When a delegation of the Progressive International came to Vis in late July of 2021, the first thing that we did was visit Tito’s Cave, the spot where a new sort of internationalism was born in 1944 that subsequently led to the formation of the Non-Aligned Movement, an inspiration for internationalists today.

After a spontaneous performance at Tito’s Cave (actually the cave where the leadership of the anti-fascist struggle held its historic meetings), we made our way to the School by walking on something that is in Dalmatia known as “kolnik”, traditional dry stacking (dry stone wall or “suhozid”) that was used not simply as a wall but as a path built by generations.

Soon after we arrived, the manual work could begin. Our mission was to clean as much as we could off the upper terraces (or “pristave”), which included removing soil, stones, and roots, something that might sound easy but requires lots of energy, commitment, and sweat.

After a successful afternoon work action in the hills, we celebrated a birthday, and the Progressive International dispersed from Vis, one delegation to Peru and another to Brazil, to fight against Bolsonaro’s Ferrogrão (a 1,000-kilometer railroad project that will sever the Amazon Forest, affecting local communities and their ways of life, particularly indigenous and traditional black communities).