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Manifesto of the Democratic Civilization #2
Capitalism, The Age of Unmasked Gods and Naked Kings. Manifesto for a Democratic Civilization, Volume II
El presente libro es el segundo tomo de los cinco que integran el Manifiesto por una Civilización Democrática, fue terminado de escribir por Abdullah Öcalan desde la prisión en la isla de Imrali, Turquía en el verano de 2008. Publicado originalmente en lengua Turca en junio de 2009 este segundo volumen se titula ?Civilización Capitalista? la era de los dioses sin máscara y los reyes desnudos. A este le seguirán la publicación de los otros tres tomos, para completar lo que el autor define como su trabajo más importante, y que fue enviado al Tribunal de Apelación del Tribunal Euro peo de Derechos Humanos, reclamando su derecho a un juicio justo. Este libro al igual que los otros cuatro, puede leerse individualmente. Se trata como dice Öcalan de Interpretar el capitalismo como la religión de la que más se habla y en torno a la cual se genera la mayor actividad, y que esto podrá contribuir a su correcta comprensión. Al elaborar las ?defensas? como él llama este trabajo en su conjunto, Öcalan se libera de los moldes mentales del Capitalismo, nos dice que al igual que el islam tiene el Bismillah, el capitalismo tiene también sus propias fórmulas sagradas y que para liberarnos de él, hay que suprimir sus plegarias, y que entre sus formulas sagradas el ?método científico? es una de las principales que se ha logrado imponer.
340 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
5 people are currently reading
357 people want to read
About the author
Abdullah Öcalan
96 books341 followersAbdullah Öcalan is the founder of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). From 1984, under his leadership, the PKK fought for Kurdish liberation. Since his kidnapping and arrest in 1999, he has been in solitary confinement in Imrali Island Prison.
Since his imprisonment, Ocalan has written extensively on Middle Eastern and Kurdish history. With his books he has significantly influenced the course of Kurdish politics in the last two decades.
He argues for the concepts of Democratic Autonomy and Democratic Confederalism that are considered an alternative to a Kurdish nation-state.
From 2009-2015, the Turkish state held negotiations with him about a solution of the Kurdish Question. Since the collapse of the talks in 2015, Öcalan has been under total isolation.
Since his imprisonment, Ocalan has written extensively on Middle Eastern and Kurdish history. With his books he has significantly influenced the course of Kurdish politics in the last two decades.
He argues for the concepts of Democratic Autonomy and Democratic Confederalism that are considered an alternative to a Kurdish nation-state.
From 2009-2015, the Turkish state held negotiations with him about a solution of the Kurdish Question. Since the collapse of the talks in 2015, Öcalan has been under total isolation.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 1, 2022
I've hesitated a lot to give five stars to this second volume of “Manifesto for a Democratic Civilization”. I had a grave issue with the chapter named “In Memory of the Victims of the Jewish Genocide” and several other remarks dispersed throughout the book. I’m sad that such a thinker as Öcalan can still be confused with complotist theories. But I guess no one is perfect. I found this short debunking interesting to put perspective to the aforementioned parts : https://social-ecology.org/wp/2021/07... (it’s based on the third volume, but the issues are the same).
The reason I still give five stars to a therefore imperfect book, is the all the rest is so great that according to me it still deserves the highest ranking. I’m not a good enough writer to make a good synthesis of the ideas contained in this book. What I can say is that it has a very interesting perspective on all history and civilizational concepts, and that I learned quite a lot, understand much more about a lot of concepts that have been obscure to me until now, and expanded my thinking horizons. Öcalan cite a lot of others authors, which I haven’t all read already such as Nietzsche, Bookchin, Braudel, Foucault, Adorno, that I’m very curious to explore more, as well as the history the lead to the current situation in Kurdistan.
The reason I still give five stars to a therefore imperfect book, is the all the rest is so great that according to me it still deserves the highest ranking. I’m not a good enough writer to make a good synthesis of the ideas contained in this book. What I can say is that it has a very interesting perspective on all history and civilizational concepts, and that I learned quite a lot, understand much more about a lot of concepts that have been obscure to me until now, and expanded my thinking horizons. Öcalan cite a lot of others authors, which I haven’t all read already such as Nietzsche, Bookchin, Braudel, Foucault, Adorno, that I’m very curious to explore more, as well as the history the lead to the current situation in Kurdistan.
April 9, 2021
As a fan of Ocalan's work I would suggest you give this one a pass, for a book on Capitalism it barely mentions it mostly focussing on tangents about the ancient and Feudal civilizations and reactionary bollocks against science and positivism instead of pointing out how the economics make them biased and how they were used to justify atrocities such as Social Darwinism and racial "science". He correctly identifies parts of the Capitalist superstructure such as those and how it developed through the protestant movement, the renaissance, and the enlightenment but his analysis of them is disappointing.
Also his commentary on the state is lacking from p.191 to p.201 and the definitions of different types of states are poor, he contradicts himself saying that the state shouldn't be defined in the Marxist sense as a tool of class then defines it as an economic monopoly characterised by extraction of surplus.
Ocalan's previous books analysing how the superstructure (ideology/religion) developed alongside slave society and Feudalism is spot on and I would highly recommend The Roots of Civilization and The Age of Masked Gods and Disguised Kings, both of which I rated 5/5.
Also his commentary on the state is lacking from p.191 to p.201 and the definitions of different types of states are poor, he contradicts himself saying that the state shouldn't be defined in the Marxist sense as a tool of class then defines it as an economic monopoly characterised by extraction of surplus.
Ocalan's previous books analysing how the superstructure (ideology/religion) developed alongside slave society and Feudalism is spot on and I would highly recommend The Roots of Civilization and The Age of Masked Gods and Disguised Kings, both of which I rated 5/5.
March 7, 2021
Capitalism is immoral. Please trade me money for my uninformed book. Really? Capitalism without government rules and regulations nor tax code influence is simply open commerce under Liberty which seems to offend the hell out of a lot of people when others become wealthy through honest commerce.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews