Popular Front (Spain)

The Popular Front (Spanish: Frente Popular) in Spain's Second Republic was an electoral coalition and pact signed in January 1936 by various left-wing political organisations, instigated by Manuel Azaña for the purpose of contesting that year's election.

The Popular Front included the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), Communist Party of Spain (PCE), the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM, independent communist) and the republicans: Republican Left (IR), (led by Azaña) and Republican Union Party (UR), led by Diego Martínez Barrio. This pact was supported by Galician (PG) and Catalan nationalists (ERC), socialist union Workers' General Union (UGT), and the anarchist trade union, the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT). Many anarchists who would later fight alongside Popular Front forces during the Spanish Civil War did not support them in the election, urging abstention instead.

The Joseph Stalin-controlled Comintern had decided in 1935 that, in response to the growth of Fascism, popular fronts allying Communist parties with other anti-Fascist parties including Socialist and even bourgeois parties were advisable. In Spain, it was a coalition between leftist republicans and workers' organizations to defend social reforms of the first government (1931–1933) of the Second Spanish Republic, and liberate the prisoners, political prisoners according with the front propaganda, held since the Asturian October Revolution (1934).

Little People

Little People is a toy brand for preschoolers ages 6-36 months and to ages 3 and up, originally produced by Fisher-Price in the 1960s as the Play Family People. The current product line consists of playsets, mini-sets and accessories, books, CDs, VHS tapes, music cassette tapes, and DVDs focusing on various configurations of nine characters named Eddie, Sarah Lynn, Maggie, Michael, Sonya Lee, Tessa, Mia, Koby and Sofie. Mattel reports that since the brand's launch, over 2-billion Little People figures have been sold in over 60 countries.

The "Little People" name, registered and trademarked by Fisher-Price in 1985, came from Fisher-Price following the lead of consumers who referred to the early Play Family playsets as "those little people".

History

Original Little People

Little People started in 1950 with the "Looky Fire Truck" and three round-headed fire men (attached permanently to the toy). Following the success of this toy, in 1952 and 1953 Fisher-Price developed the "Super-Jet" and "Racing Rowboat".

Franja de Gaza

Franja de Gaza is an Argentine band formed in 2003 that has arguably achieved wide success in the local underground scene since the release of Abyss Falling, its first album.

History

The band's first formation dedicated its first few months of 2003 to rehearse and present a show performing Guns N' Roses covers, taking advantage of Javier Griner’s voice and Marcos Farhat’ Les Paul skills. The first three original songs performed by Franja de Gaza were "Day", "Shadow" and "Dark Bridges". The band immediately achieved mild success giving several interviews and unplugged shows in different radios, most importantly Mario Pergolini's Rock & Pop.

After Griner emigrated to Canada, the band entered into a one year hiatus looking for a good replacement for the vocalist. After several failed trials the band came upon Facundo Arias, Marcos’ life-long friend, to help with the vocals. Matías Guerisoli also replaced Alejandro Filippini as the drummer. This second formation faced several problems due to Arias' heavy addiction to heroin. During this period only the hit "Loosing [sic] My Only Star" made it to the debut album.

Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv-Yafo (Hebrew: תל אביב-יפו‎ pronounced [ˈtel ˈaviv ˈjafo], Arabic: تل أبيب يافا‎) or Tel Aviv (Hebrew: תל אביב‎ pronounced [ˈtel ˈaviv], Arabic: تل أبيب‎) is a city in Israel, and the second most populous city administered by that country's government after Jerusalem. Situated on the Mediterranean coastline in central-west Israel, Tel Aviv has a population of 426,138. The greater Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area, also known as Gush Dan, constitutes Israel's largest conurbation with 3,713,200 residents, 42% of the country's population. Tel Aviv is governed by the Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality, headed by Ron Huldai, and is home to many foreign embassies.

Tel Aviv was founded in 1909 by Jewish immigrants on the outskirts of the ancient port city of Jaffa (Hebrew: יפו‎ Yafo). Immigration by mostly Jewish refugees meant that the growth of Tel Aviv soon outpaced Jaffa's, which had a majority Arab population at the time. Tel Aviv and Jaffa were merged into a single municipality in 1950, two years after the establishment of the State of Israel. Tel Aviv's White City, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003, comprises the world's largest concentration of Bauhaus buildings.