Le Guin has fun here inventing multiple species of HILF and various societies within the species, the world-building is as complex and evocative as those subsequent texts.
Boasting the worst title of any book in Ursula K. Le Guin’s entire oeuvre, Rocannon’s World was her briliant debut novel and published in 1966.
Arguably less complex than some of the other Hainish Cycle stories, this novel has a pretty simple quest-type narrative, though the contexts and settings of it offer the impressive and evocative world-building you’d (I’d) expect from Le Guin – this may be a debut, but it isn’t juvenilia…
The eponymous Rocannon is a scientist who’s part of a exploratory expedition (working on behalf of a massive galactic empire) sent to the planet Fomalhaut II to study and survey the world and the [potential] High Intelligence Life Forms (“HILFs”) living upon it.
Version 1.0.0
Unfortunately – right at the start of the novel proper (there’s a scene-setting Prologue, which is also included as a short story in The Wind’sTwelve Quarters) – everyone else Rocannon is working with dies, as their spaceship is bombed after they’ve gathered to prepare for a final meeting before heading back to the administrative centre of the universe.
This shock bombing on this undeveloped planet means only one thing: that there is a rebel base and a rebel army somewhere on the planet!
Enlisting the help of the local HILFs he’s befriended during his research, Rocannon goes on a long quest/journey to the rumoured location of what could be the rebel base, as he certain they”ll have an ansible (faster than light speed messaging equipment) which he could use to contact the people on his side in the war, and alert them to the location of this base so they could destroy it and/or rescue him.
Although messages can be sent instantaneously across the universe using this special machine, and there are weapons that may be deployed through the same wormhole-like channels, too, physical matter cannot be transported at great speed, so Rocannon is a minimum of seven full years away from any other physical presence from his society.
Such a move could weaken the SDF to the point of collapse and we hope the reports are mere rumors.
The revolutionary AANES constitution is reflects the democratic principles, communal work, human rights, ethnic and religious tolerance, Woman-Life-Freedom, gender equality, and the decentralization of power already being implemented in their liberated area..
The revolution, unique in the middle east if not the world, follows the teachings of Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned forever on a Turkish island. It began in Turkey in where there are over 20 million repressed Kurds, when their Ocalan organised the PKK defenders to make a 2nd successful truce with Turkey, until the Erdogan regime foced the collapse of the agreement in 2015 and drowned the civil revolution in blood, even bombing Kurdish cities in Turkey like Nusaybin to rubble.
City of Nusaybin in Turkey after Erdogan’s ‘Peace Police’ operation. Zehra Dogan was jailed for painting a picture based on this photo.
The revolution survived however in NE Syria. The Assad regime had to abandon the area due to almost losing the civil war.
The Turkish armed jihadi ISIS Caliphate had been sweeping north Syria, but the Kurdish defenders defeated them in the epic Siege of Kobanî (Sept 2014 to Feb 2915) despite the destruction of the city, with the International Coalition (mainly the USA) finally intervening with some air support.
After the Kobani victory the Kurdish defenders (YPG men and YPJ women) went on to organize the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces, now over 100k strong) as a host of other militia groupings joined them, Arabs of all sorts, Yazides, Womens militias, Christians, Syriacs, Turkmen, Armenians, etc
The rest is history, the SDF defeated ISIS in Manbij and set up a vibrant unique multi cultural multi religious city following the communal liberation agenda and continued east.
(However in January 2025, taking advantage of the fall of the Assad regime, Manbij was finally conquered by Erdogan’s horde of Turkish backed jihadi mercenaries in an orgy of looting and rape, even executing the injured SDF defenders in their hospital beds.(videos)
Serekaniye in Rojava, Syria was seized and ethnically cleansed by Turkey in part of its 3rd invasion labeled ‘Operation Peace Spring’, thousands of residents are still surviving in internal refugee camps
The SDF went on to defeat the ISIS Caliphate, finally taking over their capital of Raqqa (2017) with air support (which is now rebuilt and a thriving, free, minority Kurdish multi-ethnic city) and driving them out of all NE Syria, including the Arab area in Deir Ezzor, where most of the limited oil reserves are located.
Feb 2025 – Is the END of Rojava Looming? – you can help save a unique human experiment in real time –
Trump is rumored to be planning to withdraw the 2000 US troops and cancel its support for the SDF/AANES in suppressing and guarding ISIS.
The region’s ethnic and religious diversity is its defining feature, which the AANES authorities often highlight as part of their political platform promoting coexistence and tolerance among the different groups.
