Spanish dictator Francisco Franco died 50 years ago today [20 November]. Jim Jump looks back at his blood-soaked rule and toxic legacy on Spain today. ‘Spaniards, Franco has died,’ came the announcement 50 years ago on Spanish TV. If there was any truth to the widely-held story that Barcelona immediately ran out of cava, the […]
Bernard McKenna’s ashes were buried in Caspe, Aragón, on 15 November. Patricia Ure reports on the event, which was attended by six members of his family: children Peter, Neil, Nicki, Joss, grandson Scott, and son-in-law Robert. The programme to remember Bernard McKenna began at Caspe’s International Brigades monument, inaugurated in 2018 to commemorate the 80th […]
Our thanks must once again go to a group of volunteers in Madrid who are tending the memorials to the International Brigades in Fuencarral cemetery in the north of the city. The volunteer gardeners have replanted the flower beds to ensure plenty of autumn colour. And they visit the cemetery every week to do the […]
News report from the Agencia EFE Spanish news agency… October 31, 2025 Madrid (EFE) - Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has announced that the Council of Ministers will approve next Tuesday the granting of Spanish nationality to the nearly 170 descendants of the International Brigades who have requested it under the Democratic Memory Law. Sánchez made […]
Words spoken by joint Ireland Secretary Luke O'Riordan at Belfast City Hall on 3 October 2025 during the IBMT AGM weekend… It is a great honour to be asked to say a few words among friends and comrades this evening as we gather to remember the bravery of the International Brigades. Many of you will […]
Saturday 4 October 2025 at the Unite Office, 26-24 Antrim Road, Belfast BT15 2AA Present: Gerry Abrahams, Mike Arnott, Paddy Bolger, Frank Cammock, David Chanter, John Cobbe, Paul Coles (Treasurer), Kevin Cooper (photographer), Ciaran Crossey, Rowland Davies, Tracy Delaney, Megan Dobney (Secretary), Barrie Eckford, Gary Fabian, Lorene Fabian, Nuria Fraile (SRCUK), Mary Greening, Austin Harney, […]
Words spoken by IBMT Chair Jim Jump in Belfast City Hall on 3 October at the start of the Trust’s Annual General Meeting weekend… The great Spanish poet of the 1930s, Rafael Alberti, said the International Brigades had blood that could sing across frontiers. Where better than in Belfast and in Ireland to celebrate that […]
See more photos here.[All photos © Kevin Cooper Photoline NUJ unless others attributed] The Cairde Community Choir sing at the opening ceremony in Belfast City Hall A minute's silence was observed at the International Brigade memorial in Writer's Square. Claire Hanna MP, leader of the SDLP, at Writer's Square. She said her great uncle, Richard […]
Ireland’s singing and songwriting legend Christy Moore has sent this message, including a rendition of ‘Viva la Quince Brigada’, to the IBMT’s 2025 Annual General Meeting in Belfast. The AGM was held over the weekend of 3-5 October. Moore is an IBMT Patron and has done much to spread the story of the Irish volunteers […]
Several greetings were sent to the IBMT’s Annual General Meeting, held in Belfast on 4 October. As well as those reproduced below, there were messages delivered in person by Nancy Wallach from the New York-based Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, by Ewald Peter Schulz from the German association KFSR (Kämpfer und Freunde del Spanischen Republik 1936-1939) […]
Cover: volunteers Nieves Hernández and Maica Gómez tend to the plants in Fuencarral Cemetery in the scorching Madrid sunshine. Issue 3-2025 of the IBMT digital magazine, ¡No Pasaran!, has been emailed to all paid-up members. On the cover, volunteers Nieves Hernández and Maica Gómez tend to the plants in Fuencarral Cemetery in the scorching Madrid sunshine. […]
JIM JUMP looks forward to the International Brigade Memorial Trust AGM taking place in Belfast later this week where the spirit of solidarity will be rekindled. The fight against Franco and the rising tide of European fascism united progressive forces from all communities in Belfast. Sectarian and other divisions were cast aside and some 50 […]
