ALBA Online Events Draw Thousands
Richard Bermack hosting the Monument Celebration.
Forced online by the ongoing pandemic, ALBA’s events have been generating strong interest from around the world. On September 12, ALBA’s Bay Area friends organized an 85-minute celebration of the newly restored national monument to the Lincoln Brigade in San Francisco. Hosted by Richard Bermack and featuring film footage by Vicente Franco, the program included appearances by the celebrated Chilean novelist Isabel Allende (whose speech you can read in this issue), labor activist Bill Fletcher, architect Walter Hood, poet Rafael Jesús González, and musical performances by Velina Brown and Dave Rovics. Linda Lustig and Martha Jarocki, members of the original monument committee, explained how the project came about, while Susan Schwartzenberg, Catherine Powell, and Brian McWilliams recalled the rich history of Bay Area labor activism. Luis Osuna, an immigration activist from San Diego, spoke compellingly on behalf of No More Deaths/No Más Muertes, this year’s winner of the ALBA/Puffin Award for Human Rights Activism. The video of the event can be viewed on ALBA’s website and YouTube channel.
On August 30, ALBA presented another in its online series of film screenings, featuring The Internationale, an award-winning documentary by ALBA board member and filmmaker Peter Miller. The event included a lively panel discussion and Q&A session with the filmmaker, scholar, and ALBA honorary board member Robin D.G. Kelley, and musician Holly Near, moderated by ALBA’s Peter Glazer. (View the panel discussion here.)
Next up in the ALBA film series are two documentaries: Into the Fire: American Women in the Spanish Civil War, by board member Julia Newman (November 15, register here), and, in February, Invisible Heroes: African-Americans in the Spanish Civil War. Visit ALBA’s website at alba-valb.org for more details.
Hello – I’ve been trying to find a way to watch the viewing event for “Into the Fire: American Women in the Spanish Civil War” but have not found a way to do so. Any links or postings would be appreciated.
Thanks
Fred Siegel