... 1863 (145 years ago today), in Switzerland, a committee set
up by the Geneva Public Welfare Society to work to implement
Henry Dunant's proposals for alleviating some of the suffering
in armed conflict (see prior post) concluded a 4-day conference
of states, organizations, and individuals. The meeting ended
with adoption of the Resolutions of the Geneva International
Conference, calling for national relief bodies organized under
the auspices of what would become the International Committee of
the Red Cross. ... 1938 (70 years ago today), in Barcelona,
Spain, Dolores Ibárruri, the Communist Party activist whose nom
de guerre was La Pasionaria, gave a resounding farewell to the
International Brigades, the non-Spaniards who had fought fascism
during the Spanish Civil War and now were retreating by order of
a commission that expelled all foreign fighters. (Note: Various
sites give various dates in this same week for these events.)
Now an artifact on a website entitled "Modern American Poetry,"
Ibárruri's spee