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woman, Life, Freedom, Such was the slogan of the women's movement considered key to the project of the Democratic,

Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, also known as Rojava.

Though originating in the Kurdish liberation struggle, the project quickly became polyethnic.

There are Syrians, Arabs, Armenians, Yazidis, and other groups involved in that project.

And in fact, the internationally recognized name Rojava has fallen out of use by the project's administration in an effort to de-ethnacize the project. I'm going to keep using Rojava simply because it's quicker to see than D-A-A-A-N-E-S or Den-E-S or any other combination.

But just wanted to put that disclaimer out in the beginning.

So in the midst of the Syrian Civil War, the region gained its de facto autonomy in 2012

and pursued a somewhat unique political experiment for grassroots governance and social

...