A forensic team collects shrapnel from the site of impact in order to confirm the source of the attack. Turkish-produced Bayraktar drones are used to fire laser-guided missiles from 6 kilometers altitude that travel at supersonic speed towards their target, which is hit several seconds later. As of yet, there is no defense technology against such weapons available in Rojava.

The outer clay pot of our fridge unit will be covered in textile with Kurdish weaving patterns. Initially, we were hoping to find someone who would be interested to make fabrics for our project. However, although the practice was widespread until just a few decades ago, it is now hard to find people who still actively engage in traditional textile techniques. In Amudê, a town about half an hour to the West of Qamişlo, we met a couple who are cutting up old, often handmade, carpets to sew them into hand bags. They suggest that these are frequently sold to NGO employees, a good number of whom live in Amuda (Qamişlo is considered too risky by many organisations due to the recurring tensions between the Autonomous Administration and the Syrian Regime forces).

We bought part of the remains of an antique carpet, which they had already partly cut up. They said that they got it from a relative and that they estimate it to be about 100 years old. When I looked at it again at home, I couldn't get it over my heart to just cut it up further. Luckily, the mother of colleague Cîhan was willing to help. She still knows how to make the carpets, all the way from spinning the wool by hand to weaving and repairing. When Cîhan's family fled from Serekanîye after the Turkish invasion in 2019, most of her tools were left behind. She had enough to help us with this though. First, she carefully detached a strip of the carpet that had already been cut. This part will be used in the fridge cover.

Then she restored the remaining part of the carpet that was still largely intact. I hope it's ready for its second century.

On Sunday, a demonstration took place against the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Turkish military in their assaults on Kurdish guerillas in Northern Iraq. Over the past weeks, various media sources have published reports and video documentation that suggest that the use of poison gas caused the death of at least 17 fighters. The president of the Turkish Medical Association was arrested after calling for an independent investigation.
https://www.euronews.com/2022/10/26/doctor-detained-after-calling-for-turkish-army-chemical-weapons-probe

Thousands of people gathered in the stadium of Qamişlo, many of whom had travelled to the city from villages all over the region. The event fused elements of activism, commemoration and festival. Indeed, demonstrations play an important role in enabling shared experiences around the ideas and values of the revolution.

During the event, a large part of the city was closed for traffic by the security forces of the Autonomous Administration in anticipation of possible Daesh attacks. In recent months, there has been ever more activity, including many hit-and-run operations, by IS cells in areas controlled of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.

In Aras' car workshop on the outskirts of Qamişlo, the shell of the cooling unit was spray painted golden, a play on the symbolism of purity of gold jewelry and the circuitry of high-technology.

The prototype of our fridge for the revolution is now finished. In spring, when it gets hotter again, we will start a phase of field testing. If this goes well, we will probably adjust the design in response to user experiences and to make it as affordable possible.

In anticipation of the field testing phase, we took the device on a road trip to a few villages in the countryside of the Jaziri canton. In Rehaiah al-Kabirah, the power grid provides electricity only sporadically, usually a few hours a day at irregular intervals. There are only few people with a generator and diesel is often difficult to get.

We meet a group of villagers at the mayor's house just outside the village. The design of the unit is well received. Someone says that in addition to space craft, it reminds them of a vase. They are enthousiastic about the cloth with Kurdish patterns that will cover the clay pots in our prototype and suggest that people in the Rehaiah al-Kabirah - who are Arabs - could make their own cloth covers with traditional patterns of their own community.

Some of the people recall the use of the pot-in-pot refrigerator and say that although it worked quite well it didn't get really cold. The combination of the principle of the pot-in-pot fridge with a low-power solar cooling unit in our device - which Cîhan introduces here - will make it possible to reach lower temperatures.

While Turkish rockets and shells are instilling terror across Rojava, everyday life continues in most places. Often ordinary, sometimes remarkable. I am now outside Syria, but just before I left I spent a night in the surroundings of the city of Dêrik. I accompanied a member of the revolutionary movement on his house visits to cooperative members and relatives of fighters and martyrs. His work is intense. Every night, six days a week, he visits between 10 and 15 families, mainly in the villages around the city, to discuss everyday affairs and the ideas of the revolution. In one of the houses he speaks to a young man who wants to leave for Europe. Together with his father they discuss that one shouldn't trust the beautiful messages on social media accounts of friends who are in Germany to be the full story. The personal relationships and direct conversations of these house visits do indeed appear to have the potential to challenge the propagandist power of global media platforms.

Small gifts are handed over to support people. Tonight some cooperative members receive working gloves. This hajj - he completed his pilgrimage to Mekka not long ago - also receives a new shirt. He lost two of his sons to the war and his brother did as well. An image of the Kaaba adorns the wall, alongside photos of his sons and other martyrs.

A new member of the agricultural cooperative, whose son and daughter are guerillas, is presented cilî Kurdî, traditional Kurdish clothes. He has never worn these before and thus also receives instruction on how to put them on. When he looks at himself in the reflection of the window, his eyes shine of pride. The promotion of elements of traditional culture as a means of empowerment plays an important role in the work.

This Thursday, 1 December, Jihan Eyo (University of Rojava / Rojava Center for Democratic Technologies), Yushan Huang (School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences Paris) and Dani Ploeger (University of London / Rojava Center for Democratic Technologies) will talk about Women, Fighters and Revolution in Rojava as part of the exhibition "Women Warriors XIX-XX Century" at the Lithuanian National Museum in Vilnius. The one-hour online event will start at 7pm Lithuanian time (8pm in Rojava / 5pm in London). It will be accessible through this link: https://lnm.lt/en/events/women-fighters-and-revolution-in-rojava
Please join us!