Connor Fetigen, member of the Cowley Collective and activist for the Autonomy and Resistance Organization (ARO), was among the participants of the internationalist World Youth Conference held in Paris from 3 to 5 November 2023.

The conference was organised by “Ronahî – Youth Centre for Public Relations” and the “Youth Writing History” network and brought together over 400 young people from 40 countries and 95 organisations, movements and parties, who exchanged views on the challenges of the time and common perspectives for action.

Activist Connor Fetigen spoke to ANF about the importance of the international youth conference and exchange of experiences, especially with the Kurdish people and with regard to the concept of ‘Democratic Confederalism’ presented by Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan.

“For me, the most important thing seems to be the work to understand and analyze our contexts better, so that we can apply these learnings much more directly,” said Fetigen.

The activist also commented on the incommunicado detention of Abdullah Öcalan, who has been subjected to absolute isolation and has not been heard from for 33 months now.

“I think it is not surprising because the Turkish state fears the rise of a new ideology, a new socialist ideology and he is the representative of that,” said Connor Fetigen, and called for freedom for Öcalan.