Podcasts about International Brigades

Continued from yesterday's episode, we read again from Adam Hochschild's brilliant book Spain in Our Hearts, about the overwhelming odds faced by the International Brigades in Spain as they crossed the Ebro River in the Republic's last attempt to hold off the fascist generals and attract the support of the British and the French. The agreement at Munich over the fate of Czechoslovakia signalled that the British and French had no interest in fighting to save Spain from Hitler's proxies. *****STOP PRESS*****I only ever talk about history on this podcast but I also have another life, yes, that of aspirant fantasy author and if that's your thing you can get a copy of my debut novel The Blood of Tharta, right here:Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways:If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership hereOrYou can support the podcast via Patreon hereOr you can just say some nice things about it here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1938, the fascist generals who had launched their insurrection two years earlier had divided the country but had not been able to seize Madrid. The Republican government was running out of fuel, arms and options, and decided on one last roll of the dice. Juan Negrin and his government agreed to send their army, including the International Brigades, across the River Ebro to strike deep into Nationalist territory, in the hope that a solid victory would inspire the British and the French at least to drop the arms embargo or to engage in a wider anti fascist war that seemed certain to engulf Europe. *****STOP PRESS*****I only ever talk about history on this podcast but I also have another life, yes, that of aspirant fantasy author and if that's your thing you can get a copy of my debut novel The Blood of Tharta, right here:Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways:If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership hereOrYou can support the podcast via Patreon hereOr you can just say some nice things about it here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Simon Tolkien discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Simon Tolkien is the grandson of JRR Tolkien and a director of the Tolkien Estate. He is also series consultant for the Amazon series, The Rings of Power. Simon studied Modern History at Trinity College, Oxford and went on to become a barrister specializing in criminal defence. He left the law to become a writer in 2001 and has published five novels which mine the history of the first half of the last century to explore dark subjects – capital punishment, the Holocaust, the Blitz and the Battle of the Somme. The epic coming-of-age story of Theo Sterling, set in 1930s New York, England and Spain, is being published in two volumes, The Palace at the End of the Sea in June, which is available at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Palace-End-Sea-Novel-Sterling/dp/1662528647 and The Room of Lost Steps, which will be available at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Room-Lost-Steps-Novel-Sterling/dp/1662528663 on 16th September this year. The International Brigades https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2022/02/24/soldiers-of-solidarity-spanish-civil-war/ Gustave Caillebotte https://www.bbc.co.uk/culture/article/20150706-caillebotte-the-painter-who-captured-paris-in-flux Port Meadow, Oxford https://www.oxford.gov.uk/directory-record/673/port-meadow The Conversation https://www.theguardian.com/film/article/2024/jul/04/the-conversation-review-gene-hackman-is-unforgettable-in-coppolas-paranoid-classic Gerard Manley Hopkins https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v36/n07/helen-vendler/i-have-not-lived-up-to-it Santa Barbara, California https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/guide-to-santa-barbara This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

Part Two: Matthew remembers the snow job of “The Sound of Music.” Also: more on Sophie Scholl, introducing the Edelweiss Pirates, the “adult gaze”, what trusting kids means, notes from Emma Goldman and Janusz Korczak, and excerpts from a poem by Aku Päiviö, father of Jules, who traveled from Northern Ontario to Spain in 1937 to volunteer in the International Brigade. ____ When fascism rises, and some young people are drawn into its orbit, because everyone from Jordan Peterson to Andrew Tate has figured out how to exploit resentment at the failures of capitalism, we have an opportunity to give our kids a lot more than moralistic calls for a return to normalcy, compliance, warnings about screen time, striving to be better students, doing more sports, and not making too much of a ruckus.  The kind of parenting that limits itself to restoring the status quo for younger people in an age of fascism is not engaged parenting.  It's not enough to be a good boy or girl. Antifascism takes more than that. Show Notes Op-ed: Try again, President Kumar: Renewing calls for Tufts to adopt March 4 TCU Senate resolutions  Death toll since Israel's aggression on Gaza on October 7 rises to 31,819 (March, 2024)  Austerity Has Always Been a Project to Empower Capital at the Expense of Workers  It's Not Them; It's Us: Thoughts on the Show Adolescence Adolescence is a really well made depiction of misogyny that fails to critique it | by Mallory Moore | Mar, 2025 Netflix's ‘Adolescence' Taps Into the Latest Moral Panic    Jonathan Haidt's Claims On Kids & Tech Crumble Under Scrutiny From Top Expert, Candice Odgers | Techdirt  UK government's own estimate says welfare cuts to push 250,000 into poverty | Reuters Labour's cuts to PIP will drag a quarter of a million people into absolute poverty, DWP figures show – Disability News Service 55: Games Against Humanity (w/ Thi Nguyen) — Conspirituality 207: Gaming Realities (w/Thi Nguyen) — Conspirituality   Reminder to the media: Research video games before reporting on them  Out of the Ruins:The Emergence of Radical Informal Learning Spaces Anarchist Education and the Modern School: A Francisco Ferrer Reader  The People's Republic of Neverland: The Child versus the State   Raising Free People: Unschooling as Liberation and Healing Work Teaching Resistance: Radicals, Revolutionaries, and Cultural Subversives in the Classroom TRUST KIDS! Stories on Youth Autonomy and Confronting Adult Supremacy Refusing Complicity: The Bravery of Sophie Scholl - Radical Tea Towel Sophie Scholl and the youth resistance against the Nazis – DW – 02/22/2023 The majority of news influencers are conservative men, study finds  An Unclaimed Country: The Austrian Image in American Film and the Sociopolitics of The Sound of Music  The politics of The Sound of Music | Peter Levine  Edelweiss Pirate Walter Mayer The Edelweiss Pirates: A Story of Freedom, Love and Life Walter Meyer describes his 1943 trial for looting, and the impact of his role in the Edelweiss Pirates on the sentence he received | Holocaust Encyclopedia The Edelweiss Pirates The Child and Its Enemies | The Anarchist Library —Emma Goldman DECLARATION OF CHILDREN'S RIGHTS—Janusz Korczak  The King of Children: A Biography of Janusz Korczak - Betty Jean Lifton Sophie Scholl – The Final Days Remember the Mac-Paps - rabble.ca  The Canadians In The Spanish Civil War  'Gentleman Jules' lived for just causes | Sudbury Star  Poetry – Friends and Veterans Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week writer and tour guide Nick Lloyd brings Catherine on a a more atypical historical route of Barcelona to uncover the lesser known layers to the city's history. They start at Estació de França, a historic train station not far from the city's port where the International Brigades arrived to Spain. They then walk down to Ciutadella Park, where Barcelona's zoo is located to discuss the haunting effects the war had on the animals and the origins of the park. They finish at Pompeu Fabra University, a building that still bears the scars of fascist bombings and which was known during the Civil War as the Karl Marx Barracks. As always, if you like what we are producing, please consider making a donation to our buy me a coffee page or leave a review where you listen to your podcasts. https://buymeacoffee.com/thesobremey

Jim Jump, the editor of the poetry anthology "Poems from Spain: British and Irish International Brigaders on the Spanish Civil War", joins Alan to discuss the collection of poems that stretch the length Spanish Civil War and after. All poems were written by men and women participating in the International Brigades. They cover the lives of the poets themselves, recite poetry from the book and discuss why it was so prominent in the war. The collection can be brought from the publishers Lawrence and Wishart's website here If you like what we are producing, please consider making a donation at our Buy Me a Coffee page here - ⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thesobremey

From the Open Sources Guelph archive, it's our very first political movies show from 2015. On this one, we cover the struggles of standing between competing parties in the Danish parliament and comedic efforts to beat the odds and be elected President of the United States. We also have the struggles of a Communist fighting the Spanish Civil War and the reconsideration of an American pariah. From Thursday, December 24, 2015, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz  and Adam A. Donaldson discussed: 1) Scotty's Pick #1. Borgen: Birgitte Nyborg becomes Prime Minister of Denmark through a political fluke and has to learn the ways of power, quickly. She's an altruistic public servant in an old boys club and must master the art of the deal overnight, manage her image and understand that she has advisors but no real friends. She also must perform the impossible juggling act of maintaining a family life while serving as Denmark s first female Prime Minister. The rigors of public life and the press may attract some of Denmark s finest, but it also exacts a high price from them all for participating in an open democracy. 2) Adam's Pick #1. Head of State: A low-level Washington, D.C., public servant, Mays Gilliam (Chris Rock), is thrust into the national spotlight when he's asked by Martin Geller (Dylan Baker), the head of the Democratic Party, to run for president after the party's presidential and vice-presidential nominees are killed in a plane crash. The odds are against Gilliam, mostly because he has a penchant for telling the truth about what is wrong with the country. Remarkably, his straight-talking style catches on with the public. 3) Scotty's Pick #2. Land and Freedom: David Carr (Ian Hart), a committed member of the Communist Party in his native Liverpool, England, travels to Spain in 1936 with the intention of joining the anti-fascist International Brigades in the country's civil war. Instead, he falls in with the POUM, a Marxist splinter group opposed to Stalin‘s oppressive totalitarianism. Despite falling in love with the politically passionate Blanca (Rosana Pastor), Carr finds the leftist infighting a distraction from the greater struggle. 4) Adam's Pick #2. W: Flashbacks to key events in his life reveal the rise of George W. Bush from ne'er-do-well party boy and son of privilege to president of the United States. After trading in booze for religion, George mends his aimless ways and sets his sights first on the Texas governorship, then on the presidency. But the country's involvement in the Iraq war decreases his approval rating. Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

In this episode on Speaking Out of Place podcast Professor David Palumbo-Liu talks with Len and Hwei-ru Tsou, Taiwanese activists whose main commitment, over a period of decades, has been to discover and disclose the involvement of Asian and South Asian anti-fascists in the International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War. Today's conversation is perhaps one of the most unusual and unusually important ones we have had on the podcast. Not only do we discover their longstanding friendship with the celebrated anarchist David Graeber and his father during this journey, but we also hear them linking their anti-fascist work to their pro-Palestine activism, which included their participation in the flotillas of X and Y protesting Israel's illegal blockade of Gaza. We hear Len and Nancy (Ruwei's English name) draw the links between the anti-fascist struggle in Spain and the international movement for Palestinian rights. The conversation inspires and gives one hope about international solidarity in the past, and the present.www.palumbo-liu.comhttps://speakingoutofplace.comhttps://twitter.com/palumboliu?s=20www.instagram.com/speaking_out_of_place

