On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Paris Commune, and the 10th anniversary of the onset of the Syrian revolution, this re-blogged post by Leila al-Shami sums up neatly what needs to be said. This is re-blogged from Leila’s site at https://leilashami.wordpress.com/2021/03/18/building-alternative-futures-in-the-present-the-case-of-syrias-communes/?fbclid=IwAR166YgrIWloVII4BUQL0vF7AgpUJMyX-uUnsMJ4y_pktFeiwV6W_d1dYuM, and was originally published in The Funambulist.
Originally published at The Funambulist
“We are no less than the Paris commune workers: they resisted for 70 days and we are still going on for a year and a half.” Omar Aziz, 2012
On 18 March 2021 people around the globe will be commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Paris Commune. On this date, ordinary men and women claimed power for themselves, took control of their city and ran their own affairs independently from the state for over two months before being crushed in a Bloody Week by the French government in Versailles. The Communards’ experiment in autonomous, democratic self-organisation, as a means to both resist state tyranny and to create a radical alternative to it, holds an important place in the collective imaginary and has provided inspiration for generations of revolutionaries.
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Syrian Revolution Commentary and Analysis 