2026 Bay Resistance & Unión del Barrio
The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA) announces that the 2026 ALBA/Puffin Award for Human Rights Activism will go to Bay Resistance & Unión del Barrio. One of the largest monetary awards for human rights in the world, the ALBA/Puffin Award is a $100,000 cash prize granted annually by ALBA and the Puffin Foundation to honor the nearly 3,000 Americans who volunteered in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) to fight fascism under the banner of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.
ALBA and The Puffin Foundation recognize the danger that current assaults on human and economic rights pose to vulnerable populations. With this choice, we reaffirm our commitment to our roots, the fight for economic and racial justice that the Lincolns committed themselves to when they took up the fight against fascism.
While history is rife with abuses of state power and policies, it is also replete with those who have stood up, collectively, in defiance. We salute this year’s awardees, Bay Resistance and Unión del Barrio, who organize and empower their communities to fight for a more just future.
Bay Resistance and Unión del Barrio are doing indispensable work on the front lines of authoritarianism and fascism in the US. They are matching the urgency of this moment with equal parts courage, resistance, and resilience. In doing so, they set an inspiring example for us all to follow, protecting human rights both within and beyond their cities to help build a more just and democratic society.
Bay Resistance is a powerful network of community organizations, unions, and neighborhood groups organizing to defend our communities and defeat fascism in the Bay Area. The mission of Bay Resistance is to advance racial, economic, climate, and gender justice by activating individuals and families to build a just world for all of us.
I am deeply honored to accept the ALBA/Puffin Award for Human Rights on behalf of Bay Resistance and all of our member organizations. We are in a moment of escalating ICE violence, attacks on elections, and a billionaire-backed agenda that is tightening its stranglehold on working people. Together, we are building the power and strategy to defend our communities and block authoritarian consolidation. As a multi-racial coalition led by communities on the frontlines of both systemic injustice and fascist scapegoating, we carry within us the same spirit of solidarity for each other that inspired the Abraham Lincoln Brigade to cross oceans. We will use this prize to scale up and deepen our organizing for a future where power is held by the people.
Unión del Barrio is an independent political organization dedicated to the struggle on behalf of “la raza” living within the current borders of the United States. Since 1981, Unión del Barrio has led struggles to resist migra and police violence; defend the rights of workers, prisoners, mujeres, and youth. They unconditionally uphold the right of self-determination of indigenous people, and of all poor and oppressed people throughout the world.
On behalf of the general membership of Unión del Barrio, I share our most sincere thanks to the ALBA-Puffin Award selection committee. Every day for well over a year now, our members have been meeting, patrolling, organizing, sacrificing, and resisting the most terrible repression our communities have experienced in living memory. As we continue to face these attacks, your recognition, generosity, and organizational mission help to remind us that ours is a generational struggle rooted in human rights and principled working-class solidarity. We are honored to be a part of the people’s legacy of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.