well done sister suffragette

On this day in 1920, a long struggle and organised campaign came to fruition with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the US constitution extending the franchise and right to vote to women (see previously). Instrumental to the success included such activists as Alice Stokes Paul (*1885 – †1977), whom after 1920 spent five decades as chair of the National Woman’s Party championing the Equal Rights Amendment, among other causes. Here pictured toasting their achievement, Paul is brandishing grape juice as Prohibition had recently come into effect.

9x9

the incalculable loss: New York Times again dedicates its pages to giving voice to overlooked obituaries

ruputer: Seiko’s 1998 smart watch proves the adage plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose (see also)

air bridges and air gaps: COVID-19 curtails international travel

invisible woman: incredible, augmented reality fashion show—via Things Magazine

privatising profits, socialising losses: the grifting companies receiving and retaining millions from economic recovery stimulus programmes in the US—via JWZ

metadata and memory hole: the internet’s repository is under assault

peaceful transition of power: the nightmare scenario if Trump refuses to leave office—via Cynical-C

chaotic good: DJ Cummerbund presents Weird Betty—nearly as good as Play that Funky Rammstein

and may those who lament their loss find better heroes: Egyptologist usefully share instructions on how to topple monumental structures

you cannot protest here nor there—you cannot protest anywhere

Within the space of just a few weeks homages, sloganising of Dr Seuss have pivoted from combating the novel health crisis whose notoriety laid bare a lot of broken and inequitable things about society to raging against an age old spectre and uncivil companion (via Miss Cellania) that was in part revealed by the former rift in preparedness and response but only pointed to a reckoning long overdue and far more systemic than marshalling resources against an organisation created solely to prop up and perpetuate the status quo. I am sure you could come up with a few couplets in the same style.

xx. prairial

Corresponding with the above date on the Republican Revolutionary calendar—the equivalent of today on the Gregorian—lawyer and statesman, Maximillen François Marie Isidore de Robespierre aghast at the idea of complete rejection of the role of god and religion, sought to achieve a happy medium between Roman Catholicism and the agnostic Cult of Reason, proclaimed in Year II (1794) of the Republic the Festival of the Supreme Being, Féte de l’Être suprême.
Meticulously planned and with holidays scheduled in advance every tenth day—the equivalent of fortnightly celebrations, many saw the courtly and bureaucratic nature of the event as a substitution and surrogate for the old ways that the movement had sought to overturn, especially the paternal nature of this civic, state religion that believed that reflection and threat of retribution were necessary for a democratic society. The Thermidorian Counter Revolt (so called for taking place not long afterwards on IX. Thermidor II—27 July 1794) was in response to this re-imposition and precipitated Robespierre’s downfall and his guillotining—the agenda of observances falling away immediately thereafter, with Napoleon restoring Catholicism by Year X.

7x7

hello, little friends: Ryoji Akiyama transversed China in 1981 and 1982 capturing images of young people in a rapidly changing country

a class divided: a powerful, pivotal lesson in discrimination revisited

the plot to overthrow america: a round-up of fear-mongering ploys baited by Trump’s declaring an acronym a terrorist group, plus a case of deicide

simrefinery: Chevron commissioned the makers of SimCity to make a training programme for workers at their petroleum plants back in 1992

little green men: investigating the anonymous, unaccountable army policing Washington, DC—via Pluralistic

subjective cityscapes: Natalie Christensen focuses her lens on the intersection of architecture and automobiles in the US Southwest—via Plain Magazine

heavenly palace: more details surface regarding China’s space station, with construction beginning next year

no time for this kind of love—no flag waving high above

Via Nag on the Lake, we are treated to a roiling new release from Elvis Costello, recorded in February in Helsinki where the artist wanted to sample the sounds of anonymity sure that no one would recognise him but perhaps the Finns are too polite to make a big fuss over someone wanted to remain incognito, but shared now with this lyric video as it spoke to the times and current angst and anxiety. After playing with Sheryl Crow and friends to benefit the Musicians’ Emergency Fund charity, Costello will join Rosanne Cash next week Live with Carnegie to perform songs of protest and memory.

northwest quadrant

Not only did Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser petition Trump to remove extraordinary police forces and military presence from the city and allow muralists to paint in giant yellow letters BLACK LIVES MATTER on the pavement leading up to the official residence, the People’s House, she also officially renamed the section of 16th Street directly in front of the White House to be renamed (see also) Black Lives Matter Plaza.