Today's conversation is perhaps one of the most unusually important ones we have had on the podcast.  Len and Hwei-ru Tsou are two Taiwanese activists whose main commitment, over a period of decades, has been to discover and disclose the involvement of Asian and South Asian anti-fascists in the International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War.  Not only do we discover their longstanding friendship with one of their first interviewees--Kenneth Graeber, father of celebrated anarchist David Graeber--but we also hear them linking their anti-fascist work to their pro-Palestine activism, which included their courageous participation in the flotillas protesting Israel's illegal blockade of Gaza. We hear Len and Hwei-ru draw the links between the anti-fascist struggle in Spain and the international movement for Palestinian rights. The conversation inspires and gives one hope about international solidarity in the past, and the present.Bios of Len Tsou and Hwei-Ru TsouWe are the authors of a book on the Chinese volunteers in the Spanish Civil War, in Chinese as well as in Spanish edition. Growing up in Taiwan, we came to the U.S. to pursue our graduate studies in natural sciences.  The new land provided us with space and resources for our curiosity in modern Chinese history and the cold war.  In 1973 a military coup overthrew the Chilean President Salvador Allende, a democratically elected Socialist.  It led us to pay attention to the America's Dirty Wars. After obtaining our PhDs in Chemistry, Len worked in semiconductor field and Hwei-Ru in pharmaceutical industry. We each published numerous scientific papers and patents in our respective fields. To serve as a bridge, we founded Cultural International in 1989 to introduce to Taiwan the experiences of American people's struggles in environment, labor and human rights.In 2002, we organized weekly peace vigil in Rockland County, NY, hoping to prevent the imminent war on Iraq from happening. The peace vigil continued for nine years. In 2011 Len joined the US Boat to Gaza challenging Israel's blockade on Gaza.  After moving to California, we join the San Jose weekly peace vigil to continue protesting the endless wars.   In 2001 our research result was published in Taiwan as a book 《橄欖桂冠的召喚：參加西班牙內戰的中國人(1936-1939)》.  A Spanish edition “Los Brigadistas Chinos en la Guerra Civil: La LLamada de España (1936-1939)” was published in Madrid in 2013.  The revised editions were published in Chinese as 《当世界年轻的时候：参加西班牙内战的中国人(1936-1939)》 in 2013 and 2015.  Our writings can be found in The Volunteers, Science & Society, South China Morning Post Magazine (南华早报), Southern Weekend (南方周末), China Times (中國時報), and others. Our collection of photos and documents of the Chinese volunteers resulted in the travelling photo exhibitions in Spain since 2019.  Based on our book, the Phoenix Satellite TV produced a documentary 《当世界年轻的时候——国际纵队里的中国人》in 2020.  

The gang tuck into the 3-1 win at Pittodrie then talk about Celtic players playing for Scotland

Solidarity 669, 19 April 2023. Articles include: Revive the strike wave! India: drone attacks on civilians RCN nurses to strike on 1-2 May Join XR action 21-24 April Give junior doctors their pay rise! The lessons about union officialdom Education: capitalism warps its own work The “Global South”, “multipolarity”: what about class? Letter: Musk's banning culture Protest hits Sheffield snooping Women's protests in the Balkans Curbing capitalism on the high seas Solidarity, not saviour complex Anti-strike law: what “defiance” means Sudan coup: against both factions! Ban prepayment meters outright James Connolly's Marxism part six: Socialism or the Catholic Church Ukraine: where are the International Brigades? "Fate la rivoluzione in casa vostra!" Amazon workers step up action Royal Mail: what "agreement"? UCU marking boycott from 20 April Unison Health delegates protest Rail TOCs: a rotten deal No to 4.5% for 2023-24! More online: https://workersliberty.org/publications/solidarity/solidarity-669-19-april-2023

This week Alan and Eoghan sit down with Jim Jump, Chair of the International Brigade Memorial Trust, to talk about his father's experience in the Brigades, the 85th anniversary of the Battle of the Ebro and why he thinks the story of the international volunteers who went to Spain in the 1930s still fascinate and resonate today. They also discuss the work of the IBMT.

****Originally recorded and posted in October 2019******The Stories and the Songs is a new podcast series that focuses on the history and culture of Celtic the club as well as the supporters and players.In episode two we do something a little different……..Chris Gallagher is joined by Mark Braceland as they look into the Spanish Civil War and the footballing landscape during that time and beyond..We give an overview of where the world was pre war and how the conflict developed. The International Brigade is discussed and the volunteers that put their beliefs ahead of their safety.What did this mean for football in Spain at the time? We look at Barcelona and Real Madrid during the war as well as after.

Over two decades before the hard lines of the Cold War were drawn in North America, and long before any accurate information about what was happening in the Soviet Union became available to the general public, communism appeared to many a viable alternative to the shortcomings of imperialism and of Western liberal capitalism. In an increasingly interconnected world whose old poles of geopolitical power were shifting, people everywhere grappled with the economic hardships of the Great Depression. It was an era of almost palpable disenchantment with existing paradigms and a global search for new ones. In North America, Canada found itself at the interface of two ideological spaces. On the one hand, it was part of the British world and was shaped by its institutions and political structures; on the other, it was exposed to the global appeal of communist ideas, either imported from Europe or home-grown.  About 1700 Canadians were ready to risk their lives and go fight into a war that was not for their king, nor for their country, but in defense of an idea: the Civil War in Spain. This nominally Canadian unit – the Mackenzie-Papineau battalion –was coordinated by the Canadian Communist party and became part of the International Brigades in Spain. The volunteers that formed it joined the conflict despite the fact that the Canadian government was determined to keep Canada out of the war.  Not for King or Country: Edward Cecil-Smith, the Communist Party of Canada, and the Spanish Civil War (U Toronto Press, 2019) tells the story of the Mackenzie-Papineau battalion through the fascinating biography of its commander, Edward Cecil-Smith. Born to missionary parents in China, Cecil-Smith gravitated towards left-wing radical politics in the 1920s, after his move to Canada, and joined the Communist Canadian party in 1931. His eventual involvement in the war in Spain was motivated not by traditional patriotism, but by a strong belief that global fascism had to be stopped. Oana Godeanu-Kenworthy is Teaching Professor of American Studies at Miami University of Ohio. Her book, Between Empire and Republic: America in the Colonial Canadian Imagination, came out in 2022. Twitter: @OanaGodyKenw. Oana's webpage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Over two decades before the hard lines of the Cold War were drawn in North America, and long before any accurate information about what was happening in the Soviet Union became available to the general public, communism appeared to many a viable alternative to the shortcomings of imperialism and of Western liberal capitalism. In an increasingly interconnected world whose old poles of geopolitical power were shifting, people everywhere grappled with the economic hardships of the Great Depression. It was an era of almost palpable disenchantment with existing paradigms and a global search for new ones. In North America, Canada found itself at the interface of two ideological spaces. On the one hand, it was part of the British world and was shaped by its institutions and political structures; on the other, it was exposed to the global appeal of communist ideas, either imported from Europe or home-grown.  About 1700 Canadians were ready to risk their lives and go fight into a war that was not for their king, nor for their country, but in defense of an idea: the Civil War in Spain. This nominally Canadian unit – the Mackenzie-Papineau battalion –was coordinated by the Canadian Communist party and became part of the International Brigades in Spain. The volunteers that formed it joined the conflict despite the fact that the Canadian government was determined to keep Canada out of the war.  Not for King or Country: Edward Cecil-Smith, the Communist Party of Canada, and the Spanish Civil War (U Toronto Press, 2019) tells the story of the Mackenzie-Papineau battalion through the fascinating biography of its commander, Edward Cecil-Smith. Born to missionary parents in China, Cecil-Smith gravitated towards left-wing radical politics in the 1920s, after his move to Canada, and joined the Communist Canadian party in 1931. His eventual involvement in the war in Spain was motivated not by traditional patriotism, but by a strong belief that global fascism had to be stopped. Oana Godeanu-Kenworthy is Teaching Professor of American Studies at Miami University of Ohio. Her book, Between Empire and Republic: America in the Colonial Canadian Imagination, came out in 2022. Twitter: @OanaGodyKenw. Oana's webpage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

Over two decades before the hard lines of the Cold War were drawn in North America, and long before any accurate information about what was happening in the Soviet Union became available to the general public, communism appeared to many a viable alternative to the shortcomings of imperialism and of Western liberal capitalism. In an increasingly interconnected world whose old poles of geopolitical power were shifting, people everywhere grappled with the economic hardships of the Great Depression. It was an era of almost palpable disenchantment with existing paradigms and a global search for new ones. In North America, Canada found itself at the interface of two ideological spaces. On the one hand, it was part of the British world and was shaped by its institutions and political structures; on the other, it was exposed to the global appeal of communist ideas, either imported from Europe or home-grown.  About 1700 Canadians were ready to risk their lives and go fight into a war that was not for their king, nor for their country, but in defense of an idea: the Civil War in Spain. This nominally Canadian unit – the Mackenzie-Papineau battalion –was coordinated by the Canadian Communist party and became part of the International Brigades in Spain. The volunteers that formed it joined the conflict despite the fact that the Canadian government was determined to keep Canada out of the war.  Not for King or Country: Edward Cecil-Smith, the Communist Party of Canada, and the Spanish Civil War (U Toronto Press, 2019) tells the story of the Mackenzie-Papineau battalion through the fascinating biography of its commander, Edward Cecil-Smith. Born to missionary parents in China, Cecil-Smith gravitated towards left-wing radical politics in the 1920s, after his move to Canada, and joined the Communist Canadian party in 1931. His eventual involvement in the war in Spain was motivated not by traditional patriotism, but by a strong belief that global fascism had to be stopped. Oana Godeanu-Kenworthy is Teaching Professor of American Studies at Miami University of Ohio. Her book, Between Empire and Republic: America in the Colonial Canadian Imagination, came out in 2022. Twitter: @OanaGodyKenw. Oana's webpage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history

