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Ghassan Kanafani (1936 - 1972)

Wed Apr 08, 1936

Ghassan Kanafani, born on this day in 1936, was a Palestinian author and leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) who was assassinated by Israeli forces after the Lod Airport Massacre, claimed by the PLFP.

In May, when the outbreak of hostilities in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War spilled over into the city of Acre, Kanafani and his family were forced into exile while he was still a child. After fleeing eleven miles north to Lebanon, they settled in Damascus, Syria as Palestinian refugees.

In 1969, after establishing himself as an author and journalist, he joined The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and, resigned from his post as editor for the magazine Al-Anwar to edit the PFLP's weekly magazine, al-Hadaf ("The Goal"). He drafted a PFLP program in which the movement officially took up Marxism-Leninism, a notable departure from pan-Arab nationalist ideology.

On July 8th, 1972, at the age of 36, Kanafani was assassinated via car bomb by the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad for his role in the PLFP, which claimed responsibility for the Lod Airport Massacre.

The massacre, committed by three members of the Japanese Red Army recruited by the PLFP, killed 26 people, injuring 80 others.

Ghassan Kanafani was an influential author, whose literary works have been translated into as many at least 17 languages and published in 20 countries. He began writing short stories when working as a teacher in refugee camps. Often written through the eyes of children, his stories were designed to help his students contextualize their surroundings.

"Everything in this world can be robbed and stolen, except one thing; this one thing is the love that emanates from a human being towards a solid commitment to a conviction or cause."

- Ghassan Kanafani

• Date: 1936-04-08
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.middleeastmonitor.com.
• Tags: #Marxism, #Birthdays, #Massacre.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Gustave Landauer (1870 - 1919)

Thu Apr 07, 1870

Image: Gustav Landauer's grave on the Neuer Israelitischer Friedhof in Munich. The grave is shared with Kurt Eisner.

Gustave Landauer, born on this day in 1870, was an anarchist pacifist who helped found the Bavarian Soviet Republic in 1919. The newly formed Republic was crushed by the right-wing Freikorps, and Landauer was arrested and murdered in prison.

Landauer briefly served as the Republic's commissioner for "Enlightenment and Public Instruction", but resigned after the German Communist Party (KPD) came into power.

According to anarchist author James Horrox, the German Social Democratic Party (SPD)'s Minister of Defence, Gustav Noske, ordered soldiers from the right-wing Freikorps militia into Munich to undermine the Republic.

Freikorps forces broke through Munich defenses on May 1st, 1919, and many left-wing revolutionaries were arrested, including Landauer, Eugene Leviné, and Ernst Toller.

The following day, Landauer was brought to Stadelheim Prison, where he was beaten by several soldiers and then brutally murdered as described by an eyewitness:

"An officer struck him in the face, the men shouted: 'Dirty Bolshie! Let’s finish him off!' and a rain of blows from rifle-butts drove him out into the yard. He said to the soldiers round him: 'I’ve not betrayed you. You don’t know yourselves how terribly you’ve been betrayed.'"

The eyewitness describes Landauer being shot repeatedly and trampled. His murderers then stripped the corpse and threw it into the washhouse.

In 1925, German anarcho-syndicalists built a memorial for Landauer at the Münchner Waldfriedhof, destroyed by Nazis only a few years later. A new one was constructed in 2017.

Landauer's grave can now be found on the Neuer Israelitischer Friedhof in Munich. It is shared with the social democrat Kurt Eisner, who had served as President of the People's State of Bavaria, a predecessor to the Bavarian Soviet Republic.

"Now is the time to bring forth a martyr of a different kind, not heroic, but a quiet, unpretentious martyr who will provide an example for the proper life."

- Gustav Landauer

• Date: 1870-04-07
• Learn More: theanarchistlibrary.org, en.wikipedia.org, dwardmac.pitzer.edu, files.libcom.org, files.libcom.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Anarchism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

William Monroe Trotter (1872 - 1934)

Sun Apr 07, 1872

William Monroe Trotter, born on this day in 1872, was a newspaper editor and civil rights activist based in Boston, Massachusetts who co-founded the Niagara Movement with WEB Du Bois.

Trotter was an early opponent of the accommodationist race policies of Booker T. Washington, and in 1901 founded the Boston Guardian, an independent African-American newspaper he used to express that opposition.

Trotter was a key founding member of the "Niagara Movement" with W.E.B. Du Bois and contributed to the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), although he never participated in the group due to a bitter split with Du Bois.

"My vocation has been to wage a crusade against lynching, disenfranchisement, peonage, public segregation, injustice, denial of service in public places for color, in war time and peace."

