The Kurds of Syria: From Popular Committees to Fighting Units

By adopting Social Movement Theories (SMT) as a basic framework to analyse the 2011 uprisings in the MENA region, this paper will examine the role of alternative networks and other forms of political conflict in reference to the Syrian Kurdistan case. The initial demonstrations in Northern Syria between 2011 and 2012 sparked the formation of new means of popular mobilization, and triggered the mass participation in alternative networks that aimed at recruiting ordinary citizens to provide social services, security and self-defence. Drawing upon interviews with participants in the People’s Protection Units and Women’s Protection Units (YPG-YPJ) [Yekîneyên Parastina Gel-Yekîneyên Parastina Jin]‎, carried out during my period of stay in Syria in 2015, insights on the workings and attempts of institutionalization of the Popular Committees and Women Committees (Mala Gel and Mala Jin) will be provided. In this paper will be argued that, in the context of war in Northern Syria, between 2013 and 2016, with the emergence of a very diverse range of jihadist groups, including ISIS, the participants within those Popular Committees felt the need to be involved in direct action, including the armed struggle, in order to protect their neighborhoods and substitute the constant absence of security personnel. Thus, in Syria those social movements evolved into paramilitary organizations that are very different compared to other grassroots mobilizations in the region.