March 9

March 9' is the 9^th day in March.

Events

1074 — All married Roman Catholic priests are excommunicated. Source=Robert Braunwart

1170 — England: A UFO is sighted over St. Ostwyth, Essex, a "wonderfully large dragon … borne up from the earth through the air." Source=Robert Braunwart

1454 — Amerigo Vespucci explorer lives.

1562 — Italy: Public kissing becomes a capital offence in Naples. Source: 'Calendar Riots'

1749 — Compte de Mirabeau lives.

1763 — Radical British journalist William Cobbett lives.

1809 — Lord Byronʼs "English Bard & Scotch Reviewers" is published.

1841 — United States of America: Slaves who mutinied & took over the Spanish slave ship Amistad — subsequently captured by the US warship Washington — are declared free men by the Supreme Court. The slave leader, Joseph Cinque (who serves, 130 years later, as the inspiration for Symbionese Liberation Field Marshall Cinque) returned to Africa to become a slaver himself.

1862 — United States of America: The Monitor battles the Merrimac to a draw, in the first battle of iron-clad ships. [1]

1865 — Panama: US forces land "to protect US interests" during a revolution. Source=Robert Braunwart

1865 — Mexico: Gen. Winfield Scott & 10,000 US troops land at Veracruz, Mexico. Source=Robert Braunwart

1879 — France: Carloman François Rose lives (1879—1961). Anarchiste, trade unionist (CGT, UD, CGTU), served on the editorial board of "Germinal" & a salesman for "Libertaire". Organized support for the Black Sea Mutineers in 1921.

1879 — United States of America: Anarchist militant Carlo Tresca lives. Carlo Tresca

1883 — France: Large demonstration of the unemployed at the Esplanade of Les Invalides is broken up by police. A large contingent marches across Paris, headed by Louise Michel, Joseph Tortelier & Émile Pouget (who initiated the demonstration), waving black flags. There were three incidents of loaves of bread being looted from bakers' shops. Michel & Pouget were charged as "leaders & instigators of looting committed by a band." According to historian George Woodcock, Michel flew the black flag today, the earliest instance found of anarchists using a black flag. Imprisoned again, Louise Michel was condemned to six years of solitary confinement, & 10 years of police supervision, & Pouget got eight years. In her memoirs Louise notes of todayʼs events: "It is not a question of bread crumbs. What is at stake is the harvest of an entire world, a harvest necessary to the whole future human race, one without exploiters & without exploited." [2] [3]

1885 — Bread treated with carbon dioxide patented.

1892 — Vita Sackville-West (1892—1962) lives. English poet & novelist, descendent of the one of the great families of England, proprietors of Knole in Kent. Sackville-West was the chief model for Orlando in Virginia Woolfʼs novel of the same title. [4]

1892 — United States of America: Ida B. Wellʼs friend & neighbor Tom Moss is lynched, prompting her anti-lynching campaign, the destruction of her printing press, & her move from Memphis to New York. In response to the alarming increase in lynchings of African-Americans, she compiled & published an 1895 statistical study on lynching, A Red Record. Wells-Barnett also was an integral part of the early civil rights movement, participating as a secretary of the National Afro-American Council & member of the "Committee of Forty" that lead to the formation of the NAACP. See Giddings, "Ida B. Wells" (Buhle, Buhle & Kaye, eds., The American Radical, 1994) "There is nothin' which so fills the soul with horror, loathing & fury as the outragin' of a white woman by a negro. It is the race question in the ugliest, vilest, most dangerous aspect. The negro as a political factor can be controlled, but neither laws nor lynchings can subdue his lusts." — Memphis Commercial, May 17, 1892. [5]

1901 — Russia: Author, pacifist & anarchist Leo Tolstoy is excommunicated by the Russian Orthodox Church (February 24 for the Julien calendar). Because he propagates, "with the ardor of a fanatic, the inversion of all the dogmas of the Orthodox Church & the very essence of Christian faith….” — extract from the decree of excommunication [6]

