Death to Tyranny!

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Tank ManThousands of Chinese crowded into Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on April 21, 1989 as cheering students demanded greater political freedom.But by June 4th the protesters were brutally suppressed by the Communist government, horrifying worldwide television viewers who witnessed the bloodbath. The demonstration started six days after the death of the popular, reform-minded leader Hu Yaobang. Students gathered on Tiananmen Square to honor Hu and express their discontent with China’s authoritarian communist government. The student’s demand to meet with Premier Li Peng was rebuffed, leading the students to join in on a general boycott of Chinese universities across the country and widespread calls for democratic reforms.At first the government was tolerant of the mass appeals after Hu’s death, but began denouncing the students’ actions when they realized the discontent in China was widespread. Before long, student demonstrators were joined by workers, intellectuals and civil servants, until over a million people filled the square.At the same time, discord within the communist party was also erupting over the non-violent civil disobedience in China. General Secretary Zhao Ziyang expressed sympathy for the students, while Deng Xiaoping denounced the protest and sought out violent means to end it. Zhao was dismissed and spent the rest of his life in house arrest By May 20, the students had gained momentum from the general public and demanded that the leadership resign. The government responded by issuing martial law and running editorials for 11 days in the government-run news source, the People’s Daily, calling the students “counter-revolutionaries.” But the public dismissed the editorials as propaganda and continued to support the students.On June 4, a day known to most as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, Deng refused to compromise with the students and sent troops and tanks to quell the protestors.They killed thousands. The orders given were to reclaim Tiananmen at all costs. By the end of the next day, Chinese troops had brutally cleared Tiananmen Square and Beijing of all demonstrators. Tank Man Had Enuff!Little is publicly known of the man's identity and or his fate. It would have been in China's best interest that he be brought forward as proof that he wasn't executed but the Chinese have not been able to. This could mean any number of things including, that in the confusion following the crack down he was either killed on the streets or arrested and executed, or perhaps the PSB never identified who he was. So basically you have two schools of thought. One that he was arrested and the other that he managed to slip away........................................Mumia Abu-Jamal Mumia Abu-Jamal is a renowned journalist from Philadelphia who has been in prison since 1981 and on death row since 1983 for allegedly shooting Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner.He is known as the “Voice of the Voiceless” for his award- winning reporting on police brutality and other social and racial epidemics that plague communities of color in Philadelphia and throughout the world. Mumia has received international support over the years in his efforts to overturn his unjust conviction. Mumia Abu-Jamal was serving as the President of the Association of Black Journalists at the time of his arrest. He was a founding member of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Black Panther Party as a teenager.Years later he began reporting professionally on radio stations such as NPR, and was the news director of Philadelphia station WHAT. Much of his journalism called attention to the blatant injustice and brutality he watched happen on a daily basis to MOVE, a revolutionary organization that works to protect all forms of life--human, animal, plant--and the Earth as a whole.The Scene In 1981, Mumia worked as a cab driver at night to supplement his income. On December 9th he was driving his cab through the red light district of downtown Philadelphia at around 4 a.m. Mumia testifies that he let off a fare and parked near the corner of 13th and Locust Streets. Upon hearing gunshots, he turned and saw his brother, William Cook, staggering in the street. Mumia exited the cab and ran to the scene, where he was shot by a uniformed police officer and fell to the ground, fading in and out of consciousness. Within minutes, police arrived on the scene to find Officer Faulkner and Mumia shot; Faulkner died. Mumia was arrested, savagely beaten, thrown into a paddy wagon and driven to a hospital a few blocks away (suspiciously, it took over 30 minutes to arrive at the hospital). Mumia somehow survived. - Sir William Wallace (? - 1305) Scottish knight and champion of the independence of Scotland, probably born in Elderslie, Renfrewshire, W Scotland, UK. He routed the English army at Stirling Bridge (1297), and was knighted. He was given control of the government of Scotland as ‘Guardian’ in the name of the Scottish king imprisoned by Edward I of England, but was defeated by Edward at Falkirk (1298). He