The Rojava revolution is under siege: The Welsh left must respond

Where exactly in the article did I suggest military intervention?

You're right, Ben. The word 'progressive' stuck out like a sore thumb. Self-congratulatory and very student-like from another era.

Thanks for your response. Without wishing to get bogged down in a lengthy debate on the Catalan issue (which has been covered extensively already in Nation.Cymru), I'd just like to pick up on a few points you made: 1. You are right when you say that the pro-independence coalition in the Generalitat, Junts pel Si, is a coalition that does include some parties that may be defined as 'socialist' or 'social-democratic'. That said, I think you overstate the broader influence of the left within the grouping (particularly since the departure of the Republican Left of Catalonia during the run-up to the 2017 elections), which is dominated by Puigdemont's centre-right PDeCat. By any measure, I think you'd be extremely hard-pressed to justify placing his party's ideology on the left of the political spectrum, and his economic policies in particular do not seem to align with Wood's socialist style of leadership. 2. This leads me on to the underlying motives that have driven the independist agenda in recent years. Obviously, depending on how broad a chronological lens you may wish to adopt, there are a range of diverse factors that could be attributed to the rise of Catalan nationalism. However, based on the fallout from the 2010 Statute of Autonomy court judgement, the impact of the global recession on the rest of Spain and the nature of the rhetoric deployed by some separatist supporters during the 2017 referendum itself, I would argue that one of the most influential catalysts for the very recent upsurge in support for independence has been the 'sense of economic disgruntlement' that I mentioned in the article (which, crucially, has converted large swathes of the Catalan centre and centre-right to the cause of independence for the first time). At no point in the article did I dispute the authoritarian nature of the Spanish state's response, nor indeed do I wish to deny the Catalan people their right to self-determination. I have been very critical of Rajoy's handling of the crisis in the past, and I believe that the best way to resolve this current impasse between the governments of Madrid and Barcelona would be to authorise a free and fair referendum. 3. If my interpretation of the Catalan question spoils the article for you (which is a shame, considering how it's only mentioned very briefly), then I'm afraid your 'Brit Left' jibe taints your comment for me (not that I fully understand the connotations of the insult. Are you accusing me of being a Unionist sympathiser? If so, you are very much mistaken). I am not opposed to nationalist movements per se, and, as I'm sure the article makes abundantly clear, I'm certainly no fan of overly centralised states that drive roughshod over localist desires for self-governance. As a socialist (and my article was directed towards a socialist or left-leaning audience), I'm simply wary of the particular dimensions of the present Catalan independence movement. That said, I'm glad that you agree with the rest of the article, and I hope you'll be able to overlook our disagreements on Catalonia enough to get involved with the Wales-Rojava Solidarity Network!

Lewis my objection to this article, was that it was a rallying call to the Welsh Left to support fellow socialists in Syria. I found the history of Spain to be equally offensive in that respect - it was not our fight, we have no moral high ground on which to preach to others what is right and wrong and we should not have become involved. In my mind the spreading and nurturing our beliefs and ideologies in other countries is wrong - I also disagree the notion that we should spread democracy and everything else, in the believe that these are just causes and fundamental human rights. I see no distinction in our almost religious belief that we are right and the actual religious beliefs of muslims and others who also seek to espouse their own causes - in their eyes these are also considered by to be just and right. I am not implying that there is equivalence of brutality, far from it, just that we seem to have a missionary zeal to impose our ideas on other countries and I find that offensive. We are not the right and just arbiters of world affairs and should not promote and aid in the supporting of groups looking to take control of other countries. I believe that the US, EU and the UN have acted reprehensibly in Syria, supporting rebel factions and groups, in much the same way as neighbouring countries in the area have also fiddled and played out this proxy war. It was perfectly correct to be critical of Assad and the Syrian government at the outset - it was reprehensible to support groups to overthrow it. We have blood on our hands and I do not want us to continue suporting rebel groups and other elements - simple and far from a Daily Mail perspective I would imagine, where commentators would no doubt be very happy to see everyone bombing the hell out of everyone else, hoping that ultimately we'll end up with a nice westernised democracy or in this case some sort of socialist utopia.

Diolch.

Hi Fabra, thanks for your comment. I did apologise for my oversight in neglecting to mention Jonathan Edwards' contributions on the Nation.Cymru Facebook group, though in my defence this article was actually written before he raised the particular issue of the Afrin offensive in Parliament. Also, most of the links you've supplied here are in reference to the Kurdistan independence vote in Iraq: as I mention in the article, it is very important to distinguish between the KRG in Iraqi Kurdistan and the DFNS in Northern Syria, which have pursued very different ideological agendas in recent years, often leading to strained relations between the two.