Via the Bristol Radical History Group:
The memorial to the four Bristol volunteers who joined the International Brigades to fight fascism in the Spanish Civil War in Castle Park is to be surrounded by a vivid mosiac border in Republican colours and will be unveiled at 12 noon on 14th...
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News from Rhode Island:
In July 1937, John G. Hovan boarded a France-bound boat to fight the rising Fascist powers. He headed to Spain, south across the Pyrenees, where thousands of other volunteers were already fighting a civil war that proved to be a prelude to World War II. The war was...
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A government-led investigation has revealed that the Valley of the Fallen--Franco's massive Civil War monument completed in 1959 after twenty years of construction by forced-labor crews consisting of Republican prisoners--doesn't merely hold Franco's own body, but the bodies of 33,832 others, making it the Spain's largest mass grave. More here.
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After Human Rights Watch and the Robert F. Kennedy Center, Amnesty International, the International Federation for Human Rights, and the World Organization Against Torture join scores of other human-rights organizations in expressing their solidarity with the embattled magistrate, and their bafflement at his possible suspension for investigating crimes against humanity committed...
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From InsideToronto:
In 1936, Norman Bethune headed to Spain to provide medical care on the battlefield and this is where he developed the world's first mobile medical unit to administer blood transfusions on the spot, which saved many lives. He's revered in China and remembered in Montreal, but more than...
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From CNN:
Historians and teachers have reason to be deeply concerned over the latest actions taken by the Texas Board of Education regarding social studies curriculum standards.
Many conservatives are simply unwilling to accept how much the writing and teaching of American history has changed...
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Monday, March 29, 7:00 p.m. Queridísmos verdugos (Basilio Martín Patino, 1977, 100 mins). Programmed by Helen Graham, King Juan Carlos Chair in Spanish Culture and Civilization/Professor of Modern Spanish History, Department of History, Royal Holloway, University of London. Introduced by Sarah Thomas, PhD candidate, NYU Department of Spanish and Portuguese. In Spanish...
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Today in the Times:
Spain’s Supreme Court announced Thursday that an investigating magistrate could proceed with a case against a crusading judge known internationally for indicting Osama bin Laden and the Chilean dictator Read more »
About to be released in the US: the Henri Cartier-Bresson Collector's Edition, featuring two of his Spanish Civil War films, Victory of Life (1937) and Spain Will Live (1938).
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28th Annual Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival, April 15th-30th, 2010, featuring A War in Hollywood (Hollywood contra Franco), by Oriol Porta, which tells the story of Alvah Bessie. Trailer here.
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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
sign up to receive email updates from ALBA. Support ALBA through a tax-deductible gift! To inquire about a donation, please contact the ALBA office at info@alba-valb.org or 212-674-5398.
Although this text by Ivens is little known—and has never been translated before—it offers an eye-opening reflection on the power of his filmmaking.
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Antifascism has long been synonymous with American values. In 1934, student activists at New York’s City College arguably understood this better than many do today.
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After the Nazis occupied the Netherlands, the Seegers family did not hesitate to join the resistance. They had experience fighting fascism: their son Piet had fought for the Spanish Republic. When Tom King started digging into his family history seventy years later, he fell from one surprise into the other.
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Tina Modotti’s short life took her from Italy to North Beach and from there to Mexico, Berlin, Moscow, and civil-war Spain. Rightly known as a pathbreaking modernist photographer, she was also a radical activist. “Modotti spent the second part of her working life fighting for revolution.”
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Kirsten Weld has spent years studying Latin American dictatorships and the citizens who fight to hold them accountable. That experience has proven valuable in her current role as president of the AAUP chapter at Harvard, which, in March, sued the federal government for targeting students and faculty—and won.
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Targeted by the far right, Rutgers historian Mark Bray and his family went into exile in October. Speaking with The Volunteer from Madrid, he reflects on the current political situation. “Fascism shamelessly takes over institutions that, under liberal norms, are supposed to remain neutral.”
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I. In the Beginning Second child, Bernard, born March 1, 1915 Older brother, my father, Jacob (Jack), born June 3, 1912 Younger sister, Roslyn, born (June 1, 1922) disabled, hospitalized, died February 10, 1942 Their father, Abraham, died March 21,1930 Their mother, Nettie, died April 29, 1953 Bernie Brilliant student, graduated High...
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The title of this new occasional feature of The Volunteer is the Esperanto word for “archive.” In it, we will present, translate, and contextualize iconic non-English language documents related to the anti-fascist struggle in Spain.
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In recent years, citizen groups in Leipzig and Madrid have fought to preserve the buildings that were backdrops in two of Robert Capa’s best-known photographs. Their steadfast dedication has created two sites of historical memory whose significance extends far beyond Capa’s original images.
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On November 8, 1937, Salaria Kea, a 26-year-old African American nurse from Ohio, had been in Spain for seven months and one day. The country was in disarray. Half its territory was controlled by fascist rebels. Cities were being bombed, and civilians were killed by the thousands. Thousands more were forcibly displaced. But Kea...
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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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