On this day, 9 February 2007, Alejandro Finisterre, the anarchist poet and inventor of the Spanish version of table football (foosball) died in Zamora, Spain. He invented the game following injury during the Spanish civil war and revolution so injured children could still play football.
Fleeing following the fascist victory, he ended up in Guatemala, where he played table football with Che Guevara. After the US-backed military coup in the country, he was kidnapped by Franco’s agents and put on a plane to Madrid.
However, on board he went to the toilet, wrapped a bar of soap in newspaper and emerged shouting “I am a Spanish refugee” and threatening to blow up the plane. Supported by the crew and passengers, the plane landed and let him off in Panama.
We tell the story of the Spanish civil war in this podcast episode: https://workingclasshistory.com/2018/07/29/spanish-civil-war-podcast/https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1345657052286108/?type=3
Outfit & makeup for #80snight dancing at @brassmonkeytx with @nettieslife, @obsidiansouls and the rest of my Brass familia! Low key look because allergies are hitting me hard this week. #dancedancedance #pastels #machomanrandysavage #popsicleheaven #thriftscore #punkrockgirl #over45style #yesiam49 #olderthanilook #glitter #urbandecay #starlightdecodream #casualpunk #pastelpunk #bleachedhair #mifamilia❤️ https://www.instagram.com/p/B8VJgG9jYYc/?igshid=ntgq327fawh
A former US drone operator is speaking out against the atrocities he says he was forced to inflict during his time in the armed forces and says the American military as ‘worse than the Nazis’.
Brandon Bryant was enlisted in the US Air Force for six years. During his time with the military, he operated Predator drones, remotely firing missiles at targets more than 7,000 miles away from the small room containing his workspace near Las Vegas, Nevada.
Mr Bryant says he reached his breaking point with the US military after killing a child in Afghanistan that his superiors told him was “a dog.” Mr Bryant recalls the moment: After firing a Hellfire missile at a building containing his target, he saw a child exit the building just as the missile struck. When he alerted his superiors about the situation after reviewing the tape, he was told “it was a f***ing dog, drop it.”
Following that incident, Mr Bryant quit the military and began speaking out against the drone program.
