-Tekoşîn Botan
Anna Campbell – Hêlin Qereçox (1991-2018)
“I wanted to join the revolution of women that is being built up here and join the weaponized fight against the forced of fascism and the enemies of the revolution. So now I am very happy and proud to be going to Efrîn.”
This is Anna Campbell’s (Hêlîn Qereçox) words while heading to Efrîn. From this statement it is clear that she was assertive for fighting against fascism. Maybe the seeds of her political activism and commitment for the Revolution began to sprout when her and her mother Adrienne attended a demonstration at the Houses of Parliament (London, 2011), and stormed the parliament in Edwardian clothes to commemorate the first suffragette protest. Maybe it began when she attended university, where she studied English and French. Her start to university was also the start of the new coalition government in the UK, which brought along cuts and increased tuition fees. There were demonstrations and student occupations across the whole country, which was a turning point for Anna. Heval Anna understood the political process, and realized that there is no solution in the systems university, so she took the decision of dropping out and became more interested in doing what she was passionate about. Either way it is crystal clear that Anna has always had a curiosity for freedom. She yearned for a free life, a communal life, an ecological life, a life with women’s freedom, and so she went to fight for it. She found this life in Rojava. Land of the Women’s revolution. As a young woman, maybe the most inspirational action of hers is when she threw herself into the center of fascists in order to save another woman being dragged by them, although the racist fascists attacked her, her bravery and the strength of her comradeship is truly heroic.
The home to mother goddesses attracted her, she developed more interest for the dilemmas in the Middle East, and especially Rojava. After the whole area was cleaned from DAES Jihadis, the fact that it was now under open threat by the Colonialists Turkish State created contradictions in her mind. That’s the reason why she begged her commanders to go to the frontline of the clashes in Efrîn. While out there, she fought shoulder to shoulder with comrades such as Avesta Xabûr and Barîn Kobanê. Maybe she was most drawn to the fight seeing such brave and forgiving women. She was a true fighter, a true internationalist, a true resister for women’s freedom!
The struggle of militant young women should be our inspiration to Revolt!
Two of her speeches when out in Rojava:
“I came to Rojava about a year ago as an internationalist. There has been international Şehîd’s, since many many years, so one of the forces behind the revolution is that we built things up even stronger and even greater in the memory of the people that have become martyrs. Even if there were no more internationalist people to come and fight in Rojava, which I don’t think will ever happen, the fight and struggle will still be continued in the memory of the internationalists that have died here, and so I think this is something beautiful for the revolution, to feel like we could all fight together to build a better world!”
“To our Companions, Friends and Comrades,
Our quest for a different world brought us to the liberated territories of the Middle East. The revolution in Rojava today embodies the spirit of resistance against the malicious world. The revolution happening in Kurdistan right now is our revolution and part of our search. Our search for what can be possible means accepting a rich heritage.
The women of the Paris commune of 1871, and the workers of the militias Hamburg uprising, thats us. The comrades of the October Revolution and the Spanish war, thats us the workers on strike in India, and the guerrillas on the mountains of Kurdistan thats us. We are the anarchists of Greece, we are squatters, we are the witches and the rebellious farmers of the early modern period. We who are working here in Rojava as the internationalists are part of the world wide fight of the oppressed against the rain of state, capital and patriarchy.
Rojava is a good school, here we cannot only learn how to be an actual part of a movement and a whole society. We teach ourselves in the arts of strengthening our unity and being diverse without falling into ideological deviation. Our resistance means a long term perspective, that includes ourselves becoming militant personalities, letting our strengths grow and learning the truth about the revolutionary struggle. This also means overcoming the culture of dominance, the traces that were left by patriarchy, the capitalist lifestyle and the mentality of nation state. Today we wage a global struggle that will end either in liberation or in total oppression and has reached the level of a third world war. We cannot take ourselves after this and expect or hope others to do what we are too lazy or too afraid to do. If we want to be victorious we have to admit that our fight today is a fight for all or nothing. It is the time of bravery, and of decisions. The time of coordination, and organization.
It is the time of ACTION.
We send you all our bravery, and willpower. We send you all our love.
You fight with us and light the Fire of Resistance.”