‘Heavy Gang’ short stories at Smashwords

The collection of short stories Do You Like Oranges? is now available from Smashwords  in all the main eBook formats.  Just click on the cover image in this post and you’ll arrive at the download page.

Downloading is free for the present – special Xmas offer – after which time a small charge will apply. In the New Year a hard copy edition will be published for the target date of May Day, 2012.

If you like the stories, please pass the word on.  Recommend the collection to your friends by forwarding or sharing the link.

Dear reader, this is vital and much appreciated as the stories in this  collection address difficult but important issues: the power of the police and the abuses of that power.  In other words this is political fiction with a capital ‘P’ and ‘F’ …  so your help and support is greatly appreciated AND required.

There’s also a Facebook promotion page where you add a ‘Like’ or a comment.   Or a even short review.

Thanks, of course, to everyone who has supported this publication already!

Occupy Cork, €700 Million and The Secret Millionaire

A couple of weeks back, RTE‘s inane series The Secret Millionaire came to Cork.  In the programme the so-called ‘secret millionaire’ traversed the northside of the city and reviewed different charities operating there.   Local newspaper, The Cork Independent, reported:

The marketing millionaire, Nadim Sadek, who lives on his private island Inish Turk Beg in Co. Mayo, visited Cois Tine, the Knocknaheeney Music Project, Rebel Rollers and the Penny Dinners during his eight days living off Shandon Street.

Eventually Nadim handed out about €40,000 to a number of groups – one operating a musical group for youngsters in the area; another providing basketball facilities and club organization for kids with disabilities.  The €40 K was divied up into two €5k lots and the remainder amount of €30 K went to  the ‘winner’.

The lucky local charities were uniformly over the moon with their windfalls.  Indeed in a number of cases the recipients – invariably the organisers of these groups and clubs – were personally overwhelmed by their good fortune.  Some were openly tearful about what they would be able to do with these sums of money – the doors that the monies would open for their clubs and members.  It was a salutary lesson – if one ever needed one – about how little money can sometimes make a real difference in the lives of people in this country in this year of 2011.

CONTRAST the sum of money involved above [€40K] with the fact that in the next few days, on Nov 1st to be precise, the Irish Government intends to pay over the sum of 700 million euros (OR 700,000,000 euros) to unsecured bondholders associated with the zombie Anglo Irish Bank.

This sum of money – the latest round of ‘debt re-payments’ – is gargantuan compared to the €40 K involved in The Secret Millionaire programme.  It puts into perspective  perfectly the scale of the wealth (and resource) transfer that is now being undertaken in this country under the guise of the present crisis.

 This wealth transfer is being conducted in your name and at your expense but did you agree to it happening? Were you even asked your opinion? [I recall the Government parties making vague promises in the election about this - do you? But then those promises are long ago forgotten, right?]

This is one reason – but there are many others – why we all need to take a good look at the Occupy movement.  It is a diverse movement and it incorporates many different hopes and proposals – but it is spreading and has taken up positions right around the world about this key question: who owns the wealth of the world and who should control it.

What is important is that in Cork, in Dublin and across the globe indignant groups have taken action and stood up.  They are attempting to draw attention to this daylight robbery from the public purse. They are also speaking out about this robbery on a grand scale that will take place here in Ireland on noon on November 1st – when the above monies are transferred from Government funds to the bond holders.

The question for you is do you support Occupy Cork and Occupy Dublin?  If not, then what is the alternative?  Throw our hands up in the air and say what can I do?

If you do nothing now be assured of this much: they (the Government) will come back for more money (in the next budget and the next round of cuts) and they will transfer even more wealth to these millionaire bankers and bond holders.

Then – in a time not so far from now – you will see some of those very same millionaires on some new inane RTE programme dropping coins and crumbs to local community groups and being applauded for it.  And, yes, people will be crying with gratitude too, and it will all be filmed for your enjoyment too.  That’s the future if we do nothing now ….

Don’t participate any longer in this soap opera.  Stand up and fight back!

More Information and Related Articles here:

• Details on Irish bonds due and sums of money involved
• Cork Independent Article on The Secret Millionaire
• RTE’s blurb on The Secret Millionaire Series
• Cork Penny Dinners
• Secret Millionaire at Cois Tine

Blarney Business Park: For This We Suffer?

