we kept the faith while the four directions of the world decayed into real estate... & buy as much as we can of the little mementos of the history we threw away — Bleedster Troy Skeels, excerpt, The Song of the Tourist

AUGUST 14

NGUYEN AN NINH
Vietnamese libertarian communist,
journalist, prisoner, poet.

---

Massachusetts: LIBERTY TREE DAY.

Chicago: BUD BILLIKEN DAY, a Black children's holiday.

Sardinia: FESTIVAL AT SASSARI, which originated following a 16th century plague. A great procession of people carrying enormous lighted candles, each with many long ribbons attached & held by others, with ballet-like movements to flute & drums, & ending at the MADONNA OF THE MIDDLE OF AUGUST.

---

1040 -- Macbeth murders Duncan.
Source: 'Calendar Riots'


1284 -- Execution of Majd al-Mulk.


1607 -- The Popham expedition reaches the Sagadahoc River.


1619 -- New Old World: New "blue laws" enacted in Virginia.



1765 -- New Old World: Stamp Act riots begin in Boston.



1773 -- Samuel Johnson, while visiting Edinburgh, meets Boswell's wife, who complains of his manners & her husband's relationship with him: "I have seen many a bear led by a man, but I never before saw a man led by a bear."
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/boswell.htm


1802 -- Letitia Elizabeth Landon, lives, London. English poet/novelist who, at a time when women were conventionally restricted in their themes, wrote of passionate love. Her first volume of verse is published in 1821.


1815 -- US: Peace Society founded in NY.


1834 -- Richard Henry Dana, 19, leaves Boston aboard the brig Pilgrim, on a journey to be logged in Two Years Before the Mast.


1836 -- Writer Walter Besant lives.


1842 -- US: Seminole Indians forced to Oklahoma after 8-year war.


1846 -- US: Henry David Thoreau jailed for tax resistance to the Mexican War, Massachusetts.


1850 -- US: Squatters' riots in California.
Source: 'Calendar Riots'



1865 -- Italy: Pietro Gori lives, in Messina. Italian lawyer, ardent defender of the anarchists & himself an anarchist & labor propagandist. Forced into exile numerous times.

Founder of the (FORA (in Argentina), the review "Criminologia moderna" &, with Luigi Fabbri, the journal "Il pensiero." Wrote poetry & plays & author of the famous song Addio Lugano bella.

Died at age 46.

... show details

1867 -- British novelist/playwright John Galsworthy lives, Coombe, Surrey. Wrote The Forsyte Saga. Gets the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1932.

Galsworthy refused knighthood, believing writers should not accept titles. Gave away at least half of his income to humanitarian causes. In 1924 founded PEN, an international organization of writers. Produced 20 novels, 27 plays, 3 collections of poetry, 173 short stories, 5 collections of essays, 700 letters, & many sketches & miscellaneous works. After his death in 1933 his reputation declined, & his works attacked by D.H. Lawrence & Virginia Woolf. On the other hand, his influence is seen in Thomas Mann, & he was widely read in France & Russia.
Among lifelong friends was Joseph Conrad.

http://www.nobelprize.org/

1886 -- 14 August: Louise Michel est condamnée à quatre mois de prison et à 100 francs d'amende.
[Source: Michel Chronologie]



1887 -- France (?): Rirette Maitrejean (Anna Estorges) lives. French individualist. Companion of Mauricius (Maurice Vandamme) & also Victor Serge (aka Kibaltchiche); arrested with Serge & tried (February 3-27, 1913) for her involvement with the Bonnot Gang (acquitted).

... show details

"It was in the black mirror of anarchism that surrealism first recognized itself."

1888 -- Black Rain at Cape of Good Hope, "a rain so black as to be described as 'a shower of ink'."
http://home.comcast.net/~jholmes20/substory3.htm
http://www.sacred-texts.com/fort/damn/damn03.htm




1890 -- Spain: Rafael Farga Pellicer (1840?-1890) dies. Typographer, advocate of cooperativism & federalism, anarquista.

He met with Giuseppe Fanelli in 1868, & helped create the Barcelona section of the AIT, of which he was an influential member & its representative at numerous AIT congresses (International Workingman's Association, a section within the First International).

