Sand, Death and Cryptocurrency: Life in a Decentralized Syria

It has pioneered a new political model named democratic confederalism, which due to its stateless, decentralized nature, has a natural synergy with blockchain technologies - something that has been a point of research by technologists in the region.

"Decentralized institutions can be supported by parallel, decentralized technologies."

The academies Serdem is building will be used to train hackers in various decentralized technologies.

Not only is Serdem recruiting throughout Northern Syria, but he's also enlisting what he calls "Social engineers" - politically-oriented hackers and philosophers focused on reshaping technology.

In Rojava, technology has mostly shown its face through social media, and a sudden proliferation of smartphones - mostly carrying Facebook, YouTube and Whatsapp - has had a tangible impact on the social sphere.

The obsessive use of smartphones has led a certain suspicion of technology to develop, which could have a negative impact on the adoption of blockchain and cryptocurrency technology.

In an effort to combat this, Serdem noted, he intends to use the academies to redefine technology, moving the narrative away from the corporate interest groups that have monopolized social media, network infrastructure and even hardware in the region.

"We can use some of that kind of technology which is created by the resistance movement. Now we are in the beginning, but in the process we will see what forms of technology do we need to have for democratic modernity," said Serdem.

According to him, Rojava's youth has no shortage of enthusiasm for technology, as well as a strong aptitude for it.

Openness to technology isn't the only thing Serdem and others are trying to push.