Today in Labor History June 5, 1925: Mine owners in La Coruna, Chile, launched an attack on rebel workers in a nitrate mine encampment, killing over 2,000 workers. Over 500 workers were tortured. This came in the wake of an earlier massacre, in March, at the Marusia saltpeter mine in Huara, Chile, in which 500 striking workers were slaughtered by the government. In that strike, the troops entered town shooting. A group of workers responded by throwing dynamite them, killing several, and seizing their guns. The workers then took over the explosives depot of the mine and cut the telegraphic lines, forcing the troops to retreat. The miners armed and organized the entire town to resist the military, which returned in large numbers. They attacked at night and machine-gunned down everyone, men, women, and children, but not without losing another 36 soldiers to the resistance.

Tensions in the region had been high for several years, with lots of organizing by anarchist and communist groups. A local mayor had contacted the Minister of War, in 1924, claiming that the Soviet revolution had broken out in the Pampas. This led to a state of siege and long-term military occupation. Despite the military presence, saltpeter miners struck throughout most of early 1925, demanding the nationalization of the mines. The government shut down the newspapers “El Despertar de los Trabajadores” (communist) and “El Surco” (anarchist) and arrested several union leaders, leading to a General Strike on June 4, 1925. During the General Strike, workers occupied the offices of 124 saltpeter mines and shut down the port of Iquique. The workers looted the warehouses and distributed provisions among the starving workers in the camps. When the military attacked, the workers fought back with homemade grenades (tin jars loaded with dynamite, rivets and paste). The military attacked the buildings occupied by the workers with long range cannons, forcing them to flee into the pampas. The attack caused much of the saltpeter to burn, destroying homes and warehouses containing food. Once the region had been subdued, they arrested the anarchist leader, Carlos Garrido, and executed him without trial in a soccer field.

#LaborHistory #workingclass #strike #massacre #PoliceAbuse #police #chile #torture #rebellion #generalstrike #anarchism #communism

Last month I sat for a phone interview with some journalist, this morning I hear they are going to press with some references to my defcon police bodycam BLE talk.

Catch me(briefly) on Australian ABC's Four Corners 🦘

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXz8vwFzP2v

#Australia #Tazer #Taser #Axon #cybersecurity #policeaccountabilty #acab #ABC #policeabuse #FourCorners

Today in Labor History April 26, 1960: Students and workers forced South Korean President Syngman Rhee to resign after 12 years of dictatorial rule. The protests began on April 11 after the police killed a high school student. The student’s skull had been split by a tear gas canister. On April 19, the police shot into a demonstration of 100,000 people in Seoul, killing 180 people. They killed 186 people, overall, during the two weeks of demonstrations. Rhee fled to the U.S.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #students #protest #demonstration #korea #dictator #massacre #police #PoliceAbuse #policemurder

Brickbat: An officer in Bridgeport, #Connecticut, involved in a foot chase last year that ended in a fatal shooting has been placed on administrative leave in light of—but unrelated to—reports that she took an ambulance intended for the dying person. Erin Perrotta was escorted away after suffering a "mild anxiety attack", leaving the bloodied Dyshan Best to wait another 14 minutes before he could be treated at a hospital, where he died from his wounds.

https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/bridgeport-dyshan-best-lawsuit-fatal-shooting-22075352.php

#policeAbuse

Noch einmal werden Deutschlands Gesetze benutzt, politischen Dissens zu bestrafen, nicht eigentliche Extremisten.

https://www.focus.de/politik/meinung/fleischhauer-kolumne-gaga-justiz-ruiniert-unser-vertrauen-in-den-rechtsstaat_8bd50a10-b973-42c3-a0f9-f57dad5d8dee.html

#Germany #freeSpeech #policeAbuse #Russia #socialMedia #Ukraine #VladimirPutin

This reminds me of a CNN interview by Dana Bash with then-Border Control Commander Gregory Bovino, in which a sober-minded Bash, in true journalistic fashion, pressed the dodgy Bovino hard on the facts and exposed the latter's equivocation. This sort of holding the public accountable is rare in today's media and in politics, but certainly well appreciated.

https://reason.com/2026/03/04/in-senate-testimony-on-dhs-shootings-kristi-noem-lies-about-her-lies/

#accountability #DHS #FourthAmendment #ICE #immigration #KristiNoem #Minneapolis #policeAbuse #TrumpAdministration

Today in Labor History January 30, 1970: 20,000 people rioted in Manila. They were protesting the regime of US-backed dictator Ferdinand Marcos after his State of the Nation address. Over 2,000 attempted to storm the US embassy chanting “Down with imperialism!” Riot police and soldiers beat protesters with truncheons and rifle butts. At least 50 people were hospitalized and at least six died. Riots continued throughout the year. They were part of the First Quarter Storm.

In 1986, after ongoing protests, Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos begged President Ronald Regan for advice. Regan told him to “cut and cut cleanly.” That evening, Marcos and his wife Imelda fled the nation aboard a U.S. air force plane, after 20 years of rule. He and his family, and an entourage of 90 people (mostly servants), arrived in Hawaii the next day. They brought 22 crates of cash valued at $717 million, 300 crates of jewelry of unknown value, $4 million worth of unset precious gems, $200,000 in gold bullion, $1 million in Philippine pesos and deposit slips for $124 million in banks in the Cayman Islands. Plus, countless crates of shoes. The Marcos’s hold the Guinness record for the largest ever theft from a government. Although Grifter-in-chief Trump seems dead set on trying to break that record.

Speaking of which, if you are shocked and appalled that Americans could be stupid enough to reelect Trump, consider that the people of the Philippines somehow “forgot” about the years of brutal dictatorship by Marcos and elected his son Bongbong, who currently wants to collaborate with Trump to get foreign aid flowing again, so he can continue his family tradition of violent domestic repression.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #philippines #massacre #riot #FerdinandMarcos #policeabuse #dictator #trump #corruption