1907 — Mircea Eliade (1907—1986) lives. Romanian-born historian of religion & fiction writer, one of the preeminent interpreters of world religion in this century. Wrote The Myth of the Eternal Return. [7]

1908 — Henri Jullien lives, Hanoi, son of Paule Mink. A socialist, trade unionist, then mutualist & anarchist. In 1928 Jullien became close friends with Victor Meric. A journalist, then a lawyer, Jullien was a founder of the first confederated trade union of journalists in 1935. He joined the resistance in World War II. An active anarchist in Marseilles after the war, he became president of S.I.A. (Solidarité internationale antifasciste) in 1949, & a supporter of the C.I.R.A. in Marseilles (Centre International de Recherche sur l'Anarchisme). [8] [9] [10]

1911 — United States of America: Frank Little and the other Industrial Workers of the World free-speech fighters are released from jail in Fresno, Calif. Little is later murdered by mine owners in Montana. Source=Robert Braunwart

1913 — The manuscript of Virginia Woolfʼs first novel, The Voyage Out, is delivered to publisher Gerald Duckworth. She is 31.

1914 — United States of America: Emma Goldman delivers lecture in Philadelphia; notes free-speech victory with complete retreat of police authorities.

1916 — United States of America: In response to the US recognition of Carranza, Pancho Villaʼs guerrillas cross into New Mexico, & attack Columbus, killing several Americans. New Mexicoʼs Senator Albert Bacon Fall calls for a half million US Army occupation of Mexico. Villa split his assault group into two columns. One attacking the center of the sleepy town & the other a tent encampment of US Army regulars called Fort Furlong. Of interest according to Gillyʼs book, p. 223, Villa may have attacked the US in retaliation for several Mexican citizens being forced to take a "petrol bath," & then set on fire. [11] [12]

1916 — Spain: Carles Fontseré lives (1916—2007) One of the important Catalan anarchist poster artists of the Spanish Revolution.

1918 — Mickey Spillane, creator of vigilante-philosopher-killer John Gall, in Atlas Drugged lives, Brooklyn.

1921 — Russia: "Emma Goldman & Alexander Berkman [part of an anarchist mediation group who had the ear of the Kronstadt Soviet] had an interview with Zinoviev…Their mediation scheme was a complete failure… Most of the Russian members of the mediation groups were arrested. I was not — an indulgence which I owed to the good opinion that Zinoviev, Zorin & a few others had of me…" — Victor Serge, "Kronstadt 1921" (A former anarchist, now a sympathizer, believed the Kronstadt rebels were right, but toed the Bolshevik line.) [13]

1922 — Eugene O'Neill comedy "The Hairy Ape" opens in NY. Source=Robert Braunwart

1923 — Russia: Vladimir Lenin suffers a massive stroke & retires from the leadership of the Soviet Union. Source=Robert Braunwart

1930 — Kurt Weill/Bertolt Brecht opera "The Rise & Fall of the Town of Mahagonny" (revised version) premiers, Leipzig. It is picketed (& later banned) by the Nazis. [14] [15] Source=Robert Braunwart

1936 — Edgar Rice Burroughs novel Tarzan & the Tarzan Twins is published. Source=Robert Braunwart

1937 — Italy: Tutti i dipendenti statali sono obbligati a iscriversi al partito nazionale fascista. [Source: Crimini e Misfatti]

1938 — Spain: Francoʼs forces, with overwhelming air superiority, launch a major assault on the Aragon front; the Republican forces, torn by internal disputes, collapse; & by April 15 the Nationalists reach the coast, splitting Republican territory in two. Emma Goldman Papers [16]

1939 — Spain: In Madrid, the anarchist Cipriano Mera (1896—1975), heading the IV army corps, routs the counter-revolutionary communist troops which besiege the National Council of Defense. See Cipriano Mera by Joan Llarch.

