Today in Labor History March 11, 1858: The Great Indian Mutiny, also known as the Sepoy Rebellion, ended with massacres by the British. 6,000 British troops died in the fighting. However, at least 800,000 Indians died in the fighting and from the famines and epidemics that resulted.
Today in Labor History March 9, 1841: The U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that freed the remaining 35 survivors of the Amistad mutiny. In 1839, Portuguese slave traders had illegally transported 52 Mende people from west Africa to Cuba, on the Amistad, in violation of European treaties against the slave trade. Joseph Cinque led his fellow captive Africans in a mutiny, killing the cook and captain, and forcing the remaining crew to return them to Africa. The crew tricked them and sailed up the Atlantic coast, presuming they would be intercepted by the U.S. Navy, which captured the ship near Montauk, Long Island. President Martin Van Buren wanted to send the prisoners back to Spanish authorities in Cuba to stand trial for mutiny. However, the Court recognized the mutineers’ rights as free citizens. Abolitionists raised funds for the mutineers’ defense. Former President John Quincy Adams, who opposed slavery, represented them in court.
On Feb 18, 1946, approx. 2,000 #Indian sailors initiated a #revolt in #Mumbai, leading to the deaths of around 400 individuals by security forces’ gunfire. As the #IndianNavy laid a wreath at the Naval Uprising memorial in Cooperage on Sunday, memories of this revolt are revived, honouring the sailors whose act of bravery sparked the #mutiny’s spread to places like #Karachi, #Aden, and #SoutheastAsia, sending a clear message to the #British to relinquish their dominion.
Today in Labor History February 10, 1930: The Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng launched the failed Yên Bái mutiny in hope of overthrowing French control. Vietnamese soldiers in the French colonial army mutinied in collaboration with civilian supporters. They hoped to inspire a wider uprising among the general populace to overthrow the colonial regime and establish independence. No one knows how many died in the fighting. However, the French colonial authorities executed 13 leaders of the mutiny.
Today in Labor History January 26, 1808: Soldiers took over New South Wales, Australia, during the Rum Rebellion. It was Australia’s only military coup. At the time, NSW was a British penal colony. William Bligh was governor of the territory. This was the same William Bligh who was an officer under Captain Cook when he attempted to kidnap the King of Hawai’i. He was also the same William Bligh who was overthrown in the Mutiny on the Bounty, in 1789. It is questionable why the British thought he’d do better in charge of a bunch of prisoners and unruly soldiers, than he did with a bunch of sailors. Perhaps they were just desperate. One of Bligh’s commissions was to reign in the Rum Corps, which held a monopoly on the illegal rum trade in Australia. They also controlled the sale of other commodities. Bligh started to enforce penalties for the illegal sale and importation of liquor. He also tried to provide relief to farmers, suffering from recent flooding and price-gouging by the Rum Corps, by providing provisions from the colony’s stores. The monopolists didn’t like his looting of the stores, from which they were profiting handsomely, nor his enforcement of the liquor laws. So, they arrested him and deported him to Hobart, Van Diemen’s Land. The military remained in control of NSW until 1810.
Today in Labor History January 12, 1915: The U.S. House of Representatives rejected a proposal to require states to give women the right to vote. The first place in the world where women got the right to vote was New Jersey, in 1776. However, in 1807 this was repealed and it reverted back to white men, only. The first place to continuously give suffrage to women was Pitcairn Islands, in 1838. These were the descendants of Tahitians and Christian Fletcher and other mutineers from the HMS Bounty. The first sovereign nation to give women the right to vote was Norway, in 1913. The U.S. finally granted women the right to vote in 1920. Women won suffrage in Canada in 1917, Britain and Germany in 1918, Austria and Holland in 1919. Women could not vote in France until 1944, or in Greece until 1952, or in Switzerland until 1971, or in Saudi Arabia until 2015.
Today in Labor History November 21, 1910: Sailors on board Brazil's warships mutinied in what is now known as the Revolta da Chibata (Revolt of the Lash). The sailors, who were mostly Afro-Brazilian, were protesting the use of whips by white naval officers when punishing them. Nearly half of the 4,000 sailors on these ships participated in the mutiny. Several officers who attempted to resist were killed. The rebels sent a telegraph to the president, reading "We do not want the return of the chibata [lash]. They threatened to destroy the city if the President of the republic and the Minister of the Navy didn’t cede to their demands. And they fired on army forts around Guanabara Bay, and at the naval arsenal and bases on Ilha das Cobras and Villegagnon Island, as well as the presidential palace. Ultimately, the Brazilian government granted an amnesty for the mutineers and the conflict ended without further violence. However, as soon as the mutineers came ashore, the government disarmed the ships, to prevent any further mutinies, and most of the men were discharged from the navy.