- William Monroe Trotter

• Date: 1872-04-07
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, trotter.umich.edu.
• Tags: #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Rose Schneiderman (1882 - 1972)

Thu Apr 06, 1882

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Rose Schneiderman, born on this day in 1882, was a Polish-American socialist and feminist of Jewish heritage, and one of the most prominent female labor union leaders of her day.

As a member of the New York Women's Trade Union League, she drew attention to unsafe workplace conditions following the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911. As a suffragist she helped to pass the New York state referendum of 1917 that gave women the right to vote.

Schneiderman was also a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union and served on the National Recovery Administration's Labor Advisory Board under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. She is credited with coining the phrase "Bread and Roses" to indicate a worker's right to something higher than subsistence living.

"What the woman who labors wants is the right to live, not simply exist — the right to life as the rich woman has the right to life, and the sun and music and art. You have nothing that the humblest worker has not a right to have also. The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too. Help, you women of privilege, give her the ballot to fight with."

- Rose Schneiderman

• Date: 1882-04-06
• Learn More: jwa.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Labor, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Erich Mühsam (1878 - 1934)

Sat Apr 06, 1878

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Erich Mühsam, born on this day in 1878, was a Jewish anarchist essayist, poet, and playwright who condemned Nazism and satirized Hitler. In 1934, Mühsam was murdered in the Oranienburg concentration camp.

In 1911, Mühsam founded the newspaper, "Kain" as a forum for anarcho-communist politics, stating that it would "be a personal organ for whatever the editor, as a poet, as a citizen of the world, and as a fellow man had on his mind." The paper opposed capital punishment and government censorship of theater.

After World War I, Mühsam was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for playing a leading role in the Bavarian Revolution. He was freed as part of the same general amnesty for political prisoners under the Weimar Republic that released Adolf Hitler.

As a cabaret performer and writer during this time, he achieved international prominence, promoting works which condemned Nazism and personally satirized Adolf Hitler.

In 1933, Mühsam was arrested, with propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels labeling him as one of "those Jewish subversives."

While imprisoned, he was brutally tortured, however his spirit remained unbroken. When his captors tried to force him to sing the "Horst-Wessel-Lied" (the Nazi's anthem), he sung the Internationale, instead.

On July 11th, 1934, Mühsam was murdered in the Oranienburg concentration camp.

• Date: 1878-04-06
• Learn More: spartacus-educational.com, libcom.org, en.wikipedia.org, theanarchistlibrary.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Anarchism, #Fascism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Erich Mühsam (1878 - 1934)

Sat Apr 06, 1878

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Erich Mühsam, born on this day in 1878, was a Jewish anarchist essayist, poet, and playwright who condemned Nazism and satirized Hitler. In 1934, Mühsam was murdered in the Oranienburg concentration camp.

In 1911, Mühsam founded the newspaper, "Kain" as a forum for anarcho-communist politics, stating that it would "be a personal organ for whatever the editor, as a poet, as a citizen of the world, and as a fellow man had on his mind." The paper opposed capital punishment and government censorship of theater.

After World War I, Mühsam was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for playing a leading role in the Bavarian Revolution. He was freed as part of the same general amnesty for political prisoners under the Weimar Republic that released Adolf Hitler.

As a cabaret performer and writer during this time, he achieved international prominence, promoting works which condemned Nazism and personally satirized Adolf Hitler.

In 1933, Mühsam was arrested, with propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels labeling him as one of "those Jewish subversives."

While imprisoned, he was brutally tortured, however his spirit remained unbroken. When his captors tried to force him to sing the "Horst-Wessel-Lied" (the Nazi's anthem), he sung the Internationale, instead.

On July 11th, 1934, Mühsam was murdered in the Oranienburg concentration camp.

• Date: 1878-04-06
• Learn More: spartacus-educational.com, libcom.org, en.wikipedia.org, theanarchistlibrary.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Anarchism, #Fascism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Northumberland and Durham Miners' Strike (1844)

Fri Apr 05, 1844

Image: A photograph of an early Durham miners' Gala [libcom.org]

On this day in 1844, a mass meeting of 40,000 miners in Northumberland and Durham refused to renew contracts with their employers until their grievances had been met, going on the largest strike in United Kingdom history at that time.

In particular, the workers did not care for the "bond system", monthly or annual contracts that stipulated labor conditions that they found unfavorable. The strike carried on for approximately 20 weeks, when workers, worn down by mass company town evictions and widespread poverty, returned to work on their employers' unaltered terms. Union activists were blacklisted and could not find work at any pit in either county.

