This Day in History

[Undertoad]

Originally Posted by DanaC

I was at that demo.

Such an important event and such an amazing story of it, and all I can think is, did you see Sqwubbsy?

[xoxoxoBruce]

1992 – The USS Missouri, the last active United States Navy battleship, is decommissioned in Long Beach, California.

1997 – The first episode of Teletubbies is aired on BBC.

See the slippery slope? We should give the military $50 Billion more.

[tw]

Originally Posted by DanaC

It became very violent and the police used the kettling technique - At one point there was a charge of mounted police and the crowd surged away, I lost my footing, and end up on the ground, Judah grabbed my hand and dragged me up and out of the way of the oncoming horses.

In earlier days, soldiers would fire live ammunition at demonstrators only because they were aggressively demonstrating. Such lack of restraint created Kent State, the legacy of Martin McGuinness, Brighton hotel bombing, and massive violence in Northern Ireland.

What you witnessed; was that a legacy of attitudes back then? Did authority attitudes (in UK) towards violent and unrestrained enforcement change significantly since then? Was that an example of less violence by authorities? Have better techniques been deployed to avert the resulting violence and aggression? Your impression?

[DanaC]

I did not. I saw the smoke when the South African embassy was set on fire - or a little part of it anyway.

This is an interesting section in wiki. And it brings to my mind something I'd kind of half forgotten about that time - the total disconnect between what was being reported and said about the riot - both on tv and in general conversation was completely at odds with what I had just experienced.

Judah and I were there as SWP members. We were on one of the SWP coaches - we knew the people that were being characterised in the press as rabble-rousing anarchists, tantamount to terrorists and criminals - the names they were printiing were people whose talks we'd listened to at the SWP gathering in Scunthorpe.

The SWP, for all its radical politics and presence within various instances of civil disobedience and industrial action, was a small-minded, rulesy grouping of people whose idea of political activity primarily rested in deep conversations at the bar of the social club, selling newspapers outside a pasty shop in town an writing interesting books for the left wing press whilst chowing down on kale and cous cous/pie and peas depending whether proudly working class or shame-faced middle class.

When I left the SWP it was after a ridiculous argument, in a pub, about the limits and definition of democratic centralism.

After the demo, people's attitude to it, to the people demonstrating and the 'poor police' who faced down the uncontrollable, angry mob, who had been riled into action by black flag waving anarchists and militant lefties, and against whom the police had been forced to use harsh tactics - was very dispiriting.

It was a few years before the narrative started to shift and the police take ownership of how they had mishandled that demonstration and were the primary aggressors in it.

One of my other memories of that day is that all the way along the first part of the route (can't give specifics it all just merged into one big crowd in a city I had never walked around in before - I was pretty much just following Jude) the police were so friendly. It was a carnival atmosphere - everypne was in a good mood. It was sunny and warm - there were people playing drums and pipes and some were juggling. There were parents with kids on their shoulders - a group of elderly women with a big banner saying 'Grannies Against the Poll Tax'

We laughed and joked with the police lining the route and they laughed and joked back. The stewards were keeping everything orderly and getting the crowd going with chants and songs.

I remember getting nearer to Downing Street and Judah saying to me' Look, no numbers' and pointed to the police - none of the police near the contested areas, seemed to have numbers on their collars. Most of these were in some sort of body armour. But we hadn't got to the full riot gear yet. But, they weren't smiling - there wasn't much of a carnival atmosphere then:P

[tw]

Why does "This Day in History" not include benchmarks of The Cellar? Maybe we need more local news. Then we can really get depressed.

[DanaC]

Originally Posted by tw

In earlier days, soldiers would fire live ammunition at demonstrators only because they were aggressively demonstrating. Such lack of restraint created Kent State, the legacy of Martin McGuinness, Brighton hotel bombing, and massive violence in Northern Ireland.

What you witnessed; was that a legacy of attitudes back then? Did authority attitudes (in UK) towards violent and unrestrained enforcement change significantly since then? Was that an example of less violence by authorities? Have better techniques been deployed to avert the resulting violence and aggression? Your impression?

That's a good question. I don;t know what the full answer to that would be. I think the police are a lot less inclined towards that kind of violence now.

The police force has had to do a lot of learning in the last 20 or so years. To their credit I think for the most part there has been a fairly profound attitude and culture shift at all levels

The Poll Tax demo is not the only example of police effectively turning a heated situation into an explosively violent one. It was one of the later ones - there were a few other occasions where the same thing happened - the anti-nazi demonstration against the election of the first BNP local councillor in 1992 was one - I was also at that and that was seriously scary shit.* The police used the kettling technique again and that also turned into a major riot through the streets of London.

