War crimes & truth-tellers: Baltasar Garzón and Julian Assange

September 15, 2012
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War crimes & truth-tellers: Baltasar Garzón and Julian Assange

In dramatic news last month, Baltasar Garzón--the acclaimed Spanish lawyer and former judge who built his career on doggedly pursuing accountability for human rights crimes--agreed to head the legal defense team for Julian Assange in the Wikileaks publisher’s efforts to avoid extradition to the United States via Sweden. If there is such a thing as...
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Posted in Features

Spanish Revolution 2.0: Yes, there are alternatives

September 9, 2012
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Spanish Revolution 2.0: Yes, there are alternatives

Spain is among the countries hardest hit by the economic meltdown. But, much like in 1936, it is also Spain that is seeing some of the most inspiring reactions to the crisis. Amidst the ruins, revolutionary initiatives flourish: new and not-so-new forms of economic...
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Posted in News, Features

Papa & Marty at the movies: Hemingway & Gellhorn

September 15, 2012
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Papa & Marty at the movies: <em>Hemingway & Gellhorn</em>

At worst, Hemingway & Gellhorn is the best bad movie you'll see all year. It has two stars--Nicole Kidman and Clive Owens--at the top of their game and the chemistry between them incandesces. There’s a great supporting cast too: David Strathairn as the crushable...
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Posted in Reviews

Why Not Teach the Spanish Civil War?

September 15, 2012
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Why <em>Not</em> Teach the Spanish Civil War?

When taught properly, the Spanish Civil War allows students in a Spanish class not only to learn about a major historical event but to think, write, and talk about...
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Posted in Essays, Education

There’s something about Ohio

September 15, 2012
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There’s something about Ohio

Ohio, the quintessential swing state, has long been among the places where the country’s political battle lines are most clearly drawn. This was as true in the 1930s as...
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Posted in News, Education

Michael H. Nash (1946-2012)

September 15, 2012
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Michael H. Nash (1946-2012)

Mike Nash, the director of New York University’s Tamiment Library, Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives and ALBA board member, died unexpectedly on July 24. He was 66. A well...
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Posted in Memory's Roster

A war for our times: The Spanish conflict in 21st-century perspective

September 14, 2012
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A war for our times: The Spanish conflict in 21st-century perspective

The civil war in Spain stands at a crossroads in Europe’s “dark twentieth century”: that is, in the story of how, not so long ago, the mass killing of civilians became the brutal medium through which European societies came to terms with structure-shattering forms of change. The Spanish conflict was all about this. But...
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Posted in Features

The story of MásPúblico: Bucking the corporate media

September 9, 2012
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The story of <em>MásPúblico:</em> Bucking the corporate media

This spring, Público, Spain's most prominent progressive media venue, killed its print edition, announcing massive layoffs. Almost immediately, a core group of its journalists got together to found MásPúblico, a truly independent, cooperative media project. Berta del Río has the inside story.
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Posted in News, Features

Our American Guernica: The enigma of Motherwell’s Elegies

September 15, 2012
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Our American Guernica: The enigma of Motherwell’s <em>Elegies</em>

What prompted the artist Robert Motherwell to devote over 40 years, from 1948 until his death in 1991, to a body of work entitled “Elegies to the Spanish Republic”?   Why did Motherwell, whom the noted critic Clement Greenberg considered “one of the very best...
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Posted in Features

Soccer and War: Whatever happens, the ball rolls on

September 15, 2012
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Soccer and War: Whatever happens, the ball rolls on

Some say soccer is politics and others consider it poetry. Jimmy Burns and Simon Kuper lay bare the connections between what happened on the European fields and the world...
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Posted in Reviews

Songs of Struggle: Horror and humanity

September 16, 2012
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Songs of Struggle: Horror and humanity

The Undying Flame: Ballads and Songs of the Holocaust, by Jerry Silverman. Jerry Silverman has written much more than a songbook. He brings to life the rise of fascism and...
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Posted in Reviews

