A UK citizen who volunteered to fight in Syria's civil war has some advice for foreign fighters going to Ukraine.
Don't do it if you aren't 100% behind it. You need this pathological drive within you and stubbornness to kind of get you there, to get you through it, and so on.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for international reinforcements after Russian President Putin sent troops into his country. Thousands of people across Europe have pledged to go to Ukraine to fight off the invasion and offer humanitarian aid. Zelenskyy announced the formation of an international legion as well as some battalions in the military accepting foreign fighters. Over 20,000 people have volunteered so far, according to the Ukrainian government.
In Syria's civil war, Bertram-Lee volunteered to be a foreign fighter. They snuck into Rojava in order to fight the Kurds.
Bertram-Lee did not participate in any firefights. Jacobin reported that he went through months of basic training for the group but ended up on a base making meme promoting their ideology. The PKK and its associated political party are committed to the political teachings of a Kurdish political prisoner who has advocated for political systems that integrate socialism, democracy, and feminism. The story of Bertram-Lee's time in Rojava is being turned into a movie.
There are other differences between what volunteers are expecting and what Bertram-Lee has experienced. While the UK's foreign ministry gave the green light for fighters to go to Ukraine, Bertram-Lee was questioned multiple times by the police when they returned home. They pointed out that there are more people going to Ukraine than to Syria.
The number of foreign fighters who joined the group was 500 over the course of five years.
There are similarities. British volunteers who went to fight in Ukraine told Insider that they wanted to defend a democratic Europe and couldn't stand that Putin would invade a country. They wouldn't fight for Ukraine because they were suspicious of the fascist Azov Battalion fighters and because communist groups are banned in the country. Bertram-Lee went to Rojava to build a free society that was under threat.
They said that it was about social internationalism and that it was an effort to show that this wasn't some kind of narrow Kurdish national struggle.
The commander of the Georgian International Legion of Ukraine's army, which has accepted international fighters for years, previously told Insider that he has cultivated a group of freedom fighters that excludes religious fanatics and Nazis. He said that a commitment to ideology produces more fighters.
The Georgian Legion does not have bloodthirsty guys coming and saying "Let's kill somebody", Mamulashvili said. The Georgian Legion is a group of men who know that they are fighting for freedom.
According to Insider, the YPG has focused on recruiting people who are politically motivated. It is important for volunteers to not be in any way indifferent about joining the fight.
In Rojava, I saw myself as a small part of a big thing.
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