Syria’s Kurds dreamt of a ‘Rojava revolution’. Assad will snuff this out | Kenan Malik

Three hundred thousand people displaced. Villages and infrastructure destroyed. Allegations of white phosphorus use. The costs of the Turkish invasion of northern Syria to create a “safe zone” are immense, the latest twist in the seemingly intractable Syrian war.

Beyond the immediate human costs, there lies also a deeper loss. Rojava, the Kurdish name for the autonomous region of northern Syria, into which the Turkish army is advancing, is more than a geographic area. It is also an experiment in democracy and equality. It is, in fact, one of many such experiments that have flourished during the years of the Syrian war, shaped by the work of thinkers such as the late Omar Aziz. Most have been crushed either by Bashir al-Assad’s regime or by Islamic State, which once controlled large areas of Syria. Now Rojava, too, is threatened with destruction.