Labour, Rights, Politics: research, comments, links

A Civil War.

On January 26 1939, in the third year of the Spanish Civil War, General Francisco Franco y Bahamonde finally took Barcelona. In March he took Madrid and in April he and his nationalist, royalist, ruling class forces controlled Spain. Franco established a repressive, elitist, anti-worker regime which would last until his death in 1975.

This photograph (2006) from my own collection is of the Telephone (Telegraph) Building on the perimeter of Plaza Cataluna in Barcelona, at the upper end of the Ramblas. In May 1937 it was held by anarchist/ republican forces in a battle eloquently described by George Orwell in 'Homage to Catalonia'. Next time you're mixing it with the entertainers on the Ramblas, and deciding on a cafe for coffee, take instead this image: 'The bullets from the tower were flying cross the street and a crowd of panic-stricken people was rushing down the Ramblas, away from the firing; up and down the street you could hear snap-snap-snap as the shop-keepers slammed the steel shutters over their windows.' (Orwell, 1938).

Lest we forget.

Free Sakineh - not done yet.

Horrible. I was foolishly surprised to pick up this info last night from an Amnesty tweet. A few months back when the Iran government backed off on stoning Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani for 'adultery while married' we could have been excused for thinking that a measure of safety for Sakineh had been achieved. You might recall that she was originally imprisoned for complicity in the murder of her husband: AWID, Association for Women's Rights in Development, observes that the prison term linked to that conviction has possibly expired. Signing Amnesty petitions seems the most rapid action in support of last minute attempts to stop a hanging. Amnesty UK has a link (on their Take Action page).
AWID also points out that the 'FreeSakineh' website has not been updated since 2010. This is truly shocking, given the great swell of anger apparent across the west when her case became public. I recall being in Rome a year ago, seeing huge photographs of her mounted at high points in key public spaces in the centre of the city. Just how much must be done to save one life?
So please, sign the petitions, talk, tweet, facebook, write, whatever is within or even beyond your scope.

http://www.awid.org/Get-Involved/Urgent-Actions3/Urgent-Action-Amnesty-International-Iran-New-Execution-Fears-for-Sakineh-Mohammadi

New Year and the military spectacular.

It's New Year's Eve (or it was, until 20 minutes back) and Oz has watched the UK summer Edinburgh Tattoo on ABC TV, Again. Such a strange mix of spectacle, military skite, irony (the British National Anthem in Edinburgh Castle?) colonialism, and soldiers dressed to the nines looking too old and way too far being just back from Helmand Province. What head-space are they in and do these games help, or simply hide that space? All is played out against brass bands, skill, and bravado. Male bravado, mostly. Yet oddly there must be some civic pride involved as well - would really like to hear the view of my Scottish friends. I'm not sure that I'm knocking the Tattoo but every year it provokes such mixed feelings here. With the presence of soldiers who are part of current wars this spectacle takes on different responsibilities. Of course the current war aspect isn't new - soldiers fresh from duty in Northern Ireland have been part of the Tattoo in the past. Was their role made explicit? There's a dissertation in this. Any takers? Any knowledge of existing studies?