The police response both to the situation itself, and the resultant press coverage and reporting of the incident, was often problematic - the way the police acted and then covered up the true story whilst blaming the victims of the Hillsborough disaster followed a similar pattern.


To me, the two demos in London represent an older type of police response - more in line with the way they responded to the striking miners in the 80s.

Often during times when the police have been heavy-handed and violent towards demonstrators, and things have escalated to a pitched battle, the police at the centre of the violence are reported by witnesses to have no number showing on their collar. It has been suggested by some (some credible, others less credible) that the government of the day brought soldiers in, in police uniform.

I don't know about that.

To see how the police have changed in such matters, you only really have to look at how they responded to the rioters in several cities a few years ago - kettling was not employed, they did everything they could to try to diffuse the situation rather than inflame it.




* at the anti-nazi demo I saw both the worst and best of policing.

Tensions were high - this wasn't a jolly carnival like the poll tax demo had started out, rather it was a somber affair. And many of the people on that demo had experienced heavy handed police tactics before, in previous demos. The police employed similar tactics, the whole thing kicked off into an almighty fuck up.

Imagine this: police with body armour, helmets and riot shields in front of you - lines of police with dogs on either side. Then the shout goes up, they've split the crowd - you've been boxed in and the police with shields and batons are starting to move slowly forward.

But - I also remember trying to get back to the coach park, me and J and a bunch of others - there were still lots of people running about, some were rioting and looting and there were fights between this group of skinheads and that group of anti-fascist activists and now it's getting dark - our little group of about 9 or 10 slightly traumatised protestors were trying to traverse an area where things were being thrown - like bottles and bricks. And a truly lovely police officer (with number on collar and clearly an ordinary local cop) led us at a crouch, behind cars, away from the random brick fight, and then got us safely to the coach park.

[xoxoxoBruce]

One of my other memories of that day is that all the way along the first part of the route (can't give specifics it all just merged into one big crowd in a city I had never walked around in before - I was pretty much just following Jude) the police were so friendly. It was a carnival atmosphere - everypne was in a good mood. It was sunny and warm - there were people playing drums and pipes and some were juggling. There were parents with kids on their shoulders - a group of elderly women with a big banner saying 'Grannies Against the Poll Tax'

We laughed and joked with the police lining the route and they laughed and joked back. The stewards were keeping everything orderly and getting the crowd going with chants and songs.

...when we were at the barricades outside Downing Street,we were doing that protestor thing of shouting at the police behind the barricades - and the police were doing their thing of landing a punch if anyone got too close to the barrier - we had this young lass with us- about a year younger than us in years, but much younger looking and a little naive. She'd sort of attached herself to me and J through our local circle of friends and other students and had decided to come with us on the demo. She got a little enthusiastic and was pushing up against the barrier A police officer behind the barricade threw a single full force punch and she dropped - as she started to drop two cops leaned over the barrier and were trying to drag her over to their side - we pulled her back towards us and she fell back into our crowd but she lost her shoe.*

Weren't the cops responding in kind? You laughed a joked, they laughed and joked. You were yelling and cursing them(who didn't create the tax), and they being greatly outnumbered by anarchists, commies, and maybe even Irish, responded with force out of fear.

Oh, and maybe they were trying to drag that girl to get her to medical aid which wasn't busy on their side.

[DanaC]

Weren't the cops responding in kind? You laughed a joked, they laughed and joked. You were yelling and cursing them(who didn't create the tax), and they being greatly outnumbered by anarchists, commies, and maybe even Irish, responded with force out of fear.

Ha!

There was a massive tonal shift as the march progressed. The police along the first part of the route were just ordinary local police - in ordinary police uniforms. I think they maybe had protective vests, but that was about it. The police at the more sensitive areas of the route weren't smiling, were geared up and had no visible identity numbers. They were more like soldiers (I don't mean actual soldiers, I'm not sure I buy that they were anything but police - but they were not the bobby on the beat police they were met officers and other high end police drafted in from other cities - the police equivalent of special forces)

[xoxoxoBruce]

The first cops were there to keep order along the route, the ones at the barricade were there to stop you. Different mission, different attitude, the first cops didn't have to worry about those Irish.

[DanaC]

Absolutely.

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by tw

Why does "This Day in History" not include benchmarks of The Cellar? Maybe we need more local news. Then we can really get depressed.

Where is the repository of Cellar benchmarks?

More local news? Local to whom? Me? You? Dana? Ali? We are the world.

It has been stated more than once that additions and/or corrections are welcome.

Knock yourself out. Please.

Unless you just wanted to bitch about something.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Don't feed the troll, Digr, unless you want to get into a protracted senseless, debate.

