a moderator from over at /r/Communalists (we're a subreddit dedicated to the politics of Rojava, and Communalism more generally). I thought I'd come here and talk a bit (very briefly) about Ocalan's views on Islam.
Ocalan clearly outlines the relevance of Islam to his democratic confederalist ideology in his book The Roots of Civilization. According to Ocalan, Islam was originally a progressive ideology that advanced humanism and endowed all sections of society with rights that they did not have under previous Middle Eastern orders. However, Ocalan holds that Islam was hiacked by the Umayyad Dynasty, who stood at the intersections between tribal zeal and the aggrandizing powers they received by the administrative structure they seized. Ocalan holds that this "counter-revolution within Islam" was chiefly responsible for the eventual degeneration of Islamic culture, which was to become the last grand form of Middle Eastern civilization.
Ocalan says that the first period of Islamic culture, from the 8th to the 12th century, was an era of tremendous blossoming. However an oppressive and reactionary aspect came forth in the late Abbasid period onwards and stiffled all further development. Hierarchic (theocratic or autocratic) governance crushed the individual.
For Ocalan,dogmatic fatalist thought is one of the most destructive residues of this system, as it paralyses social agencies and stops change. In contrast, Ocalan draws attention to heterodox Middle Eastern currents (e.g. Islamic mysticism, renegade sects, secular popular traditions in arts and literature, and so on) to form the backbone of a positive heritage (i.e. dialectic of ideas) necessary for a renaissance in the Middle East (one of its own historical traditions).