was eventually captured near Glasgow (1305), and executed in London.Many legends soon collected around him due to his immense popular appeal as a national figure resisting foreign oppression, and these were the subject of the Oscar-winning film, Braveheart (1995).Geronimo {jur-ahn'-i-moh}, or Goyathlay ("one who yawns"), was born in 1829 in what is today western New Mexico, but was then still Mexican territory. He was a Bedonkohe Apache (grandson of Mahko) by birth and a Net'na during his youth and early manhood. His wife, Juh, Geronimo's cousin Ishton, and Asa Daklugie were members of the Nednhi band of the Chiricahua Apache.He was reportedly given the name Geronimo by Mexican soldiers, although few agree as to why. As leader of the Apaches at Arispe in Sonora, he performed such daring feats that the Mexicans singled him out with the sobriquet Geronimo (Spanish for "Jerome"). Some attributed his numerous raiding successes to powers conferred by supernatural beings, including a reputed invulnerability to bullets.Geronimo's war career was linked with that of his brother-in-law, Juh, a Chiricahua chief. Although he was not a hereditary leader, Geronimo appeared so to outsiders because he often acted as spokesman for Juh, who had a speech impediment.Geronimo was the leader of the last American Indian fighting force formally to capitulate to the United States. Because he fought against such daunting odds and held out the longest, he became the most famous Apache of all. To the pioneers and settlers of Arizona and New Mexico.To the Apaches, Geronimo embodied the very essence of the Apache values, agressiveness, courage in the face of difficulty. These qualities inspired fear in the settlers of Arizona and New Mexico. The Chiricahuas were mostly migratory following the seasons, hunting and farming. When food was scarce, it was the custom to raid neighboring tribes. Raids and vengeance were an honorable way of life among the tribes of this region. By the time American settlers began arriving in the area, the Spanish had become entrenched in the area. They were always looking for Indian slaves and Christian converts. One of the most pivotal moments in Geronimo's life was in 1858 when he returned home from a trading excursion into Mexico. He found his wife, his mother and his three young children murdered by Spanish troops from Mexico.This reportedly caused him to have such a hatred of the whites that he vowed to kill as many as he could. From that day on he took every opportunity he could to terrorize Mexican settlements and soon after this incident he received his power, which came to him in visions. Geronimo was never a chief, but a medicine man, a seer and a spiritual and intellectual leader both in and out of battle. The Apache chiefs depended on his wisdom.Rage Against The Machine. Rage Against the Machine was a band from Los Angeles, California.Their music was a revolutionary combination of heavy rock and hip hop, with punk and jazz elements.Most of Zack de la Rocha's lyrics in RATM dealt political and social concern, but he manages to fit some personality in, too.Rage publically supported political causes, and played many benefit concerts as well as voicing their opinion about particular issues.Rage's politics were generally "leftist". Left-wing politics are usually those concerning the working class, the environment and and a fair, just manner of collective coexistence.The "machine" in question can be quickly defined as the state propaganda system of media, corporations, and government. It can just as easily mean any form of illegitimate authority."Rage" directed at the machine means demonstrating, by any means necessary, one's dissatisfaction with the status quo.Quote of the Day Quote of the Day provided by The Free Dictionary
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Patrick HenryPatrick Henry was willing to trade his life for liberty.History has taught us that freedom isn’t free. It costs. The cost comes in lives and material sacrifice. America has sacrificed greatly in the cause of freedom and we continue to make those sacrifices right up to the present day.Patrick Henry was a forthright spokesman for freedom and his efforts helped ensure that the rights of his native Virginians were protected from an overly aggressive federal government.Freedom is its own legacy and Patrick Henry was a leading figure in maintaining the freedoms and liberties many Americans sometimes take for granted.It didn’t have to turn out this way. The constitutional convention could have collapsed, leaving America without any effective way of marshalling the nation’s resources for its own defense.Patrick Henry, though skeptical of the final product, supported the Constitution with the addition of the Bill of Rights and therefore takes his place as one of the defenders of liberty.He can be also credited with insisting on an amendment which guarantees the right to bear arms.Patrick Henry will be remembered for his unwavering stand for liberty, and his legacy will continue to impact future generations.

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Iron Mountain Bluprint to Tyranny (FULL)**RARE** ..

