WHY I JOINED
Like the internationalists in the Spanish Civil War, Westerners have gone to Northern Syria to defend Rojava’s revolution – a beacon of socialism, environmentalism and gender equality in practice.
Some risk their lives in the war zone. Others risk being charged with terrorism offences on return to their countries of origin, even though they may have been fighting against ISIS and therefore on the same side as their own governments.
Volunteers are involved in a wide range of roles including medical, social, environmental, educational and media work. A few are frontline fighters, in the umbrella or women-only defence units (YPG and YPJ).
Some of these have died, like Anna Campbell, a young British activist, who left for