1940 — "Arch Oboler's Plays" broadcasts Johnny Got His Gun (based on the Dalton Trumbo novel) on NBC radio. Source=Robert Braunwart

1940 — The most cryptic crossword puzzle ever appears in the "Times," by Max Beerbohm, "with clues signifying nothing - nothing whatsoever." Source=Robert Braunwart

1945 — England: "Foodless Lunch" for hungry of Europe held at Waldorf hotel in London.

1945 — Japan: US makes its first B-29 incendiary raid on Tokyo; 200,000 die. Source=Robert Braunwart

1947 — United States of America: American suffragist Carrie Catt Chapman dies, New Rochelle, New York.

1953 — United States of America: Secretary of State Dulles says world peace is more likely since Stalinʼs death. Source=Robert Braunwart

1953 — Gene Barry movie "The War of the Worlds" is released. Source=Robert Braunwart

1955 — James Dean/Julie Harris movie "East of Eden" (based on John Steinbeckʼs novel) opens, NY. Source=Robert Braunwart

1956 — Tunisia: US facilities in Tunis are wrecked by a French mob for "actively fostering terrorism"; meanwhile, the Marshall Islands Congress asks for US nuclear tests to stop. Source=Robert Braunwart

1958 — France: Louis Moreau (b.1883) dies.

1959 — William Faulkner finishes his novel The Mansion. Source=Robert Braunwart

1961 — The Dalai Lama appeals to the United Nations to restore the independence of Tibet. Source=Robert Braunwart

1963 — In a "New Yorker" review of Oscar Wildeʼs letters W. H. Auden writes: "From the beginning Wilde performed his life & continued to do so even after fate had taken the plot out of his hands." "I think I am rather more than a Socialist. I am something of an Anarchist, I believe…" — Oscar

1964 — Cyprus: Fighting breaks out between Greeks & Turks, Ktima. Source=Robert Braunwart

1964 — United States of America: J.Edgar Hoover visits LBJʼs White House to discuss Martin Luther Kingʼs sex life. Source=Robert Braunwart

1965 — United States of America: Reverend James Reeb, a Boston minister who had traveled to Selma to join demonstrators, is viciously beaten by a white gang & dies two days later. [17]

1965 — Shelley Mydans novel Thomas (i.e., Becket), is published, US. Source=Robert Braunwart

1966 — Spain: Francoʼs police arrest 30 students at a free campus meeting, Barcelona. Source=Robert Braunwart

1966 — United States of America: The head of the commission to abolish HUAC is banned from speaking at the University of North Carolina. Source=Robert Braunwart

1967 — United States of America: Fillmore in San Francisco opens 6 nights a week. Haight people start to hear about & visit Morning Star Farm (Sonoma) & Berkeley Barb features smokable banana rumor. The rumor, as it turns out, is true.

1967 — United States of America: Frisco police bust shops selling "Letʼs Liberate Posters" poster. Source=Robert Braunwart

1968 — Eight rock n roll performers or band members make the 1968 edition of "Who's Who in America," the first to be included since Elvis Presley & the Beatles: the Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Mamas & Papas, Doors, Monkees & Donovan.

1969 — "The Smothers Brothers' Comedy Hour," which featured such rock bands as the Beatles, the Who, Jefferson Airplane & the Doors, is canceled by CBS-TV. This is in the wake of controversy over the on-air censorship of guest star Joan Baez. CBS TV cancels the show after they let Joan Baez dedicate a song to her husband David, convicted of draft resistance against the Vietnam War.

1972 — United States of America: Detroit police burst in on four men playing cards; in the ensuing shooting, one of the cardplayers is killed & the other three wounded — all of whom turned out to be off-duty Wayne County deputy sheriffs. In a pig-eat-pig world…is nothing kosher? [18]

1972 — Allen Klein, already accused of laundering money from UNICEF, which was to receive the royalties from "Bangladeshʼs" sales, turns over just one-tenth of the $1.2 million due the organization.

1975 — United States of America: First International Women's Art Festival, New York.

1976 — Italy: The worldʼs worst cable car disaster. 42 people die as the cable holding the descending gondola, at Cavalese, snaps & sends the cart crashing into the valley below.

1979 — Outer Space: First extraterrestrial active volcano discovered (Jupiterʼs satellite Io). Then felt I like some watcher of the skies when a new planet swims into his ken. — John Keats

1979 — United States of America: Supreme Court issues temporary restraining order prohibiting publication by "The Progressive" of an article on H-bomb secrecy. Sam Day was managing editor of The Progressive when it printed "The H-Bomb Secret: How We Got It, Why We're Telling It." The US government tried to halt its publication, which ultimately resulted in a victory for free speech advocates & journalists. From 1956 to 1974, Day worked at several Idaho newspapers, including the weekly Intermountain Observer in Boise. After the Observer folded in 1973, Day became managing editor of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, then on to The Progressive. Day, a Korean vet, went to prison innumerable times for his advocacy of international peace, & in 2000 wrote in an article published in newspapers across the country on Memorial Day weekend that, "if it is right to honor those who served in the cause of war, then it is equally right to honor those who served in the cause of resistance to war." A very nice tribute page at: [19] [20]

1981 — United States of America: Acting President Reagan endorses Caseyʼs CIA plan for destabilization of Nicaragua; also Reagan makes an illegal arms deal with Iran, according to Bani-Sadr. Source=Robert Braunwart

1982 — United States of America: Washington Post reveals $19 million in CIA covert aid illegally given to Contras.

1984 — United States of America: NBC News says Acting President Reagan is preparing to fight a two-month-long nuclear war. Source=Robert Braunwart

1984 — United States of America: Senate Appropriations Committee rejects Acting President Reaganʼs request for $21 million for the contra terrorists. Source=Robert Braunwart

1986 — United States of America: 100,000 march in Washington, D.C. for freedom of choice & reproductive rights.

1989 — Edgy photographer Robert Mapplethorpe dies. Senator Jesse Helmʼs favorite — & personal — photographer. [21] [22]

1991 — Yugoslavia: Anti-government demonstration is threatened by tanks, Belgrade. Police & 100,000 anticommunist demonstrators clash, two die.

1994 — Novelist of the down & out, Charles Bukowski, dies, San Pedro, California: [23] [24] [25]

1996 — In first mass demonstration under independence, women from around Lithuania gather at Ignalia to commemorate Chernobyl victims & demand an accelerated timetable (by 2005) for decommissioning the plant.

1998 — Jesse Walkerʼs (moocHead) article "Rebel Radio" published in "The New Republic": "A harsh pounding woke Doug Brewer, the hairy owner of a Tampa electronics store. A SWAT team was outside his house, along with a column of local cops, customs agents, & federal marshals. Upon letting the police in, Brewer & his wife were ordered to the floor, guns pointed at their heads, as the screaming invaders handcuffed them. Some cops even trained their weapons on the family cat. Brewerʼs offense: broadcasting without a license."

1998 — Canada: Innu protesters confront Quebec & Newfoundland ministers gathered to announce the largest hydroelectric project in North American history, on the lower Churchill River in Labrador.

2003 — Indonesia: Up to 800,000 in Surabaya pray for peace in Iraq. Meanwhile UK International Development Minister Clare Short says she will resign if Beloved & Respected Comrade Lapdog Tony Blair attacks Iraq without UN backing (she doesnʼt until May); & Canadaʼs PM Jean Chrétien says the US has already won the conflict with Iraq, so no war is necessary, on an ABC-TV interview. Source=Robert Braunwart

2003 — Avant-guard film-maker Stan Brakhage dies after making over 400 films spanning seven decades: 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s & this decade. Associated with a number of contemporary artists, among them Maya Deren, Marie Menken, Joseph Cornell, & John Cage. Regarded as one of the most important experimental filmmakers of the 20th century. [Thanks to Bleedster Tom, Beat Book Shop] [26]

External link

• The Daily Bleed: Anarchist Calendar