This is the story of two internationalist volunteers who followed in the footsteps of our friend and comrade Anna Campbell and became part of the Rojava revolution. Anna left her home in England and travelled to northeast Syria – the Rojava region of Kurdistan – to join the women fighters of the YPJ in the battle against the Islamic State. One year later, she was killed in the Turkish invasion of Afrin.

Between us we spent three years there, working alongside Kurdish revolutionaries and other internationalists from around the world, and getting to know the movement that our dear friend decided was worth fighting for.

Witnessing and taking part in a revolution in progress made us all the more determined to bring the lessons of the Kurdistan Freedom Movement home. This book is about some of those lessons, about what it means to struggle for freedom, and to insist on hope even in the darkest of times.

Through stories and reflections, we’ve tried to bring the revolution to life, and translate some of the big ideas of the movement to our context. This is our love letter to revolution, an attempt to build a bridge between worlds, and a call to arms.

• co-authors