If you think about the straightforward human need for decent, basic necessities – housing, education, healthcare and a means to earn your way in the world – then a visit to the Blarney Business Park is the sort of thing that is likely to make you weep.

Somewhere, a while ago now, some bunch of businessmen egged on by other local businessmen and assorted land developers, got the demented idea that the village of Blarney (located a few miles outside of Cork) needed its very own business park.  And so it came to pass …

You might imagine then that the construction of Blarney Business Park was part of some grand plan to meet some vital human need – after all isn’t it often said that that is exactly what the ‘free market’ excels at. You know, matching demand to supply and supply to demand and so on and so forth?  Oh ha, ha, ha!   You’re surely joking.

Not only is Blarney Business Park today just about devoid of life,  it is also in competition with a rash of other business park ventures located near its pew on the edge of the Cork-Mallow road.   Yes, there’s NorthPoint at Blackpool keenly looking for tenants – only a few kms away.  And also close by is Gateway Business Park who are offering loads and loads of ‘office space’, ‘warehouse space’ and other various ‘turnkey solutions’ to anyone who will venture in their gate.

Yes, one has to wonder?  What were those fine businessmen that conjured the Blarney Business Park into existence actually thinking?  What imaginary hole in the marketplace were they desperate to plug when they turned the sod for this gigantic waste of an effort?

[Of course, the truth is BBP was all about making a fast buck.  Let's not doubt that for one moment.   The developers wanted to cash in on a perceived ever-enlarging economic expansion.  They were motivated only by greed for more profits.  But importantly - and this is key - these profit-zombies also had access to the cash, credit and wherewithal to make their plan realizable.  Human needs were never a factor in their skewed calculations. ]

It was developed and built by Bowen Construction, as far as I can tell.  Bowen was a one time major Irish building company that is now in receivership.  A recent Irish Times profile declared that Bowen were “established in 1968  [... and] grew to become one of the largest building and civil engineering contractors in the State with offices in Cork, Dublin, Belfast, Limerick and Waterford”.   Now Bowen are under the control of NAMA.  Which means what, dear reader?

Well, what NAMA means is that the plain people of Ireland are picking up the tab.  And how? Via wage cuts, pension cuts, cuts in resources to education, cuts in hospital services, ward closures.  And so on.

Look closely at the above photo and you will see something interesting.  Laughable too.  The canvas backdrop decorating this empty showroom, depicts what? No doubt it was installed to entice and stimulate those would be entrepreneurs whom it was imagined were out there and ready to flock to Blarney Business Park.

Your eyes are not deceiving you: it’s a vista straight from idyllic rural Ireland.   A narrow boreen somewhere out there in west Cork or Kerry, or Clare or somewhere like that.   Oh how wonderful it looks.  And what a thoughtful, original and appropriate inclusion too.  They really did think of everything didn’t they – those business men who conceived of Blarney Business Park.  Truly, no stone was left unturned.

75th Anniversary of the Spanish Revolution!

This month, 75 years ago, one of the most significant democratic movements in human history got underway in Spain.

The onset of the Spanish Civil War will be remembered by many for the tragic and valiant struggle that took place in Spain to stem the tide of fascism in Europe.  It is certainly important to remember and celebrate that struggle that took place in Spain between 1936-39.  But less well known and more important – to my mind – was the democratic revolution that took place in Spain between 1936 and 1937.  It was an immense revolution and it ushered in a new economic and social order where workers and farm labourers organised and controlled this places of work and their communities.  For an important and significant period of time a different way of organising society and economic production – where human needs came ahead of profits – held sway.

Let’s face it, in today’s world – where inequality is rampant; where poverty and starvation is rife while the world’s wealthy party on; and where environmental destruction seems never ending – it is important to remember and cherish this possible way forward for human kind.

Even now the scale of the revolution and the  its achievements are not fully acknowledged.  Although this is a situation that is gradually being reversed – with more academic research now focused on this important revolutionary period in Spain’s history.

Over the long period of this anniversary I hope to look at different aspects of the revolution and its eventual fate.   There’s no real plan here other than to cover topics of interest whilst completing research for a fictional work that is in part set in revolutionary Spain – of which more much later on.

But first a salute to those that resisted dictatorship and fascism and in the process opened up  a real window of hope for a viable and free socialist society.

