On this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up,
& hope & history rhyme.
— Seamus Heaney
Text excerpts:
APRIL 25
JANE JACOBS
American-born urban activist, alternative city-planner, writer.
Alternate Saints:
GEORGE HERRIMAN
"Krazy Kat" cartoonist, perhaps the finest ever.
GEORG SIMMEL
Sociologist, theorist of impersonalism & capitalist alienation.
Ancient Rome: ROBIGALIA, Sacrificial rites to placate the God of
Mildew.
ANTI-NUCLEAR DAY: Mutants for Nuclear Power -) say
"No Nukes is Not Enough!"
& "Better Living Through Radiation!"
http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/images/humor/atomic.gif
Australia: ANZAC DAY.
______________________________
1792 -- France: The guillotine is erected in Paris at the
Place de Grève.
Quite the erection it is, too.
1816 - As Lord Byron leaves England in permanent exile,
friends arm themselves with firearms to protect him lest the
very sight of the poet incites a riot.
Consternation in Mayfair
Rioting in Notting Hill Gate
Fascists marching on the high street
Carving up the welfare state
Operator get me the hotline
Said, father can you hear me at all?
Telephone kiosk out of order
Spraycan writing on the wall
Look out, listen can you hear it?
Panic in the county hall!
Look out, listen can you hear it?
Whitehall up against a wall
Up against the wall !
— Tom Robinson Band
(from "Up Against The Wall")
http://www.tomrobinson.com/
1870 -- US: Tired of living as second-class citizens on Klamath
land & discouraged by failed crops during the government attempts
to convert them from hunting, Captain Jack & a group of 371
Modoc Indians leave the reservation April 25th or 26th, & return
to their ancestral lands near Tule Lake, California.
1878 - Anna Sewell completes Black Beauty, the Autobiography
of a Horse & dies, in England, after being invalided to her
home in Old Catton, Norfolk the last eight years. This
children's classic is said to have been instrumental in
abolishing the cruel practice of the "checkrein".
1892 -- France: The trial of Ravachol begins.
"Who is it — throughout this endless procession of tortures
which has been the history of the human race — who is it that
sheds the blood, always the same, relentlessly, without any
pause for the sake of mercy? Governments, religions,
industries, forced labor camps, all of these are drenched in
blood."
— Octave Mirbeau, "Ravachol"
http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/04ref.htm#25/1892
1901 - US: Licentious Communism?: New York becomes first state
requiring auto license plates ($1 fee).
http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/images/BB/car.jpg
1937 -- England: The benefit concert for the Spanish refugees,
which Emma Goldman has worked frantically to produce, is
held at Victoria Palace. With Paul Robeson's performance, it
is an artistic success but raises less money than Emma had
hoped for.
1944 - "Krazy Kat" cartoonist George Herriman dies, Hollywood.
1974 - Portugal: Armed Forces Revolt, the "Carnation
Revolution" begins, ending 48-year military dictatorship.
1982 - Australia: Women lay wreath for all women of all
countries raped in war, Canberra.
1984 - James Baker III is asked if he's ever been to a
Communist country. "Well," he replies,
"I've been to Massachusetts."
1993 -- US: Over one million march in Washington, D.C., for gay,
lesbian, bisexual, & transgender rights.
1996 - Australia: ANZAC Day. Swastikas painted on the front
door of Barricade Books, as well as other those of other local
anti-fascist activists. A local demonstration against fascist
organizing is held, & a march to the bookstore. It had previously
been harassed in 1995 by both cops & skinheads.
They shall grow not old,
As we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn
For the Fallen
—Laurence Binyon
2006 -- Canada: Urban activist, writer Jane Jacobs dies, Toronto.
_______________________
"Expect nothing from the state except your passport & your
ticket home to a prison of your country's choice. A free hotel
for you & your kind. The rats that came ashore with the cargo
have got a sporting chance of survival. They can hide & set up
house & they don't need a passport, & they don't speak out
except in times of plague."
— Ralph Steadman, from his introduction to "Waterstone's &
The Medical Foundation For the Care of Victims of Torture
celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights".
_______________________
— Auntie-Plague 1999 & a few years thereafter, or before,
please state your preference in 4 pages or less
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