The Sociology of Freedom
Manifesto of the Democratic Civilization
When scientific socialism, which for many years was implemented by Abdullah calan and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), became too narrow for his purposes, calan answered the call for a radical redefinition of the social sciences. Writing from his prison cell, he offered an astute new analysis of what is happening to the Kurdish people and future prospects for humanity. The Sociology of Freedom is the third volume of a five-volume work titled The Manifesto of the Democratic Civilization. The general aim of the earlier volumes was to clarify what power and capitalist modernity entailed. Here, calan presents his thesis of the Democratic Civilization, based on his criticism of Capitalist Modernity. He advances what is the most radical, far-reaching definition of democracy today and argues that a democratic civilization, as an alternative system, already exists, though systemic power and knowledge structures do not allow it to be seen. This monumental work gives profuse evidence of his position as one of the most influential thinkers of our day.
Abdullah Öcalan actively led the Kurdish liberation struggle from 1978 until his abduction in February 1999. John Holloway is a professor of sociology at the Instituto de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades in the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Mexico. He has published widely on Marxist theory, on the Zapatista movement and on the new forms of anticapitalist struggle. He is the author of Change the World without Taking Power and Crack Capitalism.