Abdullan Öcalan

The formation of nation-states, and the cultivation of nationalism has severely weakened the political imagination. They have inevitably given rise to governmental systems which strive to homogenize the population and use this "unity" or purity as a bludgeon to rule over the population they administer. Ocalan points outlines how this has specifically occurred in the Middle East. Democratic confederalism, by contrast, stitches together a quilt of ethnic, gender, neighborhood, and political assemblies and forms the basis for shared purpose and affinity rather than shared nationality and essential categorization as governing principle.

One of the strengths of this tiny little book is it's idea of the way that religion and its devotion is passed into the secular state. A weakness is that it's not a unifying theory, you're going to need to accompany it with a thorough criticism of capitalism and property relations. It is a political book, not an economic one, which is a little disappointing in its compartmentalism.

The book is so tiny you can crush it in an hour, but it's dense enough that if you're reading it before bed (like I did), you should allow yourself a little more time to absorb it.… (mais)