Friends and comrades,

The present dangers faced by struggles for freedom have escalated in disturbing ways over the past 72 hours. The new Syrian government launched a counterrevolutionary assault, greenlit by the Trump administration, upon the Syrian Democratic Forces and the democratic autonomous territories it defends.  With their Arab support collapsed, Syria's self-governing minorities now stand alone and face a fight for their lives.

No matter how dire things may appear, the struggle continues. However badly they may be battered, movements recover and rebuild. The revolution in Rojava has proven, by its own living existence, that the people assembled can govern themselves. That genie can never be put back in the bottle, and it will fuel social transformations for generations to come. The Kurdish nation, moreover, has never been more united. In this moment, what is important above all else is the survival of the region's people, to dream and fight another day.

Below, we have copied the emergency joint statement by a number of American Kurdish organizations, issuing a call to action to us all. Similar calls are echoing across Europe and elsewhere around the world. We owe it to the future of the Kurdish people and of all humanity to answer.

We may feel powerless in moments such as these, but in truth we are not. For those of you in the United States, please, take just ten minutes today to leave messages with your representative in congress and the chairs of the Senate and House foreign affairs committees. Clear signals from the US government about what it will tolerate from its new apparent partner in Damascus will completely change the calculus about whether to merely beat back Rojava's democratic autonomy to local self-governance, or instead to press on into a genocide against Syria's Kurds, Yazidis, and other threatened minorities. All details you'll need are here. Even in acts as small as this, your solidarity is gratefully received.

 ~ Mason Herson-Horvath, ISE program director

Syrian Kurds Are Under Attack!

EMERGENCY JOINT-STATEMENT AND CALL TO ACTION

The Syrian government is waging war on the Kurdish people. 

In recent days, under the leadership of Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (a former leader of al-Qaeda), Syrian state forces have launched a systematic assault on all territories of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Now the Syrian army and its jihadi militias are opening fronts across the northeast region known as Rojava.

As the Syrian army advances, Kurds and other cultural minorities are being forced to flee their homes and subjected to humiliation, torture, execution, and mutilation. Moreover, Syrian state forces have freed thousands of ISIS prisoners previously guarded by the SDF. Despite numerous attempts by Kurdish leaders to reach a ceasefire agreement, al-Sharaa has refused to halt his attacks, seeking instead to consolidate his power by force. As a result, the country is now facing a humanitarian catastrophe and possible genocide. 

Despite its long-standing partnership with the SDF in the fight against ISIS, the United States has failed to intervene or pressure Damascus to halt its attacks, abandoning Syrian Kurds to fend for themselves as they face existential threats. The stakes today are as dramatic as those in 2014, when Kurds were surrounded and besieged by ISIS in Kobane, faced with the choice between resistance or genocide. 

To members of US Congress: We call on you to do everything in your power to publicly condemn the actions of the Syrian government and pressure the Trump administration to stop these attacks! In addition to a potential genocide, we are facing potentially catastrophic security threats with the release of thousands of ISIS prisoners. 

To US Social Movements: We call on you to raise your voices, show your solidarity with the people of Rojava, and put pressure on Congress to act and demand that that U.S. act immediately to halt the slaughter of the Kurdish people.

• Emergency Committee for Rojava (ECR)

• Kurdish Association of Washington (KAWA)

• California Kurdish Community Center (CalKurd)

• Kurdish Cultural Center of Illinois (KCCI)

• Los Angeles Kurdish American Education Society

• New England Kurdish Association (NEKA)

• Kurdish Community of Southern California (KCSC).

• American Kurdish Association (AKA)

• Kurdistan Communities Assembly

• Kurdish American Group (KAG)

• JudiKa

• Naren Briar, Elected official (City of Bellevue, WA)