Month: May 2025
‘Appeased To Meet You’, and more in Peace & Justice History for 5/21
| May 21, 1930 Sarojini Naidu, a renowned Indian poet, was arrested as a leader of the nonviolent “raid” on the Dharasana Salt Works, a salt production facility. She had assumed leadership of the effort to break the salt monopoly after the arrest of Mahatma Gandhi. She and as many as 2500 filled the local jails for their civil disobedience. Column after column of Indians advanced toward the gates and had been severely beaten by the native police under British direction. Not one satyagrahi (one who works for justice with courage and sacrifice but without violent force) raised a hand to defend himself; many lost consciousness, and some died. The British Raj, the ruling colonial authority, controlled all production of salt, a dietary necessity in the tropics; the government taxed it as well. Gandhi decided to focus attention on salt as an example of unfair British oppression in his effort toward national independence for India. British public opinion was deeply affected by the Dharasana nonviolent movement, which revealed the violence inherent in the British colonial system.  Sarojini Naidu More on the Dharasana Salt Works The Pinch Heard “Round the World” |
| May 21, 1956 The United States conducted the first airborne test of an improved hydrogen bomb, dropping it from a B-52 bomber over the tiny island of Namu, part of the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. The United States first detonated a hydrogen bomb in 1952 in the Marshall Islands, also in the Pacific. This bomb was far more powerful than those previously tested and was estimated at 15 megatons or larger (one megaton is roughly equivalent to one million tons of TNT). Observers said that the fireball caused by the explosion measured at least four miles in diameter and was “brighter than the light from 500 suns.” |
| May 21, 1981 The U.S. Senate approved a $20 billion program to return the U.S. to full-scale production of chemical and nerve-gas weapons (CW).  President Reagan’s Special Envoy to the Mideast Donald Rumsfeld meeting Saddam Hussein in 1983. Rumsfeld had become a member of the President’s General Advisory Committee on Arms Control the previous year. Though the U.S. maintained a public policy opposing chemical weapons, it extended financial and military assistance to Iraq in its war against Iran (1980-88), despite the Iraqi military’s frequent use of such weapons. Iraq had developed its “CW production capability, primarily from Western firms, including possibly a U.S. foreign subsidiary” (from a memorandum to Secretary of State Alexander Haig). Watch a video on the U.S./Saddam Hussein partnership |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorymay.htm#may21
Wednesday political cartoons / memes / and news items I enjoyed. A short batch.
Clay Jones, and Open Windows
Brain dead pregnant woman is kept on life support by Ann Telnaes
“The decision should have been left to us- not the state”, says her family Read on Substack
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American Cancer by Clay Jones
America has a sickness Read on Substack
The Trump Cancer isn’t new. We got an early prognosis before he even ran in the 2016 presidential election, back when he began his birtherism campaign. He was a cancer before he went into the White House with Putin’s assistance in 2016, he was a cancer during the Biden administration, and he’s a cancer now.
Instead of 86ing this cancer (see what I did there?), nearly half of this nation let it rot and fester. This cancer will do what cancer does if not combated. It will destroy us.
Creative note: I got this idea while drawing my weather cartoon this morning. After yesterday’s Biden/Democrat cartoon, I felt good about it. I even nearly stopped the weather cartoon to do this instead (but I really loved “Old Man Yells at Cloud).
I was finally able to get to the post office today (your print is finally on the way, Greg, and Kathy…I got your check. Thank you), and started drawing this at a coffee shop downtown on Caroline. It didn’t take long to draw, and I colored it at home after taking the Fred Bus.
I didn’t know if this would work when I first thought of it. I didn’t know if the image would be clear. I didn’t know if a tiny Trump in the rump would be clear. But now, I do think it works.
Music note: I listened to Counting Crows, which isn’t a band I’m super crazy about, but Anna Begins reminds me of a past relationship. She talked in her sleep, she changed her mind, she changed my mind, and then she faded away.
Drawn in 30 Seconds: (snip-go see it!)
Shout It From The Rooftops,
also call your US Rep. I did that yesterday, but likely will do it again today. Anyway, tell everyone about this, and thank you!
Musk’s DOGE is ineffective chaos. But he’s still getting richer thanks to Trump. | Opinion
Check out this article from USA TODAY:
Musk’s DOGE is ineffective chaos. But he’s still getting richer thanks to Trump. | Opinion
Best Wishes and Hugs,
Scottie
Strikes on Gaza kill at least 60 people, local officials say, as criticism against Israel mounts
https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-news-hostages-05-20-2025-402954f7424825ef73ad57f17a701fac
Strikes on Gaza kill at least 60 people, local officials say, as criticism against Israel mounts
Best Wishes and Hugs,
Scottie
Open Windows
Trump’s fascist fetish by Ann Telnaes
A huge banner of Trump is hung on USDA building Read on Substack
Peace & Justice History for 5/20
| May 20, 1916 Emma Goldman spoke to garment workers in Union Square about the benefits of birth control.  Goldman speaking to a crowd of garment workers about birth control in New York City’s Union Square Read more about Emma Goldman: Birth Control Pioneer |
| May 20, 1961 A mob of 300 white segregationists, with the tacit assent of the local police, attacked a busload of both black and white “Freedom Riders” in Montgomery, Alabama’s bus depot. Among those beaten was Justice Department official John Seigenthaler who had tried to negotiate their safety.  Freedom Riders challenged racial segregation at Montgomery bus depot. Attention to the violence forced Attorney General Robert Kennedy to send in U.S. Marshals to protect the Riders. They had been seeking to guarantee equal access to interstate transportation by riding the bus but had been met by violence elsewhere in Alabama as well as South Carolina. The Freedom Rides discussed NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross (with transcript)  Robert Kennedy and John Seigenthaler The Freedom Rider story 50 Years After Their Mug Shots, Portraits of Mississippi’s Freedom Riders |
| May 20, 1968 In the first such instance during the Vietnam War, Arlington Street Unitarian-Universalist Church in Boston offered sanctuary to Robert Talmanson and William Chase, both of whom had refused to participate in the war. Talmanson had been convicted of refusing induction, and Chase had gone AWOL (absent without leave) as an army private after having served nine months at Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam. Church leaders had declared theirs a “liberated zone” on the first day of the trial of Dr. Benjamin Spock and four others in federal court for counseling draft resistance. They believed that individuals had a right to decide not to kill as nonviolent persons, most especially in a war they considered unjust. |
| May 20, 1971 A delegation of U.S. pacifists traveled to Cuba to exchange children’s art. |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorymay.htm#may20
Scottie's Playtime 