[Gravdigr]

April 1

Today is April Fools' Day. Trust no one.

Today is also Edible Book Day.

This date is also marked as Fossil Fools' Day.


Events

325 – Crown Prince Jin Chengdi, age 4, succeeds his father Jin Mingdi as emperor of the Eastern Jin dynasty.

528 – The daughter of Emperor Xiaoming of Northern Wei was made the "Emperor" as a male heir of the late emperor by Empress Dowager Hu, deposed and replaced by Yuan Zhao the next day, she was the first female monarch in the history of China, but was not widely recognized.

1293 – Robert Winchelsey left England for Rome to be consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury by the Pope, only to find that there wasn't one.

1318 – Berwick-upon-Tweed is captured by Scotland from England.

1545 – Potosí is founded after the discovery of huge silver deposits in the area. <---Interesting read.

1789 – In New York City, the United States House of Representatives holds its first quorum and elects Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania as its first Speaker.

1865 – American Civil War: Union troops led by Philip Sheridan decisively defeat Confederate troops led by George Pickett, cutting the Army of Northern Virginia's last supply line.

1873 – The White Star steamer RMS Atlantic sinks off Nova Scotia, killing 547 in one of the worst marine disasters of the 19th century. Particularly interesting part here.

1891 – The Wrigley Company is founded in Chicago, Illinois.

1924 – Adolf Hitler is sentenced to five years imprisonment for his participation in the "Beer Hall Putsch" but spends only nine months in jail.

1945 – World War II: The Tenth United States Army attacks the Thirty-Second Japanese Army on Okinawa.

1946 – The 8.6 Mw Aleutian Islands earthquake shakes the Aleutian Islands with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI (Strong). A destructive tsunami reaches the Hawaiian Islands resulting in dozens of deaths, mostly in Hilo, Hawaii.

1947 – The only mutiny in the history of the Royal New Zealand Navy begins.

1954 – United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.

1960 – The TIROS-1 satellite transmits the first television picture from space.

1970 – President Richard Nixon signs the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law, requiring the Surgeon General's warnings on tobacco products and banning cigarette advertising on television and radio in the United States, effective 1 January 1971.

1973 – Project Tiger, a tiger conservation project, is launched in the Jim Corbett National Park, India.

1976 – Apple Inc. is formed by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne in Cupertino, California, USA. Ronald Wayne sold his interest in Apple for (ultimately) $2300 (~$9296 in 2016 dollars), had he kept it, his 10% stake would be worth over $75,500,000,000 (says Wikipedia).

1979 – Iran becomes an Islamic republic by a 99% vote, officially overthrowing the Shah.

1989 – Margaret Thatcher's new local government tax, the Community Charge (commonly known as the "poll tax"), is introduced in Scotland.

1997 – Comet Hale–Bopp is seen passing at perihelion.

2001 – An EP-3E United States Navy surveillance aircraft collides with a Chinese People's Liberation Army Shenyang J-8 fighter jet. The Navy crew makes an emergency landing in Hainan, China and is detained.

2001 – Former President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević surrenders to police special forces, to be tried on war crimes charges.

2001 – Same-sex marriage becomes legal in the Netherlands, the first contemporary country to allow it.

2004 – Google announces Gmail to the public.

Births

1697 – Antoine François Prévost, 1815 – Otto von Bismarck, 1823 – Simon Bolivar Buckner, 1873 – Sergei Rachmaninoff, 1883 – Lon Chaney, Sr., 1885 – Wallace Beery, 1885 – Clementine Churchill (Winston's main squeeze), 1917 – Sydney Newman (co-created Doctor Who), 1920 – Toshiro Mifune (Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, mini-series Shōgun), 1926 – Anne McCaffrey (Dragonriders Of Pern novels), 1928 – George Grizzard, 1929 – Jonathan Haze (The Little Shop of Horrors (1960)), 1932 – Gordon Jump ("As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."), 1932 – Debbie Reynolds, 1934 – Jim Ed Brown♪ ♫, 1939 – Rudolph Isley♪ ♫(The Isley Bros), 1939 – Ali MacGraw, 1939 – Phil Niekro, 1945 – John Barbata(Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship), 1946 – Ronnie Lane(Faces, Small Faces), 1947 – Robin Scott♪ ♫(M, known for the song 'Pop Muzik'), 1948 – Jimmy Cliff♪ ♫, 1949 – Gil Scott-Heron♪ ♫, 1950 – Samuel Alito, 1952 – Annette O'Toole, 1953 – Barry Sonnenfeld, 1954 – Jeff Porcaro(Toto), 1955 – Terry Nichols (Oklahoma City federal bldg bomber), 1961 – Susan Boyle♪ ♫, 1966 – Chris Evans, 1970 – Brad Meltzer, 1973 – Rachel Maddow (mouth), 1976 – David Gilliland, 1976 – David Oyelowo (Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Butler), 1977 – Vitor Belfort (MMA fighter), 1980 – Bijou Phillips, 1986 – Hillary Scott♪ ♫(Lady Antebellum)

