This past Friday, the United States' Justice Department disclosed the names of 55 individuals who are currently being detained at Guantánamo Bay, approving them to be transfered to other countries. According to the New York Times, "the government’s move has no immediate, practical effect on the inmates’ detention," and "inclusion on the list...
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Hershl Hartman writes: IB fighters remembered in Secular Yom Kippur program Since 1973, progressive Secular/cultural Jews — including many intercultural families — in Los Angeles have marked yonkiper/Yom Kippur (day of purgation/atonement) in an alternative observance in which personal reflections are combined with social concerns, and poetry replaces prayer. Reflecting our general anti-fascist heritage...
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"A former Guatemalan soldier accused of being involved in a 1982 massacre during that country's civil war was extradited Friday to California where he faces immigration fraud charges," the Associate Press reports:
José Sosa Orantes was brought to the U.S. from Canada, where he fled after American officials began investigating allegations that...
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Our friends at the IBMT write with the sad news of the passing of IB veteran Lou Kenton. Born on 1 September 1908 in the East End of London, Lou was a print worker and prominent anti-fascist before the start of the Spanish Civil War. He arrived in Spain in July 1937 on...
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Esperanza Aguirre, arguably one of the most important Spanish politicians in recent history, announced her resignation on Monday, due by and large to having been diagnosed with breast cancer. Aguirre, 60, served in the Spanish government for over thirty years, including a run as the head of the Spanish Senate. According to the...
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This past weekend marked the one-year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street. Nancy and Len Tsou, intrepid photographers, were there to document. See their images here.
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According to Público, Spain's Ministry of Justice has created an archive in which one may access information about the 4,400 Spaniards who died in concentration camps in Austria and Germany during the Second World War. The database will provide names, dates of birth and death, and any relevant historical documents related to the...
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Santiago Carrillo, the historic leader of the Spanish Communist Party, has died. He was 97. An English-language obit from El País can be found here. See also coverage from MásPúblico and Público.
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Our friends in the UK at the International Brigade Memorial Trust have just sent us their latest newsletter, with articles on the new plaque at the IB memorial in London, the Pyrenees crossing, Republican refugees in Sussex, Christopher Caudwell, and much more. Read it in pdf here.
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Along with David Graeber, Richard Sennet--social and cultural theorist and proud son and nephew of veterans of the Lincoln Brigade--has an article in this week's issue of The Nation dedicated to the anniversary of Occupy Wall Street:
It’s been a year since the Occupy movements of 2011, and like other participants,...
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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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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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