[Details / context]

1892 -- Italy: Il 14 e 15 agosto, si tenne a Genova, in sala Sivori, (l'attuale cinema Palazzo) un congresso delle società operaie e socialiste di tutta Italia, dopo la relazione del programma tenuta da Maffi, si ebbe la separazione dei socialisti dagli anarchici. I lavori proseguirono il giorno dopo in Via della Pace, senza gli anarchici e gli operaisti che rimasero in sala Sivori. Nacque così il Partito Socialista Italiano, parlamentarista e riformista.
... show details


1893 -- US: The LA Times reports (quote), "White men & women who desire to earn a living have for some time been entering quiet protests against vinyardists & packers employing Chinese in preference to whites."

The protests do not remain quiet in the next few years, as economic depression leads to violent anti-Chinese riots by unemployed white workers across California. Chinese workers suffer beatings & shootings, & are herded to railroad stations & loaded on trains. They bitterly refer to the violence & expulsion as the "driving out."

1893 -- France: First drivers' license required by Paris ordinance.


1898 -- France: Elise Freinet lives (1898-1981). Militant & teacher, anarchist, companion of Célestin Freinet. Together they founded "l'Ecole Freinet," & "L'Institut Coopératif de l'Ecole Moderne" (part of the Modern School movement).


1900 -- China: International military expedition occupies Beijing & loot the city, as the "Boxer Rebellion" against foreign intruders is put down. American forces participate "to protect US interests."


1901 -- Mercedes Comaposada Guillen lives (1901-1994), Barcelona, Spain. Teacher, translator, militant, & an anarquista.

---

One of the founders of Mujeres Libres (MM.LL), companion of the sculptor Baltasar Lobo, wrote for the libertarian press, & in France was protected from authorities by Pablo Picasso & became his secretary.

[Details / context]

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1904 --

Amsterdam, Netherlands August 14-20th, 1904

6è. congrés de la Segona Internacional. Hi van participar Pablo Iglesias representant el PSOE i Antonio García Quejido representant la UGT (Unió General de Treballadors). Source: [Congressos Obrers]

1906 -- US: Sixteen IWW locals meet in Chicago & vote to abolish the office of president. In September, at the IWW's 2nd convention, factional quarrels split the organization in two. The fight continues through 1908.
http://www.history.umd.edu/Gompers/chron3.htm


1908 -- US: Illinois declares martial law following Springfield race riot.


1909 -- Violinist Hezekiah "Stuff" Smith lives.

Stuff Smith 8.14.09 — 9.25.67 Violin: swing

Dizzy Gillespie has given Stuff Smith credit for showing him that an artist could engage in art & entertain at the same time. Stuff played with Nat King Cole, Jelly Roll Morton, Ella Fitzgerald & Oscar Peterson. http://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/musician.php?id=4454 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuff_Smith http://harlem.org/

1912 -- US: Got Interest?: American Marines sent to Nicaragua, which is in default of loans from the US & Europe.


1914 -- Stieg Trenter lives (1914-1967) (born Stig Johansson). Swedish journalist/mystery writer of 25 crime novels from 1943-1967. His wife UIla Trenter, also a writer, finished his last book. Trenter depicted the idyllic parks, business streets, historical places & modern milieu of Stockholm so vividly that plans were made to name a street after him. Trenter's books have enjoyed popularity for decades & been reprinted several times.
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/strenter.htm


1919 -- US: A streetcar collides with a switching locomotive at a grade crossing; the majority of 14 dead, most of whom are children, are scalded to death by the steam, Parkersburg, West Virginia.



1923 -- US:

Felix the Cat debuts in a comic strip in the Sunday funnies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_the_Cat




1924 -- England: Colin Ward lives. British architect & planner, teacher, & social critic.

An editor of Freedom newspaper from 1947-1960 & editor of the monthly Anarchy from 1961 to 1970.

Ward has written widely on town planning & related subjects, author of a dozen works dealing with the social environment. These include Housing: An Anarchist Approach, Tenants Take Over, Art & the Built Environment. Anarchy in Action is probably his most important book.

http://www.fact-index.com/c/co/colin_ward.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Ward

1925 -- American journalist Russell Baker lives, Loudoun County, Virginia. Wrote Poor Russell's Almanac.


1935 -- US: Congress passes Social Security Act. President Franklin Roosevelt signs Social Security Act.


1935 -- France: In the middle of this month Alexander Berkman returns to Nice; once apart, Emma Goldman & Alex are able to discuss their differences & their disappointment with each other's attitude after a long separation. Among Emma's visitors this month in St. Tropez are her old anarchist pal Ben Reitman's son Brutus & Dutch friends Dien & Tom Meelis from Toronto.


