1526 -- New World: First (known) slave revolt in an "American" settlement occurs, only eight years after the first slaves are transported from Africa to the Americas. 1873 -- France: Luigi Lucheni lives. An adherent of "propaganda by the deed," he killed the impiratrice Elisabeth of Austria. See the Anarchist Encyclopedia page, http://www.eskimo.com/~recall/bleed/sinners/LucheniLuigi.htm Sacco and Vanzetti. This is our career & our triumph. Never in our full life could we hope to do such work for tolerance, for justice, for man's understanding of man as now we do by accident. Our words our lives our pains nothing! The taking of our lives lives of a good shoemaker & a poor fish peddler all! That last moment belongs to us that agony is our triumph." http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/oj/porterf.htm http://www.torremaggiore.com/saccoevanzetti/storia.html http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAsaccoN.htm http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/sacvan.html
1897 -- Italy: In Rome the anarchist Pietro Acciarto, 26, attempts to stab the king of Italy, Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader Humbert 1st. Tried & sentenced May 28, following a parody of a trial, Acciarto gets life in prison. 1898 -- Adrien Perrissaguet (1898-1972) lives, Limoges. Founder of "L'association des fidiralistes anarchistes" & the weekly magazine "The Libertarian Voice" & "Combat syndicaliste". An activist in the Sacco & Vanzetti committee, he also fought in the Spanish Revolution of 1936 & was a member of the French Resistance during WWII. http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/sinners/PerrissaguetAdrien.htm 1972 -- US: 50,000 in New York City & 30,000 in San Francisco march against the war in Vietnam/Southeast Asia. http://lists.village.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Resources/Primary.html 1996 -- US: Nonviolent activists (ETS! readers!) Tom & Donna Howard-Hastings cut down three poles supporting the U.S. Navy's nuclear submarine radio "trigger", Clam Lake, Wisconsin. The antenna collapsed & left the Navy unable to launch a first strike for several days. http://www.sonic.net/~books/new.html 2001 -- US: Black Bloc Marches for Women's Reproductive Rights in Washington, DC. A hot & sunny day today, didn't deter 50 anarchists from Baltimore & Washington, DC from donning their famous black-clad gear & joining the NOW Emergency March for Women's Reproductive Rights. They join over 4000 other supporters of abortion rights for several hours of speakers & music. The rally was followed by a feisty march past the Supreme Court & around the US Capitol. http://www.infoshop.org/news6/afem_dc1.html The trial of Jesus of Nazareth, the trial & rehabilitation of Joan of Arc, any one of the witchcraft trials in Salem during 1691, the Moscow trials of 1937 during which Stalin destroyed all of the founders of the 1924 Soviet Revolution, the Sacco-Vanzetti trial of 1920 through 1927--there are many trials such as these in which the victim was already condemned to death before the trial took place, & it took place only to cover up the real meaning: the accused was to be put to death. These are trials in which the judge, the counsel, the jury, & the witnesses are the criminals, not the accused. For any believer in capital punishment, the fear of an honest mistake on the part of all concerned is cited as the main argument against the final terrible decision to carry out the death sentence. There is the frightful possibility in all such trials as these that the judgment has already been pronounced & the trial is just a mask for murder. Katherine Anne Porter, The Never-Ending Wrong
