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Today is National Youth Day, a public holiday in the Republic of Timor-Leste. This holiday honors the courage and determination of hundreds of young people killed in the Santa Cruz Massacre on this day in 1991.

After declaring independence from Portugal in 1975, the new-found sovereignty was short-lived when Indonesia annexed the nation. This led to the start of the war of independence that would last until 1999.

On November 12th 1991, thousands of young people attended the funeral of Sebastião Gomes, a supporter of the independence of East Timor who had been killed by the Indonesian army. After attending Mass at the Church in Motael, Dili they marched to the Santa Cruz cemetery. Their peaceful march gave rise to singing and the waving of banners expressing their deep yearning for justice and freedom.

“Chega!”, the report of the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor, records what happened next as Indonesian soldiers opened fire on the students as they arrived at the cemetery. “Soldiers opened fire with automatic weapons into the unarmed and peaceful crowd, many of whom fled into the grounds of the cemetery”, said the report. Independent estimates put the number killed as high as 271, with 250 listed as missing.

The Santa Cruz massacre was a turning point in Timor-Leste’s struggle for self-determination as footage of the event was smuggled out of the country by two American journalists and a British television presenter. It was later broadcast on British television and it caused the wave of outrage around the world.

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maybe not that famous…

Today is the birthday, in 1945, of Neil Young, Canadian singer, songwriter and guitarist who as a member of Buffalo Springfield had the 1967 US No.17 single ‘For What It’s Worth’. Joined Crosby, Stills Nash & Young who had the 1970 US No.1 and UK No.5 album DejVu. As a solo artist Young scored the 1972 US No.1 and UK No.10 single Heart Of Gold, and his 1972 UK No.7 album Harvest spent 66 weeks on the UK chart. In 2008 a newly discovered trapdoor spider Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi was named after the singer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZn9QZykx10

Happy Sunday. Here is a cute flashmob video I happened upon with some great opera favorites. It’s very well done and interesting how they managed without an orchestra. Enjoy!

Today is Azerbaijani Victory Day, a public holiday in Azerbaijan. Aliyev had declared November 10th, the day when Armenia accepted defeat and ended six weeks of fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, as Victory Day.

However, taking into account that Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s death anniversary is commemorated in Turkey on November 10th, Aliyev decided to change the date of Victory Day to November 8th, when Shusha, known as the pearl of Nagorno-Karabakh, was liberated after nearly three decades of Armenian occupation.

Shusha, referred to by Armenians as Shushi, is the second-largest city in Nagorno-Karabakh, South Caucasus. It is de jure part of the Shusha District of Azerbaijan, although it had been controlled by the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh since the end of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1994, as part of its Shushi Province.

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Missing some context…

Found on the shelves…

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Should have used his…

rode it out of town?

Today is the birthday, in 1929, of American songwriter and producer Bert Berns. He wrote many classic songs including ‘Twist and Shout’ ‘Hang On Sloopy’, ‘Here Comes the Night’, ‘I Want Candy’, ‘Under the Boardwalk’, ‘Everybody Needs Somebody to Love’, ‘Piece of my Heart’ and ‘Brown Eyed Girl’. Berns had rheumatic fever as a child and it caused damage to his heart. He died of heart failure in 1967 at the age of 38. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-VAxGJdJeQ

Today is October Revolution Day, a public holiday in Belarus. The holiday marks the Great October Socialist Revolution that began on this day in 1917.

Under the leadership of Lenin, the Bolsheviks initiated the October Revolution, an armed insurrection in Petrograd on November 7th 1917. This revolution established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, the world’s first self-proclaimed socialist state.

You may have noticed this holiday is called October Revolution Day yet celebrates an event that took place in November. The reason is that in 1917, Russia was still using the Julian calendar which was 12 days behind the Gregorian calendar at that time, so the revolution took place on October 25th.

Belarus is the only country that was part of the Soviet Union that still observes a public holiday to mark the October Revolution. During the period of the Soviet Union, November 7th was a public holiday across the union and was one of the biggest state celebrations of the year. In Russia, the day is a normal working day. The public holiday has been replaced by National Unity Day, celebrated on November 4th.

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election results…

MOVE TOWARD THE LIGHT!

Late one evening a man walked into a dentist’s office.

“Can I help you?” asked the dentist.

“I keep thinking I’m a moth,” said the man.

“You think you’re a moth?” said the dentist. “You don’t need a dentist.
You need a psychiatrist!”

“I know,” said the man.

“So why did you come here?” asked the dentist.

“Well,” said the man, “the light was on.”

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Sound up!!

Cheech does the YMCA
byu/TihetrisWeathersby infunny

Today is the birthday, in 1943, of Joni Mitchell (Roberta Anderson), Canadian singer, songwriter, 1970 UK No.11 single ‘Big Yellow Taxi’, 1974 US No.7 single ‘Help Me’. She wrote ‘Both Sides Now’ a hit for Judy Collins and ‘Woodstock’ a hit for Crosby, Stills Nash & Young and Matthews Southern Comfort. Mitchell’s work is highly respected by critics, and she has deeply influenced fellow musicians in a diverse range of genres. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlWLRHsHdV4

Today is Green March Day, a public holiday in Morocco. This holiday marks the anniversary of a march that began on this day in 1975.

Spain had occupied Western Sahara since 1884. Morocco had made a claim on the land highlighting a long-standing allegiance between the Moroccan Throne and the local Sahrawi tribes. Mauritania had made similar claims and some of the Sahrawi tribes had declared an interest in independence from everyone else.

In mid-October 1975, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague declared that there were legal ties of allegiance between Moroccan Throne and some of the Sahrawi population, but that the local population should determine their own future.

Following the ICJ verdict, King Hassan II announced the organization of the Green March, on October 16th 1975, to liberate the Moroccan southern provinces from Spanish colonialism.

On November 6th 1975, in a significant show of national unity, about 350,000 unarmed Moroccan men and women, accompanied by 20,000 Moroccan troops headed towards the Sahara and met in Tarfaia.

On entering Spanish Sahara, the Spanish forces did not open fire. Partly, this was to avoid killing thousands of innocent marchers, but also it was the last days of the rule of General Franco and after seeing Portugal lose its colonies the year before, the Spanish had no appetite to start a major conflict in its territories, especially over territory they had already agreed to give up. 

As a result of the march, on November 14th 1975, Morocco, Spain and Mauritania signed an agreement in Madrid, whereby Morocco regained its southern provinces. 

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The tools are useless unless you know how to use them…

SIGNZZZZZZZ

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Today is the birthday, in 1854, of John Phillip Sousa. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-7XWhyvIpE