Chicago Reader, “Teaching Chicagoans that in Rojava, resistance is life”
It’s also gained the admiration of the Western left for its secular political system. Known as Democratic Confederalism, it’s a libertarian socialist political system developed by Öcalan that’s based on the ideas of American anarchist and ecologist Murray Bookchin. At heart, Rojava’s utopian status comes from its rise out of the ashes of a patriarchal […]
Business Insider, “A famous Bitcoin anarchist is reportedly under investigation after fighting ISIS in Syria”
Bitcoin tends to attract anarchists and political radicals. But few are as committed to the cause as Amir Taaki — a prominent Bitcoin developer who is reportedly under investigation after joining an anarchist movement in Syria and fighting ISIS. Continue Reading
WAMU 88.5 (DC), “An Accidental Anarchist?”
It was the war in Iraq that led Ross to quit his job. The film ‘Accidental Anarchist’ traces his journey across the globe as he tries to find an answer to the question many people today are asking themselves – isn’t there a better way? For Carne Ross there is. Anarchism. Continue Reading
Wired, “How an Anarchist Bitcoin Coder Found Himself Fighting ISIS in Syria”
Taaki read about how they’d created a functioning, progressive society of more than 4 million people, based on principles of local direct democracy, collectivist anarchy, and equality for women. “There hasn’t been a revolution like the one in Rojava since the 1930s,” Taaki says, comparing it to Catalonia and the Spanish Civil War. “It’s one of […]
Spin, “Rolling Stone Article About American Radicals Fighting ISIS to Become Jake Gyllenhaal Movie”
“The Anarchists vs. the Islamic State,” an incredible Rolling Stone piece published last month, is going to be a movie. The article centered around 27-year-old Brace Belden, an American “punk and pity criminal” better known as Twitter user @PissPigGrandad, who joined Kurdish militia YPG last year to fight ISIS in Syria. (It also followed several other volunteers of varied nationalities.) According […]
The Hollywood Reporter, “Jake Gyllenhaal, Daniel Espinosa Team Up for Middle Eastern Drama ‘Anarchists vs. ISIS'”
The Rolling Stone article, written by Seth Harp, tells the true story of a ragtag team of American volunteers, socialists and outcasts who are fighting alongside the Kurdish militia known as the YPG to beat ISIS in Syria and establish an anarchist collective amid the rubble of war. Continue Reading
Variety, “Jake Gyllenhaal, ‘Life’ Director Daniel Espinosa to Reteam on ‘The Anarchists vs ISIS’”
The article tells the true story of a ragtag team of American volunteers, socialists, and outcasts, who are fighting alongside the Kurdish militia, known as the YPG, to beat ISIS in Syria and establish an anarchist collective amid the rubble of war. Continue Reading
Rolling Stone, “The Anarchists vs. the Islamic State”
But the YPG is not your typical ethnic or sectarian faction. Its fighters are loyal to an imprisoned guerrilla leader who was once a communist but now espouses the same kind of secular, feminist, anarcho-libertarianism as Noam Chomsky or the activists of Occupy Wall Street. The Kurds are implementing these ideals in Rojava, and that […]
5280 Magazine (Denver), “Mortal Combat: The inside story of two Colorado men fighting on the front lines against the Islamic State.”
MacTaggart had long been drawn to anarchist ideology and was familiar with the Kurds’ plight and politics. “He was attuned to injustice, and it annoyed him to be a passive spectator,” says his mother, Melissa. The Islamic State atrocities in the fall of 2014, in part, galvanized him to take action, and according to his […]
ShadowProof, “An American In Syria: The Anti-Fascist Struggle For Communal Society In The Ruins”
“The main source of volunteers has been Europe; at the Academy where I was trained, we had a lot of rambunctious Italian anarchists, all covered in scars from street fighting with fascists. There are a lot, and I mean a goddam u-boats worth of Germans. Anarchists and Apoists mostly.” Continue Reading