About imperialist support to the YPG-YPJ

YPG-Training camp for international volunteers, canton of Cizîrê, May 17th, 2017

Some pretend that coming to Rojava and risking your life plays into the hands of the US and their imperialist interests, others say that I get payed 5000 dollars each month by the billionaire George Soros…

What can I answer to such conspiracy accounts? That as an antifascist activist in France, I was already a fighter serving the interest of the government and paid by Soros? That I got a promotion and now receive orders directly from the top of the Empire, the USA?

Obviously, it’s needless to answer anything to these trolls from the radical right who spend their life time criticising and discrediting all emancipatory movements so they can feel better in their own activist mediocrity.

But I will try to answer to those activists who are honestly wondering about the meaning of the imperialist “support” to the YPG-YPJ and who are intrigued about the authenticity of what is happening in Rojava.

These interventions need to be considered in their specific context.

This objective alliance started at the second battle around Kobanê, when the city was surrounded by the Islamic State and defended by the YPG-YPJ. IS was extremely well armed – principally due to the weapons they had seized in the huge American military stocks of Mosul, Iraq – while the YPG-YPJ only had a few weapons they had grabbed here and there, or that had been introduced to Rojava before the civil war. Despite their fierce defense, motivated by their revolutionary ideals, the military superiority of their adversaries pushed them back.

Daesh was about to gain control over Kobanê. While the YPG were cornered in two neighborhoods of the city, the USA decided to support their heroic resistance, even though the Americans had up to now ignored the Kurdish movement out of loyalty towards their Turkish ally. Their air-force destroyed the heavy material of Daesh, which modified the power balance and eventually allowed the YPG to earn a narrow and painful victory.

Much to the displeasure of Turkey

Where did this sudden change of mind come from? Had the American capitalists taken over the Kurdish movement? Was the Pentagon moved by some human feelings? Had US-multinationals been promised to access the abundant resources of Rojava? Of course not, they are already reserved for big Israel!!!! (just kidding)

The only explanation is the imperialist interests of the US. It’s principal enemy at the moment is Daesh. As the adage goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. It’s the same logic as when the third Reich allowed Lenin to enter Russia; or when Soviet war efforts against Nazis received support from the US. The Americans give us limited support. They know quiet well that, if Kobanê had fallen into the hands of IS it wouldn’t have been their “faithful” Turkish ally that would have stopped weapons, goods and humans traffic towards the Caliphate.

Through their resistance, the Kurds have gained respect from the imperialist powers and are now considered as the most efficient force to get rid of their most urgent problem: Daesh. Much to the displeasure of Turkey whose principal enemy is and stays the Kurdish left.

Why didn’t the Americans support the mercenaries who are armed by Turkey to fight Daesh? Because they ran away at the slighted attack by the Islamic State – admittedly, they had good reasons to do so, since IS has fearsome fighters but this is another question – and this precisely allowed IS to obtain even more weapons! The imperialists don’t support us for fun, but out of necessity, because they consider us as their best tool against Daesh.