Abstract:
The revolutionary movement of ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ began from Kurdistan and spread to Iran. This slogan is a product of Kurdish freedom movement which has been ongoing for more than a century. The strategic significance of the slogan ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ in the current conjuncture of Iranian politics slogan necessitates a dynamic and historical understanding of the so-called ‘Kurdish question’ in Iran and the wider region. This paper is a tentative response to this need through an intellectual framework that on analytical level avoids ‘methodological state-centrism’, and on theoretical level avoids ‘internalism’. It foregrounds the intersocietal nature of the historical emergence and evolution of the Kurdish question and the abiding significance of geopolitical dynamics within it. It argues that due to the international dynamics of the Kurdish question only a new, plural and democratic conception of ‘the nation’ and political and cultural ecentralization can offer a sustainable solution to it.
[1] A large part of this speech was written in English about a year ago and before the revolution of women, life, freedom.
