Waiting for Lefty reviews The Trotsky, a Canadian "teen comedy filled with references to the Spanish Civil War";
Leon Bronstein is not your average Montreal West high school student. For one thing, none of his peers can claim to be the reincarnation of early 20th century Soviet iconoclast and Red...
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This December, rock star Sting will perform a free concert at the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina, Momento 24 reports, accompanied by other luminaries including Judge Baltasar Garzón, to celebrate the International Day of Human Rights. More here.
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RAPAR, a Manchester Human Rights organization, celebrated the life and activism of Paul Robeson yesterday.
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A vote held on November 8th rejected an local initiative to remove a monument inaugurated by Franco in 1966, in honor of those who died in the Ebro Battle, fighting on the Nationalist side. The motion was proposed by residents of Tortosa and other towns near the Ebro River in Tarragona, in accordance with...
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Clarence Kailin has returned to Spain. At a ceremony in Marça, near Tarragona, his son John scattered the Vet's ashes near the monument to the International Brigades. Amy Goodman, anchor of Democracy Now! and recipient of ALBA's activist award, covered the news in her show yesterday (listen here). See also an article by Jordi...
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In an interview with the Portuguese newspaper Público, Judge Baltasar Garzón, who last week spoke at the Estoril Film Festival, lamented the gradual abandonment of the principle of universal justice on the part of national governments (including Spain and the UK), and defended his 2008 decision to go ahead with the investigation of Francoist...
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Europa Laica (Secular Europe) and over 20 other Spanish associations held a well-attended demonstration to protest against the Pope's trip to Barcelona, under the banner of "We're not coming to greet you!" in Plaza Sant Jaume in front of City Hall on the evening of Nov. 4th in advance of...
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ALBA Board Member Chris Brooks, whose work made possible the online database of Spanish Civil War volunteers who left from the U.S., continues to expand, correct, and fine-tune his massive amounts of information. Follow him on his blog.
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Just posted to YouTube: A poem by the young IBer John Lepper; music by John Webster with Brindaband featuring flamenco guitarist Steve Homes. Watch and listen here.
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Judge Baltasar Garzón spoke at the Estoril Film Festival this week on of images and collective memory. In his honor, Chilean filmmaker Patricio Guzmán will be screening his documentaries El Caso Pinochet (The Pinochet Case) and his legendary, three-part epic La batalla de Chile (The Battle of Chile).
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The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA) is an educational non-profit dedicated to promoting social activism and the defense of human rights. ALBA’s work is inspired by the American volunteers of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade who fought fascism in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). Learn more at our website or
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New information about the New Zealand-born Spanish Civil War surgeon Doug Jolly (1904-1983) has emerged following the recent publication of his biography, Frontline Surgeon.
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On September 24, 1945, Dr. Barsky delivered this speech during the Spanish Refugee Appeal rally at Madison Square Garden.
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In 1944, Barsky wrote A Surgeon Goes to War, an 18-chapter memoir of his time in Spain, which was never published but can be consulted at NYU’s Tamiment Library. This is the first chapter.
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Self-effacing and shy though he was, Dr. Edward Barsky’s experience in Spain made him an outspoken activist, tireless organizer, innovative frontline surgeon, and political prisoner. “Eddie is a saint,” Hemingway wrote. “That’s where we put our saints in this country—in jail.”
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The Volunteer is thrilled to honor Dr. Barsky on the fiftieth anniversary of his death.
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For Edward Barsky, political and humanitarian activism were two sides of the same coin. Those who persecuted him begged to differ.
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The time she spent in civil-war Spain loomed large in the life of Martha Gellhorn, the St. Louis-born war journalist. “The truth is that Martha could not stop thinking, feeling, and writing about her Spanish experiences.” “Objectivity bullshit.” That’s what Martha Gellhorn (1908-1998) called the journalism of her day. Her letters to personalities like...
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Among the thousands of Jewish volunteers who joined the International Brigades were many descendants of the Sephardim. What was it like for them to “return” to Spain? Three case studies: Lini de Vries, César Covo, and Samuel Nahman, aka Manny Harriman.
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How the 22-year-old Jewish American dancer Janet Riesenfeld performed flamenco to help raise money for the Second Republic under fascist attack.
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Why did Jawaharlal Nehru, future prime minister of India, visit civil-war Spain in 1938? As it turned out, the triangular relationship between Britain, Spain, and India had deep cultural and geopolitical implications.
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ALBA's project to provide a complete list of the more than 2,800 individuals who left from U.S. territory to fight with the Spanish Republic
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