Written, produced and directed by Mary Dore, Sam Sills, and Noel Buckner, with major funding provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, "The Good Fight" (1984, 98 min.), narrated by Studs Terkel, explores this often-ignored part of our history through newsreels, photographs, interviews and Depression-era music. Join a free Q&A with filmmaker Mary...
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Tolerance, in Canada, reports
A state prosecutor Friday recommended that Argentina turn down all lawsuits related to crimes under former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, since they are being dealt with in Spain, a justice official said. "Any country is qualified to prosecute crimes against humanity, but on condition that the country...
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The Reader (Almería, Spain) reports:
Spain will next week have to explain the processes being taken by the Supreme Court against National Court judge, Baltasar Garzón, to the United Nations, following’s Garzón difficulties in investigating crimes and disappearances in the Franco years. On Wednesday Spain’s human rights record is set to...
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From this week's issue:
Garzón is usually assigned a leftist role within Spain's internal disputes, but he has routinely irritated people of all political stripes. He is a postideological idealist, a legal crusader who in his own country tirelessly pursues corrupt socialists and conservatives alike and, beyond his national borders,...
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Leonard Lopate, at WNYC, interviews Juan Salas and Jeanne Houck about Cartier-Bresson's With the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.
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In addition to ALBA's annual reunion, at the Museo del Barrio at 4:30pm on Sunday, May 2 (some tickets still available!), there is a whole series of other interesting events this week, including appearances by prominent Spanish authors such as Javier Cercas and Bernardo Atxaga. See the Hispanic New York site for...
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Almería's The Reader reports:
Baltasar Garzón had called on Varela to recuse himself after it became known that the Supreme Court judge had advised those placing written allegations against Garzón, the Falange and Manos Limpias, on how to edit those written admissions to make them acceptable.
More here.In contrast with Spain, Argentina's courts are putting an end to impunity. The New York Times reports:
The Supreme Court overturned pardons of a dictatorship-era president and economy minister on Tuesday, paving the way for them to be tried for kidnapping and extortion. Former President Jorge Videla, left, and his...
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Amy Goodman--recipient of the First ALBA Activist Award this coming Sunday, May 2, in New York (tickets still available!)--reports:
Rallies were held around the world this weekend to support a leading human rights judge facing trial in Spain. Baltasar Garzón is accused of overreaching his authority in a probe...
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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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