Civil Liberties – Page 20 – Actipedia | A Wiki for Creative Activism

Sneaking the Jews out of Denmark

Date:
Sep 15 1943

In September 1943, the Nazis prepared for the deportation of all Danish Jews to the concentration camps and death. But Georg Duckwitz, a German diplomat with a conscience, deliberately leaked the plans for the roundup, which was due to begin…

Washing the Flag

Practitioner:
People

Date:
Sep 15 1943

“It might not seem that an act of public laundry could unsettle a president with a well-deserved reputation for inflexibility, corruption, and brutality. But mass washing ceremonies were a key element in getting rid of Peru’s unpopular president, Alberto Fujimori,…

Gandhi’s Salt March to the Sea

Practitioner:
Mahatma Gandhi

Date:
Sep 15 1943

In 1930, the Indian National Congress adopted satyagraha (essentially, nonviolent protest) as their main tactic in their campaign for independence. Mahatma Gandhi was appointed to develop a plan of action; he proposed marching to the sea to make salt in…

Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott

Practitioner:
Claudette Colvin, NAACP, Rosa Parks

Date:
Sep 15 1943

In 1900, Montgomery, Alabama had passed a city ordinance to segregate bus passengers by race, and conductors were empowered to assign seats to achieve that goal. The first four rows of seats on each Montgomery bus were reserved for whites,…

A Painter and Social Activist With an ‘Unruly Nature’

Practitioner:
Mary Lovelace O’Neal

Date:
Sep 15 1943

The idea was born in an instant. A curator attending an opening at the Baltimore Museum of Art was immediately captivated by a painting from an artist she had barely heard of, Mary Lovelace O’Neal. Three months later, a five-decade…

Big Bossa

Practitioner:
Wajiha Jendoubi

Date:
Sep 15 1943

Wajiha Jendoubi is an actress and one of Tunisia’s best-known comedians. To be a woman comedian in this North African nation can be a challenge, but the country’s gender gap is narrowing for the first time in almost a decade…

Documentary Vietnam, Puerto Rico

Practitioner:
Gabriel Miranda

Date:
Sep 15 1943

Puerto Rico doesn’t know what’s going on here, and if they do, they’re ignoring us.” So opens Gabriel Miranda’s documentary Vietnam, Puerto Rico. Focused on the coastal community of Vietnam, which is located in the Guaynabo, the doc tells the…

The Ugly Conference

Practitioner:
Stephanie Gary, Vanessa Rochelle Lewis

Date:
Sep 15 1943

Last November, when you Googled the phrase “ugly Black woman,” Vanessa Rochelle Lewis’s photograph was the second to come up. “Which I’m offended by,” says Lewis, a Bay Area–based artist and writer, “since I’m an Aries and I like to…

Australian artist Badiucao’s exhibition finally shown in Melbourne after China ‘threat’ ordeal

Practitioner:
Badiucao

Date:
Sep 15 1943

This month, the art of Chinese dissident Badiucao has finally seen the light of day in Melbourne — more than a year after the Australian artist’s Hong Kong exhibition was cancelled due to threats reportedly made by Chinese authorities. Reflecting…

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

Practitioner:
Prophet Bobby Henderson

Date:
Sep 15 1943

In the mid early 2000s, religious advocates tried a new strategy: promoting the theory of “intelligent design” to be taught in schools. As the Kansas School Board considered the argument, Prophet Bobby Henderson saw an opportunity. His now famous, “Open…