ON THE banks of the Clyde, arms aloft in a defiant pose, stands La Pasionaria, the Communist heroine of the Spanish Civil War, who coined the phrase “better to die on your feet than live a lifetime on your knees.”
Now, Glasgow band The Tenementals, a group of academics and musicians who came together to tell the radical history of Glasgow through the power ofThe statue, by Arthur Dooley, was erected in 1979 and it has become a common gathering point for activists and radical groups. The song’s opening words, sung by Jen Cunnion, include: “I stand here eternal, bronze arms outstretched/ reaching for green leaves, red brick, red heavens..”
He adds: “The Tenementals, though, are not interested in black-and-white histories, we’re interested in the complexity of the past.