Today
The Relevance for young people today is still as much as it was back then when many young people who fought in defence of their politics, in support of a cause, in defence of their faith or to support the Church, made a conscious decision to fight back for something they believed in.
In today's society were everything is a commodity, the materialism associated with marketing and economic value reduces the ability of young people to make decisions without influence it is important that people are given the opportunity to even openly encouraged to seek out the truth behind their opinions and belief systems is vital. Within youth work we are given the opportunity to test our values and beliefs and to stand up for what we believe in.
The Spanish Civil War has enabled our group to see that we can still make a difference to the world. With new technologies such as the internet, email, blogs and texting we can tackle some of the injustices that continue to plague the world. The poverty of 3rd world countries, the struggle against global capitalism in Cuba and Venezuale and even the exploitation of children as soldiers so that phone companies can produce cheaper hand sets are all causes that young people with principles can now challenge and lobby against; causes that they feel are unfair.
As young people we also learned about practical issues such as research and spending long periods in the Library going through rolls of film and photocopying newspaper clippings. We set meetings, completed interviews and planned and set up the exhibition. The most difficult part being the discussions about what should be included and what to be left out, decisions-decisions! We learned how to work together and to value each others contributions.
The group also got to explore the historical contribution made by people from their own part of the city. We saw how local people helped influence world wide politics and how Spain looks today. One other thing that we learned that was very interesting was that there are still people today that thought Franco and the Fascist ideologies that they fought for are still alive today and that many Spaniards thought that what he done was right. It therefore seems that there is still a need for people to be aware of the need to avoid the fear and mistrust that initially led to the war. Within Northern Ireland we are beginning to see the rise of Fascist thinking and the outward signs that results in our new immigrant families being attacked and harassed.
Our work will hopefully highlight some of the political and religious issues associated with the Spanish Civil War and the contribution made by local men in defence of their beliefs.
Given the number of people killed and the destruction endured by Spain it must be asked if it is at all worth the fight? This is a question for the reader!
— by Conor Moody [Chairperson]
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