Today in Labor History April 13, 1873: The Colfax massacre, occurred in Colfax, Louisiana. A mob of former Confederate soldiers and current KKK members murdered 60-153 black militiamen after they surrendered. The militiamen were guarding the parish courthouse in the wake of the contested 1872 election for governor. Southern elections during Reconstruction were regularly marred by violence and fraud. It was the worst act of racist violence during Reconstruction.
Today in Labor History April 13, 1975: Phalangists in Lebanon killed 26 members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. This marked the start of the 15-year Lebanese Civil War. 120,000 people died in the war and nearly one million people fled the country. One of the worst atrocities of the war was the Sabra and Shatila massacre. Lebanese Phalangists, allied with the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), slaughtered 3,500 Lebanese and Palestinian civilians in a refugee camp. IDF soldiers facilitated the slaughter by blocking exits and preventing civilians from escaping. In 1983, the Kahan Commission found then-Israeli Defense Minister, Ariel Sharon, personally responsible for the massacre. He resigned and then became Prime Minister.
Bob Lemmons, Carrizo Springs, Texas. Born a slave about 1850, south of San Antonio, Texas. Came to Carrizo Springs during Civil War with white men seeking new range for their cattle. In 1865, with his master was one of the first settlers. He knew Billy the Kid, King Fisher, and other noted bad men of the border
#BobLemmons #CarrizoSprings #Texas #SanAntonio #CivilWar #first #Billy #undefined #photography #DorotheaLange
Happy 160th anniversary of a bunch of murderous cowards finally giving up on the idea that they should own other human beings.
"The Battle of Appomattox Court House [...] was the final engagement of Confederate General in Chief Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia before they surrendered to the Union Army of the Potomac under the Commanding General of the United States Army, Ulysses S. Grant."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Appomattox_Court_House
The 4th New York Independent Battery Monument at Gettysburg, with views of the Devil's Den and a historic witness tree.
#BuyIntoArt #DevilsDen #Gettysburg #CivilWar #Battlefield #monument #historic
https://john-twynam.pixels.com/featured/gettysburg-4th-ny-battery-monument-1-john-twynam.html
I guess I got kinda nostalgic with my previous post about Shannon. I really do miss him a lot. When I talk about my past, my son sometimes says he wishes he could've met Shannon.
So, here are some photos from 1993, when Shannon flew down to El Salvador to hang out with me. I'd been in Central America for a coupla months already. Shannon brought 2 surfboards and we surfed Punta Roca, in La Libertad, long before it became a major stop on the WSL Championship Tour. Today it's a crowded lineup. In fact, the Surf City El Salvador Pro is happening there right now. But back then, you could share that nearly perfect cobble stone point break with as few as 2-3 local boys, and no other foreigners. We also surfed nearby El Zunzal, at least until a shark drove everyone out of the water. (There had been a fatal shark attack just a few days prior, and no one, not even the locals, wanted to test their luck). They also have sea snakes. And the water and air are so warm you're tempted to bring a water bottle out into the lineup with you to stave off dehydration.
The first picture, below, is from a demonstration we attended against the death squads. In '93, the Civil War was officially over. But there were still periodic death squad killings. People had protest signs: "Impunidad, Basta Ya!" There were UN peace keepers there. Busloads of people from all the different departments (states), proudly displaying the names of people's towns and villages. Representatives were there from Amnesty International, and CISPES (Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador). In San Salvador's Zona Rosa, you could still see bullet holes in the restaurant walls, 10 years later, from the brazen attack by guerrillas there. They killed several U.S. marines and businessmen, as well as Salvadoran soldiers. And in the beach side cantinas and restaurants of La Libertad, you could gorge on oysters with oligarchs and their teenage secretaries (not that one would want to, but they'd sometimes show up, while you were drinking a caguama of cerveza Regia and munching on free snacks of grilled shrimp).
