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Emma Goldman (1869 - 1940)

Sun Jun 27, 1869

Emma Goldman, born on this day in 1869, was an anarchist writer and activist in the United States whose works, including "My Disillusionment in Russia" and her journal Mother Earth, influenced anarchist movements all over the world.

Attracted to anarchism after the Haymarket affair, Goldman became a renowned writer and lecturer. She and anarchist writer Alexander Berkman, her lover and lifelong friend, planned to assassinate industrialist and financier Henry Clay Frick as an act of "propaganda of the deed".

Frick survived the attempt on his life, and Berkman was sentenced to 22 years in prison. Goldman was imprisoned several times in the years that followed for "inciting to riot" and illegally distributing information about birth control.

After their release from prison, Goldman and Berkman were again arrested and deported to Russia. Initially supportive of the October Revolution that brought the Bolsheviks to power, Goldman changed her opinion in the wake of the Kronstadt rebellion, denouncing the Soviet Union for its repression of political dissent. She left the Soviet Union and, in 1923, published a book about her experiences, "My Disillusionment in Russia".

Goldman was an extremely well-known anarchist in her lifetime, with a reputation as a powerful orator. Her writing and lectures spanned a wide variety of issues, including prisons, atheism, freedom of speech, militarism, capitalism, free love, and homosexuality.

"If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution."

- Emma Goldman

• Date: 1869-06-27
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.marxists.org.
• Tags: #Labor, #Birthdays, #Anarchism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

George Floyd Murdered (2020)

Mon May 25, 2020

Image: George Floyd with his six-year old, Gianna [blackpast.org]

On this day in 2020, a Minneapolis cop murdered George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes. Floyd's death became the catalyst for protests around the world; by July, more than 14,000 were arrested in the U.S. alone.

Floyd, a 46-year old black man, had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. The cop, 44-year old white man Derek Chauvin, knelt on Floyd's neck for nine minutes and twenty-nine seconds while he was handcuffed and lying face-down in a street. Floyd was dead before Chauvin's knee left his neck.

The following day, after videos made by witnesses and security cameras became public, all four officers involed were fired. Floyd's state murder became the catalyst for worldwide Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality, which took place on every continent except Antartica.

The scope of civil unrest within the U.S. was nearly unprecedented. Author Malik Simba writes: "the protests have involved more than 26 million Americans in 2,000 cities and towns in every state in the U.S., making [them] the most widespread protests around one issue in the history of the nation. By the end of June alone, one month into the protests, 14,000 people had been arrested."

Initially, the local District Attorney's Office only harged Chauvin with third-degree manslaughter, but this charge was later increased to second degree murder, following mass protests. On April 20th, 2021, Chauvin was convicted and sentenced to 22.5 years in prison. The other three officers were also later convicted of violating Floyd's civil rights.

Floyd's murder was witnessed by several people, including children. On the incident, seventeen year old Danella Frazier stated "When I look at George Floyd, I look at my dad, I look at my brother, I look at my cousin and my uncle." Her nine year old cousin, also an eyewitness, testified in court: "I was sad and kind of mad and it felt like [Chauvin's knee] was stopping him from breathing and it was hurting him."

• Date: 2020-05-25
• Learn More: www.blackpast.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Theresa Garnett (1888 - 1966)

Thu May 17, 1888

Theresa Garnett, born on this day in 1888, was a militant British suffragette whose acts of feminist rebellion included assaulting Winston Churchill with a whip, shouting "Take that in the name of the insulted women of England!"

Garnett was born in Leeds on May 17th, 1888. In 1907, she joined the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) after being inspired by a speech given by the feminist and later co-founder of the Australian Communist Party Adela Pankhurst.

The WSPU fought for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom and was noted for its use of direct action. Its members heckled politicians, held demonstrations and marches, broke the law to force arrests, broke windows in prominent buildings, set fire to post boxes, committed night-time arson of unoccupied houses and churches, and, when imprisoned, went on hunger strike and endured physically traumatizing force-feeding.

Garnett participated in several of these actions as a young adult, chaining herself in 1909, along with four other activists, to a statue in Parliament in protest of a law meant to prohibit disorderly conduct while Parliament was in session.

