Academy of Social Science

Please register at carleton.ca/law/event/wo...

WOMEN, LIFE, FREEDOM, HOPE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

February 24, 2:30-4PM
D492 Loeb Building, Carleton University, Ottawa

In this talk, Havin Guneser and Harriet Friedmann will introduce the Academy of Social Science, its communes, and the journal Democratic Modernity as a collective infrastructure for anti-oppressive knowledge production and political education.

The presentation will be followed by a Q&A.

WOMEN, LIFE, FREEDOM, HOPE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

13 Feburary, 3-5 PM
BA 2135, Bahen Building, 40 St George Street, Toronto

Editorial By Patrick Huff and the Editorial Collective Dear readers, We are pleased to welcome you to the inaugural issue of our journal, Democratic Modernity. This is the publication of the Academy of Socia…

“To think hope is to enter into a different grammar of thought.”

Read more in Issue 01 of Democratic Modernity, and at academyofsocialscience.org/2026/02/10/e...

The Editorial of issue 01 of Democratic Modernity, written by Patrick Huff and the Editorial Collective, is now available online!

Mechthild Exo, Nik Matheou, and Amber Huff will be the main speakers at the event. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A.

The conversation approaches democratic modernity as a horizon of hope grounded in woman's freedom, community self-organization, and transnational solidarity.

WOMEN, LIFE, FREEDOM, HOPE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

20 February, 16:00-18:00
Lichthof Ost, Humboldt University, Berlin

This talk, moderated by Alice von Bieberstein, will introduce the Academy of Social Science, its research communes, and the Journal Democratic Modernity.

Today our sisters and brothers in the Kurdish Freedom Movement continue to demonstrate the possibilities of building a truly free life for all, against the depredations and utter misery of capital, empire and the Nation-State."

The workers of @pmpress.bsky.social share a message of solidarity with Rojava:

"More than 125 years ago, the rallying cry of the international working class, and their opposition to capitalism, nationalism, imperialism and war, was "The Workers of the World Have No Country".

We stand in solidarity with the struggle of the Kurds in Rojava and strongly reject fascist intervention."

They want to destroy Rojava because Rojava represents not only the most radical experience of popular self-determination in the Middle East, but also an example of the construction of a revolutionary democracy from below, which challenges and transcends the dominant paradigm.

The forces of fascist violence that accompany the restructuring of the capitalist system are determined to destroy Rojava, now besieged and attacked by the Syrian and Turkish armies.

A statement of solidarity with Rojava from the Posgrado de Sociología of the Instituto de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades “Alfonso Vélez Pliego”, at the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Mexico.

"Stop the fascist aggression in Rojava!

"Today we have to choose: either the world of nationalism or the world of Rojava; either the barbarism of the state or the freedom of democratic autonomy; either the world of Trump, Erdogan, and Putin, or an egalitarian, environmental society based on the liberation of women and all life."

Andrej Grubačić, founding Chair of the Department of Anthropology and Social Change at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco and founding member of the Academy of Social Science, issued a statement and video message in solidarity with Rojava.

"From Brazil, I express solidarity with Rojava in the face of the attacks it is currently suffering. To defend Rojava is to defend the autonomy of peoples, the liberation of women, and the possibility of other worlds amid the ruins of this one."

Ana Paula Morel, Associate Professor at Fluminense Federal University (UFF) and author of "A World To Many Worlds: Decolonizing Education and the Zapatista Revolution", issued a statement in solidarity with Rojava.

A video message and statement for the end of the attacks on Rojava and the Autonomous Administration by Mechthild Exo, a founding member of the Academy of Social Science, peace researcher, lecturer and activist.

"The war must stop now! Rojava is where the grounds for peace to flourish are reality."

I believe that principle remains unchanged.

Today, it is a matter of the people of the world mobilizing against imperialism and capitalism to halt this deadly offensive.”

...without the slightest intention of being consistent.

We are in a period of resistance, but not of absolute defensiveness. "The mobilization of the entire people will form a vast sea to drown the enemy," wrote Mao Zedong in response to the Japanese invasion in 1938.

Given this situation, we, the people, must be very clear about the times we live in. The powerful have refused to sign agreements with the people and are far from initiating peace processes, although, as deception is a key element of war, they sometimes utter the word "peace"...

“We are facing a war of aggression by several states (Turkey and Syria, supported by Israel, the United States, and the European Union) to occupy Rojava and destroy its autonomy. This war is part of the major global political shifts related to the struggle for global hegemony among major powers.

Raúl Zibechi, a founding member of the Academy of Social Science, popular educator, journalist and writer of more than 30 books about “pueblos en movimiento”, issued a statement in solidarity with Rojava.

Ordinary people 'are the homeland, the first and last losers of wars and battles.' This is the lesson of the Rojava experience. The world must listen. See reality; stand in solidarity. It is the way ahead, perhaps the only way."

Only this will justify using their full military might to crush the life out of Kurdistan.

It is utterly crucial that the world pays attention, that the veil is lifted, and that the reality is uncovered. Only ordinary people can bring an end to these horrors.

The situation in Aleppo and Kobane exposes the complicity of an international grouping that includes major European and Middle Eastern powers. They look on while deals are done by the Turkish, Israeli, and US administrations. The real aim is the old one: to criminalise the entire Kurdish nation.

I stand in solidarity with the people of Rojava, and their resistance to the terrorist horrors practised against them by the Turkish State and the interim Damascus government.

James Kelman, a founding member of the Academy of Social Science, acclaimed writer, and winner of multiple literary prizes, including the Booker Prize, issued a message of solidarity for Rojava.

Long Histories of Democratic Civilization Building on the work of previous movements, revolutionaries and intellectuals, Abdullah Öcalan theorizes history as the result of the constant flow of two rivers: state civilization, a five-thousan…

Long Histories of Democratic Civilization - A Call for Participation

Check the page to read the full call and to register to participate in the works of the Commune!

academyofsocialscience.org/democratic-c...