Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
October 4th
1887 -- US: Louisiana sugar workers strike, 37 peaceful strikers murdered. Louisiana Militia, aided by bands of "prominent citizens," shot unarmed black sugar workers striking to gain a dollar-per-day wage, & lynched two strike leaders.
1946 -- US: Strikes throughout 20 states end when President Truman orders the Navy to seize oil refineries (half the US refining capacity). Rather than give the workers better wages and benefits, he orders the military to run the refineries instead.
1961 -- US: Mass arrest of three SNCC members & 110 African American high school students who had been praying on McComb City Hall steps in protest of Lee's slaying & suspension of two Freedom Riders.
1974 -- Ex-CIA agent Philip Agee publishes the names of 37 CIA spies, in an effort to undermine what he called the CIA's policies of murder, kidnapping, torture, assassination & other "terrorist crimes against humanity."
1982 -- US: Ben Sasway becomes first public draft non-registrant imprisoned for failure to register. Madison, Wisconsin.
1992 - UN-Sponsored Treaty ends 16 years of civil war in Mozambique
1997 -- US: Demonstrations in Washington, D.C., & across the country (including Seattle) protest the scheduled launch of the space probe Cassini with a plutonium payload.
2000 -- Bolivia: Students protest outside the university in La Paz. Tensions mounted after the government reiterated threats to deploy troops if coca growers, peasants & teachers did not take down roadblocks erected 17 days ago in a nationwide strike. Police respond with tear gas.
1946 -- US: Strikes throughout 20 states end when President Truman orders the Navy to seize oil refineries (half the US refining capacity). Rather than give the workers better wages and benefits, he orders the military to run the refineries instead.
1961 -- US: Mass arrest of three SNCC members & 110 African American high school students who had been praying on McComb City Hall steps in protest of Lee's slaying & suspension of two Freedom Riders.
1974 -- Ex-CIA agent Philip Agee publishes the names of 37 CIA spies, in an effort to undermine what he called the CIA's policies of murder, kidnapping, torture, assassination & other "terrorist crimes against humanity."
1982 -- US: Ben Sasway becomes first public draft non-registrant imprisoned for failure to register. Madison, Wisconsin.
1992 - UN-Sponsored Treaty ends 16 years of civil war in Mozambique
1997 -- US: Demonstrations in Washington, D.C., & across the country (including Seattle) protest the scheduled launch of the space probe Cassini with a plutonium payload.
2000 -- Bolivia: Students protest outside the university in La Paz. Tensions mounted after the government reiterated threats to deploy troops if coca growers, peasants & teachers did not take down roadblocks erected 17 days ago in a nationwide strike. Police respond with tear gas.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
October 3rd
1895 – US: Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage is published in book form. This popular novel about the Civil War questions the idea of “heroism” in wartime and critiques the popular definitions of “manhood” and “bravery.”
1920 – US: Physician and women’s rights activist Dr Marie Equi, arrested for speaking out against America’s involvement in World War I, is imprisoned at San Quentin, California to serve a three year term (which was later commuted to a year & a half).
1932 -- US: All 164 students of the Kincaid High School in Illinois walk out on strike after they discover that the school is being heated with coal from a company employing non-union labor.
1941 – India: In an interview Gandhi incites all subject peoples of the British Empire to rise up in nonviolent resistance and refuse to do work for their colonial overseers.
1945 -- US: Greyhound bus workers in seven states go on strike for better wages and working conditions.
1961 – Russia: After demonstrating in San Francisco, traveling to Europe, and walking all the way to Moscow, a group of anti-nuclear activists demonstrates in Red Square against nuclear weapons.
1965 -- US: President LBJ signs Public Law 89-236, amendments to the Immigration & Nationality Act. For the first time the US now considers Asians equal to Europeans in immigration matters. Great numbers of Asians eventually enter the US under this provision.
1970 -- US: Baseball umpires go on strike for the first time in history. (All jokes about “strikes” in baseball are appropriate here)
1981 -- Ireland: A seven month hunger strike by Irish nationalists at the Maze Prison in Belfast, Northern Ireland, ends today. Ten people die in the course of the strike in the name of Irish independence.
1990 – Germany: East & West Germany become a united & sovereign state for the first time since Germany's defeat in WWII, burying 45 years of Cold War division. Nearly a million people gather at the Reichstag in Berlin, & at midnight a replica of the Liberty Bell, a gift from the US, is rung, officially proclaiming reunification.
1990 -- Burma: Buddhist sects opposing the military government are outlawed.
1991 -- Haiti: General Strike is called against the military government in Puerto Principe.
1920 – US: Physician and women’s rights activist Dr Marie Equi, arrested for speaking out against America’s involvement in World War I, is imprisoned at San Quentin, California to serve a three year term (which was later commuted to a year & a half).
1932 -- US: All 164 students of the Kincaid High School in Illinois walk out on strike after they discover that the school is being heated with coal from a company employing non-union labor.
1941 – India: In an interview Gandhi incites all subject peoples of the British Empire to rise up in nonviolent resistance and refuse to do work for their colonial overseers.
1945 -- US: Greyhound bus workers in seven states go on strike for better wages and working conditions.
1961 – Russia: After demonstrating in San Francisco, traveling to Europe, and walking all the way to Moscow, a group of anti-nuclear activists demonstrates in Red Square against nuclear weapons.
1965 -- US: President LBJ signs Public Law 89-236, amendments to the Immigration & Nationality Act. For the first time the US now considers Asians equal to Europeans in immigration matters. Great numbers of Asians eventually enter the US under this provision.
1970 -- US: Baseball umpires go on strike for the first time in history. (All jokes about “strikes” in baseball are appropriate here)
1981 -- Ireland: A seven month hunger strike by Irish nationalists at the Maze Prison in Belfast, Northern Ireland, ends today. Ten people die in the course of the strike in the name of Irish independence.
1990 – Germany: East & West Germany become a united & sovereign state for the first time since Germany's defeat in WWII, burying 45 years of Cold War division. Nearly a million people gather at the Reichstag in Berlin, & at midnight a replica of the Liberty Bell, a gift from the US, is rung, officially proclaiming reunification.
1990 -- Burma: Buddhist sects opposing the military government are outlawed.
1991 -- Haiti: General Strike is called against the military government in Puerto Principe.
Friday, October 1, 2010
October 1st
1851 -- US: Syracuse crowd busts up a police station to free a recaptured escaped slave. William "Jerry" Henry, a runaway slave and craftsman in Syracuse, NY is arrested by a US Marshall & scheduled to be returned to slavery. Ten thousand citizens of the city storm the sheriff's office, free Henry & aid his escape to Canada via the underground railroad.
1894 -- Egypt: Greek workers employed by the Suez Canal Company go on strike. Sakilarides Yanakakis establishes a shoemakers union.
1898 -- France: Spanish & US commissioners meet in Paris to draft a Peace Treaty, ending the Spanish American War.
1911 – France: Pacifist Aguigui Mouna (aka Andre Dupont) is born. Anti-nuclear arms protestor and anarchist.
1924: USA: Jimmy Carter born, future President of the United States. Peacemaker, famous for (among other things) helping Israel negotiate successful peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan. He once said that going to war was the mark of an “insecure” nation.
1925 -- Germany: Anti-Kriegs Museum — the first museum for peace — founded, Berlin.
1942 – Germany: Günther Wallraff is born. German writer/journalist, who disguised himself once as a Turkish immigrant to reveal hard labor conditions of migrant workers.
1946 – Occupied Germany: Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal rejects defense of "following orders" where crimes against humanity are concerned.
1946 – US: Author Tim O'Brien is born, world-famous for his depictions of his service in the Vietnam War in books such as The Things They Carried and If I die in a combat zone. An outspoken opponent of war.
1949 -- US: Pacifica Foundation (founded 1946) starts first radio station, KPFA in Berkeley, founded by Lewis Hill, poet, pacifist and journalist.
1949 -- US: 500,000 steel workers strike.
1964 -- US: Police attempt to arrest University of California-Berkeley math grad student Jack Weinberg for passing out literature for the Congress Of Racial Equality (CORE) in Sproul Plaza — inadvertently starting the Free Speech Movement (FSM). Police car is surrounded by demonstrating students for 32 hours. Weinberg coins the famous line: "Don't trust anyone over thirty."
1969 -- Canada: Protesters shut down the U.S.-Canada border crossing at Blaine, Washington, in opposition to U.S. nuclear testing in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska.
1976 -- New Zealand: Peace squadron resists arrival of US nuclear warship in Auckland.
1997 -- Kosovo: 100,000 demonstrate in Pristina, the capital (occupied by Serbia), for civil rights for the majority ethnic Albanian population.
1997 -- England: A half-day anti-war blockade temporarily shuts down a COPEX "Covert Operations" fair at a base in Farnborough.
1894 -- Egypt: Greek workers employed by the Suez Canal Company go on strike. Sakilarides Yanakakis establishes a shoemakers union.