• Date: 1844-04-05
• Learn More: libcom.org, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
• Tags: #Labor.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Colonial Building Riot (1932)

Tue Apr 05, 1932

The Colonial Building Riot began on this day in 1932, in St. John's, Newfoundland, when protests during the Great Depression turned violent, nearly causing the death of the Prime Minister, who promptly resigned and fled.

The protests were prompted by both the economic depression and corruption in the government of John Squires, the Newfoundland Prime Minister at that time.

The 10,000 protesters demanded a petition to investigate Squires for corruption, becoming unruly when no response was given. Some members of the crowd beat down the doors to the Colonial Building, and, when entering it, battled with police, both inside and outside the building.

In response, protesters began throwing objects through windows and attempted to set the Colonial Building on fire. Prime Minister Squires exited the building, but was found by the crowd, who assaulted him and forced him to take shelter at a private residence.

Squires immediately resigned - while the riot was still going on - and called for new elections. His party, the Liberal Party, won only two seats, with the vast majority going to the United Newfoundland Party. Regardless, this government was dissolved in 1934 and replaced by the Commission of Government, a non-democratic body with representatives chosen directly by the British Government.

• Date: 1932-04-05
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.heritage.nf.ca.
• Tags: #Colonialism, #Riots, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Abdullah Öcalan (1947 - )

Fri Apr 04, 1947

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✱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

MLK Jr. Assassinated (1968)

Thu Apr 04, 1968

On this day in 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated at the age of 39 while supporting striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee. Although James Earl Rey was convicted for the murder, but speculation of government involvement has persisted for decades after his death.

Although he is lionized today fo his activism, at the time he was was the target of multiple assassination attempts, arrested 23 times, and surveilled and harassed by the government.

In particular, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover harmed Dr. King by making him a target of COINTELPRO, a secret program where FBI agents spied on, infiltrated, attempted to discredit, and even assassinated members of "subversive" political movements, black liberation movements in particular.

King was killed just a month before the Poor People's Campaign of 1968, which he had been helping organize with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The march was carried out in May and June, under the leadership of Ralph Abernathy.

"Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind."

- MLK Jr., April 3rd, 1968

• Date: 1968-04-04
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, kinginstitute.stanford.edu.
• Tags: #Assassinations.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

"The Ballot or The Bullet" Speech (1964)

Fri Apr 03, 1964

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On this day in 1964, Malcolm X delivered a speech at Cory Methodist Church in Cleveland, Ohio, discussing the strategies of electoralism and armed defense, stating "In 1964, it's the ballot or the bullet".

The speech took place less than a month after Malcolm X announced his split with the Nation of Islam, and in it he signaled a willingness to cooperate with civil rights leaders. In the speech, Malcolm X did not abandon electoralism entirely, but stated "Don't be throwing out any ballots. A ballot is like a bullet. You don't throw your ballots until you see a target, and if that target is not within your reach, keep your ballot in your pocket".

Here is a brief excerpt from the speech:

"I went to a white school over here in Mason, Michigan. The white man made the mistake of letting me read his history books. He made the mistake of teaching me that Patrick Henry was a patriot, and George Washington - wasn't nothing non-violent about ol' Pat, or George Washington. 'Liberty or death' is was what brought about the freedom of whites in this country from the English.

This is why I say it's the ballot or the bullet. It's liberty or it's death. It's freedom for everybody or freedom for nobody.

...

A revolution is bloody, but America is in a unique position. She's the only country in history in the position actually to become involved in a bloodless revolution. All she's got to do is give the Black man in this country everything that's due him. Everything."

• Date: 1964-04-03
• Learn More: www.digitalhistory.uh.edu, en.wikipedia.org.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Richmond Bread Riot (1863)

Thu Apr 02, 1863

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On this day in 1863, the Richmond Bread Riot, the largest of several bread riots that took place in the Confederacy, began when thousands of hungry people began attacking government warehouses and stores, chanting "Bread or Blood!"

During the Civil War, Richmond, Virginia had been suffering an economic crisis in which overcrowding, skyrocketing rent prices, and unaffordable food led to widespread suffering among the poor. Thousands of people, mostly poor women, protested and demanded a meeting with the governor of Virginia.

When this meeting was denied, the crowd took the streets, chanting "We celebrate our right to live! We are starving!" and "Bread or blood!" They then began attacking government warehouses, grocery stores, and various mercantile establishments, seizing food, clothing, and wagons, as well as jewelry and other luxury goods.

Over sixty rioters were arrested, and the Confederate government censored reporting of the event in the press, fearing that it would hurt the morale of the war effort.

• Date: 1863-04-02
• Learn More: www.encyclopediavirginia.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Riots.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org