On November 14th, 1909, Garnett assaulted Winston Churchill, who instituted policies of force feeding suffragettes in prison, with a whip, striking him several times while shouting "Take that in the name of the insulted women of England!"

• Date: 1888-05-17
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, spartacus-educational.com.
• Tags: #Labor, #Feminism, #Birthdays, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

MOVE Bombing (1985)

Mon May 13, 1985

Image: The police bombing of the MOVE collective in West Philadelphia killed eleven people and left city blocks in ashes. Photograph from Bettmann / Getty [newyorker.com]

On this day in 1985, Philadelphia police bombed a home occupied by the black liberation group MOVE and let the fire burn out of control - "let the fire burn" - killing five children and six adults, and destroying 65 homes. No charges were filed.

The standoff with MOVE, a black liberation organization, was initiated by the police in an attempt to serve an eviction notice. Eleven people, including five children, died in the fire.

Eyewitnesses claimed that the victims were prevented from fleeing the fire by police gunfire upon escape. Police Commissioner Sambor infamously ordered the fire department to "let the fire burn", destroying 65 nearby homes comprising two city blocks.

Although an investigation found that the law enforcement and fire department actions were negligent, no criminal charges were filed.

In October 2013, a documentary about the stand-off and bombing titled "Let the Fire Burn" was released by Zeitgeist Films.

• Date: 1985-05-13
• Learn More: www.theguardian.com, en.wikipedia.org, picturingblackhistory.org, www.zinnedproject.org.
• Tags: #Terrorism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

The Haymarket Affair (1886)

Tue May 04, 1886

Image: *A Harper’s Weekly illustration of the Haymarket Riot from May 15, 1886.

A Harper’s Weekly illustration of the Haymarket Riot from May 15, 1886.

A Harper’s Weekly illustration of the Haymarket Riot from May 15, 1886.

A Harper's Weekly Illustration of the Haymarket Affair, May 15th, 1886

The Haymarket Affair (also known as the Haymarket massacre) was the bloody aftermath of a bombing that took place on this day in 1886 during a radical labor demonstration demanding an 8 hour day in Chicago, Illinois.

The strike began as a peaceful rally in support of workers striking for an eight-hour work day. After police began trying to disperse a May 4th rally associated with the strike, an unknown person threw a dynamite bomb at the police. The bomb blast and ensuing gunfire resulted in the deaths of seven police officers, four to eight civilians, and wounded approximately one hundred people on either side.

In the internationally publicized legal proceedings that followed, eight anarchists were convicted of conspiracy. Seven were sentenced to death and one to a term of 15 years in prison. Illinois Governor Richard J. Oglesby commuted two of the sentences to terms of life in prison; another committed suicide in jail rather than face the gallows. The other four were hanged on November 11th, 1887.

The trial, widely believed to be a farce, was condemned internationally. The Haymarket Affair, and working class struggle more broadly, is commemorated annually on May 1st as "May Day" or "International Workers' Day".

• Date: 1886-05-04
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, libcom.org, theanarchistlibrary.org.
• Tags: #Labor, #Anarchism, #Riots, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Deir Yassin Massacre (1948)

Fri Apr 09, 1948

Image: Orphaned children whose parents had been killed at Deir Yassin. Credit: IDF archive / Still from the film "Born in Deir Yassin" [haartetz.com]

On this day in 1948, far-right Zionist paramilitaries indiscriminately slaughtered 107-254 villagers of Deir Yassin, orphaning at least 55 children (2 shown). Israel has kept documentation of the massacre sealed, citing security concerns.

The massacre took place during the 1947-1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine. In the months leading up to the attack, forces led by the Palestinian Arab nationalist Mohammad Amin al-Husayni laid siege to Jerusalem, cutting off the city from military aid.

Although war had broken out, the fighting was relatively contained. According to an Arab League general - "Despite the fact that skirmishes and battles have begun, the Jews at this stage are still trying to contain the fighting to as narrow a sphere as possible...the Jews have not so far attacked Arab villages unless the inhabitants of those villages attacked them or provoked them first."