Over two decades before the hard lines of the Cold War were drawn in North America, and long before any accurate information about what was happening in the Soviet Union became available to the general public, communism appeared to many a viable alternative to the shortcomings of imperialism and of Western liberal capitalism. In an increasingly interconnected world whose old poles of geopolitical power were shifting, people everywhere grappled with the economic hardships of the Great Depression. It was an era of almost palpable disenchantment with existing paradigms and a global search for new ones. In North America, Canada found itself at the interface of two ideological spaces. On the one hand, it was part of the British world and was shaped by its institutions and political structures; on the other, it was exposed to the global appeal of communist ideas, either imported from Europe or home-grown.  About 1700 Canadians were ready to risk their lives and go fight into a war that was not for their king, nor for their country, but in defense of an idea: the Civil War in Spain. This nominally Canadian unit – the Mackenzie-Papineau battalion –was coordinated by the Canadian Communist party and became part of the International Brigades in Spain. The volunteers that formed it joined the conflict despite the fact that the Canadian government was determined to keep Canada out of the war.  Not for King or Country: Edward Cecil-Smith, the Communist Party of Canada, and the Spanish Civil War (U Toronto Press, 2019) tells the story of the Mackenzie-Papineau battalion through the fascinating biography of its commander, Edward Cecil-Smith. Born to missionary parents in China, Cecil-Smith gravitated towards left-wing radical politics in the 1920s, after his move to Canada, and joined the Communist Canadian party in 1931. His eventual involvement in the war in Spain was motivated not by traditional patriotism, but by a strong belief that global fascism had to be stopped. Oana Godeanu-Kenworthy is Teaching Professor of American Studies at Miami University of Ohio. Her book, Between Empire and Republic: America in the Colonial Canadian Imagination, came out in 2022. Twitter: @OanaGodyKenw. Oana's webpage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Often when you read, watch or hear about the International Brigades, the United Kingdom and sometimes Ireland, are lumped together into one big group. In this episode Fraser Raeburn joins me to discuss how the 'Scottish context' was different. We talk about Aid for Spain and the ideological and political context that convinced so many Scots to join the brigades to fight fascism in Spain. Fraser's book is called Scots and the Spanish Civil War: Solidarity, Activism and Humanitarianism. (Edinburgh University Press)

Introducing Don Henry - an Opera by Frank Nawrot Premiering August 23, 2022 wherever you listen to podcasts.Don Henry was a Dodge City native and University of Kansas student whose ideals led him to fight fascism in the Spanish Civil War of the late 1930s. Don was a young man when Mussolini and Hitler established fascist governments in Western Europe. He and others from around the world traveled to Spain to help prevent a fascist government from taking hold there as it had in Italy and Germany. He became a member of the International Brigade that fortified the leftist Spanish Republicans (also referred to as the Loyalists). Don knew the dangers of his ambition and so hid his real intentions by telling his family he was taking a vacation in Europe. On his first day of battle, Don was mortally wounded by a gunshot to the chest as he tended to an injured comrade.  In this recording, the story of Don Henry is told from three asynchronous perspectives: 1) a 21st-century 24-hour news channel program, 2) a letter written by Don Henry to his family in Kansas, and 3) the frontlines of the war as told by Salaria Kea, a nurse from Akron, Ohio.  The words of this opera are taken from historical documents, poems written by British international brigaders, and original lyrics by Frank Nawrot. The historical documents are the University of Kansas Board of Regents press release commissioned by the House Un-American Activities Committee and Don Henry's letter. Don Henry stars Neal Long, Gretchen Pille, Rachael Rule, and Frank Nawrot. Support the show

Three BooksI thought it would be a good idea to dedicate an occasional column to books. We can return to Brexit, the Protocol and other such matters at another time.  So in this column I am reviewing three books. United Nation by Frank Connolly. On The Blanket by Eoghan Mac Cormaic and International Brigade against Apartheid: Secrets of the People's War that Liberated South Africa' By Ronnie Kasrils.International Brigade against Apartheid: Secrets of the People's War that Liberated South Africa' Ronnie Kasrils.I have known Ronnie Kasrils for many years. He is a friend of Ireland and a champion of those struggling around the world for freedom and justice. In 1961 he was a founding member, along with Nelson Mandela and others, of Umkhonto we Siswe – MK for short – the armed wing of the African National Congress. In the post apartheid South Africa he was the Minister for Intelligence and Minister for Water.On the Blanket by Eoghan MacCormaicEoghan Mac Cormaic is one of our most willing cheerful modest and clever writers. He is part of that growing band of republicans, particularly former political prisoners, who have produced an account of their experiences. This new book by Eoghan is based on his Pluid-Scéal na mBlocanna H 1976-81. Published by Coiscéim in 2021 it tells the story of Eoghan's life On the Blanket, mostly in H Block 5. In this English language version he takes us through the A to Z of Prison Resistance

Last week marked the 91st anniversary of the founding of the Second Spanish Republic while this Easter weekend Irish republicans will be conducting their annual commemorations of the Easter Rising. In this episode I welcome Uma Arruga i Lopez to the show. Uma is a fellow contributor to Red Pepper and Jacobin magazine and is a Catalan writer and historian whose undergraduate thesis focused on Irish involvement in the Spanish Civil War. Uma is currently completing an MA focusing on conflict and war studies and has also written articles on the 1936 Socialist Olympics, as well as further piece on Irish involvement in the International Brigades in Spain for Peace, Land and Bread magazine Subscribe to the Patreon to support the show at paypal.com/danielbaker You can also support the show by subscribing to the Substack blog and newsletter at echoandthunder.substack.com

A French journalist who traveled to Ukraine with volunteers for the International Brigade found that the Ukrainian army appears to be run by Americans. 5) US training Ukrainian soldiers in Biloxi, Mississippi; 4) Wholesale inflation hits 11.2%, a new record; 3) American Airlines introduces new bus service to connect airports; 2) TSA extends mask mandate for travelers for another two weeks; 1) Massive comet heading for Earth—but will turn around before it reaches Saturn.

Historian and author Alex Clifford talks about the motivation and morale of International Brigade volunteers fighting in the Spanish Civil War.

Liam Cahill on the life of Mossie Quinlan, a young man from Waterford who joined the International Brigades and fought in the Spanish Civil War.

This week on the show, Hamilton local Wayne MacPhail interviews rabble contributor and fellow Hamilton-area local Doreen Nicoll about what she sees as the threat of urban sprawl in Hamilton, Ontario. On November 9, Hamilton City Council held a meeting to discuss whether or not to expand its urban boundary onto the surrounding farmland and the final vote will take place November 19. That farmland is squished between the current urban boundary and the Greenbelt, but is not protected. There are a number of factors at play, including the lack of affordable housing in the city, the erasure of prime farmland, and, as with anything else, the climate crisis.  IN CASE YOU MISSED IT Yesterday, November 11 was Remembrance Day, of course. Here at rabble.ca, we featured some coverage that is worth reading beyond just one day. Our own national politics reporter Stephen Wentzell wrote about the military's discriminatory history against queer folks, urging us to think about our veterans as having had intersectional identities and complex relationships with their fellow service members, the governments they served and the enemies they fought.  Ottawa writer Morgan Duchesney delves into how it's most often the working class that ends up going to war, and the upper classes that end up in politics. Our veterans, especially our wounded veterans, deserve better. "Poppies remind me that wars are fought by working people who are often discarded when their courage is no longer required," writes Duchesney. Finally, Darrell Rankin wrote about the importance of remembering the Mac-Paps. That's the nickname for the Mackenzie-Papineau battalion, which, in 1937 through 1939, fought fascism in Spain for the International Brigades -- an effort closely associated with the Communist Party. Those volunteers went to join the fight in Spain illegally, against the wishes of then-prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. When they returned, they were ostracized. Many faced discrimination and lost their jobs. All were denied official recognition as veterans, meaning there were no health benefits or military pensions available to them.  Also on the site this week:  Karl Nerenberg looks at the results from the municipal elections throughout Quebec, which concluded on November 7, and sees hope for progressives across the country. A record number of young people and women were elected, and five of the ten largest Quebec cities are now led by women, he notes. Nerenberg sees the re-instalment of Valérie Plante as mayor of Montreal as a victory not just for her, but for her party, Projet Montreal, and the progressive, grassroots movement it spawned from.  Politics in our time can be excruciatingly transactional, especially at the local level. Municipal leaders often focus intently on satisfying the narrow interests of powerful groups, particularly developers. The municipal administrations of Ottawa and Toronto are textbooks examples of that approach, writes Nerenberg. They should be taking notes.  Columnist Rachel Snow spilled some ink on the site this week as she examined the settler-colonial concept of "progress" and its detrimental relationship with First Nations. Are First Nations moving forward? If Canadians want the truth, Snow writes, they will have to understand that the way forward for First Nations people must come from the actual voices of all the First Nation people. We are still waiting to talk. Finally, Brent Patterson writes about the need for the federal government to consider the emissions of the fighter jets it is working to acquire before it signs any contracts. This, especially in the wake of calls at COP26 for military emissions to be included when countries are discussing CO2 targets. As it stands, all the fuel they burn running jets, tanks and the like just… doesn't exist, as far as many nations' CO2 emissions measurements go.  I'm your host, Chelsea Nash. Thanks for tuning in and we'll talk next week! Thanks to our producer Breanne Doyle, Wayne MacPhail and guest Doreen Nicoll. Thanks to Karl Nerenberg for the music, and all the journalists and writers who contributed to this week's content on rabble.ca.  Photo: Rick Cordeiro (Creative Commons)