Related articles and further reading:

• Anarchist sources on  The Spanish Revolution

The “Drone Bomber” Arrives To A Warm Welcome From Our Glorious Leaders

Image via Wikipedia

Hamid Mir, Editor with Geo News in Islamabad (Pakistan) recorded that there were 34 drone attacks in the Pakistan region between 2004 -2008.  Between 2008 and March 2009 the  number rose dramatically and there were 46 drone attacks alone in that 15 month period.  [Note, as confirmed in reports below, the number of drone attacks has risen further and sharply under Obama's first office term.  See in particular this Google Map of the attacks]

Mir points out that there 80 drone attacks during the entire period referred to above.  In all of these attacks 513 people were killed.  Having checked all the records Mir has ascertained that of all these casualties only 14 were actually of alleged terrorists (names confirmed by US Defense Dept Press Releases). The remainder, 499 people, were all civilians.

Hamid Mir investigated 11 individual incidents of drone bombings.  In two of these, he found that two ‘low-level’ Taliban activists had been killed.  In the remaining 9 attacks only civilians were killed.  As he states in the second of the two you tube clips below this is violation Article 3 of the UN Human Rights Charter – among many other violations contrary to the conduct of war.

Today, our glorious leaders, will warmly welcome the Commander In Chief of the US armed forced responsible for these atrocities.

And Hamid Mir on Drone attacks in Pakistan.

Related articles

• WikiLeaks Cables: Pakistan Urged Drone Strikes (newser.com)
• Obama Increase Drone Bombings
• You: Six killed in US drone attack in NWaziristan (nation.com.pk)
• “Drone strike kills six in N Waziristan” and related posts (thefrontierpost.com)
• Eight Killed In Latest Drone Bombing

Victory for Liberty: Obama not coming to Cork

Quick take: Obama’s proposed visit to Cork to honour the memory of Frederick Douglass, the former slave and abolitionist,  has been cancelled after it emerged that the conditions and abuse suffered by prisoners in the Guantanamo Bay Detention Centre (currently endorsed by Obama) were in many cases comparable to the horrendous conditions suffered by slaves in the United States.  Unconfirmed reports suggest that Douglass’s  statue – soon to be unveiled in Cork – refused to have anything to do with proceedings if Obama was to attend.

>>>> For those with time, read on >>>>>

It nearly happened and to think that the fine city of Cork actually had four US senators on its side too!  Imagine: four real millionaires were flying the flag for Cork, but Obama’s visit is not to happen afterall.  Heart breaking news, of course, for Cork’s La-Di-Da community and the Lord Mayor but a victory for truth and liberty nonetheless.

Readers will be wondering why the old liar was going to go to Cork in the first place?  Well, it’s an interesting story. Obama’s proposed stop off here had to do with a plan by University College Cork to honour the memory of Frederick Douglass, the  former black slave and abolitionist, who wrote the ground-breaking autobiography Narrative Of the Life of Frederick Douglas, an American Slave.  This book, published in 1846, was one of a number at that time to record in words the life and experiences of African slaves in the United States.  As such it played a seminal role in opening up knowledge and condemnation of slavery and what it entailed.  Later in his life, Douglass visited Ireland (and Cork itself) during our Famine and wrote warmly about his experiences and the welcome he received here.  [Not wanting to be ironic but us Irish know quite a lot about slavery and so we all got on famously.]

In remembrance of this connection (and fittingly too) UCC  will, in May, officially launch a human rights lecture series – part of which will entail the unveiling of a statue on campus in honour of Frederick Douglass.   Hence the Obama visit connection.  Apparently Obama credits Douglass as a inspirational figure in his own life – for his moral stand, courage and outspokenness [yes Barack you sure could learn a lot from Frederick alright].  But also, of course, Obama likes to place himself beside Douglass and his important position as an African American who escaped slavery and fought for liberty.

So Cork, Obama, Douglass – it was on the cards, it seems.

However then things started to go askew.  Good old fashioned nervousness entered the fray and following close scrutiny of the record books, distressing parallels between what Douglas fought against AND what Obama is standing up for, emerged.

