Vol. XXXI, No. 3 September 2014 PUBLISHED BY THE ABRAHAM LINCOLN BRIGADE ARCHIVES PODEMOS: Spain’s New Political Hope GarzónGarzón onon UniversalUniversal JurisdictionJurisdiction Hoover’sHoover’s SecretSecret FBIFBI SongsSongs ofof thethe SpanishSpanish CivilCivil WarWar Cover photo: Pablo Iglesias, leader of PODEMOS, photo courtesy of pabloiglesias.org Founded by the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade 799 Broadway, Suite 341 New York, Dear Friends, NY 10003 (212) 674-5398 www.alba-valb.org When things seem bleakest, hope often sparks. Editor Print Edition Peter N. Carroll Editor Online Edition The victims of Francoism have waited long enough for justice. It’s time for www.albavolunteer.org action—and the United Nations agrees. In a scathing report on the country’s Sebastiaan Faber thousands of disappeared lying in unmarked mass graves from the Civil War, Associate Editor Aaron B. Retish the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has given Spain 90 days to produce a working timeline to assist the victims’ families. The Book Review Editor Gina Herrmann report—issued in late July following a fact-finding mission last year—calls for Graphic Design “a comprehensive, coherent, and permanent state policy” with regard to the www.eyestormonline.com disappeared. Editorial Assistance Phil Kavanaugh The UN report vindicates the work of Emilio Silva, who, for more than a Manuscripts, inquiries, and letters to the decade, has denounced Spain’s disregard for international law. (Last July, editor may be sent by email to Emilio attended the International Brigade Commemoration in London; see [email protected] The editors reserve the right to modify texts his stirring speech on page 8). for length and style. Politically, too, there is hope for change. The Spanish economy has been Books for review may be sent to among the hardest hit by the crisis of 2008. Almost a quarter of the population Gina Herrmann, 102 Friendly Hall, 1233 is unemployed, and the governing Partido Popular has been mired in endless University of Oregon, corruption scandals. For a while it seemed that protest politics had fizzled out Eugene OR 97403-1233 in Spain. But this year a new grass-roots political movement emerged, calling www.albavolunteer.org itself Podemos (We Can). It was founded by a group of activists that include two charismatic Political Science professors: Pablo Iglesias, 35, and Juan Carlos IN THIS ISSUE Monedero, 51. p 3 Bay Area Reunion As a political party, Podemos won a surprising five seats at the elections for the p 4 Teaching in Tampa European Parliament in May. It is poised to rise higher in the next elections. p 5 National History Day Its message is lucid and radical, and proudly draws on progressive traditions of the past, particularly the fight against fascism—as Monedero explains in his p 6 Garzón on Universal interview with The Volunteer (page 15). Jurisdiction p 8 Exhuming Franco’s Graves We agree with Podemos and with this year’s ALBA/Puffin Award Winner Bryan Stevenson that we cannot change history without first knowing it. This p 9 Medsger on Hoover’s Secret is the philosophy that guides everything ALBA does: the teachers’ institutes FBI we are running this fall in Florida, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey; our p 12 Songs of the Spanish Civil Human Rights Film Festival in September; and our Bay Area event and Pete War Seeger tribute in October. p 14 Faces of ALBA: Bruce Of course, we could do nothing at all if it weren’t for your continued support. Barthol Un millón de gracias for your steadfast commitment. p 15 J.C. Monedero on PODEMOS p 19 Book Reviews p 21 In Memoriam Gert Hoffmann p 21 In Memoriam Hans Sebastiaan Faber Marina Garde Landauer Chair of the Board Executive Director of Governors p 22 Legacy Gift to ALBA p 23 Contributions 2 THE VOLUNTEER September 2014 Solidarity Forever! Join us for ALBA’s Bay Area Reunion! Sunday, October 5, 2014 2:00 PM (doors open at 1:00 PM) Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse 2020 Addison Street Berkeley, California A commemorative celebration marking the 78th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War and remembering the courageous volunteers of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. This year we pay tribute to the life of Pete Seeger, featuring previously unseen footage and presenting the spectacular Smithsonian re-release of the legendary "Songs of the Spanish Civil War" albums that include Seeger's 1944 "Songs of the Lincoln Brigade." Special guest: Human rights advocate Alison Mollman, Equal Justice Initiative Songs of the Spanish Civil War by Bruce Barthol, with Velina Brown, Randy Craig, Tony Marcus, and Barrett Nelson. Tickets: $29 advance / $31 at door Discounts for seniors, students and Friends of the Freight Tickets may be purchased online at: www.thefreight.org/abraham-lincoln-brigade-celebration Tel. (510) 644-2020 Pete Seeger in concert, Feb. 1986, Photo Josef Schwarz, CC BY-SA 3.0 September 2014 THE VOLUNTEER 3 ALBA Reaches Out to Teachers in Four States By the Editors Kicking off a busy fall, ALBA worked with teachers in Tampa. Participants and faculty of the 2014 ALBA Institute in Tampa. ALBA’s Institute staff has a busy fall, with workshops broke out in Spain. He was determined to join the Lincoln lined up in Tampa, Florida; Bloomington, Illinois; New York Brigade, but in the end was not able to go to Spain. After World City; and Bergen County, New Jersey. On August 13, ALBA War II he worked hard to get Jewish refugees from Europe to the led a professional development day for social studies teachers in United States.” Tampa’s Hillsborough County School District, the third largest in Florida and eighth largest in the country. This was ALBA’s fifth institute in Tampa—a historical center of Spanish immigration and labor activism, from which more Fraser Ottanelli, Vice Chair of ALBA and Professor of History at than two dozen volunteers left to join the fight against fascism in the University of Southern Florida, worked with veteran teacher Spain. The city’s Centro Asturiano, founded exactly 100 years ago, Robert Alicea and ALBA’s Sebastiaan Faber to introduce teachers features a monument in their memory. of U.S. History, World History, Government, and Psychology to the Lincoln Brigade and the Spanish Civil War. “My teachers are becoming quite familiar with the new Common Core benchmarks,” said Dennis Holt, district supervisor of “The Spanish Civil War and the story of the Lincoln Brigade form secondary social studies. “What we are now desperate for is good the hub of a giant wheel with dozens of curricular spokes that content, particularly well-selected primary source materials. And go far beyond the 1930s,” Alicea said. “It provides a fascinating that is precisely what ALBA provides us with.” window into issues and topics as diverse as the Great Depression, ideology, the rise of fascism, the Cold War, race, civil rights, the For more information about ALBA’s institutes, or for a range of Vietnam war, feminism, memory, activism, citizenship, ethics, and primary materials and Common Core-aligned lesson plans, visit human rights.” ALBA’s teacher resource website at resources.alba-valb.org. After screening documentary footage from The Good Fight, teachers drew on ALBA’s anthology of primary source materials— letters, speeches, posters, and photographs from the Archive—to create compelling lesson plans for their hundreds of high school students. Francie Grossman, a veteran teacher in the county, revealed her personal connection to the Spanish Civil War. “My mother was a native American who was taken from her parents and raised in foster care,” she said, “and my father, Dr. Leo Grossman, was a bacteriologist from Brooklyn whose family had fled from the Prussian Army in 1898, and who was 18 when the Civil War Mobilized Spanish immigrants in Tampa, Florida. Reproduced in Stars for Spain: La guerra civil española en los Estados Unidos. 4 THE VOLUNTEER September 2014 HISTORY DAY Sam, Eli, and Bjorn. WINNERS Three 8th-grade students at the Open and Wilson libraries to peruse their large bathroom breaks, our names were World Learning Community school in newspaper archives for information from announced as first place winners of the St. Paul, Minnesota--Sam Dale-Gau, the time of the war. Finally, we watched junior group documentary division! This Bjorn Holm, and Eli Sage-Martinson-- and listened to tapes of the Brigade and meant we would be attending Nationals placed fifth at the National History Day CDs of their anthems that we received in June. Finals in the category of Junior Group from Peter Rachleff, a professor at Documentary for their work on the Macalester College. As Nationals neared we hurried to history of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. record our newly edited script and The three produced a short documentary The first competition was within our edit the documentary. The time we film based on archival research and school. At that point we had a rough did spend competing was intense and interviews. The Finals were held June 15- script and a good idea of where we nerve wracking. Like at State, we did 19 in Washington DC. Here’s their report were planning to go with it. Between well in the first round and came away (slightly abridged). then and the regional event we feeling confident. Later that day, the broadened our research to encompass results were posted on three large TVs t the beginning of the year we two interviews and a variety of texts from and we found out that we had made the spent nearly a month attempting the University of Minnesota. At Regionals National finals! This meant the same as to settle on a topic.