Red Pepper

31 December

2009-12-31T00:00:00Z

Happy new year's eve. On this day in 1967, the Youth International Party, the Yippies, was formed at Abbie Hoffman's New York home.
‘There was the Youth International Party (yippies), minions of the absurd whose leaders failed last fall to levitate the Pentagon but whose antics at least leavened the grim seriousness of the New Leftists with much-needed humor.' Time magazine, 6 September (...) - 365 days

30 December

2009-12-30T00:00:00Z

Twenty-four hours before the biggest booze-up of the year, a one-million-signature women's petition calling for the closure of pubs on Sundays was presented to the Home Secretary on 30 December 1887.
Divisions between men and women in 19th-century radical politics often came to a head over differing attitudes to alcohol and the common practice of holding radical meetings in pubs. The temperance movement eventually won strong backing in the nascent socialist and trade union movements of the (...) - 365 days

29 December

2009-12-29T00:00:00Z

‘I think I may fairly make two postulata. First, that food is necessary to the existence of man. Secondly, that the passion between the sexes is necessary and will remain nearly in its present state. These two laws, ever since we have had any knowledge of mankind, appear to have been fixed laws of our nature.'
'Assuming then my postulata as granted, I say, that the power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man. Population, when (...) - 365 days

28 December

2009-12-28T00:29:00Z

‘For years I have with reluctant heart withheld from publication this already completed book. My obligation to those who are still alive outweighed my obligation to those who are dead. But now that State Security has seized the book anyway I have no alternative but to publish it immediately.'
So wrote Alexander Solzhenitsyn concerning the publication of Gulag Archipelago in Paris on 28 December 1973.
The decision to publish followed the brutal interrogation of his former assistant (...) - 365 days

27 December

2009-12-27T00:00:00Z

It's 1861 and Mikhail Aleksandrovich Bakunin, having escaped from exile in Siberia, has just arrived at the house of A I Herzen in London.
The leading anarchist made his escape by boat, travelling to London via America. In the course of his journey he met Frederick Pemberton Koe, an English clergyman who wrote at length about Bakunin in his diary.
‘The greatest passenger we have on board is a man named Bakunin. He was in '49 member of the Provisional Government at Dresden and for eight and a (...) - 365 days

26 December

2009-12-26T00:00:00Z

Habari gani? Umoja.
It's the first day of Kwaanza, a week-long African-American and pan-African celebration based on the Nguzo Saba or seven principles devised by the creator of Kwaanza, civil rights activist Dr Maulana Karenga.
The Nguzo Saba of the seven days of Kwanzaa:
Day 1: Umoja (unity) Day 2: Kujichagulia (self-determination) Day 3: Ujima (collective work and responsibility) Day 4: Ujamaa (cooperative economics) Day 5: Nia (purpose) Day 6: Kuumba (creativity) Day 7: Imani (faith, (...) - 365 days

25 December

2009-12-25T00:00:00Z

‘You will no doubt be surprised to hear that we spent our Christmas in the trenches after all and that Christmas Day was a very happy one.'
‘On Christmas Eve the Germans entrenched opposite us began calling out to us “Cigarettes”, “Pudding”, “A Happy Christmas” and “English – means good”, so two of our fellows climbed over the parapet of the trench and went towards the German trenches. Half way they were met by four Germans, who said they would not shoot on Christmas Day if we did not. They gave our (...) - 365 days

24 December

2009-12-24T00:00:00Z

‘At this festive season of the year, Mr Scrooge,' said the gentleman, taking up a pen, ‘it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and Destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.'
‘Are there no prisons?' asked Scrooge.
‘Plenty of prisons,' said the gentleman, laying down the pen again. ‘And the Union workhouses?' demanded Scrooge. ‘Are (...) - 365 days

23 December

2009-12-23T00:00:00Z

James Davis of Livingston, Tennessee, was killed by the Viet Cong, the insurgents in South Vietnam, and became the first of some 58,000 U.S. soldiers killed during the Vietnam War.
Once, in a high school English class, he was given the assignment of writing an autobiography in which he stated,
‘My ambitions are unlimited, my fate unknown.' So wrote James ‘Tom' Davis of Livingston, Tennessee, in a high-school autobiography project. His ambitions turned out to be unrealised, his fate well known. (...) - 365 days

22 December

2009-12-22T00:00:00Z

I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December
A magical thing
And sweet to remember
‘We are nearer to Spring
Than we were in September,'
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December
Oliver Herford, I Heard a Bird Sing
Happy winter solstice all.
Oliver Herford (1863-1935) was an illustrator and humourist, who has been called ‘the American Oscar Wilde' for his witty aphorisms: ‘There's no time like the pleasant', ‘Only the young die good', ‘Many are called but few get up', and so (...) - 365 days