If you read Douglass’s main work, the above named book, and you examine what he records, then one thing becomes very clear: Douglass had a huge and uncompromising committment to human liberty.  Douglass too, of course, knew what he was taking about.  He had been a slave and he had witnessed the lives of slaves.  Douglass saw the ugliness of servitude first hand.   Take this passage from Narrative …  (By the way Douglass’s account is scattered with accounts like this below.  In Narrative …. he paints a violent picture of the abuses and random violence that slaves were subjected to on a whim.)  Here is one:

“I used to be in Mrs Hamilton’s house nearly everyday.  Mrs Hamilton used to sit in a large chair in the middle of the room, with a heavy cowskin always by her side, and scarce an  hour passed during the day but was marked by the blood of one of these slaves.  The girls seldom passed by her without her saying ‘Move faster, you black gip’ at the same time giving them a blow with the cowskin over the head or shoulders, often drawing the blood.”  (p 80  Penguin Classic edition.)

Now take a look at something that Obama has recently stood over with his Administration’s defence of the prosecutions/ information gleaned from interrogations carried out at Guantanamo Bay.  I picked this at random: an account of the circumstance of Martin Mubanga incarceration there.

“Martin Mubanga‘s … hands were shackled in rigid, metal cuffs attached to a body belt; another set of chains ran to his ankles, severely restricting his ability to move his legs. Trussed in this fashion, he was lying on the interrogation booth floor. The seemingly interminable questioning had already lasted for hours. ‘I needed the toilet,’ Mubanga said, ‘and I asked the interrogator to let me go. But he just said, “you’ll go when I say so”. I told him he had five minutes to get me to the toilet or I was going to go on the floor. He left the room … I squirmed across the floor and did it in the corner, trying to minimise the mess. I suppose he was watching through a one-way mirror or the CCTV camera. He comes back with a mop and dips it in the pool of urine. Then he starts covering me with my own waste, like he’s using a big paintbrush, working methodically, beginning with my feet and ankles and working his way up my legs. All the while he’s racially abusing me, cussing me: “Oh, the poor little negro, the poor little nigger.” He seemed to think it was funny.’ (From How I entered the hellish world of Guantanamo Bay.  See more about Martin Mubanga’s story here.)

Parallels, right?  But the thing is – and initially this got lost in the heat – Douglass was against these abuses.  Against.   Whereas Obama, now he is for them.  He has defended and kept open the atrocious Guantanamo Bay Detention Centre despite his election promise and plenty of other guff about human rights and so on.

So something was wrong , right?  Actually it got worse.  Incredibly.  When I was looking into the Obama thingy and his coming to Cork, I also discovered: apparently, as a youth Frederick Douglass was enslaved on a plantation on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, called Mount Misery.  This aptly named place was then owned by Edward Covey, a notorious “slave breaker.”  It was, reports say, a place where brutality and beatings were very common.  Now guess who owns some of that the Mount Misery property today?  No, it’s not Obama.  It’s Donald Rumsfeld.  Yes, the former Secretary of Defense (key architect of the U.S. military’s program of torture carried forth at Gitmo) now actually owns part of the Mount Misery estate.

No wonder then that the statue/ memorial to Douglass (soon to be unveiled here in Cork) stared to behave strangely – making noises and shaking and so on, and so forth.  Sheer indignation and anger at the hypocrisy and downright slight to the great exponent of liberty was the cause.  So no Obama for Cork, afterall, but a small if not unimportant victory for truth and liberty all the same.

Related Articles:

• “Sometimes You Are Most Disgusted with Those Who Seem to Be on Your Side” (slog.thestranger.com)
• Frederick Douglass’s Irish Liberty
• Obama invited to Cork 

Q & A on the Worms That Saved The World…

A: For as long as anyone can remember there’s been a walk out along the headland to the Old Head of Kinsale lighthouse in Cork.  It’s actually a very well known walk and remarked upon in many tourist guides to the area – there’s fantastic scenery right along the entire route.  But in the late 90s some developers purchased the headland itself and announced plans to put a luxury golf course on the area that they owned.   They blocked off access to the walk and declared that a walking path and their plans for a golf links were not compatible. To be blunt about it, they wanted it all for themselves and their clients.

A: A campaign got underway to defend the public’s right of way and the public’s right to access.  It was called the Free The Old Head Of Kinsale Campaign.  It organised some large public trespass demonstrations.  These were tremendous and inspiring and I was on a number of them.  But the developers had the Gardaí [G: Guards] on their side.  And, as it turned out, the courts too.  For a while it seemed like we might be able to regain access to the walk but in the end a High Court ruling broke the resolve of the campaign and access was lost. For the present, anyway.

