Five million people amidst a war zone are creating a new society based on principles that are dear to the hearts of many radicals in Australia. Welcome to Posts from AANES: the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). Over the next ten weeks we have a series of interviews with members of a Civil Diplomacy Centre based in the city of Qamislo. This is an insight into how they are organising their society, how they are making decisions and how they are defending their country from aggression from some of the most powerful military empires on the planet. We’re confident you’ll find this series exceptionally interesting but, more importantly, it’s the type of news we need today in order to ensure that here in Australia we continue to act up to create that new society based on egalitarian principles.
Joseph Toscano resumes the conversation with Heval Tekosin. Last week we ended with a discussion of what underpins the idea of refugees in this region as not "burdensome", as in productivist and consumerist Australia. So, what does "working life" look like in a place where maximising GDP is not a core value? With no job descriptions or work contracts, is a worker more able to practise their moral and philosophical ideas? Are there associations that attempt to maintain a skill level in work, especially when law is regarded as a “useful guide” to things? What does the heterogeneous model look like when there are no objective laws? What does it mean to be "inside the revolution" and how does it relate to subject-object thinking? Does philanthropy mean the same in a place where reciprocity simply isn't tallied and counted as we experience it in Australia? How does the autonomous region deal with the free market outside the fuzzy bubble of the revolution? Is there room for self-sufficiency in the region? We thank our guest Heval Tekosin and hope listeners enjoy this episode.
Presented by Anarchist World this Week, Radical Australia, and Talkback With Attitude host, Joseph Toscano.
Produced by City Limits producer Karina Aedo
Title tracks Heyran Jaro and Evare by Awaze Ciya