ATLANTA — Alan Baran, right, president of the Kurdish Cultural Center here, speaks at a Militant Labor Forum titled “Fight for a Kurdish Homeland Is in the Interests of Workers Worldwide.” “We are a people of 40-50 million without a country, and with roots in the region that go back 3,000 years,” said Baran. “We have been fighting since World War I against the governments of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria, all of which have tried to obliterate our culture and make us disappear.”

“Any socialist worth the name must back the demand of the Kurdish people for complete freedom and for their own country,” said John Benson, left, of the Socialist Workers Party, adding that the Kurdish men and women fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria have inspired working people around the world.