Anna Montgomery Campbell (1991 – 14 March 2018), also known as Hêlîn Qereçox, was a British feminist, anarchist and prison abolition activist who fought with the

Women's Protection Units (YPJ) ar, وحدات حماية المرأة , image = File:YPJ Flag.svg , caption = Flag of the YPJ , dates = April 2013–present , commander1 = Nesrin ...

(YPJ) in the

Rojava conflict The Rojava conflict, also known as the Rojava Revolution, is a political upheaval and military conflict taking place in northern Syria, known among Kurds as Western Kurdistan or Rojava. During the Syrian civil war that began in 2011, a Kurdish ...

of the Syrian civil war. She was killed in Rojava by a

Turkish Armed Forces The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF; tr, Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri, TSK) are the military forces of the Republic of Turkey. Turkish Armed Forces consist of the General Staff, the Land Forces, the Naval Forces and the Air Forces. The current Chi ...

missile strike.

Ancestry and early life

Campbell was born in Lewes, East Sussex, England, the daughter of progressive rock musician Dirk Campbell. Her mother was Katherine Emma "Adrienne Katie", born Bridges, her father's second wife. Campbell had military forebears, with ancestors serving in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

and

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

. Her grandfather served in The Royal Tank Regiment in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. She was educated at St Mary's Hall, Brighton, then went to study at

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

before moving to Bristol, where she worked as a plumber. Campbell was involved with many political actions, including the

2010 United Kingdom student protests The 2010 United Kingdom student protests were a series of demonstrations in November and December 2010 that took place in several areas of the country, with the focal point of protests being in central London. Largely student-led, the protests ...

, the Hunt Saboteurs Association,

Anarchist Black Cross The Anarchist Black Cross (ABC), formerly the Anarchist Red Cross, is an anarchist support organization. The group is notable for its efforts at providing prisoners with political literature, but it also organizes material and legal support for c ...

and other anarchist and abolitionist organisations and projects, including international ones such as

ZAD de Notre-Dame-des-Landes ZAD de Notre-Dame-des-Landes (also known as ZAD NDDL) is the most well-known 'Zone to Defend' in France. Located in the Loire-Atlantique department near to Nantes, it is a very large, mostly agricultural terrain of 1,650 hectares (4,080 acres) wh ...

Involvement in the Rojava conflict

During the

, Campbell fought with the YPJ in the Deir ez-Zor campaign, an attack on the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...

stronghold of

Deir ez-Zor , population_urban = , population_density_urban_km2 = , population_density_urban_sq_mi = , population_blank1_title = Ethnicities , population_blank1 = , population_blank2_title = Religions , population_blank2 = ...

. She was also involved in the YPJ's activities in support of women's rights in

Kurdistan Kurdistan ( ku, کوردستان ,Kurdistan ; lit. "land of the Kurds") or Greater Kurdistan is a roughly defined geo-cultural territory in Western Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages ...

. According to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', she was moved by the defence of "an autonomous, mostly Kurdish region in northern Syria, known as Rojava, whose leaders advocate a secular, democratic and egalitarian politics, with equal rights for women".

Death

Campbell was killed by a

missile strike during the Turkish military operation in the

Afrin Canton Afrin Canton ( ku, Kantona Efrînê, ar, مقاطعة عفرين, syc, ܦܠܩܐ ܕܥܦܪܝܢ, translit=Pelqā dha-ʻAfrin) was one of the cantons of Rojava. Syria's Afrin District fell under the control of the People's Protection Units (YPG) aro ...

Operation Olive Branch Operation Olive Branch ( tr, Zeytin Dalı Harekâtı) was a cross-border military operation conducted by the Turkish Armed Forces and Syrian National Army (SNA) in the majority-Kurdish Afrin District of northwest Syria, against the People's Pro ...

. The YPJ announced: She is the first British woman to die fighting for the YPJ. Following the announcement of Campbell's death, her father started a campaign to recover her body, which could not be located by aid organisations until a ceasefire was in place in the area. Dirk Campbell accused the British government of 'a total lack of proactivity' in helping to recover her body, which is yet to be recovered from the battlefield as of 2021. In response to Campbell's death there were various protests around the world, protesters from the Bristol Kurdish Solidarity Network (BKSN) and friends of Campbell blocked the offices of BAE Systems in Bristol, the city Anna lived in previously. Activists accuse the company of supplying weapons to Turkey which have been used against civilians in Rojava. Another protest in Bristol was held a year after Anna's death. It was reported to have blocked a large roundabout and caused traffic problems in the local area. Graffiti has also sprung up in the city showing solidarity, particularly in the

Easton, Bristol Easton is an inner city area of the city of Bristol in the United Kingdom. Informally the area is considered to stretch east of Bristol city centre and the M32 motorway, centred on Lawrence Hill. Its southern and eastern borders are less define ...

and Saint Pauls where many of the anarchist projects she was part of are based. As well as the local protests support has been shown from many other individuals and projects across the world.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Anna 1991 births 2018 deaths Anarcha-feminists Women soldiers Military personnel killed in the Syrian civil war People from Lewes British feminists British anarchists British plumbers Alumni of the University of Sheffield People's Protection Units Foreigners killed in the Syrian civil war Deaths by airstrike during the Syrian civil war British war casualties

Ancestry and early life

Involvement in the Rojava conflict

Death

References

Further reading

External links