Martyrdöd & Adrestia - In Solidarity With Rojava 7"

For some years now a great part of the Left and the anarchist milieu has been enchanted by the "Rojava Revolution," the autonomous Kurdish region of Northern Syria that was created after the government Syrian Army withdrew from there to fight Jihadist rebel groups and was taken over by the YPG (People's Protetion Units), a Kurdish militia related to PKK. The administration of Rojava has been lauded by various anticapitalist groups for its rejection of the creation of a top-down state in favor of a more autonomous confederate organization, its alleged self-organization of its army units, and its elevation of the status of women, who have been very visible in the battles against ISIS. Looks can be deceiving, though, as not only have the YPG and the Rojava region been consistently proven to be America's proxy in the Middle East fighting to destabilize Syria, Turkey, Iran and every other non-American-aligned state (that doesn't mean that the regimes of these countries should be supported against America, just that the US is trying to destroy them), and it's no coincidence that Rojava is being praised by Israel, but also they're not exactly fighting against ISIS, as this recent report by BBC has highlighted. Furthermore, the YPG have been accused of conducting ethnic cleansing against Arabs in the regions they have taken over by ISIS. Unfortunately, the downfall of the Left, in a general sense of the idea, has created such needs to believe in something, that many people end up supporting anyone professing to be libertarian or revolutionary, or even going for a reformist social-democratic government change, like SYRIZA in Greece who turned out to be exactly the same as neoliberal right-wing bastards. It's interesting that all these people don't quite show their solidarity in the same way for the Palestinian cause, which is the beacon of resistance to imperialism and racism for decades now, or for communist armed struggle movements waging guerrilla wars in Southeast Asia, like the Naxalites in India, the New People's Army in Philippines, or some years ago the Maoists in Nepal. I'd also say that the repeated promotion of the beautiful Kurdish woman carrying guns is also a repetition of the Western sexist male gaze on women.

What's all this got to do here? The German La Familia Releases label released a split 7" between Swedish punk bands Martyrdöd and Adrestia, the money from the sales of which is to go to the Rojavan cause. Well, whether one agrees or disagrees with the so-called Rojava "Revolution," the music here is quite good. Martyrdöd has been for years now the leading light of Swedish crust, mixing d-beat punk with amazing black-and-death-metal-influenced melodies and raspy vocals, while Adrestia is a new band, playing a rawer and heavier crust style with more tremolo riffing close to old Swedish death metal legends like Entombed and Dismember. 2017 7" on La Familia Releases.

Download