Guy Fawkes!

by Pat C Tue Nov 05, 2002 14:28

Others who entered parliament with honest intentions:

1. On January 1885 the "Fenians" bombed Westminister Palace. Two coppers were injured. On the same day a second explosion occurred this time in the Chamber of the House of Commons. A second bomb had been left on the seats known as 'Under the Gallery' which were in those days where the Broadcasting box is now. Unfortunately all those who had been in the Chamber had left before the explosion to investigate the earlier blast. However considerable damage was caused with the Peers Gallery being totally destroyed and the Government front benches and the Speakers Chair badly affected. Some idea can be had of the scale of this second explosion by the fact that the damage extended to the Members Lobby and the Post Office.

2. In 1975 Irish Republican sympathisers were able to smuggle two CS gas grenades into the Public Gallery of the House Of Commons. These they threw onto the Floor of the House causing confusion and distress to those present.

3. In 1972, during the construction of the Underground Carpark beneath New Palace Yard, The IRA was able to exploit the large number of casual workers employed on the project and place a bomb in a ladies toilet adjacent to Westminster Hall. This exploded at 8am one morning igniting a gas main and causing considerable damage.

4.Shortly before the 1979 General Election. A bomb was attached to the car of Airey Neave. The device was armed via a timer and subsequently detonated by a mercury tilt switch when the car was driven up the exit ramp from the car park of Westminister Palace. His injuries were serious and he died shortly after the explosion.
Airey Neave was a close personal friend of Margaret Thatcher and had played a large part in her election as Conservative Party Leader. He was widely expected to be appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland should the election go the way of the conservatives. The INLA put him into early retirement.

5. In 1978 members of the SWP got in to the public galleries of the house of commons and threw parcels of horse shit down on the mps. This was a protest against brit terrorism in Ireland.

by iosaf (at the collation again) Tue Nov 05, 2002 14:37

Today is the mid-term elections in the USA.
there´s a list of sites with interesting material on the election and the issues

"to vote not to vote, how to vote, who to vote for, what is a chad?, who is voting? who is counting the votes?"

goto http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=214895&group=webcast

or for the list: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=14467

if you´re too lazy Mr O´ as if has made a short list of what seems interesting things that happened on the Fifth of Novemember, and in an attempt to move away from the airey thoughts of the past few days I´ll not mention Westminster.
1912 --
USA presidential elections: Socialist candidate Eugene Debs receives over 900,000 votes, the largest percentage ever by a socialist.

This didn´t make him very popular and within a few years he was imprisoned. He contested the Presidential elections again in 1920 winning 1 million votes whilst still imprisoned his prisoner number was #9653.

If you´re interested in the life and career of this extraordinary man go to
http://www.eugenevdebs.com

in 1935 at the depth of the Great Depression the game Monopoly was introduced.
It has since been the inspiration for many anti-capitalists and anti-globalist game players.
[DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF PLAY]

in 1936 a very intense few days of the Spanish civil War saw [one for the SWM/SP why don´t anarchists take part in government]...
Buenaventura Durruti makes a radio broadcast from the Madrid front, in which he opposed the decree issued by the Generalitat (autonomous government of Catalúnya) militarizing the militias. "We make war & revolution at the same time. The militiaman has to know that he fights for the conquest of the land, the factories, culture ... the pick & the shovel are as valuable as the gun."
The day before (November 4, 1936) Four anarchist ministers - Garcia Oliver, Frederica Montseny, Joan Peiró and Juan López - had joined the Republic's government.
interested go to
http://www.spunk.org/texts/places/spain/sp001780/chap1.html

1970 Indiginous American Indians occupied Federal land near Davis. This occupation went on for over a year and finally ended with Nixon´s promise of a university a change in Federal US policy on the status of indiginous Indians.
interested go to http://www.nps.gov/alcatraz/indian4.html

1984 Anti-apartheid general strike by black workers in South Africa.
interested go to http://www.dnai.com/~figgins/generalstrike/index.html
http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/

by iosaf Tue Nov 05, 2002 14:40

I had a suspicion others would mention Westminster, but at least now we have balanced info.
:-)

by Blisset Tue Nov 05, 2002 14:52

I couldn't make sense of the end but as it 'regresses?' towards the beginning it is becoming increasingly educational. If I had 100 hours I would string it together for the elucidation of the links between fish oil and spies. SSSSSSSSSLLLLLLLLIIIIIIIIIIIPPPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYY.

by iosaf (future nobel prize winner) Tue Nov 05, 2002 15:05

November 5th 1930 the first American was awarded the Nobel for literature. (Sinclair Lewis)
interested go to http://www.ilstu.edu/~separry/lewis.html
http://www.nobel.se/
my novel is getting a bit fluffed along the way Blisset, and the true text is no longer being "first-published" on indymedia.ireland
I´m still hanging around commenting and writing but since the NICE vote day no more texts of the novel have been left here...really careful readers will have solved the cryptic crossword clues and know where the subsequent chapters are.
(the biography got back to why I call FF little rascals).
From December the work goes to another media, three times in the last four years its jumped from cyber to hard (posters nailed to important doors) and video/radio/satellite [hmmmm satelite hmmm][almost wetting our little shorts there]
so I suppose the texts here are now a type of "glossary and reference appendix". I find all this temporal transcendence going backwards very difficult you know and the "tenth planet" really spooked me. The relevant chapters on "discordia & para-phenomona" are most certainly not suitable for family reading open newswire publishing.
And someday we´ll rave the Phoenix Park ¿no?

by Blisset Tue Nov 05, 2002 15:27

Rave Phoenix park - Did it already - One of the most beautiful things I ever attended was there - spontaneously organised very big gathering for Kurdt Kobain just after he left - Organised by Kids - I was 'Young' at the time but was still the oldest person there -

Seattle turned out to be more than a sound

by Dara McCarthy Tue Nov 05, 2002 15:32

D'you know me?

by sinclair Lewis Tue Nov 05, 2002 15:36

of White Fang / Call of the wild etc

by pat c Tue Nov 05, 2002 15:45

i've read 3 biographies of jack london* & can't remember any mention of sinclair lewis.

the sinclair lewis novel "it can't happen here" about a fascist takeover in the US in the 1930s should still be available in waterstones, in their Americam Imports sction. As should "iron heel"; jack londons novel about a fascist takeover in the US in the 1900s

"sailor on horseback" by irving stone is stil the best imho.

by iosaf = o as if Tue Nov 05, 2002 15:47 iosaf at email dot com

send me a bio-pic to email. coz. i´m not sure.

I´m sad I missed the Phoenix Pk rave.
One I really remember was in 1995 on the Boyne river just at Dowth for the Summer Solstice with DJ and partygoers from all over Ireland, I remember it becuase I read the Downing Street declaration and other texts of the Peace Process at dawn. It was strange because several weeks later I had to spend two days locked into a house in Dorset St, Dublin for fear of "concerned" parents who were baying for my "english blood"[westbrit accent]. Odd I´m sure quite a few of those ravers liked partying across the divide.

by pat c Wed Nov 06, 2002 12:42

Perhaps you could mention the late Frank "Butch" Roche, former member of the original Irish Workers Group and the MSR and Peoples Democracy who gave them a taste of cs gas. A decent comrade now forgotten.

Jim Monaghan