When civil war broke out in Spain in 1936, tens of thousands of young men and women from across the world flocked there to fight against the Nationalist uprising. Though their history has been told before, Giles Tremlett's The International Brigades: Fascism, Freedom and the Spanish Civil War (Bloomsbury, 2021) draws upon previously unavailable materials to tell the stories of the war they fought. Though these people came from a variety of backgrounds and held a range of different left-wing political views, what united them was their opposition to fascism. Despite their disorganization and lack of training, they made an impact on the battlefield soon after their deployment, and became a highly visible presence in the war against Francisco Franco's Nationalist forces. While the Spanish Republic they fought for was ultimately defeated, Tremlett explains how many of those who served in the Brigades continued their struggle against fascism during the Second World War, reflecting the lasting legacy of their service for their cause. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When civil war broke out in Spain in 1936, tens of thousands of young men and women from across the world flocked there to fight against the Nationalist uprising. Though their history has been told before, Giles Tremlett's The International Brigades: Fascism, Freedom and the Spanish Civil War (Bloomsbury, 2021) draws upon previously unavailable materials to tell the stories of the war they fought. Though these people came from a variety of backgrounds and held a range of different left-wing political views, what united them was their opposition to fascism. Despite their disorganization and lack of training, they made an impact on the battlefield soon after their deployment, and became a highly visible presence in the war against Francisco Franco's Nationalist forces. While the Spanish Republic they fought for was ultimately defeated, Tremlett explains how many of those who served in the Brigades continued their struggle against fascism during the Second World War, reflecting the lasting legacy of their service for their cause. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When civil war broke out in Spain in 1936, tens of thousands of young men and women from across the world flocked there to fight against the Nationalist uprising. Though their history has been told before, Giles Tremlett's The International Brigades: Fascism, Freedom and the Spanish Civil War (Bloomsbury, 2021) draws upon previously unavailable materials to tell the stories of the war they fought. Though these people came from a variety of backgrounds and held a range of different left-wing political views, what united them was their opposition to fascism. Despite their disorganization and lack of training, they made an impact on the battlefield soon after their deployment, and became a highly visible presence in the war against Francisco Franco's Nationalist forces. While the Spanish Republic they fought for was ultimately defeated, Tremlett explains how many of those who served in the Brigades continued their struggle against fascism during the Second World War, reflecting the lasting legacy of their service for their cause. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

When civil war broke out in Spain in 1936, tens of thousands of young men and women from across the world flocked there to fight against the Nationalist uprising. Though their history has been told before, Giles Tremlett's The International Brigades: Fascism, Freedom and the Spanish Civil War (Bloomsbury, 2021) draws upon previously unavailable materials to tell the stories of the war they fought. Though these people came from a variety of backgrounds and held a range of different left-wing political views, what united them was their opposition to fascism. Despite their disorganization and lack of training, they made an impact on the battlefield soon after their deployment, and became a highly visible presence in the war against Francisco Franco's Nationalist forces. While the Spanish Republic they fought for was ultimately defeated, Tremlett explains how many of those who served in the Brigades continued their struggle against fascism during the Second World War, reflecting the lasting legacy of their service for their cause. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history

When civil war broke out in Spain in 1936, tens of thousands of young men and women from across the world flocked there to fight against the Nationalist uprising. Though their history has been told before, Giles Tremlett's The International Brigades: Fascism, Freedom and the Spanish Civil War (Bloomsbury, 2021) draws upon previously unavailable materials to tell the stories of the war they fought. Though these people came from a variety of backgrounds and held a range of different left-wing political views, what united them was their opposition to fascism. Despite their disorganization and lack of training, they made an impact on the battlefield soon after their deployment, and became a highly visible presence in the war against Francisco Franco's Nationalist forces. While the Spanish Republic they fought for was ultimately defeated, Tremlett explains how many of those who served in the Brigades continued their struggle against fascism during the Second World War, reflecting the lasting legacy of their service for their cause. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/european-studies

When civil war broke out in Spain in 1936, tens of thousands of young men and women from across the world flocked there to fight against the Nationalist uprising. Though their history has been told before, Giles Tremlett's The International Brigades: Fascism, Freedom and the Spanish Civil War (Bloomsbury, 2021) draws upon previously unavailable materials to tell the stories of the war they fought. Though these people came from a variety of backgrounds and held a range of different left-wing political views, what united them was their opposition to fascism. Despite their disorganization and lack of training, they made an impact on the battlefield soon after their deployment, and became a highly visible presence in the war against Francisco Franco's Nationalist forces. While the Spanish Republic they fought for was ultimately defeated, Tremlett explains how many of those who served in the Brigades continued their struggle against fascism during the Second World War, reflecting the lasting legacy of their service for their cause. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/world-affairs

When civil war broke out in Spain in 1936, tens of thousands of young men and women from across the world flocked there to fight against the Nationalist uprising. Though their history has been told before, Giles Tremlett's The International Brigades: Fascism, Freedom and the Spanish Civil War (Bloomsbury, 2021) draws upon previously unavailable materials to tell the stories of the war they fought. Though these people came from a variety of backgrounds and held a range of different left-wing political views, what united them was their opposition to fascism. Despite their disorganization and lack of training, they made an impact on the battlefield soon after their deployment, and became a highly visible presence in the war against Francisco Franco's Nationalist forces. While the Spanish Republic they fought for was ultimately defeated, Tremlett explains how many of those who served in the Brigades continued their struggle against fascism during the Second World War, reflecting the lasting legacy of their service for their cause. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

A look at what the International Brigade achieved in their very brief stint in history.

A witty and surprising personal view of communism from Alexei Sayle, whose parents were Communists and took him on holidays to the Eastern bloc during the Cold War. Alexei soon rejected their brand of left wing politics - and became a Maoist. He says, "I'm a Marxist-Leninist survivor!" Alexei meets children's author Michael Rosen, and shares memories of growing up in Jewish Communist homes. He also meets Tom Bell, a former member of the London Recruits, who was sent to apartheid South Africa to work for the ANC and the South African Communist Party. While Nelson Mandela and others were jailed, Tom and others worked under cover, risking arrest and death. The current General Secretary of the Young Communist League, Johnny Hunter, explains why they have returned to the Hammer and Sickle, love pictures of Che Guevara and want the destruction of capitalism. The Young Communist League is a democratic organisation for people under 30, founded in 1921 as the youth wing of the Communist Party of Great Britain. They describe themselves as "Britain's biggest organisation of revolutionary young people - fighting for a society that provides for workers and young people, not big business". They want a revolutionary transformation of society - an end to poverty, unemployment, destruction of the environment, exploitation and division, including oppression based on gender, race and sexual orientation. In the 1930s, many League members volunteered to join the International Brigades and fight for the Spanish Republic against Franco. In the 1960s, the YCL helped establish the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and organised medical aid and hundreds of bicycles to support Vietnam against the United States. A Perfectly Normal production for BBC Radio 4

Dan and Kasia are having a kickabout and looking into the role of the Spanish Civil War in left-wing mythology. What connects lower league English football with the Spanish Republic of 1931-1939? Why do the International Brigades – the independent fighters who came from across much of Europe to fight against fascism – mean so much to the British Left so long after the war was lost? Key object: Clapton CFC football shirt For more: follow us on twitter and instagram @CursedObjectsUK, and if you are enjoying Cursed Objects support our Patreon patreon.com/cursedobjects   Theme music and production: Mr Beatnick Artwork: Archie Bashford

In this episode we talk to Lynda Walker about her political activism in the Communist Party of Ireland, the Northern Ireland Women's Rights Movement, working in education and Women's Studies and the International Brigades Commemoration Committee.

In this chapter, Haywood heads off to Spain to help in the fight against the rising fascist tide but comes into trouble with the International Brigade political struggles.

https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-scots-and-the-spanish-civil-war.htmlOn this episode of our Spanish Civil War Interview Series I was joined by Dr. Fraser Raeburn. This interview continues our series of regional specific discussions, in this case about Scotland and how people in Scotland reacted to the Spanish Civil War, why some of them chose to go to Spain to fight in the International Brigades, and the humanitarian efforts that originated in Scotland.

By the mid 1930s a widespread working class anti fascist movement was established in Britain, in response to the development of the British Union of Fascists, and the growth of fascist movements in Europe. When the Spanish government was attacked by the country's fascist generals, many from Britain's anti fascist movement took up arms to defend the Spanish Republic in the British battalion of the International Brigade. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On this episode of our Spanish Civil War Interview Series I was joined by Alexander Clifford to discuss the International Brigades which would be such an important part of the Spanish Civil War. These groups of international volunteers would bolster the Republican cause, both from a public relations perspective as well as on the battlefields of Spain. We discussed why these individuals chose to go to Spain, what they experienced during their time fighting in the war, and their view of the war when it was over.

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020 Magnificent. Narrative history at its vivid and compelling best' Fergal Keane The first major history of the International Brigades: a tale of blood, ideals and tragedy in the fight against fascism. The Spanish Civil War was the first armed battle in the fight against fascism, and a rallying cry for a generation. Over 35,000 volunteers from sixty-one countries around the world came to defend democracy against the troops of Franco, Hitler and Mussolini. Ill-equipped and disorderly, yet fuelled by a shared sense of purpose and potential glory, disparate groups of idealistic young men and women banded together to form a volunteer army of a size and kind unseen since the Crusades, known as the International Brigades. These passionate liberal fighters – from across Europe, China, Africa and the Americas – would join the Republican cause, fighting for over two years on the bloody battlegrounds of Madrid, Jarama and Ebro. Were they heroes or fools? Saints or bloodthirsty adventurers? And what exactly did they achieve? This is a story rendered vivid in the writings of Orwell and Hemingway, the paintings of Picasso and the photographs of Taro and Capa. But here, in this magisterial history, award-winning historian Giles Tremlett tells – for the first time – the story of the Spanish Civil War through the experiences of this remarkable group of people. Drawing on the Brigades' extensive archives in Moscow, Comintern documents and first-hand accounts, Tremlett captures all the human drama of an historic mission to halt fascist expansion in Europe. A fascinating history of resistance, The International Brigades shows just how far ordinary people will go to save democracy against overwhelming odds in a tale of European solidarity that resonates just as strongly today. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/pbliving/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/pbliving/support

Giles Tremlett discusses how more than 35,000 volunteers from across the globe fought against fascism in the Spanish Civil WarHistorian, author and journalist Giles Tremlett discusses his major new book on the International Brigades, which charts how more than 35,000 volunteers from across the globe fought against fascism in the Spanish Civil War. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In the 1930s, thousands of men and women around the world enlisted to fight fascism in Spain. Many survivors went on to play a key role in the fight against the Nazis – but, in some cases, later became powerful servants of brutal regimes. By Giles Tremlett. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

After the coup against Spain’s Republican government in 1936, up to 35,000 men and women from over 60 countries came together as volunteers to fight for two years against the forces of fascism, led by General Francisco Franco. The full history of those who took part has now been written by historian Giles Tremlett, following access to Moscow's official documents.

