This
Week in History is a collection designed to help us
a ppreciate the fact that we are part of a rich history
advocating peace and social justice. While the entries
often focus on large and dramatic events there are
so many smaller things done everyday to promote peace
and justice.
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Monday
February
20, 1942
The vast majority of teachers in German-occupied Norway refused to comply with the forced Nazification of the school system. The government had ordered display of the portrait of German-installed Minister President Vidkun Quisling (formerly head of Nasjonal Samling, the Norwegian fascist party) in all classrooms, revision of the curriculum and textbooks to reflect Nazi ideology, and teaching of German to replace English as their second language
The
teachers organized and 12,000 of 14,000 nationwide wrote
the same letter on this day to the education department
refusing membership in the newly formed Nazi teachers’ association.
Two days later clergy throughout the country read a manifesto
against Nazi control of the schools.
How the teachers pushed back
Vidkun
Quisling (on right), Germany’s puppet leader in
Norway,
allowed Germany to invade his country and declared himself Prime Minister.
In
Norway his name has become synonymous with traitor.
1" button for your lapel union made • detroit click to order
February
20, 1956
The U.S. rejected a Soviet proposal to ban nuclear weapons tests and deployment. The U.S. continued atmospheric nuclear testing in the South Pacific and Nevada until 1963.
Nearly 40,000 pro-Democracy Moroccans demonstrated peacefully in 57 towns and cities across the country. Though there was sporadic violence later that night, Interior minister Taeib Cherqaoui called the earlier efforts “the healthy practice of the freedom of expression.”
Tuesday
February
21, 1848
Friedrich
Engels
Karl
Marx
“The
Communist Manifesto,” written by 29-year-old Karl
Marx with the assistance of Friedrich Engels, was published
in London (in German) by a group of German-born revolutionary
socialists known as the Communist League. The political
pamphlet — arguably one of the most influential
in history — proclaimed that "the history
of all hitherto existing society is the history of class
struggles," and that the inevitable victory of the
proletariat, or working class, would put an end to class
society forever.
Read
the Manifesto
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February
21, 1965
Malcolm X, an African-American nationalist and religious leader, was shot and killed in New York City by Black Muslims with whom he had broken the year before, as he began to address his Organization of Afro-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City’s Washington Heights. His home had been firebombed just a few days earlier. He was 39.
Radio story on the late Manning Marable’s biography,
Malcolm X: A Life of Reinventiion
"You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom."
- Malcolm X see more quotes
February
21, 1972
The
trial began for Father Philip Berrigan and six other
activists (the "Harrisburg
Seven") in Pennsylvania. They were charged with conspiring
in an alleged plot to kidnap Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
Proceedings later ended in a mistrial.
Remembering Fr.
Philip Berrigan
Daniel
Berrigan, above, and his brother Philip in the documentary, "Investigation
of a Flame." The film focuses on the Catonsville action.
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February
21, 2011
Two Libyan Air Force fighter pilots defected to the Mediterranean island of Malta rather than carry out orders they had received to bomb civilian countrymen. Two helicopters with seven others landed in Malta to escape the violence. Col. Muammar Qadaffi had ordered the attacks in attempt to quell the growing protests against his 42-year dictatorship.
Libya’s ambassadors to China, India, Indonesia and Poland, as well as Libya's representative to the Arab League and most, if not all, of its mission at the United Nations resigned the same day.
"Thank you for providing this wonderful and important resource!
I am a high school teacher and find your calendar informative and inspirational . . . I find that mentioning the events in my class often generates discussion which requires setting a context . . . Again, thank your time and energy you put into this calendar."
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Wednesday
February
22, 1943
Sophie
Scholl, a 22-year-old White Rose (Weisse Rose) activist
at Munich University, was executed after being convicted
of urging students to rise up and overthrow the Nazi
government.
There are many memorials in Bavaria and Germany to Sophie and
her group, the White Rose, but little is known outside of Germany.
