We released a new short clip for children in Kurdish (Kurmanjî) language to raise awareness against littering and polluting in Rojava.
One of the most important tasks for the ecological revolution in Rojava is education and the change of mentality. The politics of the Syrian regime to expropriate the land of the people and to forbid them to cultivate the rest that they left, led to a strong alienation from nature, especially for people that were forced to move to the cities. The regime was trying to weaken the relation of the local population with their land, aware that this relation is one of the main source of people’s resistance. Knowledge about plants, their use for natural remedies, the way they were part of people’s nutrition, were despised.
Therefor education and change of mentality are crucial steps to restore the connection to nature that existed for thousand of years in Kurdistan and establish structures and a culture that preserve this. This is done with all kind of methods, from education in schools, collective tree planting and also media plays a role. In this way the children can understand how the actions we make to day have an influence on the future of us all – as humans and also of the nature. The development of an ecological mentality is essential for the progress of a democratic system. Children growing up with this approach can more easily understand how the a democratic system is not possible if not based on ecology and, in the same way ecology cannot develop outside a democratic framework. Defending our environment is one of the different forms of self-organization of our society.
We produced this short clip in Kurdish language to explain in a simple language how to treat nature to children.
English translation:
“Our land is a very beautiful and special place
There have been a lot of heroes, that liberated our land
At the same time our land gives us everything we need
We should not pollute our land, throw our trash in the environment, and destroy the nature
Our villages and cities are the places we live in
We live here with our friends and families
Our nature, trees, flowers, rivers and wells are all vivid, that’s why we have to protect them
If we today dirty our environment, our land will not be beautiful any more after some years
Our villages and cities will get dirty and our nature will die
But if we today keep our environment clean and protect our nature, our land will always be beautiful
The nature and the people can live in harmony with each other”