1898 -- France: Spanish & US commissioners meet in Paris to draft a Peace Treaty, ending the Spanish American War.
1911 – France: Pacifist Aguigui Mouna (aka Andre Dupont) is born. Anti-nuclear arms protestor and anarchist.
1924: USA: Jimmy Carter born, future President of the United States. Peacemaker, famous for (among other things) helping Israel negotiate successful peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan. He once said that going to war was the mark of an “insecure” nation.
1925 -- Germany: Anti-Kriegs Museum — the first museum for peace — founded, Berlin.
1942 – Germany: Günther Wallraff is born. German writer/journalist, who disguised himself once as a Turkish immigrant to reveal hard labor conditions of migrant workers.
1946 – Occupied Germany: Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal rejects defense of "following orders" where crimes against humanity are concerned.
1946 – US: Author Tim O'Brien is born, world-famous for his depictions of his service in the Vietnam War in books such as The Things They Carried and If I die in a combat zone. An outspoken opponent of war.
1949 -- US: Pacifica Foundation (founded 1946) starts first radio station, KPFA in Berkeley, founded by Lewis Hill, poet, pacifist and journalist.
1949 -- US: 500,000 steel workers strike.
1964 -- US: Police attempt to arrest University of California-Berkeley math grad student Jack Weinberg for passing out literature for the Congress Of Racial Equality (CORE) in Sproul Plaza — inadvertently starting the Free Speech Movement (FSM). Police car is surrounded by demonstrating students for 32 hours. Weinberg coins the famous line: "Don't trust anyone over thirty."
1969 -- Canada: Protesters shut down the U.S.-Canada border crossing at Blaine, Washington, in opposition to U.S. nuclear testing in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska.
1976 -- New Zealand: Peace squadron resists arrival of US nuclear warship in Auckland.
1997 -- Kosovo: 100,000 demonstrate in Pristina, the capital (occupied by Serbia), for civil rights for the majority ethnic Albanian population.
1997 -- England: A half-day anti-war blockade temporarily shuts down a COPEX "Covert Operations" fair at a base in Farnborough.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
September 29th
1795 –Germany: Perpetual Peace published by Immanuel Kant. The philosopher outlines his plan for a world where nations can relate without resorting to war, a philosophy adopted in part by countries around the world.
1943 -- US: Six objectors to US involvement in World War II who have been imprisoned at Lewisburg, PA, start a hunger strike against censorship of their mail & reading material by prison authorities.
1969 -- US: 2,000 welfare protesters take over the state capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin.
1978 – United Nations security council votes into effect the successful Namibia Peace Treaty, which leads ten years later to that country’s independent succession from South Africa.
1979 -- US: 200,000 protesters participate in anti-nuclear weapons demonstrations in lower Manhattan, California & 11 other locations around the country.
1983 –Belgium: Nonviolent activists in Brussels force an international arms trade convention to prematurely close.
1988 -- Germany: 80,000 demonstrators in West Berlin protest the International Monetary Fund (IMF) policies as benefiting only the wealthy of the world. Police arrest 400 protestors.
1943 -- US: Six objectors to US involvement in World War II who have been imprisoned at Lewisburg, PA, start a hunger strike against censorship of their mail & reading material by prison authorities.
1969 -- US: 2,000 welfare protesters take over the state capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin.
1978 – United Nations security council votes into effect the successful Namibia Peace Treaty, which leads ten years later to that country’s independent succession from South Africa.
1979 -- US: 200,000 protesters participate in anti-nuclear weapons demonstrations in lower Manhattan, California & 11 other locations around the country.
1983 –Belgium: Nonviolent activists in Brussels force an international arms trade convention to prematurely close.
1988 -- Germany: 80,000 demonstrators in West Berlin protest the International Monetary Fund (IMF) policies as benefiting only the wealthy of the world. Police arrest 400 protestors.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
September 28th
1840 -- Australia: A mass meeting of workers is held in Sydney to protest legislation that would outlaw unions or any attempts to improve working conditions.
1850 -- US: Navy abolishes flogging (beatings as official punishment) on Navy & merchant marine vessels.
917 -- US: 166 Wobblies (international union activists) are put on trial for protesting World War I through demonstrations and interference with the draft.
1920 -- Italy: A month-long widespread takeover of Italian factories by their workers is taking place, which originated in the auto factories, steel mills & machine tool plants of the metal sector but spread out into many other industries — cotton mills & hosiery firms, lignite mines, tire factories, breweries & distilleries, & steamships & warehouses in the port towns.
1943 -- Denmark: Underground anti-Nazi activists begin systematic smuggling of Jews to Sweden, saving thousands. The Nazis are unable to put a stop to this nonviolent resistance.
1962 – US/Cuba/Russia: Diplomacy prevails at the last moment, and the Cuban missile crisis is averted. Had the crisis escalated to full scale nuclear war, millions around the world would have perished.
1966 -- US: Dozens of anti-war demonstrators disrupt address Vice President Humphrey at Olympic Hotel in Seattle.
1994 -- Bolivia: A conference of indigenous people (like Native Americans, Australian aborigines, etc) from around the globe meet to discuss ways to nonviolently combat “bio-piracy”, the theft of local botanical resources (such as medicines) by international corporations.
2001 -- US: Frisco Critical Mass bike ride, where thousands of cyclists gather and ride to support fewer cars, more public transport and less pollution, as well as public health and exercise.
2002 -- England: 250,000 protest the Iraq War on Iraq, London. They are part of a week-long series of protests worldwide, including the United States, where tens of thousands gather in New York and DC.
1850 -- US: Navy abolishes flogging (beatings as official punishment) on Navy & merchant marine vessels.
917 -- US: 166 Wobblies (international union activists) are put on trial for protesting World War I through demonstrations and interference with the draft.
1920 -- Italy: A month-long widespread takeover of Italian factories by their workers is taking place, which originated in the auto factories, steel mills & machine tool plants of the metal sector but spread out into many other industries — cotton mills & hosiery firms, lignite mines, tire factories, breweries & distilleries, & steamships & warehouses in the port towns.
1943 -- Denmark: Underground anti-Nazi activists begin systematic smuggling of Jews to Sweden, saving thousands. The Nazis are unable to put a stop to this nonviolent resistance.
1962 – US/Cuba/Russia: Diplomacy prevails at the last moment, and the Cuban missile crisis is averted. Had the crisis escalated to full scale nuclear war, millions around the world would have perished.
1966 -- US: Dozens of anti-war demonstrators disrupt address Vice President Humphrey at Olympic Hotel in Seattle.
1994 -- Bolivia: A conference of indigenous people (like Native Americans, Australian aborigines, etc) from around the globe meet to discuss ways to nonviolently combat “bio-piracy”, the theft of local botanical resources (such as medicines) by international corporations.
2001 -- US: Frisco Critical Mass bike ride, where thousands of cyclists gather and ride to support fewer cars, more public transport and less pollution, as well as public health and exercise.
2002 -- England: 250,000 protest the Iraq War on Iraq, London. They are part of a week-long series of protests worldwide, including the United States, where tens of thousands gather in New York and DC.
Friday, September 24, 2010
September 24th
1909 -- US: Anti-war, pro-labor activist Emma Goldman refuses to comply with the Philadelphia police chief’s order that she had to run her speeches by him first before conducting them.
1918 -- Canada: Government declares the labor union the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) to be illegal.
A federal order in council declared that while Canada was engaged in war, 14 organizations were to be considered unlawful, including the IWW. Penalty for membership was set at five years in prison. Nevertheless, workers continued to organize. On April 2, 1919, the ban was lifted.
1924 -- India: Mohandas Gandhi begins 21-day fast for Hindu-Moslem unity.
1934 -- John Brunner, British sci-fi author, is born. He was an advocate of nuclear disarmament.
1953 – Korea/India: 23 Korean-American US soldiers who were taken as prisoners of war are offered the chance to return to the USA during a United Nations prisoner exchange, but refuse. They are instead turned over to India by the North Korean command. The soldiers issue this statement: "We love our country and our people. . . . Unfortunately, under present conditions in America, the voices of those who speak out for peace and freedom are rapidly being silenced. We do not intend to give the American government a chance of silencing our voices too."
1961 -- US: Herbert Lee, 52, local African American civil rights leader and freedom school attendee is shot by State Representative Hurst.
1968 -- US: Anti-war protesters destroy 10,000 draft files in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
1969 -- US: Chicago 8 Conspiracy Trial begins. Eight antiwar activists are put on trial for their activities at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. They are all found not guilty.
1969 -- US: At 4:45 p.m., 15 minutes after the second shift had begun, Local 598 Fisher Body workers took on GM in the longest strike by the UAW in GM history.
1985 -- Poland: Wojciech Jankowski resists conscription into the Communist army in Gdansk, and is later jailed for three years.
1994 -- US: Protesters crash the Washington, D.C. 50th birthday party of the World Bank & International Monetary Fund.
1995 – The Netherlands: As part of International Buy Nothing Day, activists dressed as rats urge shoppers at a Dutch shopping mall to "leave the rat race."
