QAMISHLI, Syria — The sparing of Syrian Kurdish regions from the regime's shelling over the last two years has facilitated the launch of several civil society organizations. However, on a daily basis these new associations have to cope with the attempts of Kurdish political parties shaping civil society according to their tenets. In particular, the fragile coexistence of any independent actor with the prevailing political force — the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)-affiliated Democratic Union Party (PYD) — risks imploding as soon as this party’s monopoly of the public sphere comes under threat.

Among the challenges faced by these nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) is the struggle against the brain drain of the educated youth who are forced to emigrate because of the dire economic situation and the need to keep impoverished teenagers from turning to weapons. The PYD seems to work in the opposite direction by recruiting young fighters within their Popular Protection Units (YPG) militia, which also appears to provide alternative values to street kids, despite its ideological brand. Only time will tell whether the threats posed by both the regime and the Arab opposition will continue to legitimize this militarization or disappear to make place for a thriving Kurdish civil society.

"In our activities we started to enjoy more freedom as a result of the revolution," Berwin Abdul-Aziz, a member of the women’s rights NGO Shawishka, told Al-Monitor. "Secondly, we benefited from the absence of chaos in comparison with other Syrian regions.”

Even if most political factions exploited the loosening of the regime's grip by setting up their own civil society associations, they are perceived as a burden on every independent initiative.