1936 -- US: Rainey Bethea hung, the last US public execution. Now the media controls the circus action & neatly hides the horror.
http://www.reocities.com/Heartland/Ridge/6275/Chapter5.htm


1936 -- Spain: The fascist insurgents take Badajoz; over 4,000 people are massacred in the next 10 days.
[Sources]


1943 -- A Very Bad Dude? Alfred Corn, formerly mild-mannered, meditative American poet now stuck in NYC, lives, Bainbridge, Georgia. His first volume of verse, All Roads at Once (1976), gets critical acclaim.

"BleedMeister:

Just found your Website on birthdays of notable people . . .
Not so sure I'm all that mild-mannered . . .
Since 1965 have lived in New York City,
where no mild-mannered individual would survive for long."

— Alfred Corn

The trivia, the nickel-and-dime of memory
Is hardest to accept, burning a hole
In decorum's pocket . . .

http://www.bostonreview.net/BR23.3/corn.html

1943 -- Vietnamese libertarian xommunist Nguy?n An Ninh dies, Con Dau prison.



1944 -- ¶ Lucien Carr kills David Kammerer; Beatster Jack Kerouac is arrested for helping Carr dispose of evidence.




1945 -- VJ Day — Japan surrenders, ending World War II. Two such wars & the massive deaths & destruction have taught governments, especially the victors, that if one wants to wage war it is better not to declare it so...

1947 -- India: Independence from British rule after years of Gandhian resistance.



1947 -- Bodice-ripper writer Danielle Steele lives. Romantic birth of a factory. Recently moved to China, where factory workers yearn much less.


1950 -- American cartoonist/humorist Gary Larson lives.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Larson



1956 -- Germany: Social & ideological reformer of the theater, Bertolt Brecht dies in East Berlin.

---

Your theory is crazy, but it's not crazy enough to be true. What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone? The finest plans have always been spoiled by the littleness of those that should carry them out. Even emperors can't do it all by themselves. If there are obstacles, the shortest line between two points may be a crooked line. The world of knowledge takes a crazy turn/ When teachers themselves are taught to learn. What is the robbing of a bank compared to the founding of a bank? http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAbrecht.htm

Foremost German playwright of 20th century; best known for "Threepenny Opera," 1928 (in collaboration with Kurt Weill). Socialist ideals saturate Brecht's writings. He viewed Marxism as a science centered around reason which explained the social conditions of his day & represented an answer to the fascism which engulfed his native Germany. H adhered to the Marxist principle that the only constant in life is change. Thus, his ideas on 20th century art constantly evolved. However, they always centered around the notion that art should attack the rising tide of fascism. See Brecht Centenary. Dreigroschenheft, a quarterly Brecht journal, has a revamped website. A "Tagespresse" button will survey Brecht-related articles & reviews in the German daily press. A basic chronology of Brecht's life includes an extensive bibliography.

http://www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/bin/litcrit.out.pl?au=bre-261
http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/44j1m9

1956 -- US: Hick-Up? DJ Bob Rickman creates the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Elvis Presley. Much of the national coverage of the singer has been critical, as evidenced by the many headlines which refer to him as a hillbilly.



1958 -- Gladys Presley, mom of Elvis, dies at 46.
http://jubal.westnet.com/hyperdiscordia/sacred_heart_elvis.html
http://www.elvispresleyonline.com/?404=Y


1963 -- US: Broken by McCarthyism, left playwright Clifford Odets dies, Los Angeles.

Daily Bleed Saint, 2004 CLIFFORD ODETS
Almost single-handedly brought Jewish radical theater
to a wide audience, American & world-wide.

1966 -- London's "Catholic Herald" calls John Lennon's apology for his remark about the Beatles being more popular than Lenny Bruce, "arrogant." However the publication admits, as Lennon asserted, it's probably true.

If you can't say "Fuck," you can't say, "Fuck the government."

— Lenny Bruce

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TrQxeNEPLo
http://www.lennybruceofficial.com/
http://www.mugshots.org/
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/l/lenny_bruce.html

1967 -- US: Former SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) leader H. Rap Brown is indicted in Cambridge, Massachusetts for inciting to riot.

"Violence is as American as cherry pie..."