Deir Yassin was a Palestinian Arab village near Jerusalem, with several hundred residents (all Muslim), living in 144 houses. Multiple accounts suggest villagers lived in peace with their Jewish neighbors, particularly those in Givat Shaul, some of whom reportedly tried to help the villagers during the massacre.

On April 9th, 1948, more than one hundred members of the underground, far-right Zionist paramilitary groups Irgun and Lehi attacked Deir Yassin. The operation took place despite knowledge that villagers had signed a non-aggression pact.

Zionist soldiers expected residents to flee rather than fight back. When they encountered armed resistance, soldiers resorted to blowing up houses with explosives and indiscriminately slaughtering all inside. According to eye-witness accounts, the attackers systemically murdered the village population, executing children and reportedly raping women.

Zionists paraded captured adult men in the streets of West Jerusalem before returning to the village and executing them. Money, silver, and gold were taken from the victims. In total, estimates of those killed range from 107 to 254, and at least 55 children were orphaned.

The massacre was internationally condemned, including by Jewish intellectuals such as Albert Einstein. The attack inspired a revenge attack four days after the Deir Yassin massacre - on April 13th, Arabs attacked the Hadassah medical convoy in Jerusalem, killing seventy-eight, most of whom were medical staff.

In 1969, the Israeli Foreign Ministry published an English pamphlet "Background Notes on Current Themes: Deir Yassin", falsely denying that there had been a massacre at Deir Yassin, claiming that the village was the home of an Iraqi garrison, and calling the massacre story "part of a package of fairy tales, for export and home consumption".

The attack caused many Palestinians in the area to flee, and escalated tensions in the civil war. In 1951, an Israeli psychiatric hospital was built on the village itself, using some of the village's abandoned buildings.

"They are angry with me that I said these things. Let them first be angry at themselves...I was there, I saw the massacre with my own eyes. Why didn't [Israeli military historian Uri Milstein] ever question me about the things I experienced there?"

- Meir Pa'il, an intelligence officer who provided an eyewitness account to the Deir Yassin Massacre

• Date: 1948-04-09
• Learn More: www.haaretz.com, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Massacre.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Abdullah Öcalan (1947 - )

Fri Apr 04, 1947

Image: **

✱Although some records claim Öcalan was born on April 4th, Öcalan himself claims to not know the exact date of his birth other than knowing it was between 1946-1947.

Abdullah Öcalan, born on this day in 1947, is a socialist theorist, feminist, political prisoner, and one of the founders of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). His concept of "democratic confederalism" has been influential in Rojava.

Öcalan helped found the PKK in 1978, and led it into the Kurdish-Turkish conflict in 1984. For most of his leadership, he was based in Syria, which provided sanctuary to the PKK until the late 1990s.

After being forced to leave Syria, Öcalan was abducted in Nairobi in 1999 by the Turkish National Intelligence Agency (MIT) (with the support of the CIA) and taken to Turkey, where he was sentenced to death under Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code, which concerns the formation of armed organizations.

From prison, Öcalan has published several books, including "Prison Writings: The Roots of Civilisation", "Prison Writings Volume II: The PKK and the Kurdish Question in the 21st Century", and "Democratic Confederalism". Öcalan also advocates for a form of feminism known as "Jineology".

Öcalan's philosophy of democratic confederalism, which draws heavily from Murray Bookchin's concept of "communalism", is a strong influence on the political structures of Rojava, an autonomous polity formed in Syria in 2011.

"Without an analysis of women's status in the hierarchical system and the conditions under which she was enslaved, neither the state nor the class-based system that it rests upon can be understood."

- Abdullah Öcalan

• Date: 1947-04-04
• Learn More: web.archive.org, en.wikipedia.org, ocalanbooks.com.
• Tags: #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Rudolf Rocker (1873 - 1958)

Tue Mar 25, 1873

Image: **

Johann Rudolf Rocker, born on this day in 1873, was an anarchist theorist, historian, and activist, known for critical anarchist texts such as "Anarcho-Syndicalism: Theory and Practice" (1938) and "Pioneers of American Freedom" (1949).

