Do we ever see intellectuals mobilize like in the Spanish Civil War/Revolution?

In the 1930’s, during the Spanish Civil War, a lot of famous writers and intellectuals travelled to Spain to fight on the side of the Spanish people against the fascists in the International Brigades. Do we see anything like that today? Or even in the last 30 years? Will we see people picking up arms to go help the Libyan people, or perhaps the Saudis? What about groups that go help defend besieged indigenous groups?