7x7

ppe: for the cost of one kit of battle rattle riot gear, one could fully outfit over fifty care staff

world leaders have floated the use of sanctions on officials close to president trump to help protect america’s ethnic minorities: applying the tone of reporting on foreign wars and civil unrest to the US

by-line: questioning the wisdom of New York Times’ editorial policy, via Super Punch

history will be kind to these painstaking recreations of these corrupt criminals responsible for the end of democracy: 2020 Battle for the White House commemorative chess set

harlem renaissance: the US Post Office issues stamps celebrating four important literary figures

history will judge the complicit: Fresh Air’s Dave Davies interviews historian and Atlantic correspondent Anne Applebaum on imperiled democracy

white collar jobs: Facebook will destroy society

farce majeure

Tossing out more problematic catch-phrases and loaded buzzwords—this time Richard Nixon’s “silent majority,” Trump is lauding his militarily-enforced curfew and peace-keeping measures as the model for other governors and mayors to emulate when it comes to suppressing the people’s right to assembly and nonviolent activism.
This mobilisation—loftily called Operation Thetis no less, presumably for her role as legitimising the reign of Zeus and defending him against a rising rebellion and coup-plotting on Mount Olympus—has garnered Trump resistance and criticism from both his current and former defence secretaries over his heavy-handed tactics and the wisdom of invoking the Insurrection Act to stop rallies. While pleading ignorance about the photo-op and the general impossibility of working in that dysfunctional regime are plausible excuses, his current minister who is contradicting Trump about the wisdom sending in the cavalry is not beyond reproach for letting the situation get as bad as it is—plus we’re sure that Mr. Esper wants to maintain morale and cohesion among the ranks, which are comprised of forty percent minority service members. As for retired General Mattis, it’s tempting to see breaking his silence now as anything but redeeming since he should have said something whilst he was still in a position to affect change, one can hope, like with all the other rehabilitated war criminals, that his willingness to criticise, even belatedly, might inspire others to do the same.

we have a great country... greatest country in the world. and we’re going to make it greater. we will make it even greater, it won't take long... it’s coming back strong, and it will be greater than ever before

After emerging from hiding in his bunker with a sizable entourage of sycophants and a squadron of National Guard troops to disperse a gathering of peaceful protesters by firing tear gas canisters, rubber bullets and flash grenades, Trump, unannounced and uninvited, proceeded to make the short march from the White House to Saint John’s Episcopal Church in adjacent Lafayette Square, the historic Church of the Presidents, to pose with it as a backdrop and brandishing a Bible as a prop. Proximity was a factor as well as the fact that the church’s basement had sustained some collateral damage from a fire that was quickly extinguished. In the previous days having broadcast “when the looting starts, the shooting stars. Thank you!” and to mayor and municipal councils “You’re going to look like a bunch of jerks. You have to dominate,” and ostensibly building on his narrative of a “few bad apples” (led by one rotten orange and not even the kind that makes penicillin) reaffirmed his commitment to law and order, surveyed the fire damage and invited members of his staff to join him for a photo-op.
Angered and appalled, beyond trouncing on the US constitutional prohibition against the state endorsing or privileging a particular faith—or any at all—his stunt garnered him a cut response from the diocese’s bishop, citing his violent escort, not praying to unite and heal the country but rather using sacred space and symbols to reinforce a message that goes against what those same symbols—including symbols of civility—stand for.  There were some rumblings within the GOP but few chinks in that wall of silence since giving voice to their collected revolution would only serve to direct attention to the fact that they could have easily voted as the senatorial jury to remove the impeached Trump but chose not to without even suffering much retribution by their constituencies as they could assign all blame to the Democrats and their undermining democracy.

