Farid Medjahed (Anarchist Activist, France)

• Full name: Farid Medjahed
• Pseudonym: Şahin Qereçox, “Waka”
• Alternatives: N/a
• Location: Syria, fmr France, fmr Germany
• Affiliation: People’s Defense Units [YPG]

Farid Medjahed (°1992) was a left-wing extremist activist and combatant from the French city of Marseille. He had adopted an anarchist worldview and was passionate about “anti-fascist”, environmentalist and feminist causes.¹ Medjahed took part in numerous protests against the degradation of nature and hunting in Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Poland and Sweden.² He participated in the campaign of agitation against the development of surface mining in Germany’s Hambacher Forst.³ In early 2018, Medjahed helped organize activism against a proposed open-pit coalmine in northern England.⁴

In June 2018, Medjahed traveled to the Kurdish region in Syria where he became a member of the People’s Defense Units [YPG; Yekîneyên Parastina Gel].⁵ Medjahed received ideological instruction and military training before joining the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh; Dawlat al-Islamiya fi-Iraq wal ash-Sham] in the Hajin area of the Deir ez-Zour governorate.⁶ He reportedly became one of the commanders of the foreign volunteers who had linked up with the YPG.⁷ Medjahed was killed in clashes with the DaIISh on Oct. 06, 2018.⁸​