Perpetrators on trial: The justice cascade

September 16, 2012
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Perpetrators on trial: The justice cascade

The Justice Cascade: How Human Rights Prosecutions Are Changing World Politics, by Kathryn Sikkink (New York: Norton, 2011). One of the most shocking scenes in Mad Men, the popular TV...
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Posted in Reviews

Letter to the Editor: From the grandson of an anarchist

September 16, 2012
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Letter to the Editor: From the grandson of an anarchist

With tears in my eyes I read the list of American brigaders who fought in Spain with the Spanish Republic. The only thing I can say as the grandson...
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Posted in Letters

Canada should recognize its SCW heroes

September 16, 2012
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Canada should recognize its SCW heroes

Quick, identify the Canadian battalion that celebrates its 75th anniversary this month. If you didn’t guess the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion you’re not alone. Few would.
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Posted in Essays

Reclaiming Military Records of IB Prisoners

September 9, 2012
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Reclaiming Military Records of IB Prisoners

The words and deeds of the Lincoln Vets still Speak to a generation of present-day Spaniards.  I received an email during the last week of August from Nacho Garcia,...
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Posted in Blog

Is There Freedom of the Press in Spain?

September 1, 2012
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Is There Freedom of the Press in Spain?

The Spanish on-line paper El Plural is reporting a rather shocking story from Madrid. “The State Secretariat of Information has decided that the news conference planned for next week...
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Posted in Blog, Uncategorized

An apocryphal obituary of a fictional character

August 31, 2012
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An apocryphal obituary of a fictional character

In his massive novel La noche de los tiempos, Antonio Muñoz Molina crafts an unforgettable fictional character named  Judith Biely.  The daughter of Eastern European Jewish immigrants, Judith grew...
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Posted in Blog, Uncategorized

PRI’s “The World” airs story on Abraham Lincoln Brigade veteran James Benét

August 3, 2012
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PRI’s “The World” airs story on Abraham Lincoln Brigade veteran James Benét

Today from 3:00-4:00 p.m. WNYC AM 820 aired an interview with Abraham Lincoln Brigade veteran James Benet. The interview was aired as a segment of PRI's "The World"....
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Posted in Blog

Guernica and Guernica in British and American Poetry

September 17, 2012
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Guernica and <em>Guernica</em> in British and American Poetry

What role has poetry played in the way we think about the Spanish Civil War? Along with photography and film, it helped bring home the image of the Spanish...
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Posted in Essays

John “Tito” Gerassi (1931-2012)

July 28, 2012
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John “Tito” Gerassi (1931-2012)

In the wake of the untimely deaths of Alexander Cockburn and Michael Nash, we are sad to report the passing of John "Tito" Gerassi, author, journalist, historian, and...
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Posted in Blog, Memory's Roster

The future of ALBA: Your legacy

September 17, 2012
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The future of ALBA: Your legacy

Planning for your will and your legacy? The Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade established their legacy with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives. Now you can continue their “good...
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Posted in News

Message in a Bottle

July 12, 2012
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Message in a Bottle

In a recent exchange with a commenter on this blog, I mentioned how sometimes, when posting here, I feel like a hopeful child throwing a message in a bottle...
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Posted in Blog

Alexander Cockburn (1941-2012)

July 28, 2012
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Alexander Cockburn (1941-2012)

Earlier this month, journalism mourned the death of the radical British journalist Alexander Cockburn, son of the journalist and Spanish Civil War veteran Claud Cockburn, aka Frank Pitcairn (1904-1981). Among...
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Posted in Blog, Memory's Roster

Amy Goodman on Guernica, 75 years later

July 20, 2012
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Amy Goodman on Guernica, 75 years later

Amy Goodman at Democracy Now!, on the lessons of the bombing:

Seventy-five years ago, the Spanish town of Guernica was bombed into rubble. The brutal act propelled...
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Posted in Blog