zoot suit riots

On this day in 1943 in Los Angeles and continuing for the next five days, US sailors and Marines stationed there (either on rest and recuperative or transitioning for deployment to the Pacific theatre) and white residents, enervated by sensational coverage of the so-called Sleepy Lagoon murder trial of the summer prior, and ostensibly over the extravagance of their flamboyant clothes and accessorising that was seen as using up valuable fabric during wartime rationing, clashed with Mexican-American youth.
The attacks spread to other industrial cities across the US, expanding to other minority populations. The violence subsided by mid-June but tensions remained high and concern for the economy of southern California was brought to the forefront, given its reliance on the inflow of inexpensive labour in order to harvest produce, eventually leading to the papering-over of the underlying problems, with local authorities squarely assigning blame to delinquent and idle youths rather than systemic racism contrasted with the inquiry launched by the federal government into the riots which had the aims of determining whether Nazi or Axis agitators were not stoking unrest and sponsored the protestors. The defiance of the Zoot Suitors in the face of this unrelenting violence and antagonism is regarded as a pivotal moment for El Movimiento and related civil rights movements to combat institutional racism and disenfranchisement. As young men, civil rights leaders Cesar Chavez and Malcolm X were both Zoot Suiters.

elections matter

snapmap

Whilst not a panopticon of what the situation on the ground is for an unfolding crisis, like the protests spreading across America, telling only the narrative of a set of witnesses that use a certain platform and are choosing to share their experiences—and a fleeting (by design) glance at that—this tool, via Maps Mania, is certainly a fascinating and informed one that provides important perspective and more or less live-views as new rallies form and take to the streets.
One can also drift away from the hot-spots, turmoil and revolt to get a real-time video dispatch from virtually any point on the map.

a riot is the language of the unheard

As anxious rage spreads across the US in response to the fatal and brazenly entitled manner—it was all filmed—that George Floyd (*1974) was detained over an alleged attempt to pass on counterfeit currency, the outrage at the injustice was institutional and a generous in the making, though Trump’s series of conspicuously violence inciting comments from his garbage pulpit (that again acted responsibly by flagging his words as incendiary while another swaddles itself in agnosticism and neutrality).
These protests are not about Trump no matter how he might have fanned the flames and made a bad situation much worse but rather seeking to restore a justice denied and rebel to reverse the sickening racial divide that has come to define America, with the only appreciable contribution of that doltish, impeached pretender being to have sewn such distrust in the media that the protests would take aim at an ally outlet—either that or Trump has brought in agitators to attack his own enemies, a tactic that the Republicans and their propagandists like to accuse the left of. The unrest—the National Guard is being deployed supported by military police units in a second domestic action after they were sent to the southern US border in support of wall building operations—will without a doubt be used as a pretext for postponing the election or calling its veracity into question. In other events that transpired at the same time, all rather backhanded set-backs presented as accomplishment Trump decided to postpone his hosting of the G-7 Conference when Merkel announced that Germany would not send a delegation until and unless there was dramatic improvement in the handling of the pandemic that’s also raging unabated across America, but only adding that the membership is outdated and wants to bring Russia and India to the table when the summit is finally held at some undetermined future date. The US severs its ties with the World Health Organisation and strips Hong Kong of its favoured status, undermining its position as a financial hub. Finally, for the first time in nearly a decade, the US has regained the ability to conduct crewed space missions from its own territory—although this is not really a restoration of core competencies as the work is being contracted out and has for an end goal not the enhancement of science or exploration but rather the commercial ventures of orbital tourism, prospecting the Moon and assembling a merchant marine force to fight off any claims-jumpers or extra-planetary activities that the US disapproves of. No one confuses destruction for up-building and no one wants to see their city razed but sometimes such actions are the only means to change

please mess with texas

State Attorney General has threaten individuals with punitive measures including incarceration should they make public their belief, conviction, truism that the risk of contracting COVID-19 should not be a trade-off for participating in the democratic process, thus giving credence to ballot-by-mail (see also). Never one to not exploit a crisis for pushing an agenda, one wonders how long it might be a standing-order to patronise one’s local amenities just like before without stint or worry. Interestingly, the AG does not invoke ideology or the economic argument to defend his stance but rather a legal technicality that fear of contracting an infectious disease is not a qualifying reason to request authorisation to vote by post and to advocate otherwise is abetting voter fraud.

i beg at this time that i have not intruded upon this evening

This day marks the anniversary of among other occasions of pith and moment as our faithful chronicler informs the choice of favoured to win Oscar contender Marlon Brando chose to boycott the 1973 Academy Awards and in his place sent Native American actor and activist Sacheen Littlefeather in protest of the portrayal of Native Americans in film and television and to raise awareness regarding the standoff at Wounded Knee. Littlefeather gained an appreciation for her heritage after being involved in the occupation of Alcatraz and her speech helped to remove a media blackout imposed on the siege that had begun a month earlier, involving the ouster and impeachment of the Oglala Sioux tribal president on corruption charges. The beleaguered president refused to standdown and had called in the US Marshals and Federal Bureau of Investigations.

kapp putsch

On this day in 1920, Wolfgang Kapp and Walther von Lüttwitz with the support of the disbanded military staged an attempted coup aimed to undo the November Revolution and reinstate the monarchy since replaced by the duly elected government of the Weimar Republic—a historical designation and never used in official parlance with Germany retaining the name Deutsches Reich in use since 1871 due to its constituent states and better translated as realm rather than empire. Shock troops occupied Berlin and Kapp declared himself chancellor of a provisional regime with the government in temporary exile in Dresden.
Though initial resistance and opposition did not materialize, civil servants and other representatives refused to collaborate with the putschists and held counter-rallies and a general strike, which while paralyzing the country and causing the take-over to collapse after four days there was bloodshed and unrest. Although attesting the art movement’s political neutrality, Walter Gropius created a monument to the March Dead (Denkmal für die Märzgefallenen) to memorialise workers killed during the event erected in the central cemetery of Weimar. The Nazis demolished it in 1936 when they outlawed the Bauhaus school as subversive and promoting degenerate art but has been since restored. While the suppression of the coup and restoration of the legitimate government was mostly recognised as a victory for the republic and public confidence in their ability to rule, the Kapp Putsch stirred other, more violent uprisings in other regions.

ishe komborera zimbabwe

In national leadership roles until 2017, Robert Gabriel Mugabe was elected Prime Minister of Rhodesia on this day in 1980, his predecessor and first head of state after independence, Canaan Banana (*1936 - †2003), mainly a caretaker figurehead.
Sworn in and taking his oath office a few weeks later in mid-April, Mugabe proclaimed that the country would be renamed Zimbabwe and across the land statues of Cecil Rhodes, the former namesake, were taken down as the nation progressed from apartheid towards racial reconciliation. After a reign of nearly four decades, Mugabe’s legacy is a fraught and mixed one, controversial and depending on who one asks, either the world’s greatest revolutionary freedom fighter or one of its most ruthless tyrants.

on the cult of personality and its consequences

Though leaked contemporaneously by Mossad and intermediaries to the press, Nikita Khrushchev’s so called “secret speech” («О культе личности и его последствиях») that was critical of deifying the past and of Joseph Stalin’s brutal purges in the name of promoting communist ideals delivered on this day in 1956 to a closed session during the twentieth party congress of the Soviet Union, transcripts of the text were not officially released until 1989 under the auspices of Mikhail Gorbachev’s campaign of glasnost.

The denunciation marked a shocking departure from the unified and coherent propaganda of the day and while notably removing the body of Stalin from public view and interring it in the Kremlin necropolis signified an internal shift (pivotal without qualifications—though his reforms and liberalisation had well-defined limits—the speech a catalyst for uprisings in Hungary and Poland, the author also summarily suppressed them), the aftermath of this revelation accrued greater and more immediate external changes with membership dropping precipitously in the Communist Party in the US and UK over Stalin’s violence and the political, ideological schism between the USSR and China, who condemned Khrushchev as a revisionist and self-serving.

xtrmntr

Exactly twenty years ago on this day, the Scottish band Primal Scream released their titular album in the United Kingdom, as NPR reports, with lyrics and themes that seemed a bit overblown at the time but in hindsight seem eerily prescient to the inheritors of the dystopia that they raged against.
Though in those millennial salad days it would be hard to appreciate the trend despite similarly concordant portrayals across the arts and entertainment spectrum, their predictions of epidemics, endless wars, economic asymmetry, surveillance states and the preponderance of propaganda were ignored at our peril. Find more musical retrospectives with National Public Radio at the link above.