#thisdayinhistory
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The #BattleOfHolbeckMoor was #ThisDayInHistory in 1936, when #antifascists & #communists challenged #OswaldMosley & his #Blackshirts in Leeds. Hearing the #fascist demagogue & 1000 of his terrorist thugs would rally, 30,000 #antifa showed up to shout them down and throw punches.
On #ThisDayInHistory in 1961, #Black farmer #HerbertLee was shot in the head, in public, before dozens of witnesses, by #Mississippi state legislator #EHHurst just for registering Black voters. Hurst claimed 'self-defence' against the unarmed Lee, and was acquitted the same day.
Think countries like #Canada give a damn about #FreeSpeech? No nation-state has a good record on it. In 1918 on #ThisDayInHistory the #IWW was outlawed in Canada. Their crime? Opposition to the #FirstWorldWar and the killing fields to which the #WorkingClass were shipped to die.
The #BeirutPortExplosion was #ThisDayInHistory in 2020. A cargo of #AmmoniumNitrate, 2,750 tonnes of it, was confiscated in 2014, then left in unsafe storage conditions. Fire in a nearby warehouse set off a massive explosion, killing at least 218 people & causing ~7000 injuries.
A Second #GulfOfTonkinIncident was alleged for #ThisDayInHistory in 1964, as destroyers #USSMaddox & #USSTurnerJoy patrolled the coast of #NorthVietnam. Both ships opened fire on empty ocean due to faulty equipment readings. The military then lied, inventing a Vietnamese attack.
The #YazidiGenocide began #ThisDayInHistory in 2014, when #Daesh/#ISIS, the #Sunni nationalist terrorists, turned on them, killing thousands of men and enslaving/#trafficking thousands of women. #Yazidis are a #Kurdish-speaking ethnoreligious group with deep roots in the region.
The first presidential candidate to include a proposal for #UniversalHealthcare was #TheodoreRoosevelt in 1912, but the first tentative, partial step toward it was taken by #LyndonBJohnson on #ThisDayInHistory in 1965 with the addition of #Medicare & #Medicaid to #SocialSecurity.
Having already shown himself a genocidal prick, #NathanielBacon put out his #populist 'Declaration of the People of Virginia' and launched #BaconsRebellion on #ThisDayInHistory in 1676. It united the Black & white #WorkingClass against colonial landowners (and #NativeAmericans).
#Egypt was one of the first modern, industrial states, only later held back by European imperialism. The #BattleOfBelenPass, on #ThisDayInHistory in 1832 during the #FirstEgyptianOttomanWar, saw a larger #Ottoman army crushed, effectively passing the #Levant to Egyptian control.
#Israeli NGO #BTselem, which extensively reports on #Zionist #apartheid, released a detailed case that its government is committing #genocide in #Palestine on #ThisDayInHistory in 2025. The #ICJ case will be bolstered by their fine collaborative analysis.
The #WatergateScandal took another big step forward on #ThisDayInHistory in 1974 when the House Judiciary Committee voted 27 to 11 to recommend a first article of #impeachment, on #ObstructionOfJustice, for doomed President #RichardMNixon. He resigned less than two weeks later.
The #AmericansWithDisabilitiesAct was signed by #GeorgeHWBush on #ThisDayInHistory in 1990, making things just a little bit better for millions of Americans. There is much yet to do, and the US leaves behind far too many with serious conditions. #DisabilityRightsAreHumanRights
On #ThisDayInHistory in 1575, the English proved the more ruthless of Ireland's colonizers. #FrancisDrake provided naval cover for the #RathlinIslandMassacre, as English troops overran a Scottish castle off #Antrim, killing ~600 people, many refugees from other English attacks.
On #ThisDayInHistory in 1934, revolutionary #anarchist #NestorMakhno died. He led forces during the #RussianRevolution and #CivilWar, executing #antisemites and distributing land & autonomy to the peasants & workers. Their betrayal by the #SovietUnion hurt the #socialist cause.
The #RichardNixon presidency collapsed on #ThisDayInHistory in 1974, when #SCOTUS ruled unanimously that presidents are not above the law & that the subpoena of White House tapes was valid. The #WatergateScandal may, until recently, have been our sharpest test of executive power.
#DirectAction is a historically effective way to protect #WorkingClass interests. China's #TonghuaSteel was set to be privatized, with 5/6 of its workers laid off to increase profitability. On #ThisDayInHistory in 2009, workers beat an executive to death. The sale was cancelled.
#Teamsters in #SalinasValley, CA, won a #strike on #ThisDayInHistory in 1970, after just one week that cost producers thousands of acres of lettuce. In addition to a pay rise, the #union gained exclusive rights to organize farm workers, setting up a fight with #UnitedFarmWorkers.
#NSSavannah, the passenger-cargo liner and second civilian #nuclear vessel, launched on #ThisDayInHistory in 1959, on a US gov. #ColdWar initiative. Germany & Japan also experimented, but all three failed from the same high costs. The only active nuclear merchant ship is Russian.
Thousands of workers in #Baltimore with the #GreatUpheaval/#GreatRailroadStrike clashed with #NationalGuard on #ThisDayInHistory in 1877. Federal troops reinforced them and opened fire, killing up to 22 #WorkingClass Americans and injuring 150+. This is the price of #capitalism.