2000 -- US: Jubilee 2000 March to forgive the debts of developing nations draws near 1000 supporters in Seattle, Washington.
2005 -- US: Whistleblowers go public with descriptions of what they call routine, severe abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan in a Human Rights Watch report.
1918 -- Canada: Government declares the labor union the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) to be illegal.
A federal order in council declared that while Canada was engaged in war, 14 organizations were to be considered unlawful, including the IWW. Penalty for membership was set at five years in prison. Nevertheless, workers continued to organize. On April 2, 1919, the ban was lifted.
1924 -- India: Mohandas Gandhi begins 21-day fast for Hindu-Moslem unity.
1934 -- John Brunner, British sci-fi author, is born. He was an advocate of nuclear disarmament.
1953 – Korea/India: 23 Korean-American US soldiers who were taken as prisoners of war are offered the chance to return to the USA during a United Nations prisoner exchange, but refuse. They are instead turned over to India by the North Korean command. The soldiers issue this statement: "We love our country and our people. . . . Unfortunately, under present conditions in America, the voices of those who speak out for peace and freedom are rapidly being silenced. We do not intend to give the American government a chance of silencing our voices too."
1961 -- US: Herbert Lee, 52, local African American civil rights leader and freedom school attendee is shot by State Representative Hurst.
1968 -- US: Anti-war protesters destroy 10,000 draft files in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
1969 -- US: Chicago 8 Conspiracy Trial begins. Eight antiwar activists are put on trial for their activities at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. They are all found not guilty.
1969 -- US: At 4:45 p.m., 15 minutes after the second shift had begun, Local 598 Fisher Body workers took on GM in the longest strike by the UAW in GM history.
1985 -- Poland: Wojciech Jankowski resists conscription into the Communist army in Gdansk, and is later jailed for three years.
1994 -- US: Protesters crash the Washington, D.C. 50th birthday party of the World Bank & International Monetary Fund.
1995 – The Netherlands: As part of International Buy Nothing Day, activists dressed as rats urge shoppers at a Dutch shopping mall to "leave the rat race."
2000 -- US: Jubilee 2000 March to forgive the debts of developing nations draws near 1000 supporters in Seattle, Washington.
2005 -- US: Whistleblowers go public with descriptions of what they call routine, severe abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan in a Human Rights Watch report.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
September 23rd
1838 -- US: Victoria Woodhull is born in Homer, Ohio. Woodhull and her sister became stockbrokers and publishers, as well as advocates for women’s reproductive and voting rights.
1978 -- Italy: To protest the development of maximum security prisons, inmates break down the walls dividing their cells at Asinara jail.
1979 -- US: About 200,000 attend an anti-nuclear rally in New York City’s Battery Park. It was the largest political protest of the late 1970s in the U.S., six months after the partial meltdown of the nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania. Two days earlier the 'No Nukes' concert, also known as the “Muse (Musicians United for Safe Energy) concert,” was held in Madison Square Garden, featuring Bruce Springsteen, Crosby Stills & Nash, Jackson Browne and others.
1983 -- US: National Kidney Foundation president Dr David Ogden decries as "immoral and unethical" a plan by Virginia doctor H. Barry Jacobs to buy kidneys from poor people — among them, residents of Third World nations — and sell them to wealthier people who need kidney transplants.
2004 – US: Dr. Jane Goodall creates Roots & Shoots Day of Peace in honor of the U.N. International Day of Peace. Each year, Roots & Shoots Day of Peace is observed in late September. Roots & Shoots groups around the world fly Giant Peace Dove puppets to celebrate the day for its symbolic meaning. They also plan and implement peace project initiatives to help make the world a better place for animals, the environment and the human community.
1978 -- Italy: To protest the development of maximum security prisons, inmates break down the walls dividing their cells at Asinara jail.
1979 -- US: About 200,000 attend an anti-nuclear rally in New York City’s Battery Park. It was the largest political protest of the late 1970s in the U.S., six months after the partial meltdown of the nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania. Two days earlier the 'No Nukes' concert, also known as the “Muse (Musicians United for Safe Energy) concert,” was held in Madison Square Garden, featuring Bruce Springsteen, Crosby Stills & Nash, Jackson Browne and others.
1983 -- US: National Kidney Foundation president Dr David Ogden decries as "immoral and unethical" a plan by Virginia doctor H. Barry Jacobs to buy kidneys from poor people — among them, residents of Third World nations — and sell them to wealthier people who need kidney transplants.
2004 – US: Dr. Jane Goodall creates Roots & Shoots Day of Peace in honor of the U.N. International Day of Peace. Each year, Roots & Shoots Day of Peace is observed in late September. Roots & Shoots groups around the world fly Giant Peace Dove puppets to celebrate the day for its symbolic meaning. They also plan and implement peace project initiatives to help make the world a better place for animals, the environment and the human community.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
September 22nd
1862 -- US: President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation declares that "persons held as slaves" in areas "in rebellion against the United States" would be free as of 1 January 1963.
1919 -- US: The "Great Steel Strike" begins. Ultimately, 395,000 steelworkers walk off their jobs to demand union recognition.
1935 -- US: 400,000 coal workers strike.
1945 -- Vietnam: A Vietminh-led anti-French general strike shuts down Saigon.
1946 -- Canada: 4,000 workers march in Valleyfield, Quebec to protest arrest of Medeliene Parent, a leader of the dominion Textile strike.
1999 -- Cities across Italy & France ban cars for the whole day — 66 French & 93 Italian cities participate.
2000 -- Bolivia: Thousands of demonstrators participate in a rally in the principal square of Cochabamba. Some ten thousand protest against government policies & demand an increase in the wages of teachers, while in other regions of the country, road blockades continued.
2002 -- England: 350,000 demonstrate in London for support of rural areas.
1919 -- US: The "Great Steel Strike" begins. Ultimately, 395,000 steelworkers walk off their jobs to demand union recognition.
1935 -- US: 400,000 coal workers strike.
1945 -- Vietnam: A Vietminh-led anti-French general strike shuts down Saigon.
1946 -- Canada: 4,000 workers march in Valleyfield, Quebec to protest arrest of Medeliene Parent, a leader of the dominion Textile strike.
1999 -- Cities across Italy & France ban cars for the whole day — 66 French & 93 Italian cities participate.
2000 -- Bolivia: Thousands of demonstrators participate in a rally in the principal square of Cochabamba. Some ten thousand protest against government policies & demand an increase in the wages of teachers, while in other regions of the country, road blockades continued.
2002 -- England: 350,000 demonstrate in London for support of rural areas.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
September 21st
United Nations’ INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE
1913 -- US: "Mother" Jones leads a march of miners' children through the streets of Charleston.
Mother Jones attracted the country's attention in 1912-13, during the Paint Creek-Cabin Creek strike in West Virginia; the strike's frequent violence brought the publicity. On February 12, 1913, she was arrested after leading a protest over living conditions for the striking miners.
1945 -- US: 200,000 coal miners strike to support the supervisory employees' demand for collective bargaining.
1963 – US: War Resisters League organizes its first demonstration against the Vietnam War, in New York City.
1980 -- Philippines: 10,000 Filipinos defy government order & stage "Freedom March". Eight people killed. Less than ten years later the nonviolent protest movement brings down corrupt President Ferdinand Marcos and restores democracy to the country.
1913 -- US: "Mother" Jones leads a march of miners' children through the streets of Charleston.
Mother Jones attracted the country's attention in 1912-13, during the Paint Creek-Cabin Creek strike in West Virginia; the strike's frequent violence brought the publicity. On February 12, 1913, she was arrested after leading a protest over living conditions for the striking miners.
1945 -- US: 200,000 coal miners strike to support the supervisory employees' demand for collective bargaining.
1963 – US: War Resisters League organizes its first demonstration against the Vietnam War, in New York City.
1980 -- Philippines: 10,000 Filipinos defy government order & stage "Freedom March". Eight people killed. Less than ten years later the nonviolent protest movement brings down corrupt President Ferdinand Marcos and restores democracy to the country.
Monday, September 20, 2010
September 20th
1830 -- US: National Negro Convention, a group of 38 free African-Americans from eight states, meets in Philadelphia, Pa., with the express purpose of abolishing slavery & improving the social status of African-Americans. They elect Richard Allen president & agree to boycott slave-produced goods.
1878 -- US: Birth of Upton Sinclair, Baltimore, Maryland. Novelist, muckraker & socialist. Winner of the 1942 Pulitzer Prize for the novel Dragon's Teeth. His best-known novel was The Jungle, an expose of the appalling & unsanitary conditions in the meat-packing industry.
1895 -- Italy: A successful protest movement leads to the amnesty of Luigi Molinari.
A military tribunal, on January 31, 1894, condemned Molinari to 23-years imprisonment for instigating an insurrection in Lunigiana, where anarchist bands armed themselves in
1931 -- Canada: Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) delegates meet in Port Arthur. They vote to form a Canadian administration to coordinate specifically Canadian industrial activity.
