"fighting fascism at the wrong time"...

BELIEVE IT OR NOT!  
In the state of New Hampshire...

In today's (February 18, 2001) Springfield, Massachusetts "Sunday
Republican", page A20, is an Associated Press story by Stephen Frothingham
entitled "Spanish Civil War plaque exhumes Cold War feelings".  

The story reports on a controversy now going on in the state of New
Hampshire over a Statehouse plaque erected last week and then immediately
taken down following an editorial in the notoriously reactionary paper
"The Union Leader" which attacked the plaque the morning it was to be
unveiled.  The plaque itself honors 12 New Hampshire citizens who fought
with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39)
against General Francisco Franco who, in his coup d'etat against the 
Spanish government, was aided by his fascist allies, Hitler and Mussolini.
Historians have viewed it as the opening salvo of World War II.  In the
article, Frothingham reports:

     The fact that America fought fascism later does not validate the
     defiance of those who fought in Spain, said Rep. Tony Soltani,
     R-Epsom.  "These people were fighting fascism at the wrong time."

In its second editorial on the controversy, the "Union Leader" today
issued more fodder for its presumed mass readership which can be viewed
at <http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_show.html?article=12281>.



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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Colin S. Cavell                        Comrades of the International Brigades:
Department of Political Science        Political reasons, reasons of State, 
Thompson Tower                         the welfare of that same cause for which
Box 37520                              you offered your blood with boundless 
University of Massachusetts            generosity, are sending you back, some 
Amherst, MA  01003-7520                of you to your own countries and others
Internet:  cscpo@polsci.umass.edu      to forced exile. You can go proudly. 
Voice:  (413) 546-3408                 You are the heroic example of 
http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~cscpo   democracy's solidarity and universality
                                       ...  We shall not forget you, and when 
                                       the olive tree of peace puts forth its 
                                       leaves again, entwined with the laurels
                                       of the Spanish Republic's victory - 
                                       come back! ..."

                                         --1938 farewell to the departing 
                                            international volunteers by
                                                  "La Pasionaria" - 
                                            Dolores Ibarurri (1895-1989)

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