July 15– WALTER BENJAMIN
Visionary German cultural critic and philosopher. Victim of fascism. Destroyer of art’s aura. [Hashish visioneer.]

JULY 15, 2009 HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS
* Swaziland: Reed Dance Day
* Paris, France: Night Watch. Torchlight processions, bands in the street.
* England: St. Swithin’s Day: If it rains, it’ll rain for 40 days.
* Japan: Black Ship Festival commemorates Commodore Perry’s arrival in 1853.

ALSO ON JULY 15 IN HISTORY…
1381 — Peasants’ Revolt instigator John Ball dies, St. Albans, England.
1796 — Thomas Bulfinch, mythology man, born, Newton, Massachusetts.
1892 — Radical cultural theorist Walter Benjamin born, Berlin, Germany.

Excerpted from The 2009 Autonomedia Calendar of Jubilee Saints: Radical Heroes for the New Millennium by James Koehnline and the Autonomedia Collective