Two friends from the USA, three Dutch volunteers working at the IIRE, a pair of Greeks, one Puerto Rican comrade, two Belgians, a friend originally from Denmark and a Brit, what have they got in common?
They all were at social event which marked the thirtieth anniversary of the IIRE and the publication of Living Our Internationalism our new book about the history of the IIRE. Joost Kircz, the IIRE co-founder who edited the special issue of the Notebooks for Study and Research, opened the evening by introducing the attendees, who had worked for, volunteered at, or used the IIRE over the decades.
A choice of starters involved an endive salad for vegetarians or North Sea shrimps, both with home-made mayonnaise. The main course of couscous and a vegetable tagine came either with lamb cutlets off the grill or roasted vegetables.
Add a few good glasses of wine and organic soft drinks and we had the material ingredients for a convivial evening and political discussions on the war in Libya, the Arab uprisings and the perspectives for the progressive forces all over the world. Ten supporters could not make it and apologized. Four copies of Living our Internationalism were sold.
