We want to present to you the memories of another comrade that was killed in action on April 19th, 2023, in the same unit as Finbar Cafferkey and Dimitry Petrov :Cooper Andrews aka Harris.
From a very young age he became involved in many struggles as a black autonomist – mobilizing amidst the police murders of Tamir Rice & Tanisha Anderson, on to the rhizome house, supporting antifascist struggles, mutual aid, and providing self defense training. Cooper was also a long time Popular Front supporter.
Cooper had enlisted in the Marines in order to gain training in self defense and to prepare to become an internationalist volunteer. When the war in Ukraine broke out, he felt this was the best opportunity to put his skills into action in the struggle against fascism. In November of 2022, Cooper joined the Foreign Legion and was scheduled to come home in March but decided to continue to fight together with comrades from the Resistance Committee and ecoplatform.
Before he departed he had conversations about Spain and fascism and history, and he made it clear that he was going to Ukraine because of the humanitarian needs of the people there to his mother, Willow Andrews.
She organizes a campaign to support initiatives that continue the work of her son:“Cooper achieved so much in such a short time and we want to honor his work.Through the Cooper Andrews Memorial Fund we hope to continue to grow organizations that Cooper cared about”
He had sent a letter to his comrades a month before he was killed from which comes those words: “In our hands there is a world to win and a fight which requires great sacrifice. For us and everybody else who faces the shadow of fascist aggression, there is only victory or death. Love and struggle.”
We have been very inspired by hearing about his past activism and by talking to his comrades and relatives feeling such an amount of love around Cooper and will always remember his commitment and strength fighting within the Ukrainian resistance.
solidarity collectives
Cooper’s’ friends shared this letter that Cooper had sent while in Ukraine:
“We find ourselves now at a crucial moment in the war where the precarious balance that was struck following the victorious Ukrainian People’s counter offensive may be turned in the aggressors favor through weight of attrition. Internationalists stand at the front of this conflict alongside our fellow countrymen (by blood and focus of efforts if not by passport) and we have resolved to have our fate intertwined with that of this land’s people.
As the war enters an extremely crucial phase it’s now more than ever that I hope my friends back home remember what is occurring here, after the initial excitement and media frenzy it is so easy to be jaded and look upon this conflict as merely another passing instance on the news, for talking head “experts” to debate, or worse still to complacently look at the albeit, plainly apparent incompetence of the Russian armed forces as a premature end to the war. This war is very much still in question though there have been many glorious victories won, the Russian state has at her means the accumulated resources of a vast empire and it will not leave this conflict without attempting to assemble them all against the people of Ukraine.
Victory in this war is vital to the freedom not just of the Ukrainian people but to that of the entire region and beyond. Putin’s nepotistic dictatorship reaches far beyond its own borders to maintain his revanchist regime. His dreams of empire are at the expense of Ukraine’s people as well as his own and within his nation and neighboring puppets there is a burgeoning insurgency which threatens to boil over should his great gamble in Ukraine fail. Putin’s imperialism represents a great purveyor of fascism(regardless of what certain weak-willed Turncoats may say while they stain the name of anti-fascism). A victory here for Putin will not only plunge this region into a dark period of authoritarianism from which there will be no escape, but it will also represent a victory for those who seek to recast the world in the image of the old, that is for those who seek to recreate the savagery of authoritarianism produced by those autocrats of, fascists under a variety of names.
In our hands there is a world to win and a fight which requires great sacrifice however the alternative is not an option. For us and everybody else who faces the shadow of putinist aggression there is only victory or death. Love and struggle 🖤
As to what we do here we are nothing special, just another group of fighters with various roles. Our time is occupied with training and boredom interspersed between the thrill and stress of combat. I am privileged to be a part of the great struggle as I am and I hope that our efforts will give rise to a free Ukraine and beyond.”
- Cooper (Harris) Andrews