#toweri — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #toweri, aggregated by home.social.
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Miriam Makeba was born #OTD in 1932. After moving to New York City & collaborating with Harry Belafonte, she became recognized worlwide for her singing. But her marriage to Black Panther leader Kwame Toure and opposition to apartheid made her a pariah to the US and South Africa, and she was forced to relocate to Guinea, eventually returning to South Africa after the end of apartheid.
Today's art is by Ricardo Levins: https://www.rlmartstudio.com/product/makeba/
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Alexander Graham Bell was born #OTD in 1847. He came from a family of speech educators and researchers, and his mother’s transition to deafness led him to pursue studies in acoustics. This eventually led to his invention of the telephone, for which he is most widely known, but Bell also developed other inventions and continued working with the deaf, including Helen Keller.
Today's art source: https://paintingandframe.com/prints/others_alexander_graham_bell-41436.html
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#OTD in 1977, the General People's Congress of Libya announced the beginning of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. Under this form of government, direct democracy, via popular councils and communes, would lead the country instead of political parties or religious authorities, and some forms of exploitative private ownership were abolished.
Today's art source: https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=665422
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#OTD in 1954, four Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire on the House of Representatives while unfurling a Puerto Rican flag. One of them, Lolita Lebrón, stated during her arrest “I did not come to kill anyone, I came to die for Puerto Rico!”; true to her word, no Representatives died, and all four received a hero’s welcome upon their eventual return to Puerto Rico two decades later.
Today's art is by Mia Roman: https://www.artsbymia.com/art/lolita-lebron/
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Ana Belén Montes was born #OTD in 1957. She spied on behalf of the Cuban government for 17 years as a senior analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency in the United States. Her goal was to protect Cuba from the U.S., in line with her conviction that "all the world is one country.” After her sister helped rat her out, she was imprisoned for 22 years, and was freed just this year.
Today's art source: https://www.cuba-si.ch/fr/ana-belen-montes-obeir-a-la-conscience-plutot-qua-la-loi/
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#OTD in 1973, members of the Oglala Lakota and the American Indian Movement occupied the town of Wounded Knee in an attempt to remove a corrupt and violent tribal president and to highlight longstanding grievances against the federal government. The occupation lasted 71 days and attracted national attention, but was unfortunately unable to achieve its demands before its participants surrendered.
Today's art source: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/timeline/535.html
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Robert F. Williams was born #OTD in 1925. As the chapter president of the Monroe NAACP, he desegregated the local library and swimming pool. He fled the US to escape bogus kidnapping charges. While in Cuba he started publishing “The Crusader” newspaper and wrote “Negroes With Guns”, a book whose themes of armed self-defense influenced Huey Newton and the Black Panthers.
Today's art is by Colin Quashie: https://quashieart.blogspot.com/2010/04/robert-f-williams-revolutionary.html
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#OTD in 1870, Hiram Rhodes Revels became the first African-American to be seated in the US Congress. While there, he fought for the end of segregation in DC schools, the cooling of post-Civil War animosity, and the rights of Black workers in the Navy Yard. Rhodes went on to become the first president of Alcorn State University, the first Black land-grant university.
Today's art is by Theodor Kaufmann: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiram_Rhodes_Revels#/media/File:Senator_H._R._Revels_(Boston_Public_Library).jpg
#history #BlackHistoryMonth #reconstruction #USA #ToWeRi #Feb25
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#OTD Rosario Ibarra de Piedra was born in 1927. After her son was disappeared, and the authorities refused to look for him (likely because they killed him for his alleged communist activism) she formed the Eureka Committee of the Disappeared with about 100 other women in 1977. She also led hunger strikes and other political efforts to free political prisoners, resulting in the release of 148 prisoners.
Today's art is by Rapé: https://mexfiles.net/2022/04/16/rosario-ibarra-de-piedra-24-feb-1927-16-april-2022/
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W. E. B. Du Bois was born #OTD in 1868. His writings and political activity spanned generations, and ranged from critiques of American racism to support for communism and Pan-Africanism. The US government took his passport for a time as a result of his work, but he was eventually able to travel the world, and spent his last days in socialist Ghana.
Today's art is by KEEBS': https://www.higherself.biz/product/w-e-b-du-bois/
#history #BlackHistoryMonth #PanAfricanism #communism #USA #WEBDubois #ToWeRi #Feb23
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The People Power Revolution began #OTD in 1986. After dictator Ferdinand Marcos claimed an illegitimate victory in elections held a few weeks earlier, the military attempted a coup, and the civilian population engaged in mass demonstrations. They managed to topple the Marcos regime, install a democratic government, and enact a new constitution.
