Saturday 24 March 2012

No Pasaran!

Went to an exhibition about British and Irish volunteers who fought in the Spanish Civil War today. The exhibition was in Motherwell, and I'd arranged with Terry and mr. combo to meet up there. We had a look round the very interesting exhibition, them went to a cafe for breakfast and a chat.
mr. combo's written a post about our visit, so rather than write another one I'll just direct you there and post some photos I took.










The timing of this was fortuitous as I'm planning on going to Spain later this year, and I'll have to admit it's a country I know very little about. I've only spent 3 days there, and that was mostly taken up with my niece's wedding. What I did see was very interesting, hence my plan to return.
To be honest, all I knew about the Civil War was from George Orwell's Homage_to_Catalonia and a book on Spain that I'm reading at the moment, Ghosts of Spain by Giles Tremlett, so visiting the exhibition filled in a lot of the gaps and by having profiles of local volunteers, added a human dimension to the history.
A good morning out, and it was an excuse for mr combo, Terry, and I to meet and have a chat.
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3 comments:

  1. fj_stuart24 March 2012 at 22:12

    There is a memorial at Blantyre Miners Welfare for three local men killed serving with the International Brigade.

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  2. Mo29 March 2012 at 19:03

    Finally commenting on this very interesting post Norrie. I think you´ve started really well with Orwell and Giles Tremlett - that´s a very good book. Will read the article by mr. combo.

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  3. Norman30 March 2012 at 09:43

    Glad you liked it, Mo. I've always felt that the (largely forgotten) Spanish Civil War was the 20th Century's greatest failure. By failing to aid the Spanish Government, the other nations effectively gave the green light to the Nazis to do whatever they wanted. If only one country (other than impoverished Mexico) had aided Spain, then possibly World War 2 might not have happened. (Discuss.) It showed how the volunteers who went to fight were so far ahead of their politicians in understanding what a threat Fascism was.
    As for the Giles Tremlett book, it's been a fascinating insight into a country I've known little about. Scary how even so long after his death, Franco still casts a dark shadow over so much of Spanish society. I also understand far more why you get so frustrated about the way Spain operates!
    It's been very interesting reading and hopefully it gives me more understanding of a country that I hope to visit later in the year.

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