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.