Today's art is by Angel C. Cacnio:
https://naquem.blogspot.com/2015/03/siningsaysay-time-travel-into.html#history #Philippines #art #democracy #PeoplePower #revolution #ToWeRi #Feb22
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Claudia Jones was born #OTD in 1915 in Trinidad. After moving to the US she became active in the Communist Party, fighting for women’s equality and writing analyses of Marxism that were a precursor to modern intersectionality discourse. The US deported her for her activities but she continued organizing in the UK, founding the West Indian Gazette and the first Caribbean Carnival.
Today's art is by Iris Kensmil: https://www.e-venise.com/biennale-venise/2019/iris-kensmil-remy-jungerman-pavillon-pays-bas-biennale-art-venise-2019.html
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Buffy Sainte-Marie was born #OTD in 1941. She found early success singing about drug addiction, against the Vietnam war, the legacy of genocide, and other themes. She was among the first Native Americans to appear on Sesame Street, and the first woman to breastfeed on television. Despite being blacklisted for her work, she was later honored with an Oscar and other accolades.
Today's art is by Sainte-Marie herself: http://buffysainte-marie.com/?page_id=10203
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Albert Woodfox was born #OTD in 1947. While jailed in NYC, he was introduced to the Black Panthers. After he was moved to the notorious Angola Prison, he joined up with other Black Panthers to fight for prisoners’ rights and education. The state responded with 43 years of solitary confinement, but he heroically remained unbroken and was freed during the last years of his life.
Today's art source: https://angola3news.blogspot.com/2015/07/photos-of-new-albert-woodfox-mural-in.html
#history #Angola3 #USA #BlackHistoryMonth #PrisonAbolition #ToWeRi #Feb19
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Douglas Rushkoff was born #OTD in 1961. He was involved with cyberpunk culture, collaborating with and befriending people like Terence McKenna and Timothy Leary. In his writings he has coined terms like “viral media”, “digital native,” and “social currency.” He advocates for open source, bottom-up solutions to social problems to counteract corporate hegemony.
Today's art is from Rushkoff's "Aleister & Adolf":
https://bookshop.org/a/24051/9781506721040 -
Huey P. Newton was born #OTD in 1942. He co-founded the Black Panther Party (BPP) and its subsequent newspaper, and co-wrote the Party’s 10-point manifesto. Through the BPP he helped create over 60 community programs, including Free Breakfast for Children, which was so successful that the US government continued it even after using #COINTELPRO to discredit it.
Today's art is by Eri0L:
https://www.deviantart.com/eri0l/art/Huey-P-Newton-103515360#history #USA #BlackPantherParty #BlackHistoryMonth #communism #ToWeRi #Feb17
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#OTD in 1942, the National Liberation Front of Greece, led by the Greek Communist Party, gave permission to create an armed resistance movement, which became known as the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS). ELAS went on to help liberate most of Greece from the Nazis, and to stage elections for an anti-fascist “Mountain Government”, allowing Greek women to vote for the first time.
Today's art source: https://etaksi2011.blogspot.com/2012/10/28-1940-12-1944.html
#history #art #Greece #communism #ToWeRi #AntiFascist #Feb16
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#OTD John Trudell was born in 1946. He was the eloquent spokesperson for the United Indians of All Tribes’ famous takeover of Alcatraz, from 1969 to 1971, broadcasting at night as “Radio Free Alcatraz.” He later went on to a career in writing, poetry, music, and acting, as a healing response to the trauma of his family’s death due to a suspicious fire.
Today's art is by Eric Garcia:
https://blackcommentator.com/635/635_cartoon_john_trudell_garcia.html#history #USA #AIM #AmericanIndianMovement #RadioFreeAlcatraz #ToWeRi #Feb15
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The Mapuche Uprising of 1655 began #OTD in central Chile. For years the Spanish colonizers and Machuche had been sparring; this particular conflict arose in response to several factors, including an increase in slaving raids, including one begun just a week prior. The Mapuche managed to free many slaves, force the abandonment of a Spanish town, and lay waste to many others.
Today's art can be found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/laincubadora/5892253872/
#history #rebellion #Mapuche #Chile #decolonization #ToWeRi #Feb14
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Sarojini Naidu was born #OTD in 1879. She was active in the India independence movement, collaborating with Mahatma Gandhi and getting arrested several times for her activism. She also wrote poetry and became the first Indian woman to be the president of the Indian National Congress and to be appointed as governor of an Indian state.
Today's art can be found here: https://www.womensbyte.com/sarojini-naidus-contribution-to-womens-empowerment/
#history #India #AntiColonial #WomenInHistory #ToWeRi #Feb13 @histodons
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Dayananda Saraswati was born #OTD in 1824 in India. After wandering as an ascetic for over 20 years, he found a guru who encouraged him to spread the knowledge of the Vedas. He not only did that, but also provided many of the intellectual underpinnings of the later Indian independence movement, advocated for women’s equality, and opposed the caste system.
Today's art can be found here: https://www.culturalindia.net/reformers/swami-dayanand-saraswati.html
#history #hinduism #india #equality #ToWeRi #Feb12
CW: spiritual eye contact
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Alice Walker was born #OTD in 1944. Her most popular novel, “The Color Purple”, won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and was turned into a movie. She refused to publish the book in Israel, or show the movie in apartheid South Africa, because of those countries’ treatment of Palestinians and Black people. She has also visited Gaza to support the Palestinian cause.
Art by Gisela Bohórquez: https://www.instagram.com/p/BtyOrVohVxh/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
#history #BlackHistoryMonth #BDS #USA #ToWeRi #Feb9
CW: eye contact
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Jose Maria Sison was born #OTD in 1939. Throughout his life he created organizations that fought for communism in the Philippines and around the world, beginning with the Communist Party of the Philippines, then its armed wing, the New People’s Army, and later the International League of Peoples' Struggle. He was jailed several times for his activities but was freed each time.
Today's art is by Renan Ortiz: https://www.bulatlat.com/2017/05/16/art-culture-science-ecology-interview-jose-maria-sison/
#history #Philippines #AntiImperialism #communism #ToWeRi #Feb8
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William Morales was born #OTD in 1950. After college he became involved in the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN), which took direct action in support of Puerto Rican independence. With FALN, he helped with as many as 50 bombings, but ended up accidentally blowing up his own hands, getting arrested, escaping jail, and fleeing to Cuba.
Today's art is called "William Morales, Patron of Prison Breaks":
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/482820 -
#OTD the Seattle General Strike of 1919 began. Shipyard workers had gone on strike several days prior, but much of the city followed suit when a leaked message showed that the government was colluding with the shipbuilding employers. For a few days, much of the city was run by syndicates which provided 30,000 meals a day, removed trash, and coordinated essential services.
You can find today's art here: https://weneverforget.org/hellraisers-journal-from-the-liberator-reflections-on-the-seattle-general-strike-by-a-woman-who-was-there-revolution/
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Juan Manuel Sánchez Gordillo was born #OTD in 1952. Since his late 20s, he has been the mayor of Marinaleda, Spain, where he helped collectivize land and ensure almost-full employment. He became internationally known for his direct-action approach to the fallout of the 2008 financial crisis, participating in a series of supermarket robberies in nearby towns to help feed the poor.
Today’s art source: https://miguellafuentelopez.blogspot.com/2012/08/juan-manuel-sanchez-gordillo.html
#history #Spain #communism #Marxism #DirectAction #ToWeRi #Feb5
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Harry Haywood was born #OTD in 1898. His 1948 book, “Negro Liberation,” was the first major study of the condition of Black folks written by a Black Marxist. Within the Communist Party USA, and throughout his life, he argued that Black folks in the South made up an oppressed nation, with the right to self-determination up to and including secession.
Today’s art is by Hugo Gellert: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Communist-Party-USA-National-Black-Liberation-Commission-New-Metal-Sign-Racism-/154293702220
#history #BlackHistoryMonth #USA #CPUSA #communism #BlackLiberation #ToWeRi #Feb4
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#OTD in 1964, the largest Civil Rights era event occurred in NYC, when 45% of students refused to attend classes to protest segregation. Close to 100,000 instead attended Freedom Schools across the city. True to form, the NY Times printed an editorial beforehand titled “A Boycott Solves Nothing." Sadly, they were right; NYC schools are still the most segregated in the US.
Today's poster can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_school_boycott
#history #NYC #USA #BlackHistoryMonth #CivilRights #ToWeRi #Feb3