In praise of the more humble version of paella served as a first course as part of the menu del dia. Typically on Thursdays like this first course yesterday.

Australian National Radio. 30 minutes : Remembering the Spanish Civil war. To document and discuss the conflict and the international response, a new Virtual Museum of the Spanish Civil war is being created by historians from some 30 countries. abc.net.au/listen/program…

Another classic 1936 poster. 'Aixafem el feixisme' (Let’s crush fascism) by Pere Català i Pic shows an espardenya (Cat) alpargata (Span), crushing a swastika on a wet, cobbled street of Barcelona, symbolising both fight by the working class against fascism and Catalan identity.

Should anyone be interested, here’s a link to a piece I put together for BBC Radio Scotland a few years ago (with some help from Nick Lloyd Nick Lloyd about the Scots involved in the Spanish Civil War.

bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0…

I'll be giving a short history talk to welcome fans of Clapton CFC this 14 April in homage to the Second Spanish Republic and the International Brigades at 1300 in Plaça de la Universitat.

Banner with the names of the 65 Glaswegians who died fighting in the International Brigades in Spain. Almost one third of this number died in the Battle of Jarama on 12-14 February 1937. Part of the People's Palace collection

Square in Poble-sec, Barcelona named last year after Valerie Powles, born Birmingham, local activist, anarchist and historian who fought doggedly to save the 307 bomb shelter, today an essential visit in understanding Mussolini's murderous bombing of city to help Franco's war

Tornant de Cuba (Returning from Cuba, 1898) by Ricard Opisso. After loss of Cuba to US in 1898, 1000s of footsoldiers, many wounded and malaria-ridden, were dumped on Barcelona quays (in background). One of so many acts that made city's working class so hate the Spanish military

Map showing military rising on 19 July 1936 in Barcelona and response by workers (anarchists and others on Left) and the Catalan police. By Víctor Hurtado from his excellent series of Spanish Civil War atlases (this one 'La sublevación').

Barcelona, 8 July 1936, just over a week before the start of the Spanish Civil War. View of Montjuïc and the harbour. 📷 Gabriel Casas
Via Julià Rodríguez

This is a superb thread

Photo report in Spanish Republican magazine Estampa, 24 October 1936, celebrating the Moroccans who fought for the Republic. Around 800 Arabs fought against Franco during the Civil War, of whom around 500 were from Algeria and I think +100 were from Morocco.

Yesterday Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez visited the horror of Franco's Valley of the Fallen. Near the end of video you can see the grotesque spectacle of some of the bones of individuals killed in battle, executed, otherwise murdered (33,383?) just piled up in a mass of human remains

Solidarity Park - Ataque con martillo // Hammer attack
We must respond! please share // ¡Debemos responder! Por favor, comparta.

youtu.be/6FLow13HRx0

Grave of German Jewish thinker Walter Benjamin, died in Portbou Catalonia 1940, escaping Nazis, inscribed with his words in Ger+Cat 'There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism' Have you been+seen remarkable memorial by Dani Karavan?

Book launch Paris🎉
Come down to the Hotel Littéraire Le Swann - Paris 8e - 23/04 at 19h. I’ll be in conversation with translator nicragonneau answering questions & signing copies! See u there…
duncanroberts.co.uk/orwell-a-paris…
Darcy Moore Orwell Society Nick Lloyd Société des Hôtels Littéraires

CNT militia fighter outside the Bakunin barracks (today's Bruc barracks). 27/08/1936. Photo by Antoni Campañà. I know nothing about her.

Delicious ' coca de recapte ' for lunch by Mònica Navarro. Roast red peppers, aubergine and onions with sardines on a very thin base. Origins in Lleida and Tarragona