A: While this was going on I had two young daughters to mind.  I was aware that there were few enough children’s picture books around that were any bit different.  There are lots of good books that look at the natural world in a respectful and sympathetic way, but there is lots of material around too about kings and queens, and princes and princesses and all that stuff.  The big problem is the imbalance in books available to a parent or a reader.  A lot of material out there simply reinforces quite traditional values – there is no question about that.

A: I am not sure how exactly the idea of the worms story came to me.  But it could’ve been the fact that one of my daughters had a real grá [G: love] for making these elaborate homes for worms out in the garden.  She would gather lots of worms and put them in lunch boxes with earth and leaves and all sorts of things.  Probably rough enough for the worms but I did noticed that they never really hung around for long!  When she returned to check on them, the worms were always long gone.  I also read at one stage about the problems on some golf course with the chemicals they use to keep weeds down.  And then I had this picture in my mind too of seeing a water feature on a golf course in the States once – the water was a strange ultra blue colour!   Looked bizarre, to me.  All these things set me thinking.  So I got a rough idea for a story.  But that was all it was for a long time: this community of worms having to suddenly contend with a golf course and all that involves.

A: Although I knew Spark Deeley, it wasn’t until I saw her book, Into the Serpent’s Jaw, on sale at Solidarity Books in Cork that I thought to approach her about working on the idea.  Into the Serpent’s Jaws is a beautiful book with really engaging illustrations in it.  So Spark agreed to take a look and went off with the bones of the story.  When we met up again, she had these wonderful illustrations done.  They were really brilliant and I knew from that point on that this was going in the right track.  We began working on more illustrations and then on finalising the story line.

A: That’s where we are at now.  Spark has completed about eight or so illustrations for the book.  They have transformed how the story looks and feels.  In the meantime I have worked on finalising the story line.  There’s a good bit to do still, but we have started to approach publishers with samples.  Truthfully, we need a sympathetic publisher because the ideas at the centre of this story are different and, you know in their own way. they are subversive too.

A: Publishing is unbelievably conservative  – what I’ve seen of it anyway.   Whereas this story is outside the box.  Why, you ask?  Well the story really is about solidarity and community – that’s a big part of it.  It’s also about why sometimes we have to stand up for ourselves, and why sometimes when we do, it is best if we do it collectively.   I think  the ideas in Kropotkin’s Mutual Aid have also managed to get to the story, which is wonderful.  Oops, now I’ve really give the game away!

[Note:the above are photos of illustrations by Spark Deeley.]

Bradley Manning …Stop, spread the word!

The video below, from German TV,  tells the story of one of the infamous war crimes committed by the US military machine in Iraq.  The brave individual who stood up and exposed this dreadful crime – Bradley Manning – has been targeted by those same authorities that gave the green light to this atrocity. Currently Bradley is under a 23 hour lockdown imprisonment in a high security military prison in the Quantico, Virgina in the United States.  His conditions of incarceration are harsh:

• He is held 23 hours in each day in solidarity confinement.
• His cell has no window and he is not allowed to see daylight at any time.
• He is not allowed exercise.
• He is allowed for one hour each day to walk in chains in an empty room.

The documentary explains that Bradley Manning is being punished severely for speaking out.  His situation is grave.  Recently, however, it worsened with the news that the US army had filed 22 additional charges against Bradley.  These include a new charges of “aiding the enemy” – a capital offense under Article 104 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

There are a few things that you can do.  Most of all, inform others about Bradley’s story and encourage them to do the same.  You can do this easily by sharing this video below and/ or by directing people to the web site for Bradley Manning.   There is further information here as well as an extensive What You Can Do section.

Related Articles

• Bradley Manning
• You: Bradley Manning, WikiLeaks’ alleged source, faces 22 new charges (washingtonpost.com)

Barcelona’s El Fossar de la Pedrera

I first read about El Fossar de la Pedrera (“the Quarry grave”) in Michael Eaude’s excellent guide to Barcelona. Writng in 2008, Eaude points out that there is no mention of “the Quarry grave” in any of the standard guides to Barcelona, and then goes on to describe his encounter with Barcelona’s Tourist Office who proclaimed no knowledge of the “the Quarry grave”.  It was exactly the same for me when I went looking September last (2010).  Like Eaude I was directed to El Fossar de la Moreres, which is a monument related to the siege of Barcelona in in 1714!  Despite repeated efforts to explain to the guide at the tourist office about El Fossar de la Pedrera and its connection to the Spanish Civil War, I had no luck.   However El Fossar de la Pedrera is marked clearly on many of the good maps of the Barcelona area.  I used Michelin’s current Barcelona map and made my way there on foot.  It is a long walk admittedly but I got there.  For more information see my post Getting to El Fossar de la Pedrera.