They were medical students who organized nonviolent resistance
to Hitler, and were arrested for printing and distributing
anti-Nazi flyers.
Sophie,
her brother Hans, a former member of Hitler Youth who
started White Rose, and Christof Probst, the three young
people in the photo, were executed. Few White Rose members
survived the war which is why the story is not well known.
Film made about Sophie Scholl’s courage &
watch the trailer
February
22, 1974
Farmer Sam Lovejoy toppled the weather tower for a proposed nuclear power plant in Montague, Massachusetts. This was the first act of civil disobedience against the dangers of nuclear power in the U.S. Lovejoy turned himself in to the police, was tried but not convicted.
Nearly
35,000 marched in Paris against a new anti-immigration
bill. Many of the demonstrators
chanted "First, second or third generation, we are all
children of immigrants." Another 5,000 movie directors,
writers, painters, actors, translators, journalists and teachers
signed petitions pledging civil disobedience.
There's more peace and justice history to see
For a more complete listing for this week or to visit another month Jan • Feb • March April • May • June July • Aug • Sept Oct • Nov • Dec
Thursday
February
23, 1982
Wales declared itself a nuclear weapons-free zone. It has just one remaining nuclear power plant left at Wylfa on Anglesey, generating about 15% of the country’s electricity. The process of decommissioning the Wylfa plant is planned to take until the year 2125.
Nuclear-free zones
February
23, 2011
Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city, fell to rebels after three days of violent clashes with the forces of brutal dictator Col. Muammar Qaddafi.
“He is gone. A dragon has been slain,” cried Ahmed Al-Fatuuir outside the secret police headquarters. “Now he has to explain where all the bodies are.
Graffiti showing a caricature of Gaddafi reading,
'The Monkey of Monkeys of Africa', a reference to his self-declared title 'The King of Kings of Africa'.
Peace quote . . .
"Wars, conflict, it's all business. One murder makes a villain.
Millions a hero. Numbers sanctify." - Charlie Chaplin see more quotes
Friday
February
24, 1895
José Martí,
a Cuban revolutionary, poet, journalist and teacher,
began the liberation struggle against Spanish control.
He had been forced out of Cuba repeatedly (to Spain)
for his opposition to colonial rule, and spent 15 years
in the U.S. organizing the revolution just before returning
home.
José Martí
I
Cultivate a White Rose
By José Martí I cultivate a white rose
In July as in January
For the sincere friend
Who gives me his hand frankly.
And for the cruel person who tears out
the heart with which I live,
I cultivate neither nettles nor thorns:
I cultivate a white rose.
District
1199 of the health care workers’ union (now Service
Employees International Union) in New York City became the
first U.S. labor union to officially
oppose the war in Vietnam.
February
24, 1966
Barry
Bondhus, classified 1-A (fully eligible) for the draft
during the Vietnam War, dumped two buckets of manure in
file drawers at the Elk River, Minnesota, draft board.
A farmer’s son (one of ten brothers) from Big Lake
who acted with the full support of his parents, he was
charged with destruction of government property.
Father
and son, Tom and Barry Bondhus, united in their opposition
to the draft.
Photo:
Pete Hohn, Minneapolis Tribune
His
father, Tom, wrote a declaration of war on the government
over their insistence on forcing his boys into the army.
He said he was prepared to die to protect his sons but
eager to negotiate.“My opinion is that since our
constitution guarantees: Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit
of Happiness; and because the army denies all three; the
draft is not lawful.”
Barry, sometimes referred to as “the Big Lake One,” who listed his
race as “human” on the draft forms, served 14 months in jail and
prison for his action.
Perspective
on the case and the Bondhus family more than 40 years later
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Saturday
February
25, 1941
A general strike was called in Amsterdam to protest Nazi persecution of Jews under the German Nazi occupation.The previous weekend 425 Jewish men and boys had been imprisoned (only two survived the war). Truck drivers, dock and metal workers, civil servants and factory employees — Christians, Liberals, Social Democrats and Communists — answered the call and brought the city to a standstill. The work stoppages spread to Zaanstreek, Kennemerland and Utrecht.
