Tag Archives for political

Today's Autonomedia Jubilee Saint – OSSIE DAVIS


DECEMBER 18 — OSSIE DAVIS
American actor, civil rights activist, political radical.

Broadway production of Davis’ 1961 play, Purlie Victorious.

DECEMBER 18, 2009 HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS
HIJRA, Islamic New Year. Oaxaca, Mexico: FIESTA OF THE VIRGIN OF THE LONELY. Apache dancers, amusement park rides, gambling, plenty of fireworks.

ALSO ON DECEMBER 18 IN HISTORY…
1830 — Trial of Swing Rioters, peasants & workers who fought for minimum wage.
1865 — Chattel slavery abolished in U.S. (Wage slavery continues to thrive.)
1879 — Artist Paul Klee born, Bern, Switzerland.
1917 — Black American actor, civil rights activist Ossie Davis born, Cogdell, Georgia.
1946 — South African black-rights activist Steve Biko born, King Williamstown.
1969 — Great Britain abolishes capital punishment.

Excerpted from The 2009 Autonomedia Calendar of Jubilee Saints: Radical Heroes for the New Millennium by James Koehnline and the Autonomedia Collective. The 2010 Autonomedia Calender is now available on the Autonomedia site.

Today's Autonomedia Jubilee Saint – MARTY GLABERMAN


DECEMBER 17 — MARTY GLABERMAN
American radical political theorist, proto-autonomist.

DECEMBER 17, 2009 HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS
Ancient Roman SATURNALIA (December 17– 23): “Unrestrained and intemperate jollity.”  Relaxation of social rules, no business transacted, courts closed, wars suspended, feuds forgotten,slaves take place of masters. LORD OF MISRULE selected.


Above: “Saturnalia” by Antoine-François Callet

ALSO ON DECEMBER 17 IN HISTORY…
1790 — The great Aztec stone calendar discovered, Mexico.
1830 — Latin American liberationist Simón Bolívar dies, Santa Maria, Colombia.
1936 — Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy make first appearance.
1944 — Abstract painter Wassily Kandinsky dies, Paris, France.
2001 — U.S. radical political theorist Martin Glaberman dies, Detroit, Michigan.

Excerpted from The 2009 Autonomedia Calendar of Jubilee Saints: Radical Heroes for the New Millennium by James Koehnline and the Autonomedia Collective. The 2010 Autonomedia Calender is now available on the Autonomedia site.

Today's Autonomedia Jubilee Saint – TOOTIE MONTANA

DECEMBER 16 — “TOOTIE” MONTANA

New Orleans carnival chief, political activist.

DECEMBER 16, 2009 HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS
Mexico: First of eight nights of POSADAS,the children’s Christmas
festival. Processions, singing, breaking piñatas.

ALSO ON DECEMBER 16 IN HISTORY…
1770 — Composer Ludwig von Beethoven born, Bonn, Germany
1773 — Boston Tea Party celebration, Boston, Massachusetts.
1775 — Romantic novelist Jane Austen born, Steventon, Hampshire, England.
1863 —Philosopher George Santayana born, Madrid, Spain.
1901 — Anthropologist Margaret Mead born, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1922 — Yellow Pocahontas Chief Allison “Tootie” Montana born, New Orleans.

Excerpted from The 2009 Autonomedia Calendar of Jubilee Saints: Radical Heroes for the New Millennium by James Koehnline and the Autonomedia Collective. The 2010 Autonomedia Calender is now available on the Autonomedia site.

Today's Autonomedia Jubilee Saint – MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI


SEPTEMBER 29 — MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI
Prominent Italian modernist filmmaker, political radical.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAcePPSsFP0
Above: Short segment of Antonioni’s film Zabriskie Point (1970).

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009 HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS
Royal Courts of Justice, London: PAYMENT OF QUIT-RENT, an ancient,
solemn, annual ceremony in which the city pays the crown six horse-
shoes, 61 nails, a bill-hook and a hatchet. Germany: MICHAELMAS,
the English Feast of Goose, in which the weather is forecast
by the breastbone of a goose.
Mexico: FESTIVAL OF TEZCATZONCATL, Chief God of Intoxication.

ALSO ON SEPTEMBER 29 IN HISTORY…
1547 — Don Quixote author Miguel de Cervantes born, Alcalá de Henares, Spain.
1902 — French experimental writer Emile Zola dies, Paris, France.
1912 — Influential Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni born, Ferrara, Italy.