lucien_david's review
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
A useful introduction to Öcalan’s thought and biography, this collection has a number of modern scholars and activist situate Öcalan and the Kurdish liberation struggle in the wider left and political world. The authors give thoughtful criticism of Öcalan’s early work and discuss the development of his thought over the course of his life and imprisonment. Perhaps most valuable are the points of departure between various contributors. I was particularly tickled by David Graeber taking Hardt and Negri’s Empire to task while Antonio Negri also contributes.
renfdes's review
4.5
I initially picked this up for Graeber’s chapter, which was definitely my favourite; I loved some chapters and found others a bit dense, especially the couple that focused on reading Öcalan’s thought through European philosophers, contrasting Graeber’s chapter on how his work can’t be divorced from praxis (vs many of the European Marxists and Marxists in academia).
Chapter highlights:
10: Historiography, Gender, and Resistance by Muriel González Athenas
11: Reading Öcalan as a South Asian Woman by Radha D’Souza
12: “There Can Be No Utopia or Reality That Is More Ambitious Than This”: The Democratic Modernism of Svetozar Marković and Abdullah Öcalan by Andrej Grubačić
15: Öcalan as Thinker: On the Unity of Theory and Practice as Form of Writing by David Graeber
Chapter highlights:
10: Historiography, Gender, and Resistance by Muriel González Athenas
11: Reading Öcalan as a South Asian Woman by Radha D’Souza
12: “There Can Be No Utopia or Reality That Is More Ambitious Than This”: The Democratic Modernism of Svetozar Marković and Abdullah Öcalan by Andrej Grubačić
15: Öcalan as Thinker: On the Unity of Theory and Practice as Form of Writing by David Graeber
More...