The family of Chilean President Salvador Allende, who died during the 1973 Pinochet coup, is requesting that his body be exhumed in order to help determine the cause of death, Democracy Now! reports:
Allende was overthrown in a U.S.-backed coup. His official cause of death was listed as suicide, but it has...
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Spain in/and the United States Screening and discussion of two documentaries about Spaniards in the US. NYU’s Department of Spanish and Portuguese and its King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center, together with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives and the Comisión de Archivos de La Nacional, are pleased to present filmmaker Luis Argeo, who...
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From the English edition of El País:
The ages of the men range from the late fifties to mid-sixties. At the drop of a hat, they have been taken back 33 years, the length of time they have been at liberty.
"Who are you?"
"We are former prisoners."
"No,...
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Today's papers feature another series of reactions to yesterday's news that the second Supreme Court trial against Garzón has been opened. Many commentators, including El País in an editorial, brand the obvious rush with which the presiding judge, Barreiro, is proceeding, opening the trial with several appeals pending, and denying Garzón and...
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Juan Salas was in Paris in March, alongside ALBA's Robert Coale, to present With the Lincoln Brigade in Spain, the rediscovered film by Henri Cartier-Bresson and Herbert Kline (clip here), at Cinéma du Réel, the prestigous international documentary film festival. Here is an interview with Juan (in French) from the Festival...
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ALBA has just issued a press release (versión en español) with further details on the May 14 annual celebration, featuring ALBA/Puffin Awardee Baltasar Garzón:
A pre-event benefit will feature a question-and-answer session and the opportunity to meet Judge Garzón over a light lunch. Judge Garzón will be interviewed by Jonathan Turley,...
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A news item buried in yesterday's edition of the Spanish e-paper El Plural called attention to a little-known case pending in Spain's Constitutional Court, whose outcome could have definitive repercussions on two of Garzón's three cases.
There is an anomalous figure in Spanish law known as "acusación popular", which allows unharmed citizens to press...
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Some additional English-language coverage from the Associated Press:
In his latest altercation with the Spanish legal system, Garzon was probing a network of businesses that allegedly paid money and gifts to members of Spain's conservative opposition Popular Party in exchange for lucrative contracts in towns and regions governed by that party. As part...
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There seems to be no end to the legal and historical ironies associated with Judge Baltasar Garzón, who is currently facing three sets charges in the Spanish Supreme Court. If he loses the first one--for opening an investigation into crimes against humanity committed by the Franco regime--he, the judge, would be the first person...
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"Judge Baltasar Garzón is soon to appear in the Supreme Court over wiretaps that he ordered to listen in on conversations between lawyers and the heads of the corrupt "Gürtel" business network," the English edition of El País reports:
The judge in charge of the case, Alberto Jorge Barreiro, announced Monday that the...
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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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