“The Fighter - The Story of the Italian Who Defended Kobanê Against ISIS”, the book Italian revolutionary Karim Franceschi, who was in the Kobanê defense, wrote detailing his own story has been published in Turkish by Ceylan Publishing under the title “Heval Marcello”.

The book includes the transformation from “Wuldtaliani”, “the son of Italy”, to “Heval Marcello” through the experience of the Kobanê war.

The book was met with great interest in Italy, and journalist Arzu Demir, who received a 6 year prison sentence for her books Rojava State of the Revolution and The Womanly State of the Mountain also translated into Italian, wrote a foreword for the book.

Karim Franceschi came to Suruç in the campaign held in Italy, “Rojava Calling”, during the days of the Kobanê defense and decided to do more after he returned to his country. Later he returned to Rojava, this time to fight.

CROSSING THE BORDER, CHRISTMAS SOCKS IN HAND

On January 9 of 2015, he left Italy for Kobanê, carrying in his hands a Christmas stocking, his backpack filled with the things he thought he would need in Kobanê. The stocking says “Merry Christmas”. On why he took to the road, he says: “Let’s make this clear: I’m not crazy, my only desire is to bring some candy to the children in Kobanê. they told me there are so many homeless children on the streets with no parents and no siblings. God knows how many children don’t get to eat candy. God knows how many children don’t get to eat anything. My sister Jamila gave me this stocking on January 6, 3 days before I left. I brought it with me because it’s filled with candy, and I don’t like wasting food.”

Karim Franceschi had never fired a gun before. He had never seen a real gun in his life, outside of movies and photographs. But he was aware of the dangers that awaited him in Kobanê. What took Franceschi to the revolution frontlines to fight ISIS while he was living his life is the hope and model of emancipation the Rojava revolution offers the peoples of the world. This revolution has laid the foundations of a social system where peoples live equal and free, and gave hope to Franceschi, who lived hundreds of miles away.

When he crossed the border under fire from the Turkish soldiers and arrived in Kobanê, he is asked to pick a name. He picks “Marcello” after what his father wanted. Thus he becomes “Heval Marcello”.

For him, the word “heval” is amazing. He says the following on the word “heval” which he first heard in Suruç: “Heval is someone who shares the same fate as you, and who finds themselves in you. Heval is a good reason to fight for. I would be honored to be called this way.”

First target practice, first shot, first clash, first watch, first encounter with ISIS gangs, waiting in a small trench, squeezing an unpinned grenade to not surrender to ISIS, the sniper training, hours passed by without movement to be able to hit the target, the reaction against a lack of discipline, the pain of lost comrades, deficiencies, sacrifices, the price that is paid. Franceschi talks about his experience, simple and bare.

The book also includes critical moments in the Kobanê defense. He was there during the new and large scale attack launched by the ISIS gangs ten days before the declaration of victory on January 28. He says the following on those days: “Today is January 19. I haven’t slept for 3 days. Because for the last 3 days, morning, noon, evening and night, we are firing on jihadists attacking the front. It’s not just a few of them at one time, they come in tens and twenties. They are like zombies that came back to life with the fire of insanity in a mass suicide. There is no end to them. (...) I’m on autopilot, firing without thinking. I fire out of numbness, I fire because there is nothing else to do. After spending 24 hours in front of one of the holes in the wall, I stopped taking aim. I only moved from my position to pee. Again and again, I pull the trigger. I continue reloading the Kalashnikov. My ears hurt, the sounds are like ruffles to me. My mind is all blurry from the lack of sleep. So much so that I don’t fully remember what happened in these last three days. I don’t even know how I’m still alive. Inside my head, there are lights and blurry images flashing, and I don’t know if they are real or creations of my exhausted brain.”

HE RETURNED TO ROJAVA

Karim Franceschi returned to Italy on April 9, 2015 after he spent 3 months in the Kobanê defense as planned. He decided to write a book on his experience, and talked to Fabio Tonacci from Repubblica. With Tonacci’s help, the book “The Fighter - The Story of the Italian Who Defended Kobanê Against ISIS” came to be.

The book was received with great interest from Italian readers. Franceschi talked about the Kobanê defense and the Rojava revolution through his own experience in dozens of panel discussions, conferences and radio and TV programs. But he returned to where “Heval Marcello”s story started once more.