A Memorial to those who Fought and Died in the International Brigade
The International Brigade who fought against the fascists in the Spanish Civil War contained about 32,000 from 53 nations.
As I walked along the river to Craven Cottage, I came across this memorial to those from Hammersmith and Fulham who died in the brigade.
International Brigade Memorial in Bishop's Park
Considering that a few thousand people from the United Kingdom were in the brigade, it is surprising I’d not seen a memorial before.
Aung San Suu Kyi
So there are to be elections in Burma, but they are pointless without the participation of the bravest woman in the world; Aung San Suu Kyi.
A Unique Place in the History of European Fascism
That was the said in Private Eye as they detailed how the senior figures in the odious British National Party might be bankrupted by Unilever for breaching Unilever’s copyright on a Marmite advert.
They finish the article by saying that they could be the first neo-Nazi party destroyed by the makers of a yeast extract sandwich spread.
C used to love her Marmite, but I don’t!
The Battle of Bolton
Yesterday, what happened in Bolton was not the way to protest.
You could argue that on the one hand it was a protest very similar to the Battle of Cable Street, where East London was determined to stop a march by the British Union of Fascists. My father, a left-wing Tory, was at that battle in 1936 and his view was that it was all of the East End against a rather nasty group with connections to Hitler. It could not be argued then, that we didn’t know of the ambitions and awful nastiness of the German dictator.
You could also argue that on the other, there are strong fears about such things like Sharia law and militant Islam.
I was listening to Radio 5 last night and the two sides had an argument with the presenter, as they thought they’d been duped into talking to each other by the BBC.
That probably shows more about the groups than anything else. They wanted a fight and that is what they got. But it was mainly with the police, who as ever were stuck in the middle. They should have let both of these groups get on with what they wanted to do. Preferably, in a place where they couldn’t do any damage to anybody else.
Those on both sides of the argument should talk to make sure that nothing like this happens again.
The Anonymous Widower 