AANES/SDF would objectively be better with almost any other guarantor than the genocidal predator capitalist USA, which reduced Syria to starvation levels since 2019 under Trump’s orders under the draconian Caesar Act Sanctions (now paused) as revenge for its proxies not winning the civil war.
How can we save the Rojava Revolution?
The best thing we can do is to promote International support. The Kurdish Diaspora is strongly behind AANES/SDF, also the Kurds in Turkey, though heavily suppressed.
There are dozens of support groups especially in Europe as well as some ONGs and Human Rights Groups who could try to deliver some aid in the event of a US withdrawal and major Turkish invasion.
However there is extensive Rojava support media, also international and multilingual, and one of the chief ways you can help defend the revolution is by sharing these media reports, including many videos and trying everything to make mainstream media include them.
It is possible to volunteer, especially if you have medical or military experience, and there still are international groups that can organize the trip. Many international comrades have been killed defending Rojava.
Unfortunately Rojava is blockaded on three sides, for the moment aid can enter via Iraq where there is some Yazidi and Kurdish support but this could be blocked if/when the US leaves Syria and/or keeps its promise to leave Iraq.
What are most needed perhaps are thousands of lightweight drones which could even stymie NATO’s 2nd largest army in guerrilla warfare. Turkey has always been wary of committing its own troops, mostly forced draftees and prone to a bad image and some embarrassing losses.
Other options look unviable or unlikely:
Trump abhors the local ideology of course. He betrayed the SDF back in 2019 and let Turkey invade and ethnically cleanse the border area. He also declared in a macho rave that the US was only there for the oil. Ever since then the entire Arab media always repeats that Rojava exists to help the USA steal their oil (though the quantity is insignificant and there is no modern refinery).
As for the new HTS “inclusive” regime in Damascus – it’s looking grim. Jolani, now named Syria’s ‘President’ has declared all militia groupings are being integrated under his control into the State army, except the SDF which is happy to be an autonomous part of the new “inclusive” State – but refuses to disband and face destruction and likely genocide.
There’s a fundamental contradiction between the brilliant Constitution of Rojava and the ideology of President Jolani, former leader of the Al Qaeda ‘head choppers’.
The AANES Constitution represents a region where various ethnic and religious communities coexist peacefully, where women and minorities are guaranteed equal rights, and where local governance is based on the principles of autonomy and self-determination.
Iran
Then there is Iran, could it help Rojava survive? Unfortunately ‘Woman-Life-Freedom’ is anathema to the present clerical regime. Indeed several women in Irani Kurdistan are right now facing the imminent Death Penalty for their Jineology views. –Iran: Two Kurdish Women at Risk of Execution
Russia
Could Russia intervene to stop the Turkish invasion destroying Rojava?. – It’s true that Russia has played the peacemaker, sometimes limiting Turkish atrocities against Syrian Kurds in the past, although they betrayed them by gifting the Afrin area to Turkey,by allowing their ongoing invasion, occupation and ethnic cleansing, in exchange for an oil pipeline. In any case Russia is now out of the picture, being the main backer of the defunct Assad regime.
Also there is Israel, now grabbing a slice of southern Syria… It’s doubtful whether the SDF would accept aid from the genocidal zionist settler regime even to save their own lives, and very unlikely that Israel would ever offer.
Israel
Finally there is International support. The Kurdish Diaspora is strongly behind AANES/SDF, also the Turkish Kurds, though heavily suppressed. There are dozens of support groups especially in Europe as well as some ONGs and Human Rights Groups who could try to deliver some aid in the event of a US withdrawal and major Turkish invasion.
Turkey’s jihadi mercenaries are now better trained, well armed and supported, nevertheless they are an unstable conglomeration of many authoritarian militias whose base loyalty is to Turkish promises of looting and women.
SDF local support is at it highest ever with daily demonstrations and displays of local organisations, especially youth, declaring they will fight to the death.
This is also evidenced by the continuing convoys traveling to the Tishreen Dam frontline , despite daily Turkish massacres, to act a human shields.
At the Tishreen Dam crossing of the Euphrates tens of thousands of multi ethnic civilians have traveled in convoys from all over the AANES area, taking turns at an ongoing day and night demonstration in freezing conditions, with the hope of shaming Turkey before international opinion into halting the invasion.
This simple fact is astounding. There are approximately 38,000 reported deaths from COVID 19 injections in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) system. Based on studies, the under reporting in VAERS can be anywhere from 1 of 30, to 1 of 100 cases reported. This could put the number of Americans murdered via COVID 19 injections at 3.8 million.