El Fossar de la Pedrera was the location for Franco’s bloody revenge against those who had stood against him in the Civil War and afterwards.  It was a place of execution and is now the site of a mass grave exclusively connected to the Spanish Civil War.  As a place of execution it was chosen for a number of reasons.  Firstly because of what it was – the quarry was the ‘common’ or paupers’ grave in Barcelona and for this reason it provided the executioners with an easy and reliable method for the disposing of the bodies of their victims.  On execution the dead fell down into cut away section far below and were left there to be buried in unmarked common graves.  Something like 4000 people died, and are buried, at El Fossar de la Pedrera - resistance fighters of all hues, from anarchists to republicans; residents of Barcelona who had stood up to Franco and fascism; prisoners of war from the Civil War itself.  Indeed many who just showed defiance and resistance to the dictatorship ended up here.  The second reason why the ‘Quarry grave’ was chosen was due to its remote location – being on the south side of Barcelona’s Montjuic Cemetery (or Cementiri del Sud-oest in Catalan).  Lastly, the execution site was within easy reach of Montjuic Castle where many were held before their execution.

Today El Fossar de la Pedrera is maintained as a memorial to those who fought Franco.  Entry is via the main cemetery, but the ‘Quarry grave’ itself is in its own remote corner pinned between cliffs – separated from the main cemetery.

The entrance is marked by steps and rows of tall, square columns.  On closer examination one can see the names of the thousands who were executed here, chiseled into the stonework.  After you pass through these stark columns one can see the scene of execution clearly ahead.  At the very back, the cliff is high above the base of the quarry floor.  The executed were shot up there and their bodies fell downwards.  Even now it is not difficult to see why this place was chosen – it is remote and quiet and detached from the bustle of Barcelona.

It is a very sad place, of course.  When one dwells for any length of time on those who breathed their last here, one cannot escape the sadness that defeat in the Civil War heralded.  For many individuals, this place was a lonely, ugly end to years of struggle and vision.

At the same time the “Quarry grave’ today is quite welcoming.  It has to be kept in mind that this is one of the few memorials in Spain to the Left and republican cause.  It is beautifully arranged and maintained.  The floor of the quarry was evened out and landscaped; there are trees and shrubs and the grass is green (unusual in Spain) and well maintained.  Different aspects of the Civil War are marked here by different memorials.  Given that this is Catalonia there is a special place reserved for Luis Companys, who was buried here until his family reclaimed his body.  There are memorials to the guerillas who fought Franco; there is also a memorial to the Holocaust victims; there are numerous others too.

At the very back, at the base of the cliff, are a series of randomly placed individuals plaques.  Like miniature tombstones these bear testimony to the grave site of the fallen.  Some have the names of individuals written on them, while others are from memorial committees set up to remember the various contingents who went to Spain in 1936 to help with the fight against Franco and international fascism.

 

If you are ever in Barcelona, a visit to the ‘Quarry grave’ is recommended.  Despite the sadness and tragedy that is remembered here, El Fossar de la Pedrera is also testimony to the struggle for liberty and what that has often entailed.  The Spanish revolutionary movement went further towards the goal of human democracy and freedom than any other social movement in our history – and that is saying something.  Of course they could have gone further. And if circumstances had been different and they had, perhaps what El Fossar de la Pedrera remembers might not have happened at all.  But that is all by-the-by for the now.

On this, the 75th anniversary of the Revolution and Civil War, it is, rather, important to salute this fine memorial to those who fought fascism with a workers’ revolution.  On this time we didn’t win, but next time…

 

Related Articles

• Review: Death In El Valle and Franco’s Victims (kfdoyle.wordpress.com)
• Getting To Barcelona’s El Fossar de la Pedrera (kfdoyle.wordpress.com)
• Anarchism In Action
• The Freedom To Succeed

Getting To Barcelona’s El Fossar de la Pedrera

El Fossar de la Pedrera is one of the major memorials to those who fought fascism in Spain.  Specifically dedicated to the repression and reprisals carried out by Franco in the Barcelona region, it is nonetheless symbolic of the broader struggle against the dictatorship and the Right which culminated in the Civil War from 1936-39.  One of the most important aspects of the memorial it that it also remembers those who died at Franco’s hands after the Civil War had ended.  Franco’s revenge – as is more widely appreciated now – was thorough and merciless and El Fossar de la Pedrera bears witness to this.

