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Anti-fascists remember the International Brigades as the far right stalks Europe once more
This year’s International Brigade Memorial Trust commemoration took on an urgent tone, with warnings of ‘terrifying wave of fascism’ in Europe drawing parallels between 1930s Spain and today, reports LYNNE WALSH
PCS International Brigades

ANTI-FASCISTS gathered in London at the weekend to honour comrades, and to warn against the rising tide of the far right across Europe.

At the International Brigade Memorial Trust (IBMT) annual commemoration in London, family members and activists laid wreaths and flowers to remember the men and women who went to Spain in the 1930s to take on Franco’s rebel army, which was intent on overthrowing the democratically elected republican government.

Folk duo Na-Mara sang The Bite, based on the experiences of volunteer George Wheeler, who in a 2000 interview told of his “bite,” a small piece of wood placed in his mouth as he went into battle. He would clench it as a meagre defence against shell shock.

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