12/02 Open Thread - International Day for the Abolition of Slavery

According to Checkiday.com

More than 40 million people around the world are trapped in modern slavery, which is usually regarded as forced labor, debt bondage, forced marriage, and human trafficking. Slavery is a condition where a person can't leave because of threats, violence, abuse of power, deception, and coercion. Those most affected by modern slavery are the poorest and most socially excluded groups, including migrants, women, discriminated ethnic groups, minorities, and indigenous peoples. Besides the more than 40 million adults in modern slavery, over 150 million children—almost a tenth of all children—are forced into child labor. International Day for the Abolition of Slavery aims to eradicate forms of modern slavery-like sexual exploitation, human trafficking, child labor, forced recruitment of children for armed conflict, and forced marriage. It is held on December 2nd, the anniversary of the General Assembly's 1949 adoption of resolution 317(IV), which is the United Nations Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others.

The US Constitution, FWIW, still permits involuntary servitude;

"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

California, in 2024 rejected a proposed amendment that would strike similar language from the state Constitution, and I suspect many other states have similar clauses as well.

**********

On this day in history:

1766 – The Swedish parliament approved the Swedish Freedom of the Press Act and implemented it as a ground law, thus being first in the world with freedom of speech

1823 – In a State of the Union message, U.S. President James Monroe proclaimed American neutrality in future European conflicts, and warned European powers not to interfere in the Americas.

1845 – In a State of the Union message, U.S. President James K. Polk proposed that the United States should aggressively expand into the West.

1859 – Militant abolitionist leader John Brown was hanged for his October 16 raid on Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

1899 – The Battle of Tirad Pass, known as the "Filipino Thermopylae", was fought.

1917 – Russia and the Central Powers signed an armistice at Brest-Litovsk, and peace talks leading to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk began.

1942 – During the Manhattan Project a team led by Enrico Fermi initiated the first artificial self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.

1943 – A Luftwaffe bombing raid on the harbour of Bari, Italy, sank the SS John Harvey which was carrying a stockpile of mustard gas.

1949 – Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others was adopted.

1956 – The Granma reached the shores of Cuba's Oriente Province. Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and 80 other members of the 26th of July Movement disembarked to initiate the Cuban Revolution.

1961 – In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declared that he was a Marxist–Leninist and that Cuba would adopt Communism.

1962 – After a trip to Vietnam at the request of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield became the first American official to comment adversely on the war's progress.

1970 – The United States Environmental Protection Agency began operations.

1971 – Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah, Dubai, and Umm al-Quwain formed the United Arab Emirates.

1975 – The Pathet Lao seized the Laotian capital of Vientiane, forced the abdication of King Sisavang Vatthana, and proclaimed the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

1976 – Fidel Castro became President of Cuba, replacing Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado.

1980 – Four American missionaries were raped and murdered by a US backed Salvadoran National Guard death squad.

1982 – At the University of Utah, Barney Clark became the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart.

1991 – Canada and Poland became the first nations to recognize the independence of Ukraine from the Soviet Union.

2020 – Cannabis was removed from the list of most dangerous drugs of the international drug control treaty by the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs.

**********

Some people who were born on this day:

Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.

~~ Georges Seurat

1578 – Agostino Agazzari, composer and theorist 1759 – James Edward Smith, botanist and mycologist, founded the Linnean Society 1859 – Georges Seurat, painter 1863 – Charles Edward Ringling, businessman, co-founded the Ringling Brothers Circus after which US electoral politics was modeled 1866 – Harry Burleigh, singer and songwriter 1891 – Otto Dix, painter and illustrator 1909 – Joseph P. Lash, activist and author 1913 – Marc Platt, actor, singer, and dancer 1917 – Sylvia Syms, singer 1923 – Maria Callas, soprano and actress 1929 – Dan Jenkins, journalist and author 1931 – Wynton Kelly, pianist and composer 1941 – Tom McGuinness, guitarist, songwriter, author, and producer 1946 – David Macaulay, author and illustrator 1947 – Isaac Bitton, drummer and songwriter 1948 – Toninho Horta, guitarist and composer 1950 – John Wesley Ryles, country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist 1950 – Paul Watson, activist, founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society 1960 – Peter Blakeley, singer, songwriter, and guitarist 1960 – Deb Haaland, politician, 54th United States Secretary of the Interior 1960 – Razzle, rock drummer 1960 – Rick Savage, singer, songwriter, and bass player 1968 – Nate Mendel, singer, songwriter, and bass player 1978 – Christopher Wolstenholme, singer, songwriter, and bass player 1979 – Yvonne Catterfeld, singer, songwriter, and actress 1981 – Britney Spears, singer, songwriter, dancer, and actress 1986 – Tal Wilkenfeld, bass player and composer 1989 – Etta Bond, singer and songwriter 1989 – Cassie Steele, singer, songwriter, and actress 1991 – Charlie Puth, singer, songwriter, and pianist

**********

Some people who died on this day:

A pessimist is a man who tells the truth prematurely.

~~ Cyrano de Bergerac

1469 – Piero di Cosimo de' Medici, banker and politician 1547 – Hernán Cortés, general and pillager. Conquistadore 1594 – Gerardus Mercator, mathematician, cartographer, and philosopher 1774 – Johann Friedrich Agricola, organist and composer 1814 – Marquis de Sade, philosopher, author, and politician 1859 – John Brown, abolitionist 1885 – Allen Wright, Principal chief of the Choctaw Nation; proposed the name "Oklahoma", from Choctaw words okra and umma, meaning "Territory of the Red People." 1892 – Jay Gould, thief, crook, and swindler; robber baron and railroad owner 1918 – Edmond Rostand, poet and playwright And with the refrain, thrust home 1927 – Paul Heinrich von Groth, scientist who systematically classified minerals and founded the journal Zeitschrift für Krystallographie und Mineralogie 1936 – John Ringling, businessman, co-founded Ringling Brothers Circus 1966 – L. E. J. Brouwer, mathematician and philosopher 1969 – José María Arguedas, anthropologist, author, and poet 1980 – Romain Gary, author, director, and screenwriter 1987 – Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich, physicist, astronomer, and cosmologist 1990 – Aaron Copland, composer and conductor >BR? 1997 – Michael Hedges, singer, songwriter ,and guitarist (b. 1953) 1999 – Charlie Byrd, guitarist 2008 – Odetta, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actress 2009 – Eric Woolfson, singer, songwriter, pianist, and producer 2013 – Junior Murvin, singer and songwriter 2014 – Bobby Keys, saxophonist

**********

Some Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such: International Day for the Abolition of Slavery (United Nations)

**********

Today's Tunes

Slavery

Trending Articles