uprisings
1977: The Bologna uprising
A very brief outline of the seizure of Bologna by workers and students in 1977, and the run-up to it following the shooting of a demonstrator.
Autonomia!
Italy 1977 saw a spontaneous and creative outbreaks of rebellion demonstrating that the potential for revolution still exists in the working class of the industrialised west - no matter what the lefty cynics say.
1976: The Notting Hill Carnival riots
An account of the riots at the popular West London carnival which were sparked by the arbitrary harassment and arrests of young black attendees by police. Taken together with similar anti-police riots such as those in Broadwater Farm and Brixton in 1981 they forced a dramatic change in policing methods in the the capital.
Every year, during the August bank-holiday, Britain's West Indian community holds a Carribean-style carnival, with colourful parades, music, dancing and dozens of side events. Hundreds of thousands of people from all over the country attend. It is held on the streets of North Kensington.
1976: The Soweto Riots
A short history of the riots against new education laws that turned into a mass collective rejection of apartheid South Africa by thousands of working class black youths.
The Soweto riots of 1976 were the most brutal and violent riots that had taken place against the South African apartheid administration. It was also amazing in how far and how fast it spread. Its significance would go beyond the violence on the streets.
1973: Siege at Wounded Knee
A short history of the 71-day uprising of Native Americans at Wounded Knee. Armed American Indians occupied the territory, which they legally owned, with several demands, including an investigation into the 371 treaties signed between the Native Nations and the Federal Government, all of which had been broken by the United States.
In the summer of 1968, two hundred members of the American Indian community came together for a meeting to discuss various issues that Indian people of the time were dealing with on an everyday basis. Among these issues were, police brutality, high unemployment rates, and the Federal Government's policies concerning American Indians.
1971: The Attica prison uprising
Against the background of the mass revolutionary, black power and prisoners' movements in the US, a four day revolt began on September 13, 1971 at the Attica Correctional Facility near Buffalo, NY in the United States. Its repression left 39 people killed.
"If we can't live as men, we sure as hell can die as men"
- Attica prisoner
1991: The South Iraq and Kurdistan uprisings
The history of the uprisings in Southern Iraq and Kurdistan in 1990-91 which involved large numbers of mutinous troops who had deserted during the Kuwait Gulf War.
Ten Days that shook Iraq
1968 : - a chronology of events in France and internationally
A short chronology of the events which swept France in May and June 1968. Starting as a student revolt, the events culminated in mass workplace occupations and a general strike of 10 million workers.
Followed by a short international chronology.
1953: The East German uprising
A brief history of a rebellion against the Soviet government.
Many people have heard of the uprisings in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968. The 1953 East Germany rebellion was an earlier example of the working class resistance to Bolshevik domination, which saw party bureaucrats and cops strung up and a nationwide network of workers councils springing up spontaneously.
1945: The Saigon Commune
A brief account of a workers' and peasants' uprising in Vietnam following the end of World War II.
One of the main concerns of the Vietminh Committee was to ensure its ‘recognition' by the British authorities as a de facto government. To this end the committee did everything it could to show its strength and demonstrate its ability to ‘maintain order'.
1930-1931: The Nghe-Tinh Revolt
The history of the uprising in rural Vietnam, still a French colony, which caused the local government to flee. The workers and peasants in the area then began administrating their affairs themselves before being crushed by the French army.
Strikes grew more frequent in Nam Bo in early 1930 and led to peasant demonstrations in May and June of that year. The focus of reaction to the worsening economic conditions, however, was the Nghe An Province, which had a long history of support for peasant revolts.