Anthony Dapiran assesses the situation in Hong Kong after the entire pro-democracy caucus resigned from the Legislature. Fact, fiction or fake: Mathieu O'Neil surveys Australians and their trust in news. Giles Tremlett uncovers some of the lost voices from the Spanish civil war and discusses the personal stories of participants in the International Brigades.

Anthony Dapiran assesses the situation in Hong Kong after the entire pro-democracy caucus resigned from the Legislature. Fact, fiction or fake: Mathieu O'Neil surveys Australians and their trust in news. Giles Tremlett uncovers some of the lost voices from the Spanish civil war and discusses the personal stories of participants in the International Brigades.

How did individualism create our postmodern culture? What is conservatism and who is a conservative and does that depend on where you are? Why did thousands of people, including around 80 Australians, join the International Brigades and fight in the Spanish Civil War? How did we learn to breathe for each other, the moving history of the ventilator.

How did individualism create our postmodern culture? What is conservatism and who is a conservative and does that depend on where you are? Why did thousands of people, including around 80 Australians, join the International Brigades and fight in the Spanish Civil War? How did we learn to breathe for each other, the moving history of the ventilator.

How did individualism create our postmodern culture? What is conservatism and who is a conservative and does that depend on where you are? Why did thousands of people, including around 80 Australians, join the International Brigades and fight in the Spanish Civil War? How did we learn to breathe for each other, the moving history of the ventilator.

In the 1930s, 35,000 men and women from 61 different countries travelled to Spain to defend democracy against General Franco’s army. Collectively, they are remembered as the International Brigades. In this episode of Travels Through Time, the journalist and historian Giles Tremlett takes us back to the year 1936 to learn more about the International Brigades. How important were they? Who were the leaders? How do we remember them today? For much, much more, head to our website: tttpodcast.com Giles Tremlett’s The International Brigades: Fascism, Freedom and the Spanish Civil War is recently published in hrdback by Bloomsbury. Show notes Scene One: Barcelona on July 19, 1936 - The day that the (failed) coup launched by General Franco and others reaches Barcelona Scene Two: Paris, Quai d'Orsay - October 10 1936 - Groups of young men hang around the platform for the night-train to Marseilles. They include Cambridge poet John Cornford, future Harvard Classics professor Bernard Knox, communist writer John Sommerfield and British-based German exile painter Jan Kurzke. Scene Three: Madrid - November 8 1936 - The same people who arrived just four weeks earlier are now in uniform marching up the Gran Via in Madrid to the University City, which will soon become the front line. Memento: A varsity-style team jacket worn by the USA team for the People's Olympiad People/Social Presenter: Peter Moore Interview: John Hillman Guest: Giles Tremlett Production: Maria Nolan Podcast partner: Colorgraph Follow us on Twitter: @tttpodcast_ See where 1936 fits on our Timeline

Giles Tremlett joins me on the Sobremesa Podcast to discuss his latest book: The International Brigades. Fascism, Freedom, and the Spanish Civil War. In this interview we cover how the book came about, the historical context in which the book is set, and the story of the Brigades.

In today's episode, we are joined by author of the book Unlikely Warriors, and research fellow at the London School of Economics, Richard Baxell, to discuss the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. From how the Brigades were formed, to why and how people flocked to Spain, the battles they fought, and the people who served in them, we go in depth about how these men became History's Most Unlikely Warriors. A big thanks to Richard for joining us. Find his book Unlikely Warriors here: https://www.quartoknows.com/books/9781781312339/Unlikely-Warriors.html Check out Alex's new book, Fighting for Spain here: https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Fighting-for-Spain-Hardback/p/17936 Check out a recording of Alex's virtual book launch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0RtvcAw0Yk Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/historysmost Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/729271677922830 Thanks to our Executive Producer, Jeremy Marcoux, and to all our Patrons as well for helping make this episode possible!

About a quarter of all volunteers to the International Brigades were Jewish. Martin Sugarman shares his take on why he thinks this was the case

This episode returns to the series Partisans - Irish stories from the Spanish Civil War. This show looks at the two groups of Irish fighters who traveled to Spain - the Irish Brigade better known as the Blueshirts and the antifascist International Brigades. Over the last eight decades they have been among the most controversial figures of 20th century Irish history. The podcast seperates the fact from fiction looking at who they were, why they traveled and how they got there.Research: Stewart ReddinNarrations: Muireann Hogan & Aidan CroweCheck out the new Spanish Civil War merchandise in the shop: https://irishhistorypodcast.ie/product/flag/Support the show at patreon.com/irishpodcast  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A Celtic State of Mind was named as the UK's Best Football Podcast at the prestigious 2018 Football Blogging Awards. In this latest episode, Paul John Dykes is joined by Professor Willy Maley, where they discuss:* Trying to find out the Celtic score from a prison during the Spanish Civil War;* The Green Brigade's tribute to Willy’s father;* The Di Canio Dichotomy;* The Lions of Lisbon & From The Calton to Catalonia.Willy is Professor of Renaissance Studies at the University of Glasgow, Scottish Literary Critic, Editor and Writer. His father fought Franco’s Fascist regime as part of the International Brigade.A Celtic State of Mind has gone from strength-to-strength over the last few years, and there are many more guests lined up in the weeks ahead from the world of sport, music, film, art, broadcasting, literature and politics.Connect with A Celtic State of Mind @PaulDykes, @anorthernprose and @ACSOMPOD and subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or through your podcast player.

In this episode, we conclude our series on 20th century Spain by discussing the most important event in modern Spanish history: The Spanish Civil War. We discuss the politics of both Franco's nationalists and the Republicans, the foreign support for both sides, the role of the International Brigades, and more about what makes this truly History's Most Complicated War. Purchase Alex's new book here: https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/The-Peoples-Army-in-the-Spanish-Civil-War-Hardback/p/17104 His article on HistoryHit: https://www.historyhit.com/why-did-the-republicans-lose-the-spanish-civil-war/ His interview with Cris Alvarez: https://warscholar.org/spanish-civil-war-military-history-book-the-peoples-army-in-the-spanish-civil-war-pen-sword-books-2020-alex-clifford-interview/ Music: Sergei Rachmaninoff - String Quartet No. 2 as recorded by Steve's Bedroom Band and Steve Jones licensed under Creative Commons 4.0.

Faye and Austin collect eyewitness accounts of the revolution in Rojava — the remote corner of northeastern Syria where Kurds and other peoples organized to defend themselves from ISIS, and constructed an experimental new society in the midst of the Syrian Civil War. Based on the political theory of Abdullah Ocalan, synthesizing socialism, feminism, and the writings of American anarchist Murray Bookchin, northeast Syria's Democratic Confederalist system has been an inspiration to socialists and anarchists the world over. Today the Rojavan Revolution is in a dire and uncertain position, betrayed by the Trump administration, caught between a genocidal invasion by Turkey from the north, and the authoritarian Syrian state to the south.To document what has transpired in the region, we've interviewed journalist Robert Evans who visited Rojava in August 2019, as well as Josh and Charlie, two members of the International Brigades of the Syrian Democratic Forces, who fought in the liberation of Raqqa from ISIS in 2016-2017. We hope that their first-hand perspectives can help shed light on the situation in the region, and inspire western socialists and anarchists to learn from Rojava and apply lessons from their revolution to their own activism and organizing.Guests:Robert EvansTwitter: @IwriteOKBehind the Bastards: https://www.behindthebastards.com/It Could Happen Here: https://www.itcouldhappenherepod.com/Worst Year Ever: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-worst-year-ever-49377032/Charlie & JoshTwitter: @SabCharlieSocialist Rifle AssociationWebsite: https://socialistra.org/Twitter: @SocialistRAInstagram: @SocialistRAFacebook: @SocialistRifleFaye's Twitter: @FayeEcklar

In October, 1937, the call went out to form international brigades to go to Spain and help the besieged, democratically-elected government resist a military coup.  Against the wishes of the US, UK, and French governments, tens of thousands from around the world began to mobilize and travel to Spain to fight fascism.

Today we're joined by Fraser Raeburn, our very own /u/Crrpit, to talk about the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War with a specific emphasis on Scottish volunteers. Who joined? Why did they join? What were the politics of the International Brigades? Hear about this, and much more, in this episode. You can find him on Twitter as @FraserRaeburn.

A public lecture by Professor Emmet O'Connor (University of Ulster) as part of the lecture series Utopia Dystopia: The Russian Revolution One Hundred Years On. Organised by the Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies and the Department of History in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub. Professor O'Connor is introduced by Professor John Home. Immediately following the February 1917 revolution in Russia, Irish Labour identified with the Petrograd Soviet because it opposed the world war and supported the principle of national self-determination. Contact with the Bolsheviks was established after the October revolution and the Irish Labour delegates sided with the pro-Bolsheviks at the international socialist conference at Berne in February 1919. However, the foundation of the Comintern, and the related emergence of a far-left in Ireland, led Labour to distance itself from Russia, and Irish links with the Bolsheviks became confined to communist, Larkinite, and republican groups. Moscow would shape the politics of Irish socialism and left republicanism in the 1920s and 1930s, and the history of its several, successive affiliates tells us much about centre-periphery relations within the Comintern and the character of Comintern influence on the smaller communist parties. Emmet O'Connor studied at University College Galway and St John's College, Cambridge. Since 1985 he has lectured in History in Ulster University. Between 1983 and 2001, he co-edited Saothar, and is an honorary president of the Irish Labour History Society. He has published widely on labour history, including Reds and the Green: Ireland, Russia, and the Communist Internationals, 1919-43 (UCD Press, 2004); Big Jim Larkin: Hero or Wrecker? (UCD Press, 2015), and Derry Labour in the Age of Agitation, 1889-1923 (Four Courts Press, 2016). At present he is working on a study of the Irish in the International Brigades. About Utopia Dystopia Series A century after the Russian Revolution of 1917, its driving forces and its legacy, and indeed even its start and end, are still the subject of debate. It encompassed two key episodes in 1917, the February and October revolutions. The February revolution (known as such because of Russia's use of the Julian calendar until February 1918) began on March 8, 1917. This led to the collapse of the imperial rule by the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, and the establishment of a democratic provisional government. The October revolution (which in the Julian calendar began on October 24th and 25th) began on November 6th and 7th led by Vladimir Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik party, and overthrew the provisional government to establish the first Marxist state in the world. It generated the dominant model of revolution for the remainder of the 20th century, engendered communist parties in many countries and was exported to much of Eastern Europe in the former of Soviet hegemony after victory in 1945, and helped shape the process of decolonisation. As we journey through Ireland's decade of commemorations and move ever closer to considering the complex war of independence and civil war that preceded the formation of the Irish State, this lecture series will reflect on the aftermath of the Russian Revolution right up to today and how it changed the course of world history at many levels. The Utopia Dystopia lecture series has been organised by Trinity College Dublin's Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies and Department of History in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute. see the full lecture series here - https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/whats-on/details/utopia-dystopia.php