In World War I there were approximately 116,516 American military deaths. In World War II there were approximately 405,399 American military deaths.
In the Vietnam War there were approximately 58,220 American military deaths. In total, the combined American military deaths from all three wars were 580,135.
So even the low end death projections from the COVID 19 injections exceeded the total American military deaths from all three wars. The high end death projections exceed the number of Americans that died in all wars.
It should be pointed out that the death toll from the COVID 19 injections may be much higher. The VAERS statistics are only reports of acute cases early on. In other words, the people dying one, two, or three years later, for instance, from cancer, heart disease, and so on, are not being reported at all. As the years roll on, these deaths will not be reported. Someone dying from complication or disease or disorder, five, ten, or twenty years after being injected, will not likely be attributed to an injection they received years earlier even though that was primary the cause.
The notorious US military detention camp in Cuba will house up to 30,000 innocent deportees, according to a delighted Trump again displaying his great love for sadistic torture
The Camp VI detention facility in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba
President Donald Trump has announced plans to expand detention facilities at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to accommodate thousands of deported immigrants as part of his intensified efforts to remove illegal aliens from US soil.
The initiative was revealed on Wednesday during the signing of the bipartisan Laken Riley Act, which mandates the detention and potential deportation of undocumented individuals accused of theft and violent crimes, even before conviction.
Justifying the use of Guantanamo Bay, Trump laughed and argued that some individuals are “so bad, we don’t even trust the countries to hold them, because we don’t want them coming back.”
“So we’re going to send them out to Guantanamo,” Trump added, calling the facility “a tough place to get out of.”
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have been carrying out raids across the country, detaining hundreds of people daily. Targeted cities include Boston, New York, Newark, and San Francisco, with agents focusing on arresting immigrants who had committed crimes after entering the US illegally, according to the agency.
Guantanamo Bay has been a US naval base since 1903 and was transformed into a detention center in 2002 under President George W. Bush to house suspected terrorists following the September 11 attacks. The facility has long been criticized for torture and indefinite detentions without charge or trial. As of January 2025, 15 detainees remain at the site, many of whom have been imprisoned for over two decades without formal charges.
The Cuban government has consistently denounced the presence of the US military base at Guantanamo Bay, calling it a violation of Cuban sovereignty and raising concerns over human rights abuses at the detention facility. On his first day in office, Trump reinstated Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, reversing an executive order issued by former President Joe Biden just a week prior.
Guantanamo was captured in 1898 during the war with Spain; 4 years later, Washington imposed an indefinite lease on Cuba for a symbolic fee. Cuba still considers the Guantanamo area in southeastern Cubato be its original territory,. It is still home to a US Navy base and a notorious American prison (Since 1959, Havana has been vainly demanding the return of this area.
Related Posts- 24 years of USA Incarcerating innocents without trial
If you like my fiction writing but don’t normally listen to my podcasts, you might like the “Dino Wars” series I’ve been doing on Cool Zone Media Book Club.
You can find it every Sunday on the It Could Happen Here feed and the Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff feed.
And we’re about to kickstart my new book, The Immortal Choir Holds Every Voice, which is the third book in the Danielle Cain series but don’t worry it can stand alone.
Last night was the coldest night of my dog’s life. He didn’t know it, of course. I no longer live outside, and I’ve got central heat, so he was curled up on the bed with his chin on my leg instead of huddling near the heater like he would have had to do if he’d been born a bit earlier in my life.
He didn’t know that I was worried about the feral cats, the ones I built a little shelter for in my tiny falling down barn at the back of my property. He only knows that he thinks he wants to go outside until he gets outside and realizes he doesn’t want to be outside quite as much as he thought he did.
There’s one house visible from my house, on the other side of some trees, and Rintrah noticed a plow in my neighbors driveway and decided to let me know. I ran out into the snow and waved the guy down and paid him to clear mine too.
That second part, the part about the plow, that isn’t really part of the metaphor I’m trying to build. I’m just grateful that my dog told me about the plow. And when you live alone in the countryside, what counts as “excitement” is recalibrated dramatically.
Most people who died in a medieval battle, as I understand it, died during the rout. When soldiers break rank with one another and flee, enemies ride them down with cavalry to capture, maim, and kill.
Over the past two months, GR Rapid Response to ICE and Movimiento Cosecha GR had been meeting to discuss and plan to pressure the City of Grand Rapids to declare itself a Sanctuary City.
While engaged in a hunger strike in Lansing to win Driver’s Licenses for undocumented immigrants in early December, Movimiento Cosecha organizer […]
The Free 