Reclaim Our History Nov. 16-30
Nov. 16, 1997: After a silent, half-mile long “funeral procession” attempts to enter the base, 601 are arrested at School of the Americas.
Nov. 17, 1989: 10-20,000 teens try to march to Wenceslas Square in Prague, Czechoslovakia; 400 injured. Begins a series of mass demonstration that leads to downfall of regime, splitting of country.
Nov. 18, 2002: The oil tanker Prestige capsizes off the coast of Spain, beginning what becomes the biggest environmental disaster in the history of Western Europe.
Nov. 19, 1961: In a primitive form of capitalist accumulation, Michael Rockefeller eaten by cannibals.
Nov. 20, 1934: Plan by Wall Street financiers to set up fascist regime in US made public.
Nov. 21, 1985: DA drops all charges against 138 students arrested at Biko Hall sit-in, Univ. of California-Berkeley.
Nov. 22, 1998: Seven thousand march on School of the Americas at Fort Benning, outside Columbus, Georgia; 2,319 arrested for symbolic trespass.
Nov. 23, 1170 BC: First recorded strike for better working conditions and pay takes place in Egypt.
Nov. 24, 1925: Birth of William F. Buckley, Jr., New York City. First rose to prominence as a young apologist for “Tail Gunner” Joe McCarthy and his ’50s witch hunts.
Nov. 25, 1973: Student sit-ins begin in opposition to Greek military junta; 20 are killed, but the dictator is forced out.
Nov. 26, 1910: Twenty-five women workers burn to death in Newark, N.J. factory fire, a tragic foreshadowing of the far more deadly Triangle Shirtwaist fire in New York four months later. 1968: UN passes Resolution Against Capital Punishment. Guess who ignored it? 1970: American Indian Movement (AIM) activists celebrate Thanksgiving by occupying Plymouth Rock, Mass.
Nov. 27, 1900: US troops coax information from Filipino town president by forcing salt water down his throat from 100-gallon tank. Then they burned the town.
Nov. 28, 1990: After 11 years of terror, the reign of Margaret Thatcher as British Prime Minister ends.
Nov. 29 1864: Sand Creek, Colorado: A US army regiment under Colonel (and Methodist pastor) J. M. Chivington, acting on orders from Colorado’s Governor, John Evans, and ignoring both a white surrender flag and a US flag, massacres sleeping Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians. The Indians had been ordered away from protection of Fort Lyon four days before, with the promise that they would be safe. Virtually all of the 500 victims, mostly women and children, were tortured and scalped; women’s genitals were cut out and stuck on poles. A local newspaper called this “a brilliant feat of arms,” and stated the soldiers had “covered themselves with glory.” At first, Chivington was widely praised for his “victory,” and he and his troops were honored with a parade in Denver. However, rumors of drunken soldiers butchering unarmed women and children began to circulate, and Congress ordered a formal investigation of the Sand Creek Massacre. No criminal charges were ever filed against Chivington. 1990: UN Security Council votes 12-2 in favor of war in Persian Gulf case.