When US volunteers from the International Brigade returned to America after two years of bloodshed and slaughter in Spain, they received a frosty welcome from a suspicious FBI and police. Much of the American public knew very little about the war and understood nothing of what was at stake. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Poorly equipped and with virtually no training, the American and British volunteers in the International Brigades, along with French, German, Belgian, Polish and other groups of anti fascists sustained huge casualties keeping the road to Madrid open. The battle of Jarama involved immense sacrifice but once again kept Spain's fascist generals out of the capital See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In Jewish Volunteers, the International Brigades and the Spanish Civil War (Bloomsbury Academic, 2017), Gerben Zaagsma, Senior researcher at the centre for contemporary and digital history at the University of Luxembourg, discusses the participation of volunteers of Jewish descent in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War, focusing particularly on the establishment of the Naftali Botwin Company, a Jewish military unit that was created in the Polish Dombrowski Brigade. Zaagsma analyses the symbolic meaning of the participation of Jewish volunteers and the Botwin Company both during and after the civil war. He puts this participation in the broader context of Jewish involvement and Jewish/non-Jewish relations in the Left, and asks to what extent Jewishness and Jewish concerns mattered in the International Brigades and why the Botwin Company was actually created. To this end, the book examines representations of Jewish volunteers in the Parisian Yiddish press (both communist and non-communist). In addition, he analyses the various ways in which the memory of the experiences of Jewish volunteers and the Botwin Company came to be constituted and constructed after the Second World War and the Holocaust. To that end the book traces how discourses about Jewish volunteers became decisively shaped by post-Holocaust debates on Jewish responses to fascism and Nazism, analyses how, and why, volunteers of Jewish descent eventually became Jewish volunteers after the war, and discusses claims that Jewish volunteers can be seen as ‘the first Jews to resist Hitler with arms'. Max Kaiser is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne. He can be reached at kaiser@student.unimelb.edu.au. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Jewish Volunteers, the International Brigades and the Spanish Civil War (Bloomsbury Academic, 2017), Gerben Zaagsma, Senior researcher at the centre for contemporary and digital history at the University of Luxembourg, discusses the participation of volunteers of Jewish descent in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War, focusing particularly... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Jewish Volunteers, the International Brigades and the Spanish Civil War (Bloomsbury Academic, 2017), Gerben Zaagsma, Senior researcher at the centre for contemporary and digital history at the University of Luxembourg, discusses the participation of volunteers of Jewish descent in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War, focusing particularly on the establishment of the Naftali Botwin Company, a Jewish military unit that was created in the Polish Dombrowski Brigade. Zaagsma analyses the symbolic meaning of the participation of Jewish volunteers and the Botwin Company both during and after the civil war. He puts this participation in the broader context of Jewish involvement and Jewish/non-Jewish relations in the Left, and asks to what extent Jewishness and Jewish concerns mattered in the International Brigades and why the Botwin Company was actually created. To this end, the book examines representations of Jewish volunteers in the Parisian Yiddish press (both communist and non-communist). In addition, he analyses the various ways in which the memory of the experiences of Jewish volunteers and the Botwin Company came to be constituted and constructed after the Second World War and the Holocaust. To that end the book traces how discourses about Jewish volunteers became decisively shaped by post-Holocaust debates on Jewish responses to fascism and Nazism, analyses how, and why, volunteers of Jewish descent eventually became Jewish volunteers after the war, and discusses claims that Jewish volunteers can be seen as ‘the first Jews to resist Hitler with arms’. Max Kaiser is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne. He can be reached at kaiser@student.unimelb.edu.au. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Jewish Volunteers, the International Brigades and the Spanish Civil War (Bloomsbury Academic, 2017), Gerben Zaagsma, Senior researcher at the centre for contemporary and digital history at the University of Luxembourg, discusses the participation of volunteers of Jewish descent in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War, focusing particularly on the establishment of the Naftali Botwin Company, a Jewish military unit that was created in the Polish Dombrowski Brigade. Zaagsma analyses the symbolic meaning of the participation of Jewish volunteers and the Botwin Company both during and after the civil war. He puts this participation in the broader context of Jewish involvement and Jewish/non-Jewish relations in the Left, and asks to what extent Jewishness and Jewish concerns mattered in the International Brigades and why the Botwin Company was actually created. To this end, the book examines representations of Jewish volunteers in the Parisian Yiddish press (both communist and non-communist). In addition, he analyses the various ways in which the memory of the experiences of Jewish volunteers and the Botwin Company came to be constituted and constructed after the Second World War and the Holocaust. To that end the book traces how discourses about Jewish volunteers became decisively shaped by post-Holocaust debates on Jewish responses to fascism and Nazism, analyses how, and why, volunteers of Jewish descent eventually became Jewish volunteers after the war, and discusses claims that Jewish volunteers can be seen as ‘the first Jews to resist Hitler with arms’. Max Kaiser is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne. He can be reached at kaiser@student.unimelb.edu.au. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Jewish Volunteers, the International Brigades and the Spanish Civil War (Bloomsbury Academic, 2017), Gerben Zaagsma, Senior researcher at the centre for contemporary and digital history at the University of Luxembourg, discusses the participation of volunteers of Jewish descent in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War, focusing particularly on the establishment of the Naftali Botwin Company, a Jewish military unit that was created in the Polish Dombrowski Brigade. Zaagsma analyses the symbolic meaning of the participation of Jewish volunteers and the Botwin Company both during and after the civil war. He puts this participation in the broader context of Jewish involvement and Jewish/non-Jewish relations in the Left, and asks to what extent Jewishness and Jewish concerns mattered in the International Brigades and why the Botwin Company was actually created. To this end, the book examines representations of Jewish volunteers in the Parisian Yiddish press (both communist and non-communist). In addition, he analyses the various ways in which the memory of the experiences of Jewish volunteers and the Botwin Company came to be constituted and constructed after the Second World War and the Holocaust. To that end the book traces how discourses about Jewish volunteers became decisively shaped by post-Holocaust debates on Jewish responses to fascism and Nazism, analyses how, and why, volunteers of Jewish descent eventually became Jewish volunteers after the war, and discusses claims that Jewish volunteers can be seen as ‘the first Jews to resist Hitler with arms’. Max Kaiser is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne. He can be reached at kaiser@student.unimelb.edu.au. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Jewish Volunteers, the International Brigades and the Spanish Civil War (Bloomsbury Academic, 2017), Gerben Zaagsma, Senior researcher at the centre for contemporary and digital history at the University of Luxembourg, discusses the participation of volunteers of Jewish descent in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War, focusing particularly on the establishment of the Naftali Botwin Company, a Jewish military unit that was created in the Polish Dombrowski Brigade. Zaagsma analyses the symbolic meaning of the participation of Jewish volunteers and the Botwin Company both during and after the civil war. He puts this participation in the broader context of Jewish involvement and Jewish/non-Jewish relations in the Left, and asks to what extent Jewishness and Jewish concerns mattered in the International Brigades and why the Botwin Company was actually created. To this end, the book examines representations of Jewish volunteers in the Parisian Yiddish press (both communist and non-communist). In addition, he analyses the various ways in which the memory of the experiences of Jewish volunteers and the Botwin Company came to be constituted and constructed after the Second World War and the Holocaust. To that end the book traces how discourses about Jewish volunteers became decisively shaped by post-Holocaust debates on Jewish responses to fascism and Nazism, analyses how, and why, volunteers of Jewish descent eventually became Jewish volunteers after the war, and discusses claims that Jewish volunteers can be seen as ‘the first Jews to resist Hitler with arms’. Max Kaiser is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne. He can be reached at kaiser@student.unimelb.edu.au. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Jewish Volunteers, the International Brigades and the Spanish Civil War (Bloomsbury Academic, 2017), Gerben Zaagsma, Senior researcher at the centre for contemporary and digital history at the University of Luxembourg, discusses the participation of volunteers of Jewish descent in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War, focusing particularly on the establishment of the Naftali Botwin Company, a Jewish military unit that was created in the Polish Dombrowski Brigade. Zaagsma analyses the symbolic meaning of the participation of Jewish volunteers and the Botwin Company both during and after the civil war. He puts this participation in the broader context of Jewish involvement and Jewish/non-Jewish relations in the Left, and asks to what extent Jewishness and Jewish concerns mattered in the International Brigades and why the Botwin Company was actually created. To this end, the book examines representations of Jewish volunteers in the Parisian Yiddish press (both communist and non-communist). In addition, he analyses the various ways in which the memory of the experiences of Jewish volunteers and the Botwin Company came to be constituted and constructed after the Second World War and the Holocaust. To that end the book traces how discourses about Jewish volunteers became decisively shaped by post-Holocaust debates on Jewish responses to fascism and Nazism, analyses how, and why, volunteers of Jewish descent eventually became Jewish volunteers after the war, and discusses claims that Jewish volunteers can be seen as ‘the first Jews to resist Hitler with arms’. Max Kaiser is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne. He can be reached at kaiser@student.unimelb.edu.au. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

a field recording of a moving event in bishops park fulham at a memorial for the local lives lost and the wider struggle of the international brigade in their historic fight against the facists in spain. the memorial was placed by the socialist council in 2007. the event recorded here marks the anniversary of The Battle of Jarama (February 6–27, 1937), which was an attempt by General Francisco Franco's Nationalists to dislodge the Republican lines along the river Jarama, just east of Madrid, during the Spanish Civil War. Elite Spanish Legionnaires and Moroccan Regulares from the Army of Africa forced back the Republican Army of the Centre, including the International Brigades, but after days of fierce fighting no breakthrough was achieved. Republican counterattacks along the captured ground likewise failed, resulting in heavy casualties to both sides. i was accompanied by oldest friend john kenton who's father lou was one of the longest living brigadista, having died only two years ago at the age of 103. Lou Kenton was an English proofreader who served as a medical courier and ambulance driver with the International Brigade and was its oldest surviving member at the time of his death.

