Category: mādhyayak

2017

Hundreds of protesters are arrested in Washington, DC as Donald Trump is inaugurated as US president, and the following day, an estimated 470,000 people rally for the Women’s March on Washington. “Pussy Grabs Back.”

1911

Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata proclaims his Plan de Ayala, laying out his ideology and program of land reform, whose slogan “Land and Freedom!” was a watchword of the Mexican Revolution. “The nation is tired of false men and traitors who make promises like liberators and who on arriving in power forget them and constitute themselves as tyrants.”


2010

Demonstrations begin in Tunisia, the day after street vendor Mohammed Bouazizi self-immolated in protest of harassment from officials, setting off what would eventually become the Arab Spring.

1877

Nez Perce leader Hinmatóowyalahtq̓it,
also known as Chief Joseph,
ends a legendary three-month flight
to Canada by surrendering to US forces.
“Do not misunderstand me,
but understand fully with
reference to my affection for the land.
I never said the land was mine to do with as I choose.
The one who has a right to dispose of it is the one who created it.”

1980

Citizens of Kwangju, South Korea, seize control of their city, demanding democratization, an end to martial law, and an increase in the minimum wage.

1813

Simón Bolívar issues his “decree of War to the Death” for independence from Spain in Trujillo, Venezuela.
“Spaniards and Canarians, count on death, even if indifferent, if you do not actively work in favor of the independence of America. Americans, count on life, even if guilty.”

1924

James Baldwin, black American novelist, critic, and essayist, is born in Harlem, New York City. “People can cry much easier than they can change, a rule of psychology people like me picked up as kids on the street.”