[U.S. to World Court: Drop Dead! (in 1983). ACT UP shuts down FDA
(1988). Secrecy runs amuck (1973). Stars and stripes fly over Dixie
(1863). GIs strike against Vietnam War (1968). SCOTUS prefers civil
wrongs (1883). Athletes protest racism (1968).]
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THIS WEEK IN PEOPLE’S HISTORY, OCT. 10-OCT. 16  
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_ U.S. to World Court: Drop Dead! (in 1983). ACT UP shuts down FDA
(1988). Secrecy runs amuck (1973). Stars and stripes fly over Dixie
(1863). GIs strike against Vietnam War (1968). SCOTUS prefers civil
wrongs (1883). Athletes protest racism (1968). _

In March 1983, Ronald Reagan addressed the nation about Cuba. He did
not do so in October 1983, when the target was Nicaragua.,

 

UNITED STATES TELLS THE WORLD COURT TO DROP DEAD

_OCTOBER 10, 1983 (40 YEARS AGO). _The U.S. Navy attacks the
Nicaraguan port of Corinto, destroying 3.2 million gallons of stored
gasoline. For the most part, the U.S. war on the Sandinista regime in
Nicaragua is being waged by the Contras, a force that is not part of
the official U.S. military establishment but is secretly supplied and
trained by the CIA. But the Navy conducts the attack on Corinto
because the Contras lack the required equipment and training. Three
years later, In 1986, the World Court, an agency of the UN, found that
the Navy's attack on Corinto was a violation of international law. The
attack was one of the elements of the case that led to the World
Court's final determination that the U.S. was liable to pay Nicaragua
hundreds of millions of dollars in reparations. The U.S. did not
comply with the court order, not because the World Court lacked
jurisdiction, but because the U.S. was able to prevent the UN Security
Council from enforcing the decision. After the U.S. used its veto to
evade its legal and financial responsibility to Nicaragua, the UN
General Assembly voted 94-3 urging the U.S. to comply; the nays were
the U.S., El Salvador and Israel. The U.S. ignored the General
Assembly's appeal.
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ACT UP DEMONSTRATION SHUTS DOWN THE FDA

_OCTOBER 11, 1988 (35 YEARS AGO)._ A massive sit-in by the lesbian and
gay rights group ACT UP shuts down the Food and Drug Administration's
Washington, D.C., HQ for an entire day in protest of federal inaction
on developing treatments for HIV/AIDS. The protest resulted in 180
arrests. The slogan of the protest was Silence = Death. POTUS Reagan
had failed to respond to the HIV/AIDS crisis, due in part to Reagan's
personal distaste for homosexuality but also due to the influence of
right-wing activists who held key positions in his administration and
Congress.
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SECRECY RUNS AMUCK, BUT WHO CARES?

_OCTOBER 12, 1973 (50 YEARS AGO)._ Because money to pay for top-secret
U.S. activities must be appropriated by the U.S. Congress, a small
number of members of Congress with high security clearances must
receive a minimum of information about the secret activities they are
being asked to fund. On this day in 1973, the Senate Committee on
Secret and Confidential Documents publishes a report objecting to the
way it is kept totally in the dark about some secret programs. The
report lists some programs that Congress wants more information about.
One of the listed programs is the Pentagon's National Reconnaissance
Office (NRO). The committee's very publication of the NRO's name is a
breach of security, because the office is so clandestine that even its
name is considered to be a secret. The official publication of the
NRO's name gets very little attention because no one without a
security clearance has ever heard of it, and the republic does not
crumble, but there is a shake up in the Senate committee's staff.
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STARS AND STRIPES FLY OVER DIXIE IN 1863!

_OCTOBER 13, 1863 (160 YEARS AGO)._ Five counties in southeast
Mississippi, where both plantations and slaves are rare because the
land is not suited for industrial-scale agriculture, secede from the
rest of the state and establish a multi-racial, anti-slavery "Free
State" where the stars and stripes of the United States fly proudly
over public buildings. The creation of the free state is led by local
farmer Newton Knight, who had returned to his farm after deserting
from the Confederate Army. The area becomes, and remains for the
duration of the Civil War, a haven for Confederate Army deserters and
for self-emancipated formerly enslaved persons.  It is also a no-go
zone for Mississippi officials, several of whom are killed when they
challenge the authority of the local population. After the defeat of
the Confederacy, Knight was appointed a deputy U.S. Marshal.
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GIS STRIKE AGAINST VIETNAM WAR 

_OCTOBER 14, 1968 (55 YEARS AGO)._ At the height of the war against
Vietnam, 27 enlisted men stage a sit-down strike to protest the Army's
refusal to honor promises that they had been given by recruiters that
they would receive non-combat status. The demonstration garners
international attention because it takes place in the Presidio, a
large U.S. Army base in the middle of San Francisco. The Army charges
the protesters with mutiny and sentences them to many years at hard
labor, but the resulting storm of negative publicity convinces the
Army to soon release them all with dishonorable discharges.
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SUPREME COURT PREFERS CIVIL WRONGS, NOT CIVIL RIGHTS

_OCTOBER 15, 1883 (140 YEARS AGO)._ By an 8-1 vote, the U.S. Supreme
Court decides that the Civil Rights Act of 1875 is unconstitutional.
According the court, nothing in the Constitution gives Congress the
power to outlaw racial discrimination by private citizens. The court's
racist decision puts an end to attempts to ensure the civil rights of
formerly enslaved citizens, and ushers in the widespread segregation
in housing, employment and public life that confined Blacks and other
minorities to second-class citizenship throughout much of the U.S.
until the passage of civil rights legislation in the 1960s in the wake
of the civil rights movement.
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OLYMPIC ATHLETES PROTEST RACISM AND WAR

_OCTOBER 16, 1968 (55 YEARS AGO)._ After two sprinters from the U.S.
place first and third in the finals of the 200-meter dash at the
Olympic Games, the two dramatically demonstrate their support of the
Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR) by bowing their heads and
raising black-gloved, clenched fists when the U.S. national anthem is
played during the medal ceremony. The athletes -- Tommie Smith, who
set a world record when he finished first, and John Carlos, who
finished third -- are part of an anti-racist, anti-Vietnam war
movement that is supported by many other members of the U.S. Olympic
team. The white runner from Australia who placed second shows his
solidarity with  the demonstration by wearing an OPHR emblem on his
chest during the ceremony. The gesture of resistance is part of the
OPHR's effort to expose how the U.S. uses Black athletes to project a
lie about race relations both at home and internationally. For much
more important information about the events of the day and their
consequences, visit
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* U.S. history
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* ACT UP
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* HIV/AIDS
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* government secrecy
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* Civil Rights
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* Anti-racismU.S. Civil War
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* Anti-Vietnam War movement
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* U.S. Supreme Court
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