The 1969 Curaçao uprising was a series of riots from 30 May to 1 June
on the Caribbean island of Curaçao, then part of the Netherlands
Antilles, a semi-independent country in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
A protest rally during a strike by oil workers turned violent, leading
to widespread looting and destruction in the center of Curaçao's
capital, Willemstad, as well as two deaths and hundreds of arrests. The
protesters achieved their demands for higher wages and the government's
resignation. The uprising's leaders gained seats in parliamentary
elections in September. A commission investigating the riots put the
blame on economic issues, racial tensions, and police and government
misconduct. The uprising prompted the Dutch government to undertake new
efforts to fully decolonize the remnants of its colonial empire.
Suriname, another constituent country of the Netherlands, became
independent in 1975, but leaders of the Antilles resisted independence
out of fear of economic repercussions.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1969_Cura%C3%A7ao_uprising>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1776:
American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Fort Lee saw the
invasion of New Jersey by British and Hessian forces and the subsequent
general retreat of the Continental Army.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Lee_Historic_Park>
1902:
While discussing how to promote the newspaper L'Auto, sports
journalist Géo Lefèvre came up with the idea of holding a cycling race
that later became known as the Tour de France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_de_France>
1969:
A group of Native American activists began a 19-month
occupation of Alcatraz Island (graffiti pictured) in San Francisco Bay.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_Alcatraz>
1994:
In accordance with the Lusaka Protocol, the Angolan government
signed a ceasefire with UNITA rebels in a failed attempt to end the
Angolan Civil War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lusaka_Protocol>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
Nuremberg defense:
1. (ethics, international law, idiomatic) An explanation offered as an
excuse for behaving in a criminal or wrongful manner, claiming that
acted in this way because one was ordered by others (particularly
superiors) to do so.
2. (US law, by extension) An explanation offered as a defense to
criminal or wrongful behavior, claiming that one is justified in not
obeying a governmental order or a domestic law because the order or law
is itself unlawful.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Nuremberg_defense>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
If we would lead outside our borders, if we would help those who
need our assistance, if we would meet our responsibilities to mankind,
we must first, all of us, demolish the borders which history has erected
between men within our own nations — barriers of race and religion,
social class and ignorance. Our answer is the world's hope; it is to
rely on youth. The cruelties and the obstacles of this swiftly changing
planet will not yield to obsolete dogmas and outworn slogans. It cannot
be moved by those who cling to a present which is already dying, who
prefer the illusion of security to the excitement and danger which comes
with even the most peaceful progress. This world demands the qualities
of youth: not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will,
a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity,
of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease.
--Robert F. Kennedy
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedy>