March 24

March 24 is the 24^th day in March.

Events

79 — Famous eruption of Mount Vesuvius buries the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum and some 20,000 inhabitants. Although some manage to flee, most inhabitants of these seaport towns were cut off by damage to docks, boat landings, and rough seas.

809 — Death of Harun al-Rashid.

1241 — Poland: Mongols under Kaidu take Cracow.

1490 — George Agricola, "Father of Mineralogy," lives.

1580 — First bombs (grenades) thrown, in Holland.

1635 — French engraver/illustrator Jacques Callot dies.

1638 — New World: Rhode Island purchased from the Indians for 40 fathoms of beads.

1661 — New World: Willi Leddra executed in New England for being a Quaker.

1788 — United States of America: People of Rhode Island, in a special referendum, reject the new United States Constitution by a 10-to-1 margin. Donʼt call them Rhode Island Reds for nothin.

1812 — England: Luddites attack Thompsonʼs mill Rawdon, Leeds; similarly Joseph Fosterʼs mill at Horbury on 9th April; also during this month, Assizes in Nottingham, tried Wm Carnell, Jos Maples, Benj Poley, Benj Hancock, Geo Green, Jos Peck and Gerves Marshall. Source: [Luddite Chonology]

1829 — Professional crackpot George Francis Train lives.

1832 — United States of America: Mormon Joseph Smith beaten, tarred and feathered in Ohio.

1834 — England: Utopian William Morris (1834 — 1896) lives, Walthamslow. Daily Bleed Saint (1998 October 3).

Poet/artist/socialist/designer/printer whose designs generated the Arts and Crafts Movement in the later half of the 19th century. Associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and a close friend of the painter-poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his sister poet Christina Rossetti. Best known for News From Nowhere (1890). [1] [2] [3]

1834 — United States of America: Bank of Maryland collapses, and depositors lose between $2 and $3 million. It eventually became clear that a "stupendous fraud" had been committed, and, fully 17 months after the bank failure, a bloody riot erupted in Baltimore (see 8 August).

1860 — Clipper "Andrew Jackson" arrives in 89 days from New York.

1869 — Émile Fabre lives, Metz, France. French playwright, administrator of the Comédie-Française (1915 — 1936), who wrote his first play at the age of 13.

1874 — Hungary: Escapologist Harry Houdini lives, Budapest. [4]

1878 — France: Charles Benoit lives, in Rouen. [5]

1882 — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow dies, Cambridge, Massachusetts. The first American honored with a bust in Poet's Corner, Westminster Abbey.

1883 — United States of America: First telephone connection between New York City and Chicago.

1889 — Argentina: "Revolte" reports that some time ago the Bueno Aires Commissioner of Police sent for Errico Malatesta, to tell him that the police would be represented at all public meetings. They also tried to monitor private (group) meetings, but desisted when "invited" to leave. Malatesta, in exile from Italy, was quite active in doing propaganda work in anarchist and labor circles here at the time. [Source: Max Nettlau]

1894 — France: Emile Digeon (1822 — 1894) dies. Revolutionary socialist journalist, libertarian free thinker, anarchist journalist, responsible for the "Commune of Narbonne," declared in 1871 when Paris rose up (Paris Commune). Again in Narbonne, in 1883, Emile Digeon is presented during the election campaigns as "an anarchist candidate"(!) Published La Commune de Paris devant les anarchistes (1885). [6] [7]

1897 — Wilhelm Reich lives, Dobrzynica, Galicia. Reich wrote The Mass Psychology of Fascism, Sex-Pol Essays, Function of the Orgasm, etc. [8]

1904 — United States of America: Russell Blackwell lives (d. 1969). Cartographer, community activist, a Wobbly, anarchist and co-founder of the Libertarian League.

1905 — Jules Verne, father of modern science fiction, dies, Amiens, France. [9]

1905 — Léo Campion lives (1905 — 1992). [10]

1906 — United States of America: Dwight Macdonald lives (1906 — 1982). American social critic, philosopher, combative journalist and anarchist. Deserted Trotskyism and moved on cheerfully and with characteristic insouciance to pacificism and anarchism. In the 1950s, he was a fierce anti-Communist cold warrior and, later still, an even fiercer opponent of the Vietnam War and a great enthusiast of the student radicals of the 1960s. [11] [12]

1918 — Canada: Women win the right to vote, years before the US grants similar rights.

