Skip to main content
What does the fall of Assad mean for Rojava and its women’s revolution?
The Kurdish women’s organisation Kongra Star argues that the system established in north-east Syria’s autonomous administration is a significant step forward for women’s rights and politics in the region and must be defended
A joint declaration on March 8 [Kongra Star]

IN 2011, the winds of the Arab Spring blew into Syria and protests against the regime of the Ba’ath Party led by Bashar al-Assad gave rise to a civil war that continues to this day under the influence of a wide variety of political forces.

In north-east Syria, also known as “Rojava” (the Kurdish name for Western Kurdistan), the Syrian state largely withdrew after the people’s uprising in 2012. The majority Kurdish population in the region took the initiative and began to establish self-administration based on communes and councils and empowerment of women.

From the beginning of the revolution, women organised themselves independently, set up their communes and councils, participated in all political decisions and implemented a co-chair-system and gender quotas in all institutions, as well as women’s and family laws. A women’s revolution began in Rojava.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
ETHNIC STRIFE: Women condemn, yesterday, a video in circulation that allegedly shows a fighter affiliated with the Syrian government holding the braid of a Kurdish female fighter after killing her, in Qamishli, northeastern Syria
Middle East / 23 January 2026
23 January 2026

VIJAY PRASHAD details how US support for Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa allowed him to break the resistance of the autonomous Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)

Druze militiamen ride a motorcycle past the site of an alleged Israeli army strike last week on the main road outside Sweida, Syria, July 25, 2025
Features / 29 July 2025
29 July 2025

VIJAY PRASHAD looks at the web of militias and drug-trafficking gangs that emerged in the Sweida region through the Syrian civil war, and how they relate to recent clashes and Israel’s intervention

syria
Books / 10 July 2025
10 July 2025

ALEX HALL follows the battered fortunes of Syria, a multi-ethnic country caught in the crossfire of competing imperialist interests