Source: A Brief History of the IWW outside the US (1905-1999) by Morgan Miller
http://www.zabalaza.net/phorum/read.php?f=2&i=665&t=665
1934 -- US: Southern employers continue their big counter-offensive to break the textile labor strikes & agitation current along the Eastern seaboard.
10,000 National Guardsmen mobilized, supplemented by 15,000 armed deputies, in an effort to stampede some 421,000 strikers back to work.
1963 -- US: 63 arrested for blocking bulldozers in Syracuse, NY, urban renewal project.
1986 -- Sri Lanka: Workers strike against construction of "counter-guerrilla" base.
1990 -- Iraq: Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader Saddam Hussein demands US networks broadcast his message, of peace & love & harmony for all the children of planet earth.
1997 -- Germany: 3,000 protesters help to rip up the railroad tracks leading from Krummel nuclear power station to the main Hamburg-Berlin line.
2000 -- Bolivia: Riot police launch tear gas while pedestrians pass in the center of La Paz. The strike of teachers continues in its sixth day, while thousands of demonstrators participate in a rally to demand Banzer government increase in their wages.
2001 -- Canada: The Anarchist, Surrealist, Hallucinatory Film Festival, Toronto.
1878 -- US: Birth of Upton Sinclair, Baltimore, Maryland. Novelist, muckraker & socialist. Winner of the 1942 Pulitzer Prize for the novel Dragon's Teeth. His best-known novel was The Jungle, an expose of the appalling & unsanitary conditions in the meat-packing industry.
1895 -- Italy: A successful protest movement leads to the amnesty of Luigi Molinari.
A military tribunal, on January 31, 1894, condemned Molinari to 23-years imprisonment for instigating an insurrection in Lunigiana, where anarchist bands armed themselves in
1931 -- Canada: Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) delegates meet in Port Arthur. They vote to form a Canadian administration to coordinate specifically Canadian industrial activity.
Source: A Brief History of the IWW outside the US (1905-1999) by Morgan Miller
http://www.zabalaza.net/phorum/read.php?f=2&i=665&t=665
1934 -- US: Southern employers continue their big counter-offensive to break the textile labor strikes & agitation current along the Eastern seaboard.
10,000 National Guardsmen mobilized, supplemented by 15,000 armed deputies, in an effort to stampede some 421,000 strikers back to work.
1963 -- US: 63 arrested for blocking bulldozers in Syracuse, NY, urban renewal project.
1986 -- Sri Lanka: Workers strike against construction of "counter-guerrilla" base.
1990 -- Iraq: Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader Saddam Hussein demands US networks broadcast his message, of peace & love & harmony for all the children of planet earth.
1997 -- Germany: 3,000 protesters help to rip up the railroad tracks leading from Krummel nuclear power station to the main Hamburg-Berlin line.
2000 -- Bolivia: Riot police launch tear gas while pedestrians pass in the center of La Paz. The strike of teachers continues in its sixth day, while thousands of demonstrators participate in a rally to demand Banzer government increase in their wages.
2001 -- Canada: The Anarchist, Surrealist, Hallucinatory Film Festival, Toronto.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
September 19th
Sept 19
1776 -- US: George Washington delivers his farewell address, in which he strongly warns Americans against, among other things, creating too big a military, and especially against going into debt to do so.
1911 – US: 20,000 protest for universal rights for all the world’s citizens.
"The cause of freedom is not the cause of a race or a sect, a party or a class - it is the cause of humankind, the very birthright of humanity."
- Anna Julia Cooper, Writer, 1892
1921 -- Brazil: Paulo Freire is born. He becomes a teacher and activist, writing and working towards the benefit of poor and working class people in his country and worldwide. His most famous books, Pedagogy of Oppression and Pedagogy of Freedom, are still read by teachers worldwide.
1949 -- US: Labor leader John L. Lewis calls a strike of 480,000 US soft-coal miners, which lasts until Nov 30.
1966 -- US: Folksinger Joan Baez leads 160 Negro children to Mississippi elementary school in defiance of segregated classes. Her presence as a celebrity is credited with preventing violence against them.
1973 -- High Seas: Pirate Radio Free America (off Cape May, New Jersey) goes on the air, in defiance of FCC regulations.
1981 -- US: 300,000 march on Washington, D.C., for Solidarity Day, protesting President Ronald Reagan's cuts to social programs.
1985 – Italy: Writer Italo Calvino dies in Siena. Among his works included stories critical of war, and humanizing soldiers who are forced to fight.
1991 - US: Protests against President George HW Bush’s campaign visit to Portland, OR. Police arrest 30.
1776 -- US: George Washington delivers his farewell address, in which he strongly warns Americans against, among other things, creating too big a military, and especially against going into debt to do so.
1911 – US: 20,000 protest for universal rights for all the world’s citizens.
"The cause of freedom is not the cause of a race or a sect, a party or a class - it is the cause of humankind, the very birthright of humanity."
- Anna Julia Cooper, Writer, 1892
1921 -- Brazil: Paulo Freire is born. He becomes a teacher and activist, writing and working towards the benefit of poor and working class people in his country and worldwide. His most famous books, Pedagogy of Oppression and Pedagogy of Freedom, are still read by teachers worldwide.
1949 -- US: Labor leader John L. Lewis calls a strike of 480,000 US soft-coal miners, which lasts until Nov 30.
1966 -- US: Folksinger Joan Baez leads 160 Negro children to Mississippi elementary school in defiance of segregated classes. Her presence as a celebrity is credited with preventing violence against them.
1973 -- High Seas: Pirate Radio Free America (off Cape May, New Jersey) goes on the air, in defiance of FCC regulations.
1981 -- US: 300,000 march on Washington, D.C., for Solidarity Day, protesting President Ronald Reagan's cuts to social programs.
1985 – Italy: Writer Italo Calvino dies in Siena. Among his works included stories critical of war, and humanizing soldiers who are forced to fight.
1991 - US: Protests against President George HW Bush’s campaign visit to Portland, OR. Police arrest 30.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
September 18th
1889 -- US: Hull House is opened by Jane Addams & associates with the intention of helping immigrants settle & naturalize in Chicago.
1934 -- US: Textile workers are out on an East coast General Strike; today 325,000 in the south & 421,000 nationwide are out on strike.
(In all, a million & half workers strike in different industries in 1934. A broad anti-war movement is organized on college campuses as well. A nationwide strike against war in 1934 drew some 25,000 students whereas a strike in 1936 turned out an estimated 500,000 students).
1985 -- USA & Soviet Union reach a tentative agreement on a world-wide ban of medium-range nuclear missiles.
1934 -- US: Textile workers are out on an East coast General Strike; today 325,000 in the south & 421,000 nationwide are out on strike.
(In all, a million & half workers strike in different industries in 1934. A broad anti-war movement is organized on college campuses as well. A nationwide strike against war in 1934 drew some 25,000 students whereas a strike in 1936 turned out an estimated 500,000 students).
1985 -- USA & Soviet Union reach a tentative agreement on a world-wide ban of medium-range nuclear missiles.
Friday, September 17, 2010
September 17th
1179 – Germany: Hildegard of Bingen, a prolific writer, scientist, philosopher, and early feminist, dies. In addition to her writing, she is notable for having founded two women's communities.
1778 -- US: Federal government enters into first treaty it made with Native Americans.
1787 -- US: Constitution is ratified by two-thirds of the colonies and adopted. Although occasionally violated by administrations past and present, it remains a model for democratic and peaceful conflict resolution.
1890 -- US: United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) miners union issues a strike call to its 9,000 members. Within one week, 125,000 hard-coal coal miners are off their jobs and 96% of coal mine production ceases until demands for better pay and working conditions are met.
1894 -- US: The first George Bernard Shaw play produced in US, "Arms & the Man," opens in NY. The play is a satirical critique of both war and love.
1900 -- US: 100,000 Pennsylvania anthracite coal miners go on strike. In response, management replaces English-speaking workers by workers from 20 different nations. Suspicious of each other, they appeared almost impossible to organize. But led by Johnny Mitchell in 1898, the United Mine Workers quietly began a renewed campaign.
1934 -- US: Today Southern employers meeting in Greenville, North Carolina, ready to launch a violent response to striking workers. An army of 10,000 National Guardsmen was mobilized in Georgia & the Carolinas, Alabama, and Mississippi, supplemented by 15,000 armed deputies. Despite the threat of all of this military power, the strikers refuse to go back to work, and 20,000 more miners join the strike.
1938 -- US: Washington State CIO labor forms.
1961 -- England: Thousands of protestors take part in a sit-down against nuclear bombs in Trafalgar Square, London. Police arrest 1,314 of them.
1961 – Congo: United Nations General Secretary Dag Hammarskjold dies in a plane crash. He had been on the way to negotiate a cease-fire between warring parties in the region. He received the Nobel Peace Prize later that year, having been nominated before his death.
