December 4 is the anniversary of the US regime seizing the assets of The Holy Land Foundation in 2001. This Palestinian-run charity was the largest Muslim charity in the United States, and its purpose was to provide humanitarian aid to the people of Palestine.

The US regime of course did not appreciate this action. They declared the charity a terrorist organisation with the claim that they were providing material support to win the hearts and minds of Palestinian people for Hamas. They provided no evidence to back their claims, and even acknowledged that all of the money went entirely towards humanitarian aid. But an Israeli intelligence officer testified that he "could smell Hamas". That was good enough for the US regime. They sentenced 5 of their directors to very length prison terms for the crime of feeding the hungry.

Today of course, the situation isn't much better. Israel continues to label humanitarian groups as terrorists, and blocks humanitarian efforts in Gaza entirely when they get too upset with the uppity natives. To avoid appearing completely heartless, the US regime has recently promised $100 million dollars in humanitarian aid to the Palestine people. This is substantially less than the amount that another Palestinian charity was ordered to pay in another questionable court decision, not to mention the funds that were seized from the HLF.

December 3 is the anniversary of The Free Speech Movement at Berkeley University in 1964. Despite the US regime's claimed commitment to free speech, this day saw nearly 800 students arrested for opposing the US regime.

The issue at hand was that the University was cracking down on "political activity" in the University, be it on-campus or off. The political activity of course was civil rights. In the eyes of the students, the US was a racist, imperialist, and brutal regime. With University policy being that only mainstream liberal parties were allowed, and professors who were required to swear loyalty to the oppressive regime, the stage was set for conflict.

The University responded to this activism by persecuting the student leaders. The students responded by having a sit in at the University. A group of a couple thousand students occupied one of the buildings in the University. They sang songs, they watched movies, and they studied.

Eventually, the police closed off the exits to the building and arrested everyone inside. They dragged people down as many as 90 steps of marble stairs. Ultimately, after much ado, the students did win this one, and the liberal regime was forced to allow talk of civil rights on campus. Recently, an event happened where right wingers marched into government buildings and threatened to kill US politicians. Compare the actions.

December 2 is the anniversary of The Monroe Doctrine in 1823. It was an explicit threat and implicit claim to all of the Americas.

The Monroe doctrine by US President James Monroe is written in heavy legalese. But the document makes it clear that the European powers are not to colonise the Americas any longer, and any interventions would be compromising US national security. Of course, at the time the US was a relative backwater on the European stage, and was largely ignored.

But the US forged ahead. The US expanded the Monroe Doctrine to include Hawaii in 1843. This would eventually lead to Hawaii's annexation by the US. US President James Polk formally endorsed Manifest Destiny for the first time. Manifest Destiny is a US policy that acknowledged the racial superiority of white Americans, and that it was their destiny to civilise and bring light to the west.

Things would only get worse from here. The legacy of this has shown two centuries of coups, invasions, mass murders, and colonisation of the Americas from the US regime.

December 1 is the anniversary of the arrest of Rosa Parks in 1955. Her crime was refusing to move rearward in the bus to make room for white people.

Under the law, the first 10 seats were reserved for whites only. She sat in the row behind those seats on her way home from work. But as the bus filled up, the bus driver instructed her to move back in order to make room for additional white people. When she refused, the driver called the police. She was arrested, fingerprinted, and briefly imprisoned, thankfully without the customary beating.

But what the police didn't know was that the black community was waiting for such a thing to happen. Rosa Parks' character was unassailable, and her "crime" was pretty obviously made up. Nowhere in the bus laws did it state that the bus driver could arbitrarily change which seats had priority white seating. Although she lost in court, and was forced to pay a $14 fine, it did spark a whole new chapter in the fight for equality in the US.

The black community boycotted the buses, and staged large protests. It was here that Martin Luther King Jr. first achieved national fame. These protests would eventually lead to the forced desegragation of the US. Minorities still fight for equality in the US, but this day marked a turning point.

November 30 is the anniversary of The Battle of Seattle in 1999. In the largest protest that Seattle ever saw, 40,000 people protested the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and were assaulted by Seattle police.

The WTO was having a summit in Seattle to discuss the "Millenium Round", which was to discuss plans of liberalising the global south. Plans to disrupt the conference began months earlier by a wide variety of interested groups, ranging from environmentalists, people from the global south, and anarchists. On the morning of November 30, they blocked the roads leading to the convention centre. The police promptly responded with tear gas and pepper spray on the protestors. The protestors responded by throwing things back at the police (Erroneously reported by the capitalist media as molotov cocktails). The anarchists began smashing the windows of particularly heinous corporations. The protests continued for the next few days. Hundreds were arrested indiscriminately, the police ramped up their firepower to include rubber bullets and concussion grenades. The protest ultimately became one against police brutality, but the conference was ended without much being done. The protest was a success.

But perhaps the biggest success that came from the protest was that it forced the media to present the protestor's side of the argument. Why would so many groups with little in common all come together and work towards destroying the WTO? Of course the answer to that is nebulous. But the short of it is that neoliberal reforms often only benefit the rich. In the context of a global economy that the WTO is so eager to establish, the rich in this case become the "western" countries and the corporations that control them. The health of an economy can be thought of as how the money is flowing within it. A healthy economy will have currency flowing in a circle, as money is exchanged for goods and services. But the scenario where a worker with minimal tools makes a product by hand has to sell their product at market at the same price as a rich corporation breaks this cycle. The poor worker is forced to sell their product at ever lower prices, or take crippling loans to increase their own efficiency. The currency instead of circulating, starts flowing in one direction... from the poor to the rich. We often see this depicted in liberal media as the Walmart effect.

This is the scenario that the WTO created. The poor workers in this case are the global south, and the industrial factories are in the west. In order to make any profit, they are forced to sell off their natural resources at bargain basement prices, or industrialise with massive loans, no matter the cost. This often leads to child labour, disastrous environmental policies, and other exploitative methods. This is why the people of the protest were so diverse. This policy only benefits the rich, increases inequality, and costs us all dearly.

November 29 is the anniversary of The Sand Creek Massacre in 1864. This day saw the deaths of hundreds of Cheyenne and Arapaho people. Mostly women and children.

The story starts in Colorado in June of that year. A white settler family is murdered, and Indians are assumed to be the perpetrators. Ever prone to paranoia, rumours quickly spread amongst the settlers that an Indian uprising with confederate support was brewing that would see them driven back east off of "their" land.

So the governor of Colorado puts out an order that any Indians that do not submit themselves to a fort for "protection" and supplies are to be shot on sight. He also told all the white settlers "to go in pursuit of all hostile Indians on the plains", and any organised groups would be supplied with weapons and ammunition.

In response to these declarations, Cheyenne led by Chief Black Kettle and Arapaho led by Chief Little Raven surrendered themselves to Fort Lyon. After collecting their weapons and processing them, they were told to camp at Sand Creek, where they would be under the protection of the fort.

On November 28, a group of Indian hunting militia, led by Colonel Chivington arrived in Fort Lyon. Despite protests from many of the officers there, he made up plans to attack the camp on the following day.

When the Indians saw the attack coming the following morning, they quickly ran up an American flag, and a white flag as instructed. Of course it didn't make much difference. Two officers refused to obey the attack order, but the vast majority of Chivington's army was happy to follow their orders. For the next 7 hours, they were met with little resistance, and did whatever they wanted to do with the people in the camp.

This is ordinarily where I would describe what they did. But I'm sorry, I don't think I have it in me to do that today. It's REALLY bad. If you would like to know some of the horrors that they inflicted on the Indians that day, then I encourage you to read Appendix I from the excellent book "A Century of Dishonour" by Helen Hunt Jackson in 1881. Suffice to say that when the US army re-enacted it in 1968 in My Lai Village 100 years later, they were way less creative with their infanticide.

But Chivington proudly paraded through Denver afterwards, showing off body parts and other souvenirs from his victory over the Indians. Although the events of the day proved horrifying even to white people of the day, no charges or punishments were ever delivered on Chivington or his men. Although many younger Indians were quite understandably outraged by this event and started raiding, Chief Black Kettle continued to advocate for peace, as he did not believe a war would be winnable. He was killed in The Washita River Massacre four years later.

November 28 is the anniversary of the opening of the The Ku Klux Klan Trials in 1871. Going to the extraordinary step of declaring martial law, and suspending habeas corpus for white people, the federal government began mass arrests of the Ku Klux Klan in South Carolina.

The republican party at the time was abolitionist, and sought to currie favour with black voters at the end of the civil war. Voter suppresion was rampant in the south, with white people lynching black people when the election didn't go their way, with little being done by the state governments or courts. The main organising force for these racist attacks was the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) terrorist group, who had greatly ramped up their attacks after a Republican election win in 1870. Murder, rape, and beatings for black people were commonplace in South Carolina. Facing the very real prospect of losing his job, the governor asked the federal government to step in. In October of that year, US president Grant ordered the disbanding of the KKK. When they refused, the military was called in and began mass arrests of KKK members. They arrested over 1000 people.

Although many of the leaders had fled before they could be arrested, the trials actually went unexpectedly well. A year later, hundreds of convictions were made, and although sentences were light, there were over a thousand more in the works. The juries even had black people serving on them. But the attorney general was forced to resign after a disagreement with the railroad barons. The new attorney general was much less eager to prosecute the KKK, and progress ground to a halt. White Americans and Democrats were horrified by the federal government's overreach and supposed violation of constitutional rights. Evidently feeling that he had made a big enough show of doing something about the KKK, the US president granted pardons for all those convicted and clemency for those in progress. The trials were over.

The military was present for the next election to guard against the KKK as a show of face. But the very clear message sent to the KKK was that they were truly above the law. The terrorism only got worse. Less constitutionally problematic of course was taking the freedom of the natives. On this day in 1872, the Modoc War began, because a group of them had left their reservation to return to their homeland, ending with the hanging of their chief. The KKK is still active today, although suffers with membership problems, as there's a much wider variety of fascist groups to join these days.

November 27 is the anniversary of The Washita River Massacre in 1868. A day much celebrated in the US, Colonel Custer bravely launched a surprise attack on a Cheyenne camp on the move to their new reservation.

The trouble started with the Medicine Lodge Treaty in 1867, that the US regime had forced them into signing. As usual, the regime had already broken their end of the agreement. They withheld treaty payments, they were trying to prevent the Indians from hunting, and were trying to take even more land.

Of course, this would be met with armed resistance from the natives. Many young warriors were taking up raiding the invading white settlers in defiance. For the crime of resisting ethnic cleansing, the US regime decided "punishment must follow crime". They sent in Colonel George Custer.

Chief Black Kettle was a Cheyenne chief who had survived the Sand Creek massacre four years earlier, and was doing his best to avoid a repeat of that by being subservient to the invaders. He was camped in the tribe's traditional winter camp along the Washita River, flying a white flag. He had been in contact with Fort Cobb, and had explained that the raids were not done with his knowledge or consent, and was on his way to the reservation.

General Sheridan on the other hand, declared "total war", and commanded Colonel Custer to “to destroy villages and ponies, to kill or hang all warriors, and to bring back all woman and children survivors”. He was insistent that every Indian should experience the horrors of war. The Oxford English Dictionary defines terrorism:

The unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.

So Custer went out searching for Indians and found Black Kettle's village. He decided that the best course of action would be a sneak attack with no reconnaissance at dawn. And so he did. Black Kettle and his wife were shot in the back while attempting to escape. They killed everyone they could, then they slaughtered the band's horses, and razed their village, destroying their winter supplies. Custer took 53 women and children hostage. In his own words:

Indians contemplating a battle, either offensive or defensive, are always anxious to have their women and children removed from all danger.