— H. Rap Brown

1968 -- South Africa: In Capetown 400 students occupy the University to protest government opposition to the nomination of a black professor.
http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?include=docs/misc/2010/umzabalazo.html


1968 -- US: ACLU suit seeking an injunction requiring issuance of permit in Chicago for way big demonstration is withdrawn after hearing amid concerns that court might instead enjoin demonstrators.
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/Chicago7/chicago7.html
http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Exhibits/Track16.html#Poster
http://theaction.com/Abbie/


1969 --

Hem Day (1902-1969) dies. Belgian scholar, secondhand bookseller, pacifist, anarchist, & writer (aka Marcel &/or Henri Dieu).

1970 -- US: White House aide Tom Huston writes Roger Barth, a top IRS official, to see how Beloved & Respected Comrade Leader President Dick M Nixon's plan to have the agency move against leftist ideological movements was coming along.


1974 -- Doo-Doo Wop?: Paul Anka's "You're Having My Baby," is gold despite its denouncement by feminists. The objection is the use of the word 'my' as in "my baby," not "our baby." Number One by the end of the summer.



1980 -- Poland: After two months of labor turmoil, 16,000 Polish workers seize the Lenin Shipyard, Gdansk.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solidarity


1994 -- Alice Childress dies in New York. Remembered for her acting, play writing, & the adolescent novel, A Hero Ain't Nothing But a Sandwich. Other novels include A Short Walk (1979), Rainbow Jordan (1981), Many Closets (1987), & Those Other People (1989).


1998 -- US: Microradio movement news accounts on the struggle to free the airwaves: August 14, 1998 Radio Free Oxon Hill — Washington Post
Source: [Pirate Radio Kiosk]


2000 -- US: Democratic Convention, Los Angeles, Ca., 14th-17th.

"The twentieth century has been characterised by three developments of great political importance:
> the growth of democracy; the growth of corporate power;
> & the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of
> protecting corporate power against democracy."

— Alex Carey (from "Taking the Risk Out of Democracy")

Anarchists flaunt counter-culture; Special report: the US elections.

The banner spells out the theme of the gathering: "Whoever they vote for, we are ungovernable."

There are many young activists in black T-shirts with badges honouring everything from the anarchist band, Crass, to the Industrial Workers of the World, better known as the Wobblies.

Jay Brophry, an LA engineer who broadcasts on the illegal anarchist station, Radio Clandestino, said "We are in a historical period when the nation state is being overwhelmed by the corporate state. Decisions are being made by the WTO, who no one elected."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2000/aug/14/uselections2000.usa1

2001 -- US: On Strike? Earl Anthony ("Voted Bowler of the Millennium") strikes out big time.


2001 -- Italy: Busted? Blacklisted/G8 protesters & performers remain detained in Italy.

"A state must never lose the monopoly on the use of force."

— Italian Interior Minister Claudio Scajola

Any Americans reading this own a black bra? (Yes, you too, Billy Bob!) If so, don't wear it on a trip to northern Italy, where possession of women's black undergarments is punishable by beating & imprisonment. & if you are beaten & jailed by Italian polizia for said offense (especially girly men, rotto portando un reggiseno nero), don't expect the US government to help you....

[Details / context]

http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Blacklisted-G8-protesters-and-performers-remain-2890043.php

2002 -- "Free Parking, a performance-work" by Séamas Cain (written in conjunction with the Art Installation) premiers (-August 31) at the Art Gallery of the Centre of Academic Resources, Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand.

Will the city-authorities build a car-park for an art museum — or an art museum for a car-park?!

"Text & counter-Text, we cannot understand the Past — unless we catch the Future in the Present! Let us begin!"

http://seamascain-writernetwork.org/photo6.html
[Source: Charlatan Stew]

2002 -- Maverick painter Larry Rivers dies, Southhanmpton, Long Island, NY.


2003 -- US: Largest power blackout in history hits huge swatch of the Northeast.


2008 -- US: What To Do With Those Pesky Emu Chicks?: For your reading pleasure the Post Office today offers this badly needed gem:

Mailability of Day-old Emu Chicks
We revised 601.9.3.2 to permit the mailing of day-old emu chicks. We published this revision in the August 14, 2008, Postal Bulletin.

& you wondered why the Post Office is threatening in 2011 to layoff some 120,000 & whack the health benefits of the 10 remaining workers what still be slogging thru rain, sleet, snow & global warming....

2010 -- US: Fifth Annual Providence Anarchist Bookfair at FOO FEST!

http://web.archive.org...5th-providence-anarchist-book-fair/