Two days later the strike was called off: nine people were dead, 50 injured and another 200 arrested, some of whom were to die in the concentration camps.
Read more download
pdf
The Dokwerker” is a statue by sculptor Mari Andriessen in Amsterdam’s Jonas Daniel Meyer Square commemorating the February 1941 strike. It is frequestly the rallying point for demonstrations against racism.
February
25, 1968
Discussing
the war capacity of North Vietnam, a country that had been
fighting for its independence for 23 years and had just staged
the massive, successful Tet Offensive, U.S. General William
C. Westmoreland stated, "I do not believe Hanoi can hold
up under a long war." He was replaced as commander in
Vietnam less than four months later.
Westmoreland’s
life and career
Vietnam commander
Gen. William Westmoreland meeting with Pres. Lyndon Johnson
Advertisement
Against
the Current a bi-monthly
analytical journal. ATC presents varying points of view on a wide variety of issues with the goal of promoting discussion among activists, organizers, and scholars on the Left. click to visit
February
25, 1971
Legislation
was introduced in both houses of Congress to forbid U.S. military
support of any South Vietnamese invasion of North Vietnam without
prior congressional approval. This bill was a result of the
controversy that arose following the invasion of Laos by South
Vietnamese forces.
On February 8, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam had launched
a major cross-border operation into Laos to interdict activity
along the Ho Chi Minh Trail and destroy the North Vietnamese
supply dumps in the area. The Ho Chi Minh Trail, named for
the leader of North Vietnam, was an informal network of jungle
trails down which supplies came from the north, supplying insurgents
and troops in the south.
February
25, 2011
A Day of Rage saw demonstrations across the Middle East. Protesters in Iraq, Yemen, Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, and Bahrain showed their support variously for an end to corruption and income inequality, political reform and better public services, and the replacement of long-running dictatorships with democratic regimes. strike was called in Amsterdam to protest Nazi persecution of Jews under the German Nazi occupation.
Day of Rage in Taiz, Yemen
Reports from throughout the region
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Sunday
February
26, 1966
Four
thousand picketed outside New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
as President Lyndon Johnson received
the National Freedom Award. As Johnson began his speech in
defense of his Vietnam policies, James Peck of the War Resisters
League jumped to his feet and shouted, "Mr. President,
peace in Vietnam!"
On the streets, meanwhile, activist A.J. Muste presented the
crowd's own "Freedom Award" to Julian Bond, who had
been denied his seat in the Georgia legislature for refusing
to disavow his opposition to the war, and for his support of
the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee.
Julian Bond in 1966
February
26, 1984
The last of the 1400 peacekeeping troops Pres. Ronald Reagan had sent to the Lebanese capital of Beirut were evacuated. The troops were part of an international force sent to deal with the Lebanese civil war. The president withdrew almost all American troops following the deaths of 241 Marines and 58 French paratroopers in a suicide truck bombing carried out four months earlier by the combined forces of Islamic Jihad and Hizbollah. France withdrew its troops as well.
Three weeks earlier, Reagan had told the Wall Street Journal, “As long as there is a chance for peace, the mission remains the same. If we get out, that means the end of Lebanon.” In a barb directed at House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O'Neill Jr. (D-Massachusetts), Reagan had said, “He may be ready to surrender, but I'm not.
The
Beirut barracks bombing remembered
News
of the withdrawal of peacekeeping troops
February
26, 1998
An international Citizens' Weapons Inspection Team, led by Canadian Member of Parliament Libby Davies (NDP-Vancouver East), was denied entry to determine the presence or absence of weapons of mass destruction at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, Washington, nuclear submarine base, just 12 km (20 miles) from Seattle and less than 60 km (100 mile) from Canadan
Read more
Libby
Davies
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José Martí
