When the ciudad de Barcelona sank in 1937 one of the stories that emerged was that the International brigadistas who were trapped on the boat sang the Internationale.
This story is a major inspiration for the art work for the monument which includes 60 stone figures singing with their fists in the air.
A choir from Sweden and Croatia joined up with solidarity park artist Rob MacDonald in Malmo Sweden in summer 2019. From there a relationship was started. The Swedish choir “Reclaim with Song” were due to perform at solidarity park festival 2020. Unfortunately the corona virus meant that had to be postponed. The festival has now moved online across the whole of May.
We hope Reclaim with Song will perform online for Solidarity Park and you can see some of them here rehearsing the Internationale(below). It is very likely that they will perform in May 2021 now the planned official opening of Solidarity Park.
Solidarity Park is all about participation and creative artistic expression telling the story of the International brigadistas. The role of singing is powerful in the working class struggle that the International brigadistas represent and especially in the story of the Ciudad de Barcelona. The idea has been raised that it would be ideal to link up with as many radical choirs as possible with the solidarity park project with a view to having a unity of choirs singing at next year’s event. So if you are in such a choir contact solidarity park. Join with us.
Choirs of the world unite.
Facebook page @solidaritypark
We still need donations to complete the community and cultural elements of the project so please make a donation if you can.
Solidarity Park 