Heroes:

Thomas Paine "These are the times that try men's souls." This simple quotation from Founding Father Thomas Paine's The Crisis not only describes the beginnings of the American Revolution, but also the life of Paine himself. Throughout most of his life, his writings inspired passion, but also brought him great criticism. He communicated the ideas of the Revolution to common farmers as easily as to intellectuals, creating prose that stirred the hearts of the fledgling United States. He had a grand vision for society: he was staunchly anti-slavery, and he was one of the first to advocate a world peace organization and social security for the poor and elderly. But his radical views on religion would destroy his success, and by the end of his life, only a handful of people attended his funeral.Thomas JeffersonIn the thick of party conflict in 1800, Thomas Jefferson wrote in a private letter, "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."This powerful advocate of liberty was born in 1743 in Albemarle County, Virginia, inheriting from his father, a planter and surveyor, some 5,000 acres of land, and from his mother, a Randolph, high social standing. He studied at the College of William and Mary, then read law. In 1772 he married Martha Wayles Skelton, a widow, and took her to live in his partly constructed mountaintop home, Monticello.he was no public speaker. In the Virginia House of Burgesses and the Continental Congress, he contributed his pen rather than his voice to the patriot cause. As the "silent member" of the Congress, Jefferson, at 33, drafted the Declaration of Independence.In years following he labored to make its words a reality in Virginia. Most notably, he wrote a bill establishing religious freedom, enacted in 1786.A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference. Thomas Jefferson ---- All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent. Thomas Jefferson ---- All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression. Thomas JeffersonJohn Hancock3rd President of the Continental Congress of the United Colonies of America1st President of the Continental Congress of the United States of AmericaJohn Hancock was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, on January 12, 1737 and died there October 8, 1793. Hancock received a privileged childhood education and was admitted to Harvard graduating in 1754. Upon the death of his father, John Hancock was adopted by his uncle, Thomas, who employed him at the Hancock counting-house. Upon his Uncle’s death John Hancock inherited the thriving business as well as a sizable fortune which some scholars claim was amassed during the French and Indian War.On November 1, 1765, in an effort to recoup loss revenues due to the war, the British Parliament, imposed a direct tax on the American Colonies. This tax was to be paid directly to King George III to replenish the royal treasuries coffers emptied by his father during the height of the 7 Years War.Under the British Stamp Act, all printed materials including broad­sides, newspapers, pamphlets, bills, legal documents, licenses, almanacs, dice and playing cards, were required to carry a revenue stamp. Americans who for 160 years faithfully paid taxes to their respective colonial governments were, for the first time, expected to pay this additional tax direct­ly to Great Britain. "This is the place to affix the stamp" During the Stamp Act crisis of 1765 one American newspaper proposed, with biting humor, that the hated British stamps take the form of the skull and crossbones.The colonists, in opposition to King and Parliament, convened the Stamp Act Congress in New York City on October 19, 1765. They passed a resolution which made “the following declarations of our humble opinion, respecting the most essential rights and liberties Of the colonists, and of the grievances under which they labour, by reason of several late Acts of Parliament” calling on King George III to repeal the Act..The Act was repealed on March 18, 1766 but it was replaced with the Declaratory Act. This Act asserted that the British government had absolute authority over the American colonies which further divided the two political systems. In that same year Hancock was chosen to represent Boston in the Massachusetts House of Representatives with James Otis, Thomas Cushing, and Samuel Adams. In the House, Eliot says of Hancock, that "he blazed a Whig of the first magnitude" defying the taxes of the British Empire. The seizure of Hancock’s sloop, the "Liberty," for an alleged evasion of the laws of trade, caused a riot in Massachusetts, with the royal commissioners of customs barely escaping with their lives.Bob Marley Bob Marley was a hero figure, in the classic mythological sense. His departure from this planet came at a point when his vision of One World, One Love -- inspired by his belief in Rastafari -- was beginning to be heard and felt. The last Bob Marley and the Wailers tour in 1980 attracted the largest audiences at that time for any musical act in Europe.Bob's story is that of an archetype, which is why it continues to have such a powerful and ever-growing resonance: it embodies political repression, metaphysical and artistic insights, gangland warfare and various periods of mystical wilderness. And his audience continues to widen: to westerners Bob's apocalyptic truths prove inspirational and life-changing; in the Third World his impact goes much further. Not just among Jamaicans, but also the Hopi Indians of New Mexico and the Maoris of New Zealand, in Indonesia and India, and especially in those parts of West Africa from wihch slaves were plucked and taken to the New World, Bob is seen as a redeemer figure returning to lead thisIn the clear Jamaican sunlight you can pick out the component parts of which the myth of Bob Marley is comprised: the sadness, the love, the understanding, the Godgiven talent. Those are facts. And although it is sometimes said that there are no facts in Jamaica, there is one more thing of which we can be certain: Bob Marley never wrote a bad song. He left behind the most remarkable body of recorded work. "The reservoir of music he has left behind is like an encyclopedia," says Judy Mowatt of the I-Threes. "When you need to refer to a certain situation or crisis, there will always be a Bob Marley song that will relate to it. Bob was a musical prophet."The tiny Third World country of Jamaica has produced an artist who has transcended all categories, classes, and creeds through a combination of innate modesty and profound wisdom. Bob Marley, the Natural Mystic, may yet prove to be the most significant musical artist of the twentieth century. Bob died from a brain tumor. It was initially discovered in September of 1980, when Bob was touring with Wailers in support of Uprising. The neurologist who diagnosed it gave Bob three weeks to live. Marley traveled to Germany and was treated by Dr. Joseph Issels, a specialist in holistic, non-toxic cancer treatment. He died on the morning of May 11, 1981, with his wife Rita and mother Cedella by his side. His body lies at his ancestral home, Nine Miles, in the Blue Mountains of St. Ann's Parish, Jamaica.