Today in Labor History January 27, 2014: The Kobani Canton declared its autonomy from the Syrian Arab Republic during the Rojava conflict. Supporters claim they have implemented a form of libertarian socialism, influenced by American anarchist Murray Bookchin, with decentralization, gender equality and local governance through direct democracy. They have created worker cooperatives and govern the cantons through district councils, each with one male and one female co-president. The councils have gender quotas requiring at least 40% female participation. They have banned child marriages and honor killings. They are attempting to replace punitive justice with a system of restorative justice. And women play a prominent role on the battlefield, as well as within the political system. Yet private property remains a part of their system, which is inconsistent with Bookchinian anarchism. And according to Andrea Glioti, remnants of the PKK’s Stalinist past remain in Rojava. He cites the ubiquitous portraits of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, often accompanied by the slogan “There’s no life without a leader.”

#workingclass #LaborHistory #syria #kurdish #anarchism #kobani #rojava #murraybookchin #pkk #abullahocalan

Today in Labor History January 27, 2014: The Kobani Canton declared its autonomy from the Syrian Arab Republic during the Rojava conflict. Supporters claim they have implemented a form of libertarian socialism, influenced by American anarchist Murray Bookchin, with decentralization, gender equality and local governance through direct democracy. They have created worker cooperatives and govern the cantons through district councils, each with one male and one female co-president. The councils have gender quotas requiring at least 40% female participation. They have banned child marriages and honor killings. They are attempting to replace punitive justice with a system of restorative justice. And women play a prominent role on the battlefield, as well as within the political system. Yet private property remains a part of their system, which is inconsistent with Bookchinian anarchism. And according to Andrea Glioti, remnants of the PKK’s Stalinist past remain in Rojava. He cites the ubiquitous portraits of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, often accompanied by the slogan “There’s no life without a leader.”

#workingclass #LaborHistory #syria #kurdish #anarchism #kobani #rojava #murraybookchin #pkk #abullahocalan

Today in Labor History January 26. 1682: Benjamin Lay was born in England. Lay emigrated to the Provine of Pennsylvania, in British North America, where he became a radical Quaker activist against slavery, and for the rights of women and animals. He was a prolific writer on abolition and his “All Slave-Keepers that Keep the Innocent in Bondage” was one of the first abolitionist works published in the 13 Colonies. In an act of protest, he once stood outside a Quaker meeting in the middle of winter, barefoot, and without any coat. When passersby expressed concern for his health, he asked why they were not concerned for the health of the slaves, who were forced to work in the snow dressed as he was. He also once kidnapped the child of slaveholders temporarily to demonstrate to them how it felt when one’s relatives were stolen and sold. In another act of protest, this time in front of his Quaker brethren, he quoted the Bible saying that all men should be equal under God, and then plunged a sword into a Bible containing a bladder of blood-red pokeberry juice, which spattered over those nearby. He refused to consume any products made from slave labor. He was a vegetarian. He was roughly four feet tall, with a hunchback. He referred to himself as “Little Benjamin.” During the 2012 Occupy Movement, the Occupy encampment in Jenkintown, PA, where Lay was buried, activists renamed the town square as “Benjamin Lay Plaza.”

#workingclass #LaborHistory #benjaminlay #slavery #abolition #racism #quakers #civildisobedience #directaction #feminism #animalrights #occupy

Today in Labor History January 26. 1682: Benjamin Lay was born in England. Lay emigrated to the Provine of Pennsylvania, in British North America, where he became a radical Quaker activist against slavery, and for the rights of women and animals. He was a prolific writer on abolition and his “All Slave-Keepers that Keep the Innocent in Bondage” was one of the first abolitionist works published in the 13 Colonies. In an act of protest, he once stood outside a Quaker meeting in the middle of winter, barefoot, and without any coat. When passersby expressed concern for his health, he asked why they were not concerned for the health of the slaves, who were forced to work in the snow dressed as he was. He also once kidnapped the child of slaveholders temporarily to demonstrate to them how it felt when one’s relatives were stolen and sold. In another act of protest, this time in front of his Quaker brethren, he quoted the Bible saying that all men should be equal under God, and then plunged a sword into a Bible containing a bladder of blood-red pokeberry juice, which spattered over those nearby. He refused to consume any products made from slave labor. He was a vegetarian. He was roughly four feet tall, with a hunchback. He referred to himself as “Little Benjamin.” During the 2012 Occupy Movement, the Occupy encampment in Jenkintown, PA, where Lay was buried, activists renamed the town square as “Benjamin Lay Plaza.”

#workingclass #LaborHistory #benjaminlay #slavery #abolition #racism #quakers #civildisobedience #directaction #feminism #animalrights #occupy