STRUGGLES

A conversation with the Wan
Economic commission
The DTK has set up a number ofregional commissions to deal with areas
such as ecology, economy, education, language, religion, culture, science,
diplomacy, women and young people.
We interviewed Mehmet Cengiz, Doğan Çelikbilek and Rıza Tan from the
Wan (Van in Turkish) Economic Commission, which was set up by the DTK.
(See the previous interview to learn more about the DTK).
democratic autonomyin bakur
Corporate Watch: Can you tell us about the work
ofthe Economic Commission?
Economic Commission: The spirit ofour work
is Mr Öcalan. With his ideas and his books,
we try to establish democratic autonomy.
We have different commissions for specific
areas under the umbrella ofthe DTK. For
example economy, ecology, religion, culture,
law, education, health and gender. We are
the Economic Commission.
In Wan, we started by organising five
workshops and after that we organised a
conference on the economic politics of
Kurdistan. After the conference we
established an Economic Commission in
Wan and tried to organise in all ofthe city.
We cooperated with the mayors and local
government in Wan [Wan municipality is
held by the People's Democratic Party
(HDP), which supports the movement for
democratic confederalism].
Ifwe talk about our ideology about
economy, in socialism the main
organisational ideology is collectivism. In
our ideology and way ofwork, our ideology
is communalism. Capitalism is
individualist, so we try to establish
something more communal and more
public, consisting ofall ofthe public. Ifwe
can do this in the economy and other places
we will be able to say we have been
successful. Capitalists think ofKurdistan as
a big market. People in Kurdistan cannot
produce the things they need. They produce
for capitalism and sell for capitalism and
export.
Our main concern is that we need
to free our land, energy and water,
and then we can be free. We will
make them communal for
everybody. They will be common,
not private.
With communes, public assemblies, cooperatives
and unions, we try to build
democratic autonomy. What is important
for us is local produce. People who live here
must produce something and consume it as
well. Instead ofbeing a market for
capitalism and industrialism, we need to be
more productive.
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