1980 -- Poland: Solidarity forms a national independent labor union federation. The Solidarity movement winds up orchestrating a successful nonviolent revolution over the next few years, overthrowing the oppressive Communist government through a series of strikes and demonstrations.
1983 -- West Germany: 3,000 protestors demonstrate against nuclear power in Hamm-Uentrop.
1989 -- US: 98 miners and one minister occupy the Pittston Coal Company's Moss III preparation plant in Carbo, Virginia, beginning a year-long strike against Pittston Coal.
1990 -- Philippines: President Corazon Aquino, having taken power in a nonviolent revolution against the US-supported dictator Ferdinand Marcos, now publicly calls for withdrawal of US military forces.
1995 -- Canada: Negotiators successfully resolve an armed standoff between police and Canadian Indians protesting at a private ranch Gustafsen Lake, British Columbia.
1997 -- Sweden: An international draft treaty banning antipersonnel mines is signed in Oslo. The USA, however, refuses to sign on. (to be fair, President Clinton does agree to destroy 1 million land mines, but the treaty called for more to be eliminated)
1778 -- US: Federal government enters into first treaty it made with Native Americans.
1787 -- US: Constitution is ratified by two-thirds of the colonies and adopted. Although occasionally violated by administrations past and present, it remains a model for democratic and peaceful conflict resolution.
1890 -- US: United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) miners union issues a strike call to its 9,000 members. Within one week, 125,000 hard-coal coal miners are off their jobs and 96% of coal mine production ceases until demands for better pay and working conditions are met.
1894 -- US: The first George Bernard Shaw play produced in US, "Arms & the Man," opens in NY. The play is a satirical critique of both war and love.
1900 -- US: 100,000 Pennsylvania anthracite coal miners go on strike. In response, management replaces English-speaking workers by workers from 20 different nations. Suspicious of each other, they appeared almost impossible to organize. But led by Johnny Mitchell in 1898, the United Mine Workers quietly began a renewed campaign.
1934 -- US: Today Southern employers meeting in Greenville, North Carolina, ready to launch a violent response to striking workers. An army of 10,000 National Guardsmen was mobilized in Georgia & the Carolinas, Alabama, and Mississippi, supplemented by 15,000 armed deputies. Despite the threat of all of this military power, the strikers refuse to go back to work, and 20,000 more miners join the strike.
1938 -- US: Washington State CIO labor forms.
1961 -- England: Thousands of protestors take part in a sit-down against nuclear bombs in Trafalgar Square, London. Police arrest 1,314 of them.
1961 – Congo: United Nations General Secretary Dag Hammarskjold dies in a plane crash. He had been on the way to negotiate a cease-fire between warring parties in the region. He received the Nobel Peace Prize later that year, having been nominated before his death.
1980 -- Poland: Solidarity forms a national independent labor union federation. The Solidarity movement winds up orchestrating a successful nonviolent revolution over the next few years, overthrowing the oppressive Communist government through a series of strikes and demonstrations.
1983 -- West Germany: 3,000 protestors demonstrate against nuclear power in Hamm-Uentrop.
1989 -- US: 98 miners and one minister occupy the Pittston Coal Company's Moss III preparation plant in Carbo, Virginia, beginning a year-long strike against Pittston Coal.
1990 -- Philippines: President Corazon Aquino, having taken power in a nonviolent revolution against the US-supported dictator Ferdinand Marcos, now publicly calls for withdrawal of US military forces.
1995 -- Canada: Negotiators successfully resolve an armed standoff between police and Canadian Indians protesting at a private ranch Gustafsen Lake, British Columbia.
1997 -- Sweden: An international draft treaty banning antipersonnel mines is signed in Oslo. The USA, however, refuses to sign on. (to be fair, President Clinton does agree to destroy 1 million land mines, but the treaty called for more to be eliminated)
Thursday, September 16, 2010
September 16th
1887 -- Ferdinand Gambon dies. French lawyer and pacifist revolutionary. Famous for coining the slogan, "War Against War!"
1930 -- US: Norman Zellers completes 56 days of sitting in a tree to protest the destruction of nature.
1945 -- US: 43,000 oil workers strike in 20 states.
This is part of an expected strike wave following the end of WWII. In the first full month after V-J Day the number of man-days lost to strikes doubles and doubles again in October.
200,000 coal miners strike on the 21st, 44,000 NW lumber workers strike, 70,000 Midwest truck drivers, 40,000 machinists in San Francisco & Oakland. East coast longshoremen struck for 19 days, flat glass workers for 102 days, & New England textile workers for 133 days and these were but a prelude to the great strikes of 1945-1946.
1963 -- US: Beginning of five-day strike at Folsom state prison, California.
1964 -- East Germany: Conscientious objectors to war are allowed to work on road construction rather than serve in the military.
1966 -- US: Anti-Fascist Rally & March in Frisco, California.
Haight residents hold an "Anti-Fascist Rally & March" from the 1500 block of Haight Street to the Park police station & then back to the intersection of Haight and Ashbury. The purpose is to protest a drug bust that had occurred at 1090 Haight Street. Dennis Noonan, of that address, was quoted as denouncing "blue fascism."
1971 -- Japan: 5,000 farmers and students face off against 5,000 police in demonstration to prevent government taking of land for Tokyo International Airport at Narita. Both nonviolence and violence are used.
1974 -- US: President Ford announces conditional amnesty for Vietnam War draft evaders and deserters.
1991 -- Philippines: Senate defeats treaty allowing continued operation of US military bases in the Philippines.
1930 -- US: Norman Zellers completes 56 days of sitting in a tree to protest the destruction of nature.
1945 -- US: 43,000 oil workers strike in 20 states.
This is part of an expected strike wave following the end of WWII. In the first full month after V-J Day the number of man-days lost to strikes doubles and doubles again in October.
200,000 coal miners strike on the 21st, 44,000 NW lumber workers strike, 70,000 Midwest truck drivers, 40,000 machinists in San Francisco & Oakland. East coast longshoremen struck for 19 days, flat glass workers for 102 days, & New England textile workers for 133 days and these were but a prelude to the great strikes of 1945-1946.
1963 -- US: Beginning of five-day strike at Folsom state prison, California.
1964 -- East Germany: Conscientious objectors to war are allowed to work on road construction rather than serve in the military.
1966 -- US: Anti-Fascist Rally & March in Frisco, California.
Haight residents hold an "Anti-Fascist Rally & March" from the 1500 block of Haight Street to the Park police station & then back to the intersection of Haight and Ashbury. The purpose is to protest a drug bust that had occurred at 1090 Haight Street. Dennis Noonan, of that address, was quoted as denouncing "blue fascism."
1971 -- Japan: 5,000 farmers and students face off against 5,000 police in demonstration to prevent government taking of land for Tokyo International Airport at Narita. Both nonviolence and violence are used.
1974 -- US: President Ford announces conditional amnesty for Vietnam War draft evaders and deserters.
1991 -- Philippines: Senate defeats treaty allowing continued operation of US military bases in the Philippines.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
September 15th
1555 -- Germany: Religious Peace of Augsburg established, which keeps relative peace between various Christian groups for almost 60 years.
1845 -- US: The first mass strike of women workers for the 10-hour day took place when 5,000 women in the textile mills of Allegheny City & Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania walked off their jobs. The strike was unsuccessful, but paved the way for future strikes that eventually won American workers an 8-hour workday.
1904 -- Italy: Nationwide General Strike begins, protesting the government’s use of military troops as strikebreakers.
1986 -- Vietnam Veterans Duncan Murphy & Brian Willson join Charles Liteky & George Mizo in the Fast For Life, opposing US support of the Contras, who used terrorist tactics in Nicaragua.
1996 -- US: 6,000 rally & 1,033 are arrested near the Headwaters Grove in rural Carlotta, California, in a protest against the logging of one of the last large unlogged redwood stands in the world.
2001: US – Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA) casts only vote against allowing the President unlimited military action in response
to the 9/11 attacks.
1845 -- US: The first mass strike of women workers for the 10-hour day took place when 5,000 women in the textile mills of Allegheny City & Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania walked off their jobs. The strike was unsuccessful, but paved the way for future strikes that eventually won American workers an 8-hour workday.
1904 -- Italy: Nationwide General Strike begins, protesting the government’s use of military troops as strikebreakers.
1986 -- Vietnam Veterans Duncan Murphy & Brian Willson join Charles Liteky & George Mizo in the Fast For Life, opposing US support of the Contras, who used terrorist tactics in Nicaragua.
1996 -- US: 6,000 rally & 1,033 are arrested near the Headwaters Grove in rural Carlotta, California, in a protest against the logging of one of the last large unlogged redwood stands in the world.
2001: US – Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA) casts only vote against allowing the President unlimited military action in response
to the 9/11 attacks.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
September 14th
1918 -- US: Labor activist Eugene Debs is sentenced to 10 years for protesting against World War One.
1948 – US: Construction of the United Nations Headquarters building begins, creating a home for the largest global effort to prevent war by providing a forum for diplomacy
1972 -- US: Senate approves US-Soviet "freeze" of offensive nuclear arsenals.