1919 — United States of America: Poet/painter/beat/publisher/anarchist and founder of City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco Lawrence Ferlinghetti lives, Yonkers, New York. Ferlinghetti opened a bookshop called the City Lights Pocket Book Shop. He described City Lights "as a place you could go in, sit down, and read books without being pestered to buy something." The store became a home for the Beat Generation of poets and writers, and Ferlinghetti also turned it into a publishing house — the first to publish Allen Ginsbergʼs poem Howl. City Lights published it in 1957 and Ferlinghetti was immediately arrested on obscenity charges. He won the trial and went on to publish William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac and Paul Bowles. He wrote a pair of novels, two volumes of plays and over 10 books of poetry. [13] [14]

1919 — Spain: "La Canadienne" strike in Barcelona had ended 8 February; but in the face of the refusal of the army to release a score of still imprisoned militants, they strike again today in a beautiful show of solidarity. The government had imprisoned 3000 strikers of the anarchist union, the CNT, and declared martial law in its attempt to crush the workers. But the workers won in mid-March when the company agreed to reinstate all workers with wage increases and an 8 hours day; it was also agreed those imprisoned during the strike were to be released.

1926 — Italian playwright, manager-director-actor-mime Dario Fo lives, Leggiuno-Sangiamo, Italy. In 1997, the Nobel committee awarded Dario Fo the Literature Prize, noting he "emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority & upholding the dignity of the downtrodden." Dario Fo´s career started in small cabarets, theatres. In 1959 he founded the Compagnia Dario Fo — Franca Rame, producing satirical dramas such as Archangels Don´t Play Pinnball & He Had Two Pistols with White & Black Eyes. Accidental Death of an Anarchist In 1968 Dario founded the acting group Nuova Scena, which had ties to the Italian Communist Party, but his satirical views aroused much criticism from the Communist Press — like earlier from the Catholic Church. In 1970 Fo started Colletivo Teatrale La Comune. Among Fo´s most famous works are Accidental Death of an Anarchist & We Can´t Pay? We Won´t Pay! [15] [16] [17]

1927 — Canada: Emma Goldmanʼs English-language lecture series in Toronto (March 24 — April 26) covers social topics as well as drama, including plays of Susan Glaspell, Eugene O'Neill, & Russian drama.

1929 — Italy: Svolgimento del plebiscito. La polizia controlla chi non si reca a votare rifiutandosi con ciò di manifestare la sua adesione al fascismo. Più di 8 milioni e mezzo di italiani si esprime a favore del fascismo (più del 98% dei votanti). E' il trionfo del fascismo e del mussolinismo, in una parola dello statismo. [Source: Crimini e Misfatti]

1932 — United States of America: First radio broadcast from a moving train, WABC, from Maryland.

1932 — Germany: Emma Goldmanʼs lecture tour of the country finished up, she is back in Berlin, where she continues to solicit the interest of American publishing houses in translations of German & Russian works for Alexander Berkman. "Red Emma" lectures to the Women's International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF) on "Woman's Achievement in the United States"; & to the women of the F.A.U.D. (Freie Arbeiter-Union Deutschlands).

1935 — Poet William Witherup lives, Kansas City, Missouri. Raised in Richland, Washington in the shadow of the Hanford Atomic Energy facility. Author of Down Wind, Down River: New & Selected Poems; Black Ash, Orange Fire: Collected Poems 1959-1985; Men at Work. Bill Witherup, aka Bear Dog. [18]

1938 — England: Large meeting & showing of the Louis Frank film, "[[Fury over Spain]," in Peckham, East London.

1942 — United States of America: The first Civilian Exclusion Order issued by the Army is issued for the Bainbridge Island area near Seattle. The 45 families there are given one week to prepare. The islandʼs oldest, continuously operating farm — established in 1928 — is owned by 75-year-old Akio Suyematsu, who grows strawberries, pumpkins & Christmas trees. World War II brought one of the saddest chapters of island history — the nationʼs first forced evacuation of residents of Japanese ancestry, most of them American citizens. On President Rooseveltʼs authority the army forced some 240 people, including Suyematsuʼs family, to leave — mainly for California internment camps. They received a weekʼs notice in March 1942 to dispose of their property. By the end of October, 108 exclusion orders would be issued, & all Japanese Americans in Military Area No. 1 & the California portion of No. 2 incarcerated. White American businessmen revel in the new-found booty. http://www.historylink.org/output.CFM?file_ID=3111 [19] [20]

1955 — Tennessee Williams' play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof opens at the Morosco Theater in New York.

1956 — Italy: Danilo Dolci & 22 others are tried in a Sicily court for the nonviolent direct action of attempting to repair an old road without proper government authorization. "The Sicilian Gandhi," twice a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize. [21] [22]

1958 — Elvis Presley, 23, inducted into the army. Over the next two years, his serial number, 53310761 is perhaps the most favorite in history. And Elvis so loved the world that he died, fat & bloated, in a bathroom. [23]

1962 — England: 1,172 arrested in sit-down against nuclear weapons, Parliament Square.

