Workers Solidarity Movement

The Bob Crow Brigade fighting ISIS and defending the Rojava revolution took time out recently to post images supporting Repeal the 8th and the Dublin bus strikers. The photos of masked people men & women with guns posing in the sand beside placards with slogan about our struggles in Ireland caused some confusion, some even assumed they had to be photoshopped. The above image is a variation on the one they tweeted.

In that context the UK Independent paper published a long article 10 days back about the Brigade which goes some way to showing how the only strange thing is imagining these struggles are somehow distinct and unrelated.

We've linked the full interview at the end and publish some extracts below;

“As we were all socialists, we decided join the International Freedom Battalion where we met other English speakers and decided to use the name [Bob Crow Brigade] so long as we were together,” said a member, who did not want to be named.

“There's no initiation process - if you can understand all the accents most of the time, you're in.”

The brigade incorporates volunteer fighters from England, Scotland, Ireland and Canada, ranging from 25 to 35 years old....

A spokesperson said some members were previously unemployed, while others left occupations including a council gardener, railway worker, removals man, farmer and bike messenger.

“We are fighting for socialism, against fascism, in the Rojava Revolution,”...

“Some of us are dyed-in-the-wool Marxists, some more libertarian, but differences like that melt away here - revolutions have a tendency to do that,” a member said.

“Were inspired by the Rojava revolution and have stepped straight from the workplace canteen to the armed struggle.

“We are not ex-soldiers or militaria obsessives, that's not what motivates us - we're Reds.”..

"“Some of our friends tried to talk us out of it - but the list of things they gave as alternatives only cemented our resolve: music festivals, cheap holidays - things we do to distract ourselves from the ever clearer truth that society doesn’t need us even as cheap labour any more. "

Read the full article at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/syrian-war-british-fighte...