1982 -- US: Wisconsin becomes first state to support nuclear freeze referendum.
1985 – Julia Beck dies. Beck wrote & directed plays many plays throughout the course of his life, and led massive political demonstrations in NY in the 60s, all of which had pro-peace messages.
1991 – After funding different sides of the conflict for ten years, the USA & Soviet Union sign an agreement calling for an end to all outside military assistance to warring factions in Afghanistan.
1991 -- South African government, African National Congress & Inkatha Freedom Party sign the National Peace Accord, leading to multi-racial elections & the end of South Africa's apartheid system in 1994.
1948 – US: Construction of the United Nations Headquarters building begins, creating a home for the largest global effort to prevent war by providing a forum for diplomacy
1972 -- US: Senate approves US-Soviet "freeze" of offensive nuclear arsenals.
1982 -- US: Wisconsin becomes first state to support nuclear freeze referendum.
1985 – Julia Beck dies. Beck wrote & directed plays many plays throughout the course of his life, and led massive political demonstrations in NY in the 60s, all of which had pro-peace messages.
1991 – After funding different sides of the conflict for ten years, the USA & Soviet Union sign an agreement calling for an end to all outside military assistance to warring factions in Afghanistan.
1991 -- South African government, African National Congress & Inkatha Freedom Party sign the National Peace Accord, leading to multi-racial elections & the end of South Africa's apartheid system in 1994.
Monday, September 13, 2010
September 13th
1858 -- US: Students at Oberlin College free fugitive slave from slave catchers.
1880 -- UK: England passes the first Employers' Liability Act, granting compensation to workers injured on the job.
1948 -- US: Margaret Chase Smith (R-Me) elected senator, first woman to serve in both houses of Congress.
1961 -- UK: Bertrand Russell, aged 89, and 32 others arrested for a major demonstration against nuclear weapons in Trafalgar Square, London.
1965 -- Russia: Andrey Sinyavsky & Yuly Daniel are arrested for writing fiction that protested against the Soviet government, Sinyaysky was sent to prison for six years.
1980 -- Adolfo Perez Esquivel, architect imprisoned & tortured in Argentina, wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
1982 -- European Parliament votes to do away with promotion & advertising of war toys.
1983 -- Guatemala: First accompaniment group from Peace Brigades International arrives to provide nonviolent witness & protection for indigenous leaders.
2002 – The United States rejoins UNESCO, the UN Human Rights organization. The US had withdrawn back in 1984, accusing the organization of being too sympathetic to Communist countries.
1880 -- UK: England passes the first Employers' Liability Act, granting compensation to workers injured on the job.
1948 -- US: Margaret Chase Smith (R-Me) elected senator, first woman to serve in both houses of Congress.
1961 -- UK: Bertrand Russell, aged 89, and 32 others arrested for a major demonstration against nuclear weapons in Trafalgar Square, London.
1965 -- Russia: Andrey Sinyavsky & Yuly Daniel are arrested for writing fiction that protested against the Soviet government, Sinyaysky was sent to prison for six years.
1980 -- Adolfo Perez Esquivel, architect imprisoned & tortured in Argentina, wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
1982 -- European Parliament votes to do away with promotion & advertising of war toys.
1983 -- Guatemala: First accompaniment group from Peace Brigades International arrives to provide nonviolent witness & protection for indigenous leaders.
2002 – The United States rejoins UNESCO, the UN Human Rights organization. The US had withdrawn back in 1984, accusing the organization of being too sympathetic to Communist countries.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
September 12
1853 -- US: Reverend Antoinette Brown Blackwell is ordained at the Congressional Church in South Butler, New York, becoming the first female minister in the United States.
1945 -- Canada: Ford workers in Windsor, Ontario begin strike. After a series of actions both nonviolent and violent, Canada grants unions greater stability and security of financing.
1962 -- US: President John F. Kennedy speaks at Rice University's Rice Stadium to 35,000 Houstonians, saying of the lunar landing program, "...we do this not because she is easy, but because it is hard..."
1977 -- South Africa: Student anti-apartheid leader Steve Biko, 30, murdered while in police custody, Port Elizabeth. His efforts are carried on by his successors, and 17 years later, the government is overthrown by a successful nonviolent movement to establish free elections.
Armenians and people around the globe are holding peace and remembrance vigils today to remember the beginning of the Armenian genocide in 1912, where millions of Armenian civilians were killed by the Turkish army.
Nazi leader Adolph Hitler is reported to have said that he feared no consequences for killing millions of Jews, because history would soon forget it. “Who remembers the Armenian massacres today?” he said.
To this day, the Turkish government denies the existence of the massacres, and enforces legal penalties on anyone who them.
1945 -- Canada: Ford workers in Windsor, Ontario begin strike. After a series of actions both nonviolent and violent, Canada grants unions greater stability and security of financing.
1962 -- US: President John F. Kennedy speaks at Rice University's Rice Stadium to 35,000 Houstonians, saying of the lunar landing program, "...we do this not because she is easy, but because it is hard..."
1977 -- South Africa: Student anti-apartheid leader Steve Biko, 30, murdered while in police custody, Port Elizabeth. His efforts are carried on by his successors, and 17 years later, the government is overthrown by a successful nonviolent movement to establish free elections.
Armenians and people around the globe are holding peace and remembrance vigils today to remember the beginning of the Armenian genocide in 1912, where millions of Armenian civilians were killed by the Turkish army.
Nazi leader Adolph Hitler is reported to have said that he feared no consequences for killing millions of Jews, because history would soon forget it. “Who remembers the Armenian massacres today?” he said.
To this day, the Turkish government denies the existence of the massacres, and enforces legal penalties on anyone who them.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
September 11
1773 – Thirteen Colonies: Benjamin Franklin writes, "There never was a good war or bad peace."
1841 -- US: All members of President John Tyler's cabinet except one resign in protest over a Presidential veto of a banking bill.
1906 -- South Africa: Gandhi begins nonviolent resistance campaign, Johannesburg.
1917 --US: Police prevent antiwar activist Emma Goldman from speaking publicly at a meeting at the Kessler Theater in New York, in violation of her First Amendment rights. To protest and dramatize police suppression of her address, she nonetheless appears on stage, wearing a gag over her mouth.
1925 -- US: IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) marine strike.
1942 -- Norway: Underground Norwegian trade union newspapers arrange thousands of letters to the government rejecting Nazification.
1988 -- Canada: The Innu of North West River in Labrador, begin protesting low-altitude training at NATO base near Goose Bay, citing environmental damage.
The ongoing campaign includes numerous runway occupations by the Innu, and solidarity actions across Western Europe.
1988 – England and the US: Sports Aid uses celebrity athletes to organize a fundraising jog for world hunger relief.
1993 -- France: Greenpeace successfully prevents a chlorine-laden ship from leaving a French port.
1997 -- Indonesia: Unauthorized labor unions and strikes are outlawed. Nevertheless, strikes and protests continue.
2000 -- Australia: Protests against World Economic Forum at Melbourne Crown Casino September 11 - 13. For two days Melbourne witnesses a police force attacking peaceful people protesting over national and global issues.
2001 – US and Worldwide: In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, thousands in the US and around the world come out into the streets, calling for the US to not go to war in response, which would cause the deaths of more innocent people.
"If history shows that a violent response to an act of terrorism begets more terrorism, then why is a violent response the predominant choice of the experts and politicians of the world?
"- Beau Grosscup, The Newest Explosions of Terrorism
2001-2010 – US and Worldwide: Demonstrations to remember the victims of 9/11, including protests against the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
2010 - US - Rally in New York City to protest discrimination against Muslims.
1841 -- US: All members of President John Tyler's cabinet except one resign in protest over a Presidential veto of a banking bill.
1906 -- South Africa: Gandhi begins nonviolent resistance campaign, Johannesburg.
1917 --US: Police prevent antiwar activist Emma Goldman from speaking publicly at a meeting at the Kessler Theater in New York, in violation of her First Amendment rights. To protest and dramatize police suppression of her address, she nonetheless appears on stage, wearing a gag over her mouth.
1925 -- US: IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) marine strike.
1942 -- Norway: Underground Norwegian trade union newspapers arrange thousands of letters to the government rejecting Nazification.
1988 -- Canada: The Innu of North West River in Labrador, begin protesting low-altitude training at NATO base near Goose Bay, citing environmental damage.
The ongoing campaign includes numerous runway occupations by the Innu, and solidarity actions across Western Europe.
1988 – England and the US: Sports Aid uses celebrity athletes to organize a fundraising jog for world hunger relief.
1993 -- France: Greenpeace successfully prevents a chlorine-laden ship from leaving a French port.
1997 -- Indonesia: Unauthorized labor unions and strikes are outlawed. Nevertheless, strikes and protests continue.
2000 -- Australia: Protests against World Economic Forum at Melbourne Crown Casino September 11 - 13. For two days Melbourne witnesses a police force attacking peaceful people protesting over national and global issues.
