Freedom Shall Prevail

Freedom Shall Prevail is the first graphic novel exploring

the life and struggle of Abdullah ?calan, affectionately known as "Apo."



Highly regarded around the world, ?calan led the

Kurdish freedom struggle as the head of the PKK from its foundation in

1978 until his abduction by the Turkish state in 1999. He has, so far,

spent twenty-five years in captivity. In this graphic novel we learn, in

his own words, what ?calan's childhood was like in the partially

Kurdish areas of Eastern Turkey and how his political awareness and

commitment grew as a student in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Through

the personal struggle of ?calan we also see the terrible devastation

that Kurdish people have suffered and learn about the tumultuous and

dramatic history of the relationship between the Kurds and the Turkish

state.

The book also dives into the theories developed by ?calan

that continue to influence the ongoing struggle today. Expanding on

these, the second part of the book gives us a wider consideration of the

issues and policies around women's freedom, democratic confederalism

and paints an inspiring picture of one of the most impressive attempts

to build a genuinely grassroots democratic system anywhere in the world.

The struggle going on in the Autonomous Administration of North and

East Syria, also known as Rojava, is one that is directly combating

gender and racial discrimination and the abuses of the capitalist

economic system--in truly interconnected ways.

This wonderfully

illustrated graphic novel is a collaboration between award-winning

Scottish writer Sean Michael Wilson and Kurdish artist Keko, with

backing and research help from Peace in Kurdistan Campaign and the

International Initiative "Freedom for Abdullah ?calan--Peace in

Kurdistan," groups with long term and impassioned commitment to the

cause of ?calan and the Kurdish people's freedom.