Matt Broomfield
@MattBroomfield1
journalist, analyst, poet | PhD @SussexGlobal | co-founder @RojavaIC | author of 'Hope Without Hope: Rojava and Revolutionary Commitment' (AK Press, July 2025)
Some thoughts from Kobane, the cradle of the Rojava revolution, Through millennia of struggle, revolutionaries have always fought without a choice as though there was a choice. What can we learn from their absurd commitment? Hope Without Hope - @AKPressDistro - 15 July!
Following this deal, 200 pro-Kurdish political prisoners have just been released in Turkey. A small positive step, though 1000s remains jailed under laws allowing Turkey to imprison people for "terrorism" even where there is no terrorist affiliation(!) Hopefully more to come.
Guerrilla Kurds have been fighting Turkey for decades. Now they’ve hung up their Kalashnikovs. Read @MattBroomfield1👇 buff.ly/iJzxkce
"Whether the peace deal stands or falls, the Kurds’ strategic location means they’re poised to exert outsized pressure on what increasingly resembles a three-way confrontation between Turkey, Israel & Iran — with Iraq & Syria as key battlegrounds." My on-the-ground analysis:
‘The guerrilla fighters place their Kalashnikovs, one-by-one, onto a pyre, alongside a rocket launcher and light machine gun. They add wood and petrol, and set it alight.’ Read @MattBroomfield1 on a Kurdish peace ceremony 👇 buff.ly/iJzxkce
"With their traditional Kurdish clothes and battered Kalashnikovs, the guerrilla fighters seem a world away from the hair gel, wrap-around sunglasses and slick suits of the media scrum, spooks and politicos waiting at the foot of the mountain...." My field report @Unherd:
Guerrilla Kurds have been fighting Turkey for decades. Now they’ve hung up their Kalashnikovs. Read @MattBroomfield1👇 buff.ly/iJzxkce
What's happening in Rojava today? What contradictions and compromises has the revolution suffered? Why could it nonetheless be considered the last standing successor of the Arab Spring? My full interview with @franifio up now @BitchuationPod YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=AR20l0…
In this extract from Hope Without Hope, I explore the Kurdish movement’s radical understanding of death, sacrifice and mourning, to ask whether this unique political culture could help us rethink our own approach to loss and defeat. Read at @Truthdig: truthdig.com/articles/hope-…
It was also a genuine privilege to meet with John Holloway last week. His conviction, depth of knowledge, and critical insight into global movements for revolutionary change remain undimmed. I'm honoured he wrote such a passionate, poetic introduction to Hope Without Hope!
It was wonderful to finally meet @fgeerdink face-to-face in Kurdistan last week and hear more of her unrivalled insight into the movement there. If such an expert has this to say about Hope Without Hope it can't be too bad...!
Look what was just delivered! "Hope without hope", by @MattBroomfield1, an absolute must-read about #Rojava - I know, I read the pdf already :-) Congrats on this important publication, Matt!
Giorgia Meloni is deporting migrants to Albania, to suffer harsh conditions in offshore detention. Keir Starmer had the same idea. I visited the site for new project @_dispatch_media - follow, subscribe and read here: x.com/jacobfuredi/st…
The UK government tried to buy a deportation centre in Albania. The Albanian government said no — and gave it to Italy. How's it going? @MattBroomfield1 reports from Shengjin for @_dispatch_media:
My @Jacobin report on Trump-Kushner-Albania-Israel sleaze is featured here. I'll be joining the podcast tomorrow w/@franifio to talk globalization, resistance and hope in the era of Trump and genocide. Join us tomorrow @BitchuationPod 21.30 BST! youtube.com/watch?v=W9QTcm…
'Hope Without Hope: Rojava and Revolutionary Commitment' is officially out TOMORROW! Read a wonderful review in @TheMarkazReview: "This lack of hope, of political recognition, of stability, has enabled a project so ambitious, yet so endangered, to survive against all odds..."
. @MattBroomfield1 's new book explores the history of the Rojava revolution in Syrian Kurdistan as a model for global liberation movements. themarkaz.org/hope-without-h…
Some immediate observations following the Turkey-PKK disarmament ceremony. With security tight and press kept to a minimum, what actually took place? And with both sides presenting the disarmament as a victory on their own terms, what comes next for the 40-year conflict?
I'm in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan, where the PKK are formally destroying weapons as part of a ceasefire deal after 40yrs conflict with Turkey. High emotions among attendees on a bittersweet day for Kurds. The question now is, will Turkey take meaningful steps in response?
I'm in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan, where the PKK are formally destroying weapons as part of a ceasefire deal after 40yrs conflict with Turkey. High emotions among attendees on a bittersweet day for Kurds. The question now is, will Turkey take meaningful steps in response?
London! Please join: ☀️Journalist/activist @Natasha_Walter ☀️'Independent Diplomat' founder @carneross ☀️Organiser/writer @elifxeyal ☀️Rising Kurdish artist Vian Hussein and me for the official launch of Hope Without Hope (@AKPressDistro) Pelican House, three weeks today!