Though often described as an anarcho-syndicalist, Rocker was a self-professed anarchist without adjectives, believing that anarchist schools of thought represented "only different methods of economy" and that the first objective for anarchists was "to secure the personal and social freedom of men".

Rocker was involved in helping organize a number of labor strikes and represented the federation at the International Anarchist Congress in Amsterdam in 1907. Rocker was well-read in his lifetime - his readers included figures Thomas Mann, Albert Einstein, Herbert Read, and Bertrand Russell.

"Anarchism is no patent solution for all human problems, no Utopia of a perfect social order, as it has so often been called, since on principle it rejects all absolute schemes and concepts."

- Rudolf Rocker

• Date: 1873-03-25
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, libcom.org, theanarchistlibrary.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Anarchism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Philadelphia General Strike (1910)

Sat Feb 19, 1910

Image: Workers and supporters gather before a meeting on February 2nd, 1910, as the tensions between the Rapid Transit Company and workers increased. From the Library of Congress [philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/]

On this day in 1910, the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company (RTC) fired 173 union members, resulting in a series of escalating labor actions that culminated in a general strike.

RTC fired the workers "for the good of the service" and hired replacement workers from New York City. Immediately after the firings, the union leadership ordered the strike, taking their respective trolley cars off the streets effective at 1:00 that afternoon.

During the strike, workers destroyed trolley property. A crowd of 2,000 seized a trolley and set it on fire. Another crowd of 5,000 seized a crew working a trolley and beat them in the street. A bomb threat in Germantown was disregarded until dynamite was loaded onto the tracks by 2,000 workers.

Despite the union threatening a general strike if strike breakers were brought in, RTC brought in 600 strike breakers while simultaneously denying that they had done so.

When the National Guard entered Philadelphia to provide protection for RTC, members of other unions saw this as a clear signal that the city and state governments were uniting in favor of the companies against the unions, and the entire city began a general strike.

The general strike began on March 5th, 1910 with 60,000-75,000 workers, but grew to more than 140,000 over the following weeks. During the strike, Philadelphia police arrested high-ranking union organizers and sympathy strikers, half of whom were under eighteen.

Newspapers reported violence and sabotage that rendered streetcars inoperable, as well as retaliation by strikebreakers who shot into crowds and killed several bystanders with trolleys. Approximately ten strikers and bystanders were killed by gunfire from strikebreakers and police.

The general strike ended on March 27th, however streetcar workers remained on strike until April 19th. After nine weeks of the strike, costing RTC $2,395,000 and the city government millions, RTC agreed to a wage increase, the re-hiring of strikers within three months, and mediation of the initial 173 union-targeted firings.

• Date: 1910-02-19
• Learn More: philadelphiaencyclopedia.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Labor, #General Strikes.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

France Anti-CPE Protests (2006)

Tue Feb 07, 2006

On this day in 2006, 400,000 people in France took the streets to protest the "First Employment Contract" (CPE), Prime Minister Villepin's new labor law which eroded worker protections for young people.

Claiming that "urgent" action was needed to "bring the French labour market into the modern era", Villepin's CPE package would allow employers to hire 18-26 year-olds on two year contracts and fire them without notice or explanation.

In response, student unions called for a week of meetings and mobilization, and for a national day of protest on February 7th. The national protest continued beyond February 7th, however, and a national strike was called on March 28th (incidentally, the same day a million workers in the UK struck to defend their pensions).

Hundreds of thousands of workers went on strike, and three million people took to the streets all across the country. Unions were prepared to call another general strike when the French government finally gave in and withdrew the law.

A similar law (the CNE) which applied to small businesses of fewer than 25 people was eventually overturned by the courts in 2007.

• Date: 2006-02-07
• Learn More: libcom.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Labor, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Seattle General Strike (1919)

Thu Feb 06, 1919

Image: Seattle General Strike participants leaving the shipyard after going on strike, 1919. [Wikipedia]

On this day in 1919, a general strike involving ~100,000 workers in Seattle began. Workers, vilified as "Bolsheviki", set up an alternative government that distributed 30,000 meals daily and a police force that did not carry weapons.

