"¡No pasarán!"

"They shall not pass" is a propaganda slogan used to express determination to defend a position against an enemy.

It was most famously used during the Spanish Civil War by Dolores Ibárruri Gómez in her famous "No Pasarán" speech. "¡No pasarán!" became an international anti-fascist slogan.

The battle against fascism takes many forms, as many, probably, as the term fascism does.

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Terry Glavin is in Afghanistan these days. You must read his occasional posts from there, on his blog.

Here is a most recent comment from him, on the Drunk Trots blog:

What I’m finding is that the safest thing for a fair-skinned kaffir like me to do here is go unarmed and “embedded” with the people, because the people know the Taliban wants to kill you. They know the assassinations and kidnappings of foreigners is what’s making the “international community” wet its pants and want to cut a deal and abandon Afghanistan again. So you don’t keep routines, you behave sensibly, you run with savvy Afghans, and then you find it’s as safe as anyplace, if not safer.

Ordinary people, total strangers, watch your back. They have you in for tea, give you advice, keep an eye out for you, invite you to weddings, and tell you about the prayers they’re going to pray for your kids.

No fucking pasaran,

My very best vibes are sent to Terry. As Ben Cohen, from Z-blog, said: he is a prince among men.