1965 — United States of America: First Vietnam teach-in, University of Michigan. (Organized by SDS?) 500 participants were expected, but 3,000 showed up for an all-nighter. Forty-nine faculty members started planning the all-night session after the University president said they should trust "competent" leaders like Defense Secretary Robert McNamara. Students stay until eight in the morning to listen to the speeches & seminars. Twice during the night, the hall was evacuated because of bomb threats, but the teach-in continued outside in freezing weather. In upcoming weeks, teach-ins are held on hundreds of campuses across the country.

1967 — Political satire as The W.C. Fields Memorial Orphanage presents the Pitschel Players at 120 Julian St. near 15th & Valencia in Frisco.

1969 — United States of America: Lennox Raphaelʼs play Che is busted for obscenity two days after opening at the Free Store Theatre in Manhattan, NYC.

1973 — Lou Reed is bitten on his fanny by a fan at a concert in Buffalo, New York. The "display of affection" occurs while Reed is about to perform "Waitin' for the Man." Screaming "leather!," the fan gets past security as he assaults Reed. The fan is ejected & Reed comments afterwards that the US "seems to breed real animals." [24]

1977 — Argentina: Yet another government can only stammer the speech of death. Rodolfo Walsh writes an open letter to the Military junta regards its infamous crimes; a day later, the dictatorship assassinates him. The naked word is scandalous where fear rules, the naked word dangerous where the great dance of disguises is danced. [25]

1978 — United States of America: The Wampanoag claim to land in Cape Cod (Mass.) is dismissed by U.S. District Court in Boston because they had no tribal status in 1869. Tribal status is finally granted nine years later — without most of their land.

1980 — El Salvador: Archbishop Oscar Romero assassinated during mass, San Salvador, by US-supported rightist goon squads (graduates of the US Army School of the Americas). Archbishop Romero has exhorted the police & soldiers to disobey orders to kill innocent people, refuses to be silenced by those in power. The town has interrupted, with ovations, his homilies condemning the terrorism of the State. Those in power deliver the only ovation they know — a hail of bullets. [26] [27]

1980 — Mexico: The countryʼs worst oil well blowout is finally capped. Since 1979 June 3, it has dumped 3.1 billion barrels, at the Bay of Campeche, near the Yucatan Peninsula, (twice as big as the 1978 Brittany [Amoco Cadiz] spill).

1986 — Yugoslavia: During an anti-government strike wave by dockers & textile, sewage & construction workers, troops force miners to work. The miners respond by adulterating the coal with rocks. [Source: Calendar Riots]

1987 — United States of America: ACT UPʼs first demonstration on Wall Street, in New York City. Over 250 protested the FDAʼs sweetheart deal with Burroughs Wellcome (& charging $10,000 a year for the only approved anti-AIDS drug, AZT). Source: Douglas Crimp, AIDS Demographics

1987 — United States of America: Doonesbury explores President Reaganʼs brain. Man obviously armed with a microscope. [28]

1988 — Israel: After a secret 7-month trial, Mordechai Vanunu, an employee in a bomb-making factory, is convicted of espionage for revealing details of Israelʼs atomic weapons program to the London Sunday Times. His revelations show Israelʼs nuclear capability to be greater than experts assumed, & that Israel could build up to 200 atomic bombs as well as neutron & hydrogen bombs. He got 18 years in prison & 10 years later, in 1998, was allowed out of solitary confinement for the first time.

1989 — Exxon Valdez oil spill disaster, Prince William Sound, Alaska. Exxon has successfully avoided paying most cleanup costs through numerous court battles. Destroys thousands of square miles of pristine wildlife habitat in the largest oil spill in US history. Exxon Corp. spends the next several years spending millions avoiding lawsuits, creating new PR spins, & obstructing cleanup efforts. [29] [30]

1990 — American radio comedian Ray Goulding dies.

1992 — A Chicago judge settles the Milli-Vanilli class-action suit by approving cash rebates of up to $3 to anyone proving they bought the groupʼs music before 1990 November 27 — the date the lip synching scandal broke.

2001 — United States of America: Frisco Bay area 6th annual Anarchist Book Fair. Featuring Paul Krassner, Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz, Elizabeth Martinewz, Jaimes Guerrero, Ruthie Gilmore, Michelle Tea, Chris Crass, Cindy Milstein; Anarchist cafe poster Cafe, Films, etc. Approximately 60 anarchist groups & alternative book, magazine, & publishing people are represented. [31]

2003 — United States of America: Michael Moore is in the Hollywood shithouse, following last nights Academy Awards, for denouncing Bush for his war on Saddam Hussein. [32]

2004 — Spain: prime minister-elect Zapatero, prime minister-elect, in brief meetings with visiting world leaders in Madrid, stands firm recent vows to pull Spanish troops out of Iraq unless US occupation authorities are replaced by the United Nations.

External link

• The Daily Bleed: Anarchist Calendar