Dissatisfied workers in several unions began the strike to gain higher wages after two years of World War I wage controls. Government officials, the press, and much of the public viewed the strike as a radical attempt to subvert American institutions.

During the strike, a cooperative body made up of rank and file workers from all the striking locals was formed, called the General Strike Committee. It acted as a "virtual counter-government for the city", according to labor historian Jeremy Brecher.

The committee organized to provide essential services for the people of Seattle during the work stoppage. A system of food distribution was also established, which distributed as many as 30,000 meals each day.

Army veterans created an alternative to the police in order to maintain order. A group called the "Labor War Veteran's Guard" forbade the use of force and did not carry weapons, using "persuasion only". Major General John F. Morrison, stationed in Seattle, claimed that he had never seen "a city so quiet and orderly."

On February 7th, Mayor Ole Hanson threatened to use 1,500 police and 1,500 troops to replace striking workers the next day, but the strikers assumed this was an empty threat and were proved correct. A few days later, Hanson stated the "sympathetic strike was called in the exact manner as was the revolution in Petrograd."

Union leadership, including the American Federation of Labor (AFL), began to exert pressure on the General Strike Committee and individual unions to end the strike, causing some locals to return to work.

The executive committee of the General Strike Committee, pressured by the AFL and international labor organizations, proposed ending the general strike at midnight on February 8th, but their recommendation was voted down by the General Strike Committee.

On February 10th, the General Strike Committee voted to end the general strike the following day, listing the following reasons: "Pressure from international officers of unions, from executive committees of unions, from the 'leaders' in the labor movement, even from those very leaders who are still called 'Bolsheviki' by the undiscriminating press. And, added to all these, the pressure upon the workers themselves, not of the loss of their own jobs, but of living in a city so tightly closed."

Immediately following the general strike's end, the Socialist Party headquarters was raided by police, and thirty-nine IWW members were arrested as "ringleaders of anarchy" despite playing a marginal role in the strike's development.

• Date: 1919-02-06
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, depts.washington.edu.
• Tags: #Labor, #General Strikes, #IWW.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior (1985)

Wed Jul 10, 1985

Image: The Rainbow Warrior in Marsden Wharf in Auckland Harbour after the bombing by French secret service agents. © Greenpeace / John Miller [greenpeace.org]

On this day in 1985, the French government, in an act of state-sponsored terror, bombed the Greenpeace-operated boat Rainbow Warrior, which was en route to protest a nuclear weapons test planned by the French state. The bombing, later found to be personally ordered by French President François Mitterrand, killed a freelance photographer on board named Fernando Pereira.

France had been testing nuclear weapons on the Mururoa Atoll in French Polynesia since 1966. In 1985 eight South Pacific countries, including New Zealand and Australia, signed a treaty declaring the region a nuclear-free zone.

Since being acquired by Greenpeace in 1977, Rainbow Warrior was active in supporting a number of anti-nuclear testing campaigns during the late 1970s and early 1980s, including relocating 300 Marshall Islanders from Rongelap Atoll, which had been polluted by radioactive fallout by past American nuclear tests.

For the 1985 tests, Greenpeace intended to monitor the impact of nuclear tests and place protesters on the island to observe the blasts. Three undercover French agents were on board, however, and they attached two limpet mines to Rainbow Warrior and detonated them ten minutes apart, sinking the ship.

France initially denied responsibility, but two of the French agents were captured by New Zealand Police and charged with arson, conspiracy to commit arson, willful damage, and murder.

The resulting scandal led to the resignation of the French Defence Minister Charles Hernu, while the two agents pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to ten years in prison. They spent a little over two years confined to the French island of Hao before being freed by the French government.

In 1987, after international pressure, France paid $8.16m to Greenpeace in damages, which helped finance another ship. It also paid compensation to the Pereira family, making reparation payments of 650,000 francs to Pereira's wife, 1.5 million francs to his two children, and 75,000 francs to each of his parents.

• Date: 1985-07-10
• Learn More: www.greenpeace.org, en.wikipedia.org, www.zinnedproject.org.
• Tags: #Terrorism, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org