The other 2 photos are from the room we rented in a casa de huespedes we were staying at in El Zunzal. Shannon brought a camping stove that ran on gasoline. We sometimes cooked our own meals in the room. One night, a bat flew into a wall outside our room. As I examined it's stunned body, lying on the ground, it got scared, but was too stunned to fly. So, using it's wings like propellers, it scuttled into our room before we could stop it. And then managed to fly up into the rafters. And for the rest of the trip, we had to share our room with a bat.
There was a local guy we befriended, Antonio. He was a classic surfer bum. Not sure what he did for money, but he was always surfing, or hanging out with us. Made himself a didgeridoo out of bamboo, and was quite competent at playing it. He always refused when we offered him beer, or aguardiente, because "no son puro." But he had no problem with weed, "porque es puro," as every stoner knows. Antonio loved 60s music. His favorite song was Break on Through, by the Doors. He was convinced that the song was about surfing. They way he explained it, the song was about punching through a wave on the paddle out, breaking through to the other side. And whenever he thought anyone was getting anxious or angry he'd say, "enfrialo."
The day Shannon arrived, I bussed to San Salvador, from La Libertad, to meet him at the airport. We stopped on the way back at a roadside refreshment stand. They had fresh coconuts, which Shannon was craving. But he made the mistake of requesting "una coca" instead of "un coco." He was very sad when they handed him a plastic bag filled with coca cola and a straw.
“Civil War on the Horizon? The Ashkenazi-Sephardic Conflict and Israel’s Future”
by Ramzy Baroud in The Palestine Chronicle
“Though the Ashkenazis are losing most of their political power, they continue to hold most of their economic cards, which could lead to disruptive strikes and civil disobedience”
#Press ##Israel #CivilWar #Ashkenazi #Sephardi #Mizrahi #Netanyahu #Zionism #ClassWar #FarRight #Apartheid
A. P. Hill defected from the US Army to become a general for the pro-slavery Confederate army; he was frail and suffered from frequent illnesses, and was killed OTD in 1865 https://cromwell-intl.com/travel/usa/washington-lee-mansion/?s=mb #travel #CivilWar #history #BLM
Today in Labor History April 2, 1863: Bread riots occurred in Richmond, Virginia, as a result of a drought the previous year, combined with a blockade by the Union Army and overall Civil War-related shortages. Food riots occurred throughout the South around this time, led primarily by women. During the Richmond riot, women broke into storehouses and shops, stealing food, clothing and jewelry before the militia was able to restore order.
#civilwar #molotov #escalation
New Mexico GOP headquarters molotoved
Right-wing media are reporting that the New Mexico headquarters of the GOP was hit with a molotov cocktail yesterday. The entryway is desceribed by Breitbart as "destroyed." Presumably this prevents use of the building until (and IF) it can be repaired.
Link to whiny fash site below, replace (dot) with . to follow
breitbart(dot)com/politics/2025/03/30/headquarters-of-new-mexico-republican-party-targeted-in-deliberate-act-of-arson/
There is more online reporting on the growing risk that Trump will invoke the Insurrection Act on or after April 20, when that border "security" report by Pete Hegseth Kristi Noem is due in.
https://medium.com/@aletheisthenes/if-the-shit-actually-hits-the-fan-b491462c6057
I disagree with one point made here: I do NOT agree that protests or direct actions play into Trump's hands, as if he is denied one excuse or venue for a false flag he will simply find or create another.
I do NOT vouch for this report, but there has been a lot of similar speculation elsewhere. Save that he did NOT attempt to invoke the Insurrection Act on Inauguration Day and put it on this timer instead, Chump has pretty much been doing what he telegraphed he would do. His latest decree (Executive Order) calls for a lot of direct Federal intervention in DC.
This includes maximum cooperation between cops, courts, and ICE. Confederate states (only one in storate being the Albert Pike statue we pulled down June 19 2020) to go back up. A "beautification" and "crime control" plan no doubt aimed at sweeping away the nonwhite and especially the unhoused.
