The utopia of Rojava: A new world for stateless people
Keywords:
utopia, legal change, participatory art, democracy, revolution, utopía, cambio jurídico, arte participativo, democracia, revoluciónAbstract
This article investigates how participatory art can contribute to legal change. As a case study, it discusses Jonas Staal’s project of New World Summit in Rojava, a (so far still) autonomous region in North and East Syria. It offers an interesting case, since it invites the law to include what it has excluded so far. To begin with, it is clarified how change is conceived within legal systems based on the rule of law. Although law resists radical change, it is involved in a constant process of adaptation to its environment. Subsequently, Staal’s project of New World Summit is discussed from a utopian perspective. Its apparent impossibility is what makes is so valuable for law and its development. By erecting a parliament for Rojava, it presents a picture of how the international order could look like when things were different. It basically is an exercise in “utopian world-making”.
Este artículo investiga cómo el arte participativo puede contribuir al cambio jurídico. Como estudio de caso, analiza el proyecto de Jonas Staal de la Cumbre del Nuevo Mundo de Rojava, una región (aun a día de hoy) autónoma del norte y el este de Siria. Ofrece un caso interesante, ya que invita al derecho a incluir lo que hasta ahora ha excluido. Para empezar, se aclara cómo se concibe el cambio dentro de los sistemas jurídicos basados en el Estado de Derecho. Aunque el derecho se resiste a los cambios radicales, está implicado en un proceso constante de adaptación a su entorno. A continuación, se comenta el proyecto de Staal de la Nueva Cumbre Mundial desde una perspectiva utópica. Su aparente imposibilidad es lo que lo hace tan valioso para el derecho y su desarrollo. Al erigir un parlamento para Rojava, presenta una imagen de cómo podría ser el orden internacional si las cosas fueran diferentes. Como tal, es un ejercicio de “creación de un mundo utópico”.
Available from: https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-1269
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Copyright (c) 2022 Bart van Klink

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