Rojava is the self-governing administration of north and east Syria, where local communities are cooperating to implement a system of governance known as democratic confederalism.

We think Zuzaluans, web3 pioneers, and anyone interested in decentralization and in network states should learn about this. During the coordination week at Zuzalu, it was a focus but didn't have actual contact or direct experience, so we want to go and make those bridges.

Some goals:

Show what decentralized communities can look like by reviewing democratic confederalism as a model for stateless governance, autonomous cities, or network states. Is there something Zuzalians can learn from Rojava? There’s not enough in writing to do this research from afar. We need to go in person.

Create new connections between web3 and entrepreneurs in Rojava, to help seed new web3 projects that will help the Syrian people, introduce new people to this community, and increase the diversity of voices in web3.

Create writings and videos documenting daily life in the autonomous region under this libertarian, cooperative-based system. We plan to speak to Arab, Kurdish, and minority communities, and with local political leaders and entrepreneurs. Hardly any cultural reporting on Rojava has been done for English audiences since the pandemic and we think the world needs to hear Rojavan voices.

Please help us make this a reality by contributing, or by joining us on this adventure! We love taking people along on our projects and having fun while contributing to the world and to human knowledge.

We plan to present findings for this at next Zuzalu with actual on the ground experience and host simulations of this form of governance.

Bijî Rojava!

Who we are

Noah Chon Lee is the founder of Viaprize, a quickly growing bounty platform aimed at making funding more democratic for everyone. He also conducts research on social consensus mechanisms and governance structures. In his spare time he manages to juggle, spin fire, do parkour and contribute to projects like Zuzalu.

Rachel Shu is a filmmaker and writer from San Francisco exploring community practices, activism, human rights, economics, and growth. She’s passionate about reimagining and reshaping governance.

Together, the two of us have traveled the world to do joint film and research projects in indigenous communities in Ecuador and Peru, with web3 projects in Kenya and Tanzania, and many more projects to come.