For this reason I decided to locate our military camp as close as convenient to Chief Black Kettle’s Cheyenne village, knowing that the close proximity of their women and children... would operate as a powerful argument in favour of peace, when the question of peace or war came to be discussed.

The Indian Bureau called it cold-blooded butchery, and Colonel Wynkoop, their Indian Agent resigned over the incident. But the military and the public celebrated "the glorious victory" that Custer had achieved. The Cheyenne are still fighting to this day for the regime to recognise it as the massacre that it was.

November 26 is the anniversary of California's "Last" Lynching in 1932. This event was exceptional in two ways by US standards. The victims were white, and it was done with the full support of the governor of California.

The story starts on November 9. Two small time crooks by the names of Holmes and Thurmond wanted to make the big times. They kidnapped Brooke Hart, the son of the owner of the Hart Department Store of San Jose and demanded $40,000 cash.

Alex Hart, Brooke's father, immediately alerted the police. After feigning or being completely incompetent (history is unsure about this one) for a couple of days, police were able to trace the call to a payphone during what sounded like a very frustrating phone call for the kidnappers. They caught one of them. After 5 hours of interrogation, he confessed to having tossed him into San Francisco bay, and gave up his accomplice.

The people of San Jose were upset. The Harts were one of their favourite families of oligarch, and the papers ran headlines calling for the kidnappers' blood, one of whom even called for mob violence. The governor of California announced on the 23rd that he would refuse to dispatch the national guard to protect the culprits. Brooke's body was found on November 26. To nobody's surprise, the first rock was thrown at the police station where they were held. The governor cancelled his travel plans to prevent the lieutenant governor from calling the national guard.

So, the lynching commenced at 11PM, as scheduled by the thousands strong mob earlier in the day. Teargas was used, but it didn't do much. The mob broke in and hung both men, while goulishly scrounging for souveniers with which to remember their murder. They hung from a tree in a public park for nearly an hour before they were cut down, as the mob admired their handiwork.

Of course, nobody who did the lynching ever saw any punishment. The governor congratulated the lynchers, promised pardons for anyone charged, and even suggested releasing all the kidnappers and murders from prison so that they could all be lynched. He actually called San Quentin prison to see how many kidnappers were being held. Thankfully he died 8 months later of a heart attack. Although a few of the lynchers were arrested, of course no convictions ever came. Two more known lynchings have happened in California since the "last" lynching, but were largely ignored.

November 25 is the anniversary of The Dull Knife Fight in 1876. Occurring five months after the Battle of Little Bighorn, this was the first in a series of attacks to "avenge" their mass murderer, General Custer.

Cheyenne War Chief, Dull Knife was reluctant to rise up against the invading settlers. He (rightfully) felt that they could not win the war. But after the Sand Creek Massacre, he could no longer remain at peace. The US military's incessant hounding eventually came to a halt at the Battle of Little Bighorn, which was the greatest victory of native forces against their oppressors.

White settlers of course were shocked and horrified at their defeat, and demanded something be done about the Indians. So they sent in "Their greatest Indian Fighter", Ranald Mackenzie to eliminate further resistance to their will.

So, he did. He and his native collaborators first found Dull Knife's encampment. He raided them at dawn. He forced everyone to leave the village and their belongings behind. Then he burnt it all. About 200 lodges, all their winter food, and in some cases, even their clothing. He took all of their livestock, and left them with nothing. Many froze to death in the first night, including 11 babies. The general overseeing the massacre had this to say about Mackenzie:

“I can’t commend too highly Mackenzie’s brilliant achievements and the gallantry of the troops of his command. This will be a terrible blow to the hostiles, as those Cheyennes were not only their bravest warriors but have been the head and front of most all the raids and deviltry committed in this country.”

