Today in Labor History February 21, 1934: Augusto Cesar Sandino, Nicaraguan independence fighter, was assassinated by Somoza’s Nation Guard. While in exile in Mexico during the early 1920s, Sandino participated in strikes led by the IWW. Inspired by the anarcho-syndicalist union, he adopted their red and black logo as the colors for the revolutionary Nicaraguan flag. The Sandinistas, or FSLN, who overthrew the dictator, Anastasio Somoza, in 1979, were named for Sandino.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #sandinistas #sandino #IWW #anarchism #nicaragua #somoza #mexico #strike #Revolutionary #union

Today in Labor History January 20, 1925: Ernesto Cardenal, Nicaraguan priest, poet, and politician was born. Cardinal was a liberation theologian. He also founded the primitivist art community in the Solentiname Islands, where he lived from 1965–1977. When the Sandinistas (FSLN) took power, they chose him to be minister of culture from 1979-1987. He quit the FSLN in 1994, protesting the autocratic rule of Daniel Ortega. Cardinal called it "a dictatorship not a revolutionary movement."

#workingclass #LaborHistory #nicaragua #ernestocardenal #sandinistas #Revolution #dictatorship #poetry #poet #books #art #solentiname @bookstadon

Today in Labor History August 22, 1978: The Sandinistas captured the Nicaraguan National Palace launching the Sandinista revolution. The red and black symbolism on the flags of the modern Sandinistas, as well as Sandino’s movement in the 1930s, came from the anarchosyndicalists. Sandino spent much of the 1920s working with Mexican anarchosyndicalists, including the IWW.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #sandinistas #nicaragua #IWW #anarchism #anarchosyndicalism #mexico #Revolution

[2] Tous se souviennent de la période sandiniste des années 1980, qui a endeuillé toutes les familles, et de la fracture de la société, qui perdure plus ou moins, entre les socialistes élus du FSLN, combattus par les "Contras" soutenus par la dictature Argentine et les USA de Reagan (qui ont essayé de les financer avec des magouilles de vente d'armes, affaire "IranGate").

#FSLN #IranGate #gringo
#sandinistas
#Nica #Nicaragua

Today in Labor History July 17, 1944: Two ammunition ships exploded at Port Chicago, CA (now known as the Concord Naval Weapons Center). The explosion killed 322 sailors, including 202 African-Americans assigned by the Navy to handle explosives. The explosion could be seen 35 miles away in San Francisco, across the Bay. In response, 258 African-Americans refused to return to the dangerous work, initiating what would be known as the Port Chicago Mutiny. 50 of the men were convicted and sentenced to hard labor. 47 were released in 1946. During their court proceedings, Thurgood Marshall, working then for the NAACP, prepared an appeal campaign, noting that only black men had been assigned to the dangerous munitions loading job. At the time, navy had over 100,000 black sailors, but no black officers. Beginning in 1990, a group of 25 Congressional leaders began a campaign to exonerate the mutineers. However, Congress did not exonerate the men until 2019.

In the 1980s, activists regularly protested at the Concord Naval Weapons Center against U.S. arms shipments to the Contras in Nicaragua. These shipments were supposedly secret, and illegal under the Congressional Boland Amendment. The base shipped 60,000 to 120,000 tons of munitions each year to U.S. forces and allies, including the Contras. On September 1, 1987, a weapons train deliberately ran over veterans who were blockading the tracks, including Brian Willson, who lost both of his legs, and a portion of his frontal lobe, in the collision. Days later, activists dismantled the train tracks. And for years after, activists maintained a 24-hour vigil at the site. The FBI had been surveilling Willson for more than a year as a “domestic terrorist,” even though all of his activism and protests had been entirely nonviolent. The train crew had been told to not stop the train, even if protesters were on the tracks.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #brianwillson #portchicago #ConcordNavalWeaponsCenter #nicaragua #contras #sandinistas #directaction #civildisobedience #domesticsurveillence #fbi #mutiny #weapons #disaster #racism #blm #naacp #thurgoodmarshall #terrorism #BlackMastadon

Today in Labor History February 21, 1934: Augusto Cesar Sandino, Nicaraguan independence fighter, was assassinated by Somoza’s Nation Guard. While in exile in Mexico during the early 1920s, Sandino participated in strikes led by the IWW. Inspired by the anarcho-syndicalist union, he adopted their red and black logo as the colors for the revolutionary Nicaraguan flag. The Sandinistas, or FSLN, who overthrew the dictator, Anastasio Somoza, in 1979, were named for Sandino.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #sandinistas #sandino #IWW #anarchism #nicaragua #somoza #mexico #strike #Revolutionary #union

Today in Labor History January 20, 1925: Ernesto Cardenal, Nicaraguan priest, poet, and politician was born. Cardinal was a liberation theologian. He also founded the primitivist art community in the Solentiname Islands, where he lived from 1965–1977. When the Sandinistas (FSLN) took power, they chose him to be minister of culture from 1979-1987. He quit the FSLN in 1994, protesting the autocratic rule of Daniel Ortega. Cardinal called it "a dictatorship not a revolutionary movement."

#workingclass #LaborHistory #nicaragua #ernestocardenal #sandinistas #Revolution #dictatorship #poetry #poet #books #art #solentiname @bookstadon

Today in Labor History August 22, 1978: The Sandinistas captured the Nicaraguan National Palace launching the Sandinista revolution. The red and black symbolism on the flags of the modern Sandinistas, as well as Sandino’s movement in the 1930s, came from the anarchosyndicalists. Sandino spent much of the 1920s working with Mexican anarchosyndicalists, including the IWW.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #sandinistas #nicaragua #IWW #anarchism #anarchosyndicalism #mexico #Revolution