Despite its importance, El Fossar de la Pedrera can be difficult to find.  It is located to the south of Barcelona’s centre, in a remote corner of Montjuic Cemetery.  Although the Barcelona Tourist Office didn’t deny its existence when I asked for their help, they did seem, generally, disinterested in my quest.  This is quite extraordinary given the memorial’s quality and its importance in the light of all that has since transpired.  In any other country El Fossar de la Pedrera would be given its due prominence.  Not so in Spain or Catalonia today.

A good map of the greater Barcelona area is essential if you want to find and visit El Fossar de la Pedrera.  This is because even around and near the memorial there are few signs indicating where the memorial is or that it even exists. In fact the opposite is the case: the further away you are the more signs there are; close at hand they vanish! In any case I used the current Michelin map and the memorial is clearly marked on it, on the south side of Montjuic Park.

Walking

From the Montjuic Castle, it is a 45 minute walk at least.  There is some interesting places along the way – views of the Olympic Village and of Montjuic Cemetery from the north side.  Directions are as follows.  Make you way from the Castle down onto Carrer del Foc.  Foc is a main road and it can be busy.  Walking towards the direction of the Olympic Village (away from the city centre) keep on this road regardless.  You pass the Olympic Village on your right and the road winds and generally goes down hill; on your left you pass views of Montjuic Cemetery (or Cemenetiri del Sud Oust) – Barcelona’s largest and most enigmatic cemetery.   You arive at a main junction – a roundabout – and keep to the immediate left on Foc (still going in the direction away from the centre of town.)  After about 30 minutes (from setting out) you pass a sport’s complex and pool on your left side.  You are now leaving the Montjuic park area and returning to a generally built up area.  At the  junction with Carrer dels Ferrorcarrils Catalans, you take a left and head generally down in the direct of the port area; there are light industry businesses on your right side.  The promontory hill on which the cemetery is located comes into view on your left once more and you are passing just at the side of it.  You come a junction where there is a small narrow supply road going uphill.  Although this leads to El Fossar de la Pedrera, this gate is normally locked, it seems.  Carry on further.  A short distance on, you come to another small junction. A narrow road splits off Carrer dels Ferrorcarrils Catalans.  This is Carrer de la Mare de Deu de Port and it travels along the side of the imposing wall of the cemetery and parallel to Carrer del Ferrorcarrils Catalans. There is an open green space between the two roads.  Walk down to the main gate of the cemetery which is now in view; you can’t miss it as it is the only way in around this area.  Once you enter the gate, take an immediate sharp left.  You will see a sign along this road: Itinari Combatin.  Follow the directions of this sign – along the narrow road which climbs very gradually.  There are graves and other memorials on both sides.  You finally reach a very sharp turn and this is where the entrance is to El Fossar de la Pedrera.

Walking and bus

There is a free bus map to Barcelona.  The service is excellent and not too expensive.  Plenty of buses go in the direction Montjuic and Zona Franca which is where you want.  Bus No 9 which you can get at Pl Catalunya will take you all the ways to Passeig de la Zona Franca.  You can get off either at the last stop or just before the end where it crosses Carrer del Foc.  When you find the junction between Carrer del Foc and Passeig de la Zona Franca, take a right (as if heading for Montjuic).  You will now come to Carrer del Ferrorcarrils Catalans – see above – and you can make your way from here to the memorial site following the instructions above.  For the return journey: when you leave the cemetery make you way up Carrer del Ferrorcarrils Catalans to where it joins Carrer del Foc. At this junction take a left and go along to Passeig de la Zona Franca.  You can take the No 9 here once more into the centre.

Taxi

If you can manage it, a taxi all the way to the cemetery entrance on Carrer del Ferrorcarrils Catalans is also a great way to save yourself time.  It is important to specify to the driver exactly what entrance into Montjuic Cemetery you need.  In this case the best method is to say what road is nearest and that is  Carrer del Ferrorcarrils Catalans.  Once you get inside the gate, follow the directions once more as above.

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• For more on Barcelona and the Civil War see here.