Deaths

1204 – Eleanor of Aquitaine, 1839 – Benjamin Pierce, 1917 – Scott Joplin, 1922 – Hermann Rorschach (best known for developing the Rorschach test), 1946 – Noah Beery, Sr., 1976 – Max Ernst, 1984 – Marvin Gaye♪ ♫, 1992 – Nigel Preston(The Cult), 1993 – Alan Kulwicki(came up with The Polish Victory Lap), 2004 – Paul Atkinson♪ ♫(The Zombies), 2004 – Aaron Bank (founded the US Army Special Forces), 2004 – Carrie Snodgress, 2010 – John Forsythe (voice of 'Charlie' on Charlie's Angels, Dynasty)

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Don't feed the troll, Digr, unless you want to get into a protracted senseless, debate.

You've done nothing when you've bested a fool.

~La Boeuf in "True Grit"

[Gravdigr]

April 2

Today was World Autism Awareness Day.

1513 – Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León first sights land in what is now the United States state of Florida.

1792 – The Coinage Act is passed establishing the United States Mint.

1800 – Ludwig van Beethoven leads the premiere of his First Symphony in Vienna.

1801 – French Revolutionary Wars: The British capture the Danish fleet.

1863 – American Civil War: The largest in a series of Southern bread riots occurs in Richmond, Virginia.

1865 – American Civil War: Defeat at the Third Battle of Petersburg forces the Army of Northern Virginia and the Confederate government to abandon Richmond, Virginia.

1902 – "Electric Theatre", the first full-time movie theater in the United States, opens in Los Angeles.

1911 – The Australian Bureau of Statistics conducts the country's first national census.

1912 – The ill-fated RMS Titanic begins sea trials.

1917 – World War I: United States President Woodrow Wilson asks the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.

1956 – As the World Turns and The Edge of Night premiere on CBS-TV. The two soaps become the first daytime dramas to debut in the 30-minute format.

1973 – Launch of the LexisNexis computerized legal research service.

1977 - Frank Sinatra scored his first ever UK No.1 album with 'Portrait Of Sinatra', his 46th album release.

1979 – A Soviet bio-warfare laboratory at Sverdlovsk accidentally releases airborne anthrax spores, killing 66 plus an unknown amount of livestock.

1982 – Falklands War: Argentina invades the Falkland Islands.

1986 – Alabama governor George Wallace, a former segregationist, best known for the "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door", announces that he will not seek a fifth four-year term and will retire from public life upon the end of his term in January 1987.

1992 – In New York, Mafia boss John Gotti is convicted of murder and racketeering and is later sentenced to life in prison.

2002 – Israeli forces surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem into which armed Palestinians had retreated.

2006 – Over 60 tornadoes break out in the United States; Tennessee is hardest hit with 29 people killed.

2014 – A spree shooting occurs at the Fort Hood army base in Texas, with four dead, including the gunman, and 16 others injured.

2015 – Gunmen attack Garissa University College in Kenya, killing at least 148 people and wounding 79 others.

Births

742 – Charlemagne, 1618 – Francesco Maria Grimaldi, 1725 – Giacomo Casanova, 1805 – Hans Christian Andersen, 1840 – Émile Zola, 1875 – Walter Chrysler, 1891 – Max Ernst, 1908 – Buddy Ebsen, 1914 – Alec Guinness, 1920 – Jack Webb, 1926 – Jack Brabham, 1939 – Marvin Gaye, 1941 – Dr. Demento, 1942 – Leon Russell, 1943 – Antonio Sabàto, Sr., 1945 – Linda Hunt, 1947 – Emmylou Harris, 1949 – Pamela Reed, 1949 – David Robinson, 1952 – Leon Wilkeson, 1962 – Clark Gregg, 1965 – Rodney King, 1966 – Bill Romanowski, 1977 – Michael Fassbender

Deaths

1502 – Arthur, Prince of Wales, 1865 – A. P. Hill, 1872 – Samuel Morse, 1966 – C. S. Forester, 1987 – Buddy Rich, 1994 – Betty Furness, 1998 – Rob Pilatus, 2003 – Edwin Starr, 2005 – Pope John Paul II, 2013 – Milo O'Shea, 2015 – Robert H. Schuller