A former #Canadian soldier who publicly defied #CAF's #COVID19#VaccineMandate was trying to undermine the federal government while in uniform, a military prosecutor argued, describing the behaviour as "very close to the legal definition of #mutiny."
James Topp, a 53-year-old former warrant officer, pleaded guilty to 2 counts of conduct to the prejudice of good order & discipline for posting #AntiVaccine videos on social media before launching a protest march to #Ottawa
Today in Labor History October 29, 1918: Wilhelmshaven sailors’ mutiny in Germany. Soldiers and workers brought public and military institutions under their control. They demanded the release of the imprisoned, an end to World War I, and the improvement of food provisions. By November 4, Kiel was firmly in the hands of 40,000 rebellious sailors, soldiers and workers, as was Wilhelmshaven two days later. Workers across Germany elected workers' and soldiers' councils modeled after the Soviets of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and took over military and civil powers in many cities. These events triggered the German Revolution of 1918-1919, which ended the German empire and established the Weimar Republic.
'there is one person who used to be sort of a liaison between #Russia 's Def Min and #Wagner . Andrey #Troshev , callsign Sedoy, was one of Wagner’s spokespeople… After the #mutiny he fled to another private military company called #Redut - it is essentially a military unit operated out of military bases and run by the Def Min.'
'Initially, we struggled to see sort of of any change in the narratives, there but slowly. We started to see that these narratives were being pushed by these traditionally pro #prigozhin trolls - narratives that were critical of him for the #Wagner#mutiny so that would suggest that this troll factory has been taken over already by structures close to the #Russian state itself' https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct5hlb #TheGlobalJigsaw
Today in Labor History September 15, 1931: Sailors at Invergordon, Scotland, mutinied, causing a panic on the London Stock Exchange and ultimately forcing England off the gold standard. The sailors mutinied primarily over a 25% cut for the rank and file. They sang “The Red Flag” and refused orders. Order was restored without bloodshed, with the pay cut reduced to 10%. One of the mutiny leaders later defected to the USSR, where he was imprisoned in the gulags as a British spy. Another mutiny leader later commanded the British Battalion of the antifascist International Brigades, fighting in the Spanish Civil War.
Today in Labor History September 9, 1918: Scottish & Anzac troops at the Etaples army base launched a successful five-day mutiny against harsh treatment and bad conditions by attacking the military police and carrying out daily demonstrations. Siegfried Sassoon described the terrible conditions in his poem "Base Details." English writer Vera Brittain described the atmosphere in her book “Testament of Youth.” William Allison and John Fairley wrote about it in their 1978 book, “The Monocled Mutineer.”
Today in Labor History September 1, 1987: During a nonviolent protest against the illegal U.S arming of the Nicaraguan Contras, a Navy munitions train ran over anti-war protester Brian Willson, who lost both legs in the incident. But Willson continued to be an active leader in the anti-military movement. The following day, activists dismantled the train tracks in protest. Wilson was later sued by civilian members of the train crew for the "humiliation, embarrassment & emotional distress" the incident caused them. All of this occurred at the Concord Naval Weapons Station, just east of San Francisco, formerly known as Port Chicago. It was the same site where an explosion killed 322 mostly black sailors during WWII, setting off a rebellion known as the Port Chicago Mutiny.
Today in Labor History August 23, 1917: The Camp Logan Mutiny. After months of harassment by Houston cops, including ongoing arrests and beatings, 156 Black soldiers mutinied. They opened fire in Houston, killing 5 cops and 11 white civilians. 4 mutineers also died in the gun battle. The military tried 64 of the soldiers for murder and mutiny. They executed 19 and sentenced 41 to life imprisonment. Latino author and lawyer Jaime Salazar wrote an account of the mutiny and courts martial in his book “Mutiny of Rage.”
Bit more current analysis from @beverly_ochieng - she says there is a 'Déjà vu since #Mali's military coup in 2020', as #Ecowas condemns the #mutiny ongoing in #Niger . 'The since deleted tweet from the Niger presidency reminds me so much of Burkina Faso's Jan 2022 military coup where Kabore first said everything was OK, only for his resignation letter to surface on state TV and social media.'
A good team of investigative journalists - @christogrozev , Roman Dobrokhotov, Michael Weiss and Sergey Kanev,- have been trying to piece together for theins.ru what happened during and after the #Prigozhin#Wagner#mutiny
Some details emerging of Putin's meeting with #Wagner#mercenaries and #Prigozhin (likely in the #Kremlin ) 5 days after their #mutiny . They were allegedly offered the option to stay in #Russia under Wagner commander “Sedoy” ; Prigozhin is reported to have said that the fighters won’t do that ; #Putin was reportedly talking about them not being a legal entity, #PMC Wagner doesnt exist, allegedly said the #Russian president - original interview to #Kommersant daily
Institute for the Study of War - Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment 7-16-23 - Insubordination among commanders appears to be spreading.... (www.understandingwar.org)
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