What better pretext does Bibi need to deflect attention away from the very real possibility of a civil war in Israel than to wage war on Iran?
“Olmert, Gantz Sound Alarm: Threat of Civil War in Israel Closer than Ever”
by Palestine Chronicle Staff
“Amid a deepening political and institutional crisis, Israeli leaders warn that internal divisions are endangering the state’s security and stability”
@GW
RE
"...Black, Latino, and women service members were suddenly erased, from Sgt. William Carney, the first Black American to earn a #MedalofHonor during the #CivilWar... #JackieRobinson, World War II #TuskegeeAirmen, a decorated #JapaneseAmerican unit while Americans of Japanese descent were interned, and the famous #NavajoCodeTalkers, most of the erasure remains"
Erasure of history will eventually ask you to add it back, what a waste of life
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War
(disease killed too)
Crimethinc publishes near-future hypothetical: survival-a story about anarchistys enduring mass raids
https://crimethinc.com/2025/03/21/survival-a-story-about-anarchists-enduring-mass-raids
LOTS of details in this about escape and evasion, survival, and the expected takedowns of communications infrastructure and the workarounds to bypass the takedowns.
A lot can be learned from this one! Seriouly folks, if you don't have a go-bag ready, stop reading and start preparing one RIGHT NOW
Today in Labor History March 25, 1919: Cossack troops murdered 4,000 Jews in the Tetiev pogrom in Ukraine, two-thirds of the Jewish population. They tossed infants into the air and dashed their bodies on the pavement and burned the Jewish quarter to the ground. The Tetiev pogrom would become the prototype of mass murder during the Holocaust. During the Russian Civil War, from 1918 to 1921, there were 1,236 violent attacks against Jews in 524 Ukrainian towns. 30,000-60,000 died in these pogroms. The Ukrainian People's Republic army, Ukrainian warlords, the Red Army and the Polish Army all participated in anti-Jewish pogroms.
Today in Labor History March 23, 1988: Angolan and Cuban forces defeated South Africa in the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale. The battle started in August, 1987. In addition to Cubans, volunteers from the USSR, Vietnam, the African National Congress and SWAPO joined the People’s Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA) in the Angolan Civil War. It was the largest battle in Africa since World War II. Several thousand died on both sides, including citizens of South Africa, Cuba, and the USSR
Today in Labor History March 23, 1871: Far left workers proclaimed communes in Lyon and Marseilles. The Paris Commune began March 18. Workers, including Cluseret and Mikhail Bakunin, had tried to create a commune in Lyon in 1870, as well. Prior to this, Cluseret fought the bourgeois moderates during the 1848 Paris uprising. And in 1860, he joined Garabaldi in his fight for Italian independence. In 1860, when William Sewell made a plea for European generals, he joined Union army with letters of support from Garibaldi, serving as a colonel, commanding troops in Shenandoah Valley. He eventually rose to the rank of general, but eventually quit when he was accused of insubordination for complaining about the abuse of civilians by Union troops. After that, he joined the Irish Republican cause, managing to escape a death sentence by the British. During the Paris Commune, Cluseret served as Minister of War. However, when he refused to arrest Monsignior Darboy, Archbishop of Paris, he was arrested for collusion with the enemy.
Cluseret once said, “the U.S. presents that strange anomaly of enslaved labor in a free nation. Politically free, the worker is socially the capitalists’ serf.”
Marx called him an opportunist and an overambitious babbler.
History of Anarcho-syndicalist Catalonia (The Spanisch Civil War; documentary) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9X8vgdHw10
“‘Kingdom’ is Collapsing – Israeli Newspapers on Civil War, Netanyahu’s Dictatorship”
by Palestine Chronicle Staff
“Israeli analysts warn that #Netanyahu’s dismissal of #ShinBet head Ronen #Bar is leading Israel towards a civil war and potential #dictatorship”