2001 – US and Worldwide: In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, thousands in the US and around the world come out into the streets, calling for the US to not go to war in response, which would cause the deaths of more innocent people.
"If history shows that a violent response to an act of terrorism begets more terrorism, then why is a violent response the predominant choice of the experts and politicians of the world?
"- Beau Grosscup, The Newest Explosions of Terrorism
2001-2010 – US and Worldwide: Demonstrations to remember the victims of 9/11, including protests against the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
2010 - US - Rally in New York City to protest discrimination against Muslims.
Friday, September 10, 2010
September 10th
1797 -- England: Feminist activist Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) dies. Author of first great modern feminist tract in English, Vindication of the Rights of Women. She dies at age 36 in childbirth, giving birth to a daughter who will become Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein.
1897 -- US: Pennsylvania striking coal miners refuse to obey an order from Luzerne County sheriff to disperse. The sheriff’s posse opens fire, killing 19 and wounding 36. Ironically, the strikers had originally been brought in as strike breakers, but later organized and joined the union.
1915 --US: Activist William Sanger is convicted for defying the law by distributing birth control literature; her serves 30-day jail sentence in lieu of paying $150 fine.
1941 -- Norway: Several trade union leaders are shot by German firing squads. Nevertheless, protest strikes against Nazi occupation continue.
1945 -- England: Save Europe Now (famine relief campaign) is launched.
1962 -- US: The Supreme Court rules that African American student James Meredith can be admitted to University of Mississippi, in defiance of local segregation laws.
1963 -- US: Protests throughout Birmingham as 20 African American children are integrated into Birmingham schools.
1976 – US: Author and screenwriter Dalton Trumbo dies. His book, Johnny Got His Gun, tells the story of a World War One veteran who, having lost his arms, legs, and face in combat, questions concepts like “honor” and “valor” and decides that war is a con-job made up by leaders, and that for the average soldier war is not worth fighting. The book won an American Booksellers Award in 1939. Trumbo later defied the House UnAmerican Activities Committee during the Red Scare, and for refusing to testify before them was sentenced to 11 months in prison.
1980 -- Philippines: 10,000 people defy government order and hold a "Freedom March" in protest against the Marcos Dictatorship (which the US supports). Government troops kill 8 protesters. Nevertheless, a nonviolent revolution eventually overthrows Marcos a few years later.
2003 -- Mexico: Korean farmer Lee Kyung-Hae dies, in a ritualized suicide during WTO (World Trade Organization) protests, in Cancun. A former President of the Federation of Farmers & Fishermen of Korea, Lee was attempting to “send message that WTO policies kill farmers". (Arguably not nonviolence, but self-inflicted violence for political ends)
1897 -- US: Pennsylvania striking coal miners refuse to obey an order from Luzerne County sheriff to disperse. The sheriff’s posse opens fire, killing 19 and wounding 36. Ironically, the strikers had originally been brought in as strike breakers, but later organized and joined the union.
1915 --US: Activist William Sanger is convicted for defying the law by distributing birth control literature; her serves 30-day jail sentence in lieu of paying $150 fine.
1941 -- Norway: Several trade union leaders are shot by German firing squads. Nevertheless, protest strikes against Nazi occupation continue.
1945 -- England: Save Europe Now (famine relief campaign) is launched.
1962 -- US: The Supreme Court rules that African American student James Meredith can be admitted to University of Mississippi, in defiance of local segregation laws.
1963 -- US: Protests throughout Birmingham as 20 African American children are integrated into Birmingham schools.
1976 – US: Author and screenwriter Dalton Trumbo dies. His book, Johnny Got His Gun, tells the story of a World War One veteran who, having lost his arms, legs, and face in combat, questions concepts like “honor” and “valor” and decides that war is a con-job made up by leaders, and that for the average soldier war is not worth fighting. The book won an American Booksellers Award in 1939. Trumbo later defied the House UnAmerican Activities Committee during the Red Scare, and for refusing to testify before them was sentenced to 11 months in prison.
1980 -- Philippines: 10,000 people defy government order and hold a "Freedom March" in protest against the Marcos Dictatorship (which the US supports). Government troops kill 8 protesters. Nevertheless, a nonviolent revolution eventually overthrows Marcos a few years later.
2003 -- Mexico: Korean farmer Lee Kyung-Hae dies, in a ritualized suicide during WTO (World Trade Organization) protests, in Cancun. A former President of the Federation of Farmers & Fishermen of Korea, Lee was attempting to “send message that WTO policies kill farmers". (Arguably not nonviolence, but self-inflicted violence for political ends)
Thursday, September 9, 2010
September 9th
1883 -- US: Sitting Bull, main chief of the Sioux tribes, fools a whole crowd of American listeners when he delivers a speech insulting the US authorities and their policy of using force to evict Native Americans from their lands. At the celebration of the driving of the last spike in the Northern Pacific railroad joining with the transcontinental system, he delivered the speech in his Sioux language, departing from a speech originally prepared with an army translator. Denouncing the US government, settlers and army, the listeners thought he was delivering a speech of welcome and praise. The American audience thus clapped and applauded all while unknowingly being insulted.
1886 – UK: Siegfried Sassoon, poet, is born in London. His anti-war poems after serving in World War I speak of the horror and meaninglessness of war, and particularly of the abuse of working class soldiers by upper class officers.
1909 -- US: Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), on strike at the Pressed Steel Car Plant in McKees Rock, Pennsylvania, force management to improve shop conditions, hike wages by 15% and drop harmful policies. Despite police attacks that killed eleven strikers, their strike won out.
1916 -- England: Death of Walter Roberts, first of 73 British WWI conscientious objectors (COs, people who refuse to serve in war) to die as a result of their prison treatment.
1941 -- Norway: Workers strike against diversion of milk to military use by the Nazis.
1965 -- US: Strike of Filipino & Mexican farmworkers against grape growers in Delano, California marks the beginning of a successful five-year strike by United Farm Workers throughout California.
1966 -- US: Star Trek appears on TV for the first time, as the first episode, The Man Trap, airs on NBC. Star Trek used science fiction as allegory to criticize war, racism and other forms of social injustice. It was the first television show to ever display an interracial kiss.
1971 -- US: Attica Prison Revolt, which began nonviolently but ended in violence. Prisoners (both Whites and Blacks cooperating) took over the facility to demand improvements in health and living conditions.
1978 – Iran: Thousands of demonstrators march to protest the rule of the Shah. The Shah’s police open fire and kill 3,000 unarmed protesters. The Shah had been brought to power by a US and British sponsored coup, and was kept in power by money and weapons from the US.
1994 -- Germany: After decades of protests from the local populace, US and NATO soldiers withdraw from Berlin. There are celebrations in the streets.
1886 – UK: Siegfried Sassoon, poet, is born in London. His anti-war poems after serving in World War I speak of the horror and meaninglessness of war, and particularly of the abuse of working class soldiers by upper class officers.
1909 -- US: Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), on strike at the Pressed Steel Car Plant in McKees Rock, Pennsylvania, force management to improve shop conditions, hike wages by 15% and drop harmful policies. Despite police attacks that killed eleven strikers, their strike won out.
1916 -- England: Death of Walter Roberts, first of 73 British WWI conscientious objectors (COs, people who refuse to serve in war) to die as a result of their prison treatment.
1941 -- Norway: Workers strike against diversion of milk to military use by the Nazis.
1965 -- US: Strike of Filipino & Mexican farmworkers against grape growers in Delano, California marks the beginning of a successful five-year strike by United Farm Workers throughout California.
1966 -- US: Star Trek appears on TV for the first time, as the first episode, The Man Trap, airs on NBC. Star Trek used science fiction as allegory to criticize war, racism and other forms of social injustice. It was the first television show to ever display an interracial kiss.
1971 -- US: Attica Prison Revolt, which began nonviolently but ended in violence. Prisoners (both Whites and Blacks cooperating) took over the facility to demand improvements in health and living conditions.
1978 – Iran: Thousands of demonstrators march to protest the rule of the Shah. The Shah’s police open fire and kill 3,000 unarmed protesters. The Shah had been brought to power by a US and British sponsored coup, and was kept in power by money and weapons from the US.
1994 -- Germany: After decades of protests from the local populace, US and NATO soldiers withdraw from Berlin. There are celebrations in the streets.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
September 8th
1883 -- US: Sitting Bull, main chief of the Sioux tribes, delivers a speech to the United States (which was invading and conquering his people’s lands). He delivers the speech in his Sioux language, departing from a speech originally prepared with an army translator. His actual words denounce the US government, settlers and
army, while the listeners thought he was delivering a speech of welcome and praise.
1886 – England: Siegfried Sassoon is born, who will become an antiwar poet speaking out against the horrors of World War I.
1909 -- US: Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) strikers at the Pressed Steel Car Plant in McKees Rock, Pennsylvania, force management to improve shop conditions, hike wages by 15%, and drop a "pool system."
1941 – Norway: 2000 workers in the shipyards went on strike against diversion of milk, "depriving mothers and babies," to military use by the German soldiers in Finland.