The remaining Cheyenne made their way to Crazy Horse's camp, where they spent a hard winter. They surrendered in the spring. They were moved onto a malaria infested reserve in Oklahoma without food. Half of the remaining population died in the first year on the reserve. Dull Knife led two escape attempts from the reserve. Neither of which were all that successful, but Chief Dull Knife was one of the few who managed to get away in the second escape attempt. He died in Montana, where he was born.

This act of terrorism was successful. Much of the Cheyenne people's history was destroyed along with the village on this day. It was the end of hope for the native people.

November 24 is the anniversary of the day in 1961 that the Secretary of State told the US president that the use of Agent Orange was not a war crime, and has some precedence, as the British had done it before in Malaya. I have to wonder if the same logic would have been used about gassing the Vietnamese population.

Regardless, that's close to what they were doing. Agent Orange is a particularly nasty defoliant. Before the US even started using it in Vietnam, they knew it would cause birth defects, and it was quickly discovered that it also caused many forms of cancer, as well as skin and respiratory problems. They didn't care.

The US wanted to use a strong defoliant in Vietnam for two reasons. To destroy crops, and to destroy forests to remove cover from the Viet Cong. They used it fairly indiscriminantly. They destroyed over 31,000 square kilometers of forest with 76 million liters of Agent Orange. And not just in Vietnam, but Laos and Cambodia as well. They exposed more than 4 million Vietnamese, and 2 million of their own soldiers to it. The red cross says that over a million people have health problems as a result. And that's WITH glossing over that a big part of the reason for doing this was to STARVE the Vietnamese people.

US veterans of the war were of course quite upset when they found out the chemicals they were dropping on people was also going to affect them. Numerous lawsuits have been filed. The US regime gave a pittance to their soldiers (about $100 per month for 10 years). They still deny its toxicity and deny victims of appeals. Of course they gave even less to the Vietnamese who still have to live in it.

November 23 is the anniversary of the day that Franklin Roosevelt changed the date of Thanksgiving to be the fourth Thursday in November instead of the last Thursday in 1939. The motivation was that if Thanksgiving were to be held on the 30th, then that wouldn't give businesses enough time to advertise. The decision caused general confusion and mayhem, but it made the businessmen happy.

However, what I actually want to talk about today is the holiday itself. What American children are taught is that it celebrates the day that the pilgrims arrived peacefully in North America, and were attended to and cared for by the native Wampanoag tribe, culminating in a grand feast. Of course, this is a massive perversion of history designed to make the colonisers appear grandiose, and the natives to be subservient.

The true story is that the Wampanoags had just recently lost 75% of their population to European diseases, and their traditional enemies, the Narragansett, were doing much better comparatively. In the past decade, over 90% of the population had already been killed by disease. A Wampanoag man by the name of Tisquantum had been caught by slave traders a few years prior, and had learned English while in captivity. When the pilgrims arrived, he was able to speak with them to gain an alliance with them in order to guard against the Narragansett. After a successful harvest, the pilgrims celebrated by firing their guns in the air. The Wampanoags thought that fighting was breaking out, and showed up for battle. They ended up having a feast instead.

The pilgrims believed that the widespread death and devastation brought by the European diseases was a sign from their god that it was their destiny to take the land. Their desire for more and more native land eventually led to war. The Wampanoag and the Narragansett actually ended up fighting together against the pilgrim threat after the pilgrims burned a Narragansett village, killing hundreds of women, children, and elders. But by then it was too late. The pilgrims were too numerous, and the natives had never recovered from the plague. 40% of the remaining tribe would be killed, and many of the survivors sold into slavery. Today the Wampanoag number less than 4000. After a member was uninvited to speak at a Thanksgiving address after he announced his intentions to tell the truth, The National Day of Mourning was established.

Thanksgiving first became a national holiday in 1863. Thanksgiving was entirely a propaganda move to encourage "unity" after a messy civil war. The year prior, he had ordered the largest mass execution in US history. 38 Dakota men were hung for stealing food from white people after not being given the food promised in their treaty. The holiday seems more like twisting the knife to me.