Veterans of the 15th International Brigade who fought for The Republic in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1938 reassemble in Barcelona 50 years following their final march through the city. Comprising of volunteers from all over the world, they recount their experiences, remember lost comrades, and reflect on the trauma of war. (1989)

ANNOUNCING THE LINCOLN BRIGADE THE AUDIO BOOK!!! How to order the audio book? Go to -- www.fightingfascism.com to order the audio book. This is the introduction to the audio book by Producers Lesley Gist and William Loren Katz: "In 2016 when one Presidential candidate has revived fascism's many appeals to hate, THE LINCOLN BRIGADE story offers vital lessons. In 1936 General Francisco Franco's fascist armies marched on Madrid, Spain, supported by planes and troops from Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy. This was fascism's first invasion of Europe and the U.S., England and France did nothing. "Then 35,000 men and women from 53 countries -- who hated war and fascism -- formed International Brigades, their volunteer effort to "stop fascism at the gates of Madrid." "The 2,800 American volunteers of The Lincoln Brigade were white and black, men and women, farmer and professor, student and unemployed.  "Before 1936 the Lincolns had been active in support of racial equality, trade unions, aid for the poor and unemployment insurance. 

Dr. Norman Allan's father, Ted Allan, was working for the Montreal Communist newspaper, The Daily Clarion, when the editor invoked an idea in his mind that he ought to go and assist in some way in the impending turmoil that was presently coming about in Spain, when Franco came to take power. Ted Allan, missed the opportunity to get there in a pre-arranged fashion, and thus determinedly decided to register in the International Brigade, in order to see through his mission. Within the first six months he was one of the last members of the brigade left alive. While sojourning in Europe he met some of the Great artistic ex-pats and adventurers of the times, including Ernest Hemingway, Gerda Taro, Norman Bethune and Robert Capa. Norman Allan has a great respect for the dignified manner in which his father lived his life, and as such, he took it upon himself to do his father's story some justice. A curious component of Canadian history, Norman Allan decided to format it in a Script, and it

In 1936, the first international fight against fascism began in Spain. Working and middle class leftists from the United States to Germany to China traveled to Spain to defend the Spanish Republic against a right-wing coalition of Spanish nationalists, Italian Fascists and German Nazis. In the midst of the vicious conflict, millions of working class militants seize the moment and launch a social revolution in the midst of war. But while regular American folk travel by the thousands to defend the Spanish republic, their industrialists, politicians and oilmen quietly aid the fascist war effort… Transcripts may be requested for accessibility reasons. E-mail MovementsPod@gmail.com with questions and comments. More information at movements.buzzsprout.com. Follow The Movements on Facebook and Twitter @MovementsPod Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/movementspod)

This week, we'll be featuring a short roundup of some of the events inside and outside of the prison walls during the beginning of the Prisoner Work Strike that started on September 9th in the United Snakes with the goal of ending Prison Slavery in U.S. prisons.  After that we'll hear the last half hour of Gil O'Teen's conversation with Guy McGowan Steel Steward, an American anarcho-communist about his joining the Rojava Revolution alongside Kurdish and other folks in Northern Syria.  This portion, they discuss nationalism and national identity in Rojava, the draft, the decision to adopt Federalization within Rojava and more. This is within the context of recent Turkish incursions into the Kurdish regions of northern Syria which have led to deaths among civilians and YPG/YPJ forces of the Kurdish Resistance.  These deaths include foreign fighters who've joined the Rojava struggle.  Happily, Guy is not among those dead.  There is an interesting discussion and an homage to american anarchist fighter Jordan MacTaggart, an interview with Rojava Solidarity NYC, plus much much more in the latest episode of The Ex-Worker podcast, available at crimethinc.com/podcast that I suggest folks check out and share with friends. Some further resources concerning the YJC and YCR. and Osman Evcan, Turkish anarchist prisoner who is starting a new hunger strike. To hear our interview on this matter, visit us here. International Brigade reactions to Turkish aggressions video. And 7 anarchists arrested and accused of being members of FAI. Additionally, other arrests around FAI-accused anarchists in news from Italy. National Prisoner Work Stoppage Background and Inside Resistance As many of you are probably aware, Friday September 9th kicked off the largest and most coordinated prisoner work stoppage in the US in all history, on the 45th anniversary of the Attica Prison uprising. Organized in conjunction with incarcerated members of the Free Alabama Movement (FAM) and the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC), this work stoppage is turning a bright spotlight on the continuing condition of slavery in the United States, a slavery upon which this country's economy is cripplingly dependant. Prisoners are also forced to be responsible for running the actual prisons themselves, working in the laundry, cafeteria, and so on, pretty much in any non-administrative capacity you can think of. I don't think it should go without saying that much of this labor goes unwaged, though the on average 13 cents an hour that inmates get paid is nothing compared to the exorbitant costs of goods in prison stores. Friday kicked off the actual strike, but resistance from within prison got started well before then with fires being set at Lincoln Correctional Center in Lincoln, Nebraska on September 6th, a 4 dormitory wide riot at Holmes prison in Bonifay, Florida on the 7th which hopped from dorm to dorm in the facility keeping just ahead of the CO's attemts to quell the rebellion, creating a Whak-A-Mole type situation that I'm sure the prison officials just loved. Also on the 7th inmates at the infamous military detention center Guantanamo Bay remain on hunger strike to protest their indefinite detentions, many of whom were captured as part of the xenophobic and racist governmental response to September 11th, 2001, 15 years ago today.   September 9th at noon saw a complete work stoppage at Holman Correctional in Atmore, Alabama where our comrade Michael Kimble is held captive. There is no incidents yet from prison officials, and guards and COs were forced to perform all tasks. Sit down strikes and work stoppages were also held in Bonifay, FL in the aforementioned Holmes Prison, amid the ashes of the fires set only two days prior. In Troy VA, there was a work stoppage at a women's facility,  and all across this state of North Carolina prisoners refused to report to their jobs. At a women's facility in California 10 or so brave souls refused to work and effectively shut the whole prison down because of fear of a riot. Disturbances were reported at Gulf and Mayo prisons in Florida, and three guards were injured in scuffles at Tecumseh Prison in Nebraska. Yesterday saw a continuation of resistance in Nebraska at a women's facility, from all over South Carolina, and continuing resistance in Atmore. Solidarity from overseas has been flying in fast and furious, with statements from prisoners in Greece, Australia, Lithuania, and Sweden among many others.   Repression of those who are striking has mostly consisted of prison lockdowns and targeting of people who have been designated the "ringleaders". It will be very important for people to recieve solidarity from those on the outside in order for this resistance to continue. Keep your eyes on itsgoingdown.org and the live updates at maskmagazine.com for current info and calls for backup. You can visit the IWOC at iwoc.org for a list of concrete anti-repression tactics to share with those who are incarcerated and otherwise. Local Events, Arrests, and Donations to the Legal Fund Now, let's take a gander at some of the events we were able to find that took place outside of the prison walls, per se, around the U.S. and around the world. A full narrative of outside support events would take a very long time, which is a good thing, so we're going to read through some highlights starting local to get the attention of the folks locally on this.  We'll be giving precedence to two local struggles in which arrests occurred.  If folks from elsewhere have an experience they want to share, send us an email at thefinalstrawradio@riseup.net or add it to the growing lists of solidarity by emailing info@itsgoingdown.org. First off, let's begin with Western North Carolina. This text is from a fundraising site to cover legal costs : "In the early afternoon of Septmeber 9th, comrades held a banner outside of the Avery Mitchell Correctional Facility in Spruce Pine, North Carolina. This was an attempt to offer support to any of the 816 prisoners at the facility involved in prison functions who may have chosen to withhold their labor as part of the wider strike against prison society. 5 arrests were made and trespassing charges were issued. Later that afternoon in downtown Asheville, and following a #NoDAPL solidarity march and protest at TD Bank, there was a march through downtown in support of striking prisoners.  60-70 folks banged pots and pans, held banners and signs, passed out leaflets and chanted "Brick By Brick, Wall By Wall, We Will Make Your Prisons Fall" and other classics.  Police followed the march blaring requests to get out of the street and eventually attempted to push the marchers onto the sidewalk with their vehicles.  Attempts to engage the Friday night drum circle into hitting the pavement fell on deaf ears as folks made their way towards the Buncombe County Detention Facility.  While passing by the local Goombay festival, flyers were distributed and a group of folks backstage answered our chants of "Our Passion for Freedom..." with their own melodious note of "Freedom".  A few minutes later and a few blocks away, 3 of ours were arrested, accused of blocking traffic and one with an additional charge of resisting arrest.  By midnight the 3 were out. Everyone is out and no more money for bail is required, but support for legal defense, court fees and lawyers is necessary, and we are asking for your help At moments like these it is so crucial that we support people doing work to sustain the struggle for racial justice & prison abolition. This allows us to create stronger movements where we can all continue to be leaders in these fields and help a build stronger sense of community, especially in the south.  We are all in this together and we need to continuously show up for each other, not just in the streets but in ways that allow us to continue to sustain our lives and our passions for the movement. We believe that no one should go through this alone, especially marginalized folks who are brave enough to put themselves in these front lines. We are so proud of the North Carolina communities right now." You can connect to that fundraiser at: https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/legal-support-for-wnc-sept-9-solidarity-activists -------------------------- Folks in Atlanta took the streets on Friday, September 9th, in the face of serious police repression. From atlblackcross.org comes this information: "Today marks the beginning of the national prison strike.  Prisoners all over the country are going on strike and refusing to cooperate with the unjust prison system.  They are demanding decent pay for work, decent food and living conditions, and an end to inhumane practices like solitary confinement. In Atlanta, supporters marched through Midtown and disrupted several corporations which profit from prison slavery.  Wendy's, McDonalds, Aramark, and Starbucks all got a visit.  When the march got to Starbucks, police made several violent arrests, using pepper spray and slamming people to the pavement.  At one point, police even tried to run marchers over with a squad car. We are working hard to make sure all the protesters get free as soon as possible, so everyone can continue doing the important work of supporting the ongoing prison strike."  As of this morning, Sunday, September 11th (make a wish!), all defendants are out but are facing some stupidly hefty charges.  One demonstrator apparently was taken during their arrest to a police precinct women's bathroom and choke slammed against the wall for being a part of copwatch in Atlanta. FTP! More on the Atlanta cases and how to support them can be found at https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/bail-out-prison-strike-supporters International Solidarity International solidarity with the strike has been tremendous, with banner drops, graffitti and actions ranging far and wide. Here are a few instances of international solidarity, this is by no means a complete list. You can see more information about this, plus photos and full statements at It's Going Down.       * Horgoš, Serbia: Banner drop in support of prison strike. * Brisbane, Australia: Solidarity action with US prisoners. *Melbourne, Australia: Info table with literature about US prisons and the prison strike, along with collected donations. * Melbourne, Australia: Anarchist demonstration outside US Consulate. * Malmö, Sweden: Solidarity demonstration. * Athens, Greece: Demonstration outside Korydallos women's prison. * Leipzig, Germany: Rally outside US Consulate. * Montreal, Canada: Dinner and film screening in solidarity with prisoner rebellion. * Melbourne, Australia: Noise demo at youth jail. * Barcelona, Spain: Graffiti messages of support written on McDonald's. Playlist is here: http://www.ashevillefm.org/node/17496

