The Spanish Female Volunteers from Yugoslavia as Example of Solidarity in a Transnational Context

Abstract

The paper examines the historical legacy of volunteers in the Spanish Civil War, with a special emphasis on the biographical portraits of female volunteers. This segment of transnational solidarity in the Spanish Civil War has not yet been submitted to an appropriate socio-historical review, although it could, according to both authors, considerably influence the contemporary discourse on global (cosmopolitan) solidarity, especially in the branch of cosmofeminist theory, which emphasises the politics of compassion and empathy. The essence of the movement of Spanish volunteers, in other words, surpassed the issue of identification with the suffering of others, although this also represented an important element of mobilisation. Nevertheless, identification was not only generally humanistic, but was political and ideational more than anything else, the evidence of which manifested itself in sacrificing one’s life for the sake of others. This perspective throws light on contemporary post-humanistic humanitarian solidarity and enables us to critically evaluate its contribution to global justice.

University of Ljubljana
Slovenia