Our Department of Anthropology and Cultural Research has been holding joint seminars with the University of Rojava (Qamishlo) since 2021. This digital teaching format has been extremely enriching for all the students and lecturers both in Bremen and Rojava. We have learnt so much from one another, have listened, debated and laughed together. We have been deeply moved by our partners' commitment for emancipatory education in the spirit of radical democratic and feminist learning, peaceful inter-ethnic co-existence, ecological regeneration, and life. This collaboration has shaped the thinking of all of us and allowed us to widen our perspectives on the world.

We are deeply shocked about the relentess attacks on Northeast Syria by the army of the interim government and islamist mercenaries, and the mass violence and humanitarian crisis that this has brought about. Our colleagues report that the universities are now closed. All public buildings have become schelters for the hundred thousands of displaced people who have fled with nothing but the clothes they were wearing. The students have either taken up arms in self-defence or are supporting the refugees. The University of Raqqa has been looted, while our colleagues in Qamishlo are bringing materials and equipment to safety. Our colleagues are not only fearing for their lives, but also for the educational system that they built up amidst the ruins of the war to counter the decades of repression against the Kurds, their language and identity and enable an alternative education. This attack by the fundamentalist forces is therefore also an attack against these academic institutions, their efforts to establish a peaceful, democratic society, the importance they give to scholarly knowledge, and the fundamental role of women in them.

We stand by our colleagues in their struggle for freedom and peace. We reaffirm our unwavering solidarity with the universities of Rojava/Northeast Syria and call for the immediate protection of civilian populations as well as educational and academic institutions.

In this context, we refer to the statement of our partner university EHESS, which likewise affirms academic solidarity with the universities in Rojava. The full statement is available here.