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.