1965 – US: Table grape pickers, the mostly Filipino members of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), led by Larry Itliong, went on strike for higher wages in Delano, California.
1966 – US: Star Trek appears on TV for the first time, a show that will go on to use science fiction as an allegory to critique the Cold War, racism, imperialism and more.
1978 – Iran: Massive protests against the rule of the Shah, an unelected dictator installed by the United States. 3,000 unarmed demonstrators are killed by the Shah's troops.
1994 -- Germany: Festivities mark departure of US and NATO soldiers from Berlin.
army, while the listeners thought he was delivering a speech of welcome and praise.
1886 – England: Siegfried Sassoon is born, who will become an antiwar poet speaking out against the horrors of World War I.
1909 -- US: Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) strikers at the Pressed Steel Car Plant in McKees Rock, Pennsylvania, force management to improve shop conditions, hike wages by 15%, and drop a "pool system."
1941 – Norway: 2000 workers in the shipyards went on strike against diversion of milk, "depriving mothers and babies," to military use by the German soldiers in Finland.
1965 – US: Table grape pickers, the mostly Filipino members of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), led by Larry Itliong, went on strike for higher wages in Delano, California.
1966 – US: Star Trek appears on TV for the first time, a show that will go on to use science fiction as an allegory to critique the Cold War, racism, imperialism and more.
1978 – Iran: Massive protests against the rule of the Shah, an unelected dictator installed by the United States. 3,000 unarmed demonstrators are killed by the Shah's troops.
1994 -- Germany: Festivities mark departure of US and NATO soldiers from Berlin.
Monday, September 6, 2010
September 7th
1897 -- US: Social activist Emma Goldman attempts to make a pro-worker’s rights speech at an open-air meeting in Providence, Rhode Island, but is arrested, in violation of her constitutional right to free speech. She is given 24-hours to leave town or face three months imprisonment. She leaves town, but continues to speak nationwide.
1908 -- US: Antiwar and pro-reproductive rights activist Doctor Ben Reitman delivers a speech on the meaning of Labor Day at Cooper Union.
1908 -- US: Esperanto Association of North America is organized in Chautauqua Lake, NY. “Esperanto” is an invented language whose creators hope will be adopted by everyone in the world, making possible universal communication and a more peaceful planet. Although it has yet to “catch on”, millions of people worldwide studied (and continue to study) the language.
1916 -- US: Federal employees win the right to receive Worker's Compensation insurance.
1931 -- England: Mohandas Gandhi attends the Second India Round-table Conference in London. He goes on to play an instrumental role in India’s successful nonviolent overthrow of centuries of British rule, defeating the most powerful empire on the planet.
1933 -- US: The first strike by cranberry pickers takes place in the bogs of Cape Cod. The strikers formed the Cranberry Pickers Union, but their strike was unsuccessful.
1948 -- Australia: 3,000 attend rally in public launch of Peace Council, Melbourne.
1954 -- US: In the wake of the Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka Supreme Court decision, racial integration of public schools begins in Washington, D.C. & Baltimore, Maryland.
1958 -- US: First meeting of the New York Daughters of Bilitis, a lesbian rights organization.
1963 -- Vietnam: Thousands of high school students demonstrate against President Ngo Dinh Diem's South Vietnamese government, which the US backs in the war against the Communist North Vietnamese. Diem’s troops arrest 800 high-school student protestors, and another 1,000 two days later.
1968 -- US: For the first time, feminist protesters successfully interrupt the Miss America beauty pageant in Atlantic City, N.J. They pantomime setting fires (although do not actually do so), which leads to the popular image of “bra-burning.”
1977 -- US: In Wisconsin's first judicial-recall election, outraged Dane County citizens successfully vote judge Archie Simonson from office. The judge had called rape “a normal male reaction” and refused to send rapists to jail, angering the citizenry. He was replaced by Moria Krueger, the first woman judge elected in Dane County history.
1977 -- India: 40,000 workers go on strike in Ghaziabad (some violence as well).
1977 -- Panama: President Omar Torrijos and US President Jimmy Carter successfully negotiate a treaty returning sovereignty of the Canal Zone to Panamá.
1990 -- England: Activists from Ploughshares Two are jailed 15 months for disabling an F-111 bomber in Oxford.
1990 -- Canada: RCMP police disrupt a First Nations encampment in southern Alberta, ending a month-long native attempt to protect what they call sacred land by diverting the Old Man River around a partially completed dam.
1992 -- South Africa: Large demonstrations by the ANC against Apartheid. Soldiers fire on the nonviolent demonstrators, murdering 28. Despite these and many other losses, the ANC eventually helps bring about the nonviolent overthrow of the Apartheid government two years later.
1996 -- US: Two women walk onto the Norfolk (Virginia) Naval Base with a banner reading, "Love Your Enemies." They are arrested.
1996 – US: Rapper and anti-violence activist Tupac Shakur is shot in Las Vegas and dies six days later.
2001 -- England: “The Giant Jump” - 1 million British students jump at the same time. This triggers seismographs all across Britain. The event is an attempt to demonstrate the power of “the people” when united.
2002 -- UN human-rights chief Mary Robinson accuses the USA, Russia and China of using “fighting terrorism” as an excuse to deny their citizens civil rights. Her statement provides a morale boost to civil rights activists in all three countries.
2010 - US: Billionaire philanthropist George Soros gives a multi-million dollar grant to Human Rights Watch to carry on their work in exposing and combatting human rights violations worldwide.
1908 -- US: Antiwar and pro-reproductive rights activist Doctor Ben Reitman delivers a speech on the meaning of Labor Day at Cooper Union.
1908 -- US: Esperanto Association of North America is organized in Chautauqua Lake, NY. “Esperanto” is an invented language whose creators hope will be adopted by everyone in the world, making possible universal communication and a more peaceful planet. Although it has yet to “catch on”, millions of people worldwide studied (and continue to study) the language.
1916 -- US: Federal employees win the right to receive Worker's Compensation insurance.
1931 -- England: Mohandas Gandhi attends the Second India Round-table Conference in London. He goes on to play an instrumental role in India’s successful nonviolent overthrow of centuries of British rule, defeating the most powerful empire on the planet.
1933 -- US: The first strike by cranberry pickers takes place in the bogs of Cape Cod. The strikers formed the Cranberry Pickers Union, but their strike was unsuccessful.
1948 -- Australia: 3,000 attend rally in public launch of Peace Council, Melbourne.
1954 -- US: In the wake of the Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka Supreme Court decision, racial integration of public schools begins in Washington, D.C. & Baltimore, Maryland.
1958 -- US: First meeting of the New York Daughters of Bilitis, a lesbian rights organization.
1963 -- Vietnam: Thousands of high school students demonstrate against President Ngo Dinh Diem's South Vietnamese government, which the US backs in the war against the Communist North Vietnamese. Diem’s troops arrest 800 high-school student protestors, and another 1,000 two days later.
1968 -- US: For the first time, feminist protesters successfully interrupt the Miss America beauty pageant in Atlantic City, N.J. They pantomime setting fires (although do not actually do so), which leads to the popular image of “bra-burning.”
1977 -- US: In Wisconsin's first judicial-recall election, outraged Dane County citizens successfully vote judge Archie Simonson from office. The judge had called rape “a normal male reaction” and refused to send rapists to jail, angering the citizenry. He was replaced by Moria Krueger, the first woman judge elected in Dane County history.
1977 -- India: 40,000 workers go on strike in Ghaziabad (some violence as well).
1977 -- Panama: President Omar Torrijos and US President Jimmy Carter successfully negotiate a treaty returning sovereignty of the Canal Zone to Panamá.
1990 -- England: Activists from Ploughshares Two are jailed 15 months for disabling an F-111 bomber in Oxford.
1990 -- Canada: RCMP police disrupt a First Nations encampment in southern Alberta, ending a month-long native attempt to protect what they call sacred land by diverting the Old Man River around a partially completed dam.
1992 -- South Africa: Large demonstrations by the ANC against Apartheid. Soldiers fire on the nonviolent demonstrators, murdering 28. Despite these and many other losses, the ANC eventually helps bring about the nonviolent overthrow of the Apartheid government two years later.
1996 -- US: Two women walk onto the Norfolk (Virginia) Naval Base with a banner reading, "Love Your Enemies." They are arrested.
1996 – US: Rapper and anti-violence activist Tupac Shakur is shot in Las Vegas and dies six days later.
2001 -- England: “The Giant Jump” - 1 million British students jump at the same time. This triggers seismographs all across Britain. The event is an attempt to demonstrate the power of “the people” when united.
2002 -- UN human-rights chief Mary Robinson accuses the USA, Russia and China of using “fighting terrorism” as an excuse to deny their citizens civil rights. Her statement provides a morale boost to civil rights activists in all three countries.
2010 - US: Billionaire philanthropist George Soros gives a multi-million dollar grant to Human Rights Watch to carry on their work in exposing and combatting human rights violations worldwide.
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