Spanish author Almudena Grandes, who died last week, was famed for her novels portraying ordinary Spaniards’ experience of civil war and dictatorship. She insisted that unearthing historical memory was fundamental to building a democratic Spain.
Anything we can do to bring the sacrifices and bravery of the International Brigaders to a wider public consciousness is a reminder that we too must join the fight against fascism.
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Almudéver was a fighter with his whole being, a man unable to give up because he doesn’t know how to surrender, because it’s not right to surrender to oppression.
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Julian Assange’s extradition to the US has been blocked, but he still faces the injustice of years in prison in the UK. While world leaders remain quiet, AMLO stands alone in speaking for freedom of speech — and has offered Assange asylum in Mexico.
Hemingway, Orwell and a host of others have written gainfully on the International Brigades’ resistance to Spanish Fascism. The book under review, based on extensive interviews and deep research, is considered by the reviewer to be the masterwork.
Anti-fascist volunteer Canute Frankson explained his motivation in a letter home in 1937: “We will build us a new society—a society of peace and plenty. There will be no color line, no jim-crow trains, no lynching. That is why, my dear, I’m here in Spain.”
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