Today in Labor History October 27, 1967: Catholic priest Philip Berrigan, along with artist Tom Lewis, writer David Eberhardt, and Rev. James L. Mengel III, who was a United States Air Force veteran, occupied the Baltimore Selective Service (i.e., draft) office, where they poured blood on Selective Service records to protest the Vietnam War. They came to be known as the Baltimore Four. Berrigan said that their act was meant to protest "the pitiful waste of American and Vietnamese blood in Indochina." In 1973, Berrigan was excommunicated for marrying a nun. For 11 of the 29 years they were married, he was in prison for Civil Disobedience against the Vietnam War and nuclear weapons.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #civildisobedience #directaction #antiwar #vietnam #philipberrigan #nuclear #atomic #antinuke #catholic

Today in Labor History August 15, 1906: W.E.B. DuBois demanded equal citizenship rights for African-Americans during the second meeting of the Niagara Movement, saying, "We will not be satisfied to take one jot or little less than our full manhood." Founders of the movement named it for the “mighty current” of change they hoped to achieve. DuBois made his famous statement at Harper’s Ferry, sight of the failed insurrection led by John Brown, in 1859. For a wonderful speculative fiction story based on the premise that John Brown had succeeded in his raid, with the help of Harriet Tubman, read Terry Bisson’s “Fire on the Mountain” (1988).

In addition to cofounding the Niagara Movement, DuBois also cofounded the NAACP. He devoted his life to fighting racism, segregation, Jim Crow and lynchings. DuBois opposed capitalism and blamed it for much of the racism in America. He was also a prolific writer, an anti-nuclear and peace activist, and a proponent of Pan-Africanism. And he was an early proponent of Eugenics which, in the U.S., would go on to forced sterilizations of African-American women.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #naacp #niagara #webdubois #racism #panafricanism #antinuke #antiwar #BlackMastadon #anticapitalist #harpersferry #johnbrown #writer #author #books #fiction #SpeculativeFiction @bookstadon

A vos calendriers!
Manif du futur à #Bure le 20 September 2025
contre la poubelle nucléaire #cigeo #ManifFuturBure
#antiatom #antinuke #nucleaire #poubelleNucleaire

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Today in Labor History May 24, 1980: Hundreds were arrested in the occupation of Seabrook, New Hampshire, nuclear power plant construction site. The Clamshell Alliance was the main organizer. Founding members of the Clamshell Alliance include presidential candidate and left-green activist, Howie Hawkins, as well as journalist and anti-nukes activist Harvey Wasserman. Keith McHenry, cofounder of Food Not Bombs, also cut his activist teeth with the Clamshells.

#activism #antinuke #FoodNotBombs #nuclearpower #clamshellalliance

Today in Labor History February 21, 1958: The CND symbol (aka peace symbol) was designed and completed by Gerald Holtom. The Direct Action Committee (DAC) commissioned the project in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment. The DAC was a British pacifist organization that did non-violent direct action whose goal was the total renunciation of nuclear war and nuclear weapons. It existed from 1957 to 1961. They organized meetings, marches, vigils, pickets and acts of civil disobedience.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #peace #PeaceSymbol #civildisobedience #antinuke #nuclearwar #pacifism #atomic #directaction #atomic #nuclear

Today in Labor History October 27, 1967: Catholic priest Philip Berrigan, along with artist Tom Lewis, writer David Eberhardt, and Rev. James L. Mengel III, who was a United States Air Force veteran, occupied the Baltimore Selective Service (i.e., draft) office, where they poured blood on Selective Service records to protest the Vietnam War. They came to be known as the Baltimore Four. Berrigan said that their act was meant to protest "the pitiful waste of American and Vietnamese blood in Indochina." In 1973, Berrigan was excommunicated for marrying a nun. For 11 of the 29 years they were married, he was in prison for Civil Disobedience against the Vietnam War and nuclear weapons.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #civildisobedience #directaction #antiwar #vietnam #philipberrigan #nuclear #atomic #antinuke #catholic