The Ex-Worker is back! And just in time, because a potentially historic national prisoner strike is just around the corner. In our 49th episode, we discuss the upcoming September 9th strike to end prison slavery, with an interview with the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee. You'll also hear a review of Dan Berger's book Captive Nation: Black Prison Organizing in the Civil Rights Era; an interview with an anarchist from the UK about the Brexit vote; listener feedback on Spanish revolutionary militias, Comintern, and parallels with Rojava; updates on Kara Wild, a trans anarchist incarcerated in Paris; a letter from trans anarchist prisoner Jennifer Gann; plus news, prisoner birthdays, event announcements, and plenty more. {August 24, 2016} -------SHOW NOTES------ The September 9th National Prison Strike is coming up! To learn more, check out the Support Prisoner Resistance site, in particular the zines Let the Crops Rot in the Fields by the Free Alabama Movement, End Prison Slavery with several articles about emerging prisoner movements, and Incarcerated Workers Take the Lead by Houston IWOC. In our interview with Azzurra from the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, she referred to several texts, campaigns, and other resources, including: the Houston IWOC zine about the history of prisoner rebellion since 2008, the Attica Rebellion, Black August, the Flikshop app for sending postcards to prisoners easily and cheaply, Chicano anarchist political prisoner Xinachtli Alvaro Luna Hernandez and his Twitter account, Mumia Abu Jamal's struggle for Hepatits C treatment, Rashid Johnson's article “On the Questions of Race and Racism: Revolutionary National Liberation and Building the United Front Against Imperialism”, checking the IWOC website for ongoing updates, Jeremy's Hammond's recent trip to solitary confinement for “encouraging rebellion and criminal activities,” and criminologist Nils Christie's article Conflicts as Property about how the state has appropriated our conflicts. On the Chopping Block, we reviewed Dan Berger's book Captive Nation: Black Prison Organizing in the Civil Rights Era. It discusses, among many other things, the life, death, and legacy of George Jackson, whose books Soledad Brother and Blood in My Eye can be read in full online. We interviewed Jon Active from Active Distribution in the UK about the Brexit vote. If you want to read more anarchist perspectives on it, check out these articles: “Building an anti-fascist culture post-Brexit” by some folks from the Anti-Raids Network, “On the tragic and the farcical of the British referendum” by the Void Network, and anarchist reflections on Brexit on Reddit. Please support Kara Wild, a trans anarchist from the US imprisoned in France in connection with recent militant protests in Paris. Here's a video of her in her former dwelling that she built and squatted in in Chicago. We'll post more updates on how to direct support her way as soon as we get them. In our listener feedback section, we shared a message from Jennifer Gann, a radical trans prisoner in California, who is requesting support. Check out her website to learn more about her case, or write to her at: J. Gann #E23852 KVSP-D1–209U P.O. Box 5103 Delano, CA 93216 We also referenced some other queer and/or trans prisoner solidarity links, including Black and Pink, the Trans Prisoner Day of Action and Solidarity, and a publication focusing on the writings of incarcerated women and trans and gender variant prisoners called Unstoppable. Another listener suggested that folks interested in the struggles in Rojava, and their potential parallels with the Spanish Revolution & Civil War, check out these articles titled “The International Brigades and the social revolution in Spain, 1936–1939” and “News of the Spanish Revolution: Anti-authoritarian Perspectives on the Events.” And if you're feeling down, just remember that in Phenix City, Alabama, an unnamed Taco Bell employee refused to serve four cops who came in to order food - because they were cops. That's what we mean by Fight where you stand! Prisoner birthdays this month: Eric King # 27090045 FCI Englewood Federal Correctional Institution 9595 West Quincy Avenue Littleton, CO 80123 {August 2nd} Bill Dunne #10916–086 USP Lompoc 3901 Klein Boulevard Lompoc, California 93436 {August 3rd} Debbie Sims Africa #006307 SCI Cambridge Springs 451 Fullerton Avenue Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania 16403 {August 4th} Dr. Mutulu Shakur #83205–012 USP Victorville Post Office Box 3900 Adelanto, California 92301 {August 8th} Barrett Brown #45047–177 FCI Three Rivers Federal Correctional Institution P.O. Box 4200 Three Rivers, TX 78071 {August 14th} Hanif Shabazz Bey (Beaumont Gereau) #5161331 Seguro Correctional Center 1252 East Arica Road Eloy, Arizona 85131 {August 16th} Address envelope to Beaumont Gereau, address card to Hanif Maliki Shakur Latine # 81-A–4469 Shawangunk Correctional Facility Post Office Box 700 Wallkill, New York 12589 {August 23rd} Russell Maroon Shoatz #AF–3855 SCI Graterford P.O. Box 244 Graterford , PA 19426 {August 23rd} Ronald Reed #2195311 Minnesota Correctional Facility-Oak Park Heights 5329 Osgood Avenue North Stillwater, Minnesota 55082–1117 {August 31st}  

Synopsis The Guardian of Secrets, an epic historical family saga, of love, war, and revenge, spanning four generations, from 1912, Kent, England to, Spain and its 1936–39 civil war.   In present day Spain, María Martinéz Merrill is dying, but welcomes the end of her long life. She is one of the last of her generation. A survivor of the Spanish Civil War; a hellish war, long ended but still lingering in her mind like the familiar caress of an old friend. When her granddaughter, Lucia, arrives for a visit, María finds the perfect opportunity to share her dark world filled with shocking family secrets, guarded in old journals and written decades before by María and her mother, Celia Merrill.   María forces herself to relive her tormented past in order to convince Lucia to veto the   sale of the family estate whilst her children plot behind closed doors to dismantle and destroy everything she has built... Excerpt It soon seemed that the whole of Madrid had upped sticks and moved camp to the Jarama valley. Fifty battalions had been mustered, converging on the Jarama area in hundreds of trucks, tanks, artillery units, and ambulances. They drove slowly and carefully through the muddied dirt tracks and the cornfields destroyed by the heavy traffic. Everyone in the convoy had been told repeatedly that the stakes were high and that should they fail, they would leave the back door open, allowing the nationalists to enter Madrid. For the first few weeks, María could think of nothing but the job she’d been sent to do. There were enormous losses, estimated at between twenty and twenty-five thousand, on the republican side, and the International Brigades also lost thousands in the first few days of fighting. Day after day, María watched the orderlies leave the tents, carrying out amputated limbs and corpses, mopping up blood from the floors that filled buckets to the brim, and dumping mountains of bodies for a later burial. When the fighting eased off for a short while, her life became a monotonous existence of muddy fields of olive groves, rain-drenched trenches, and food that consisted of watery soup or congealed stew. María acknowledged that the doctors and medical staff tried their best to save the dying men, crying for their mothers and asking with hope in their eyes if they were going to live, but the reality was that they just couldn’t cope with the seriousness of injuries inflicted on the battlefield. The normal passage of time didn’t exist anymore. The wounded came in day and night—they were everywhere—and the shortage of doctors and nurses was becoming increasingly apparent. María was only a trainee nurse at best, but she found herself giving injections and administering anaesthetics for doctors who no longer cared who did it. Soldiers with stomach wounds were the worst, for she had been warned not to give water to those patients. She did disobey that command on occasion, though only when she thought that a drink of water was the only comfort she could give to a man who was going to die anyway. After a while, the medical station found itself right at the front, stuck there without the possibility of moving back again because of the risks to the stretcher-bearers. To make things worse, the dressing stations were carried into sheltered ditches and trenches that made them increasingly vulnerable to enemy fire, not to mention a dirty and muddy place to work. María handed the wounded who

Neal Beggs (Belfast, 1959) examines sound’s capacity to organize itself through objects with sculptural qualities while at once proposing an analogy between the geophysical and historical context of Gijón. This set of pieces uncovers a sentient idea of the rugged Atlantic coastline. The crossing by boat between Nantes and Gijón is thus transformed into an evocative form suffused with a phantasmagorical presence. The idea of translation is incarnated in the middle of this real displacement between two points, a western fiction as a way of revisiting its myths and its present. A bridge orchestrated with a song called Red River Valley which Woody Guthrie versioned to speak about the International Brigades.

http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/5378