I’ve been away for some days, and haven’t had time to catch up with the press coverage of the 15-May movement in Spain. But one of the messages I found in my cluttered inbox upon my return contained this link to photos of the violent disbandment of the peaceful protesters that took place today...
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The regional and municipal elections on Sunday in Spain confirmed the Left's worst fears, as the ruling Socialist Party was routed and the conservative Partido Popular achieved its largest electoral victory in its history, predicting a similar victory in next year's general election--although not all the votes that the Socialists lost went to the...
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The exhumation of the body of Chilean President Salvador Allende, at the request of his family, is expected to shed light on the still murky circumstances surrounding his death during the September 1973 coup that inaugurated the bloody regime of General Augusto Pinochet. The New York Times reports:
after nearly 38 years...
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In the slide show we prepared for the Pete Seeger benefit concert last October, we incorporated a photograph of Lincoln vets marching in the 1946 New York May Day Parade. As it turns out, there is also moving footage of this parade. See the clip here; the Lincolns make there appearance around the...
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The students in my undergraduate seminar –“Spain in New York”– and I are in the process of uploading to a word-press blog the results of our research about the history and current presence of Spain and Spanish culture in New York. The recent rally of Spanish ex-pats at the foot of the Washington Square...
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Even for a Spanish news junkie like myself, it is hard to comprehend and convey the significance of the recent massive meetings of citizens in Spain’s symbolic center –the Puerta del Sol in Madrid– and in many other cities in Spain, and now, it seems, around the world. Here’s what I understand of the...
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On Tuesday, May 17th, a group of people gathered at Madrid’s Athenaeum to remember and pay tribute to the heroic men and women who joined the International Brigades 75 years ago.
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Now available for online viewing: the speech that Larry Cox, Executive Director of Amnesty International, USA, gave on Saturday May 14 in New York City on the occasion of the first ALBA/Puffin Human Rights Award for Judge Baltasar Garzón:
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Now available for online viewing: the speech that Michael Ratner, President of the Center for Constitutional Rights, gave on Saturday May 14 in New York City on the occasion of the first ALBA/Puffin Human Rights Award for Judge Baltasar Garzón:
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In an important victory for transitional justice after 36 years, a court in northern Argentina has sentenced eight ex-army officers to life in jail for killing unarmed activists in the town of Margarita Belén during the military dictatorship, the BBC reports:
Twenty-two people, mostly members of the Montoneros rebel group, were tortured and killed...
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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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