This week, 33 years ago, Thomas Sankara, the revolutionary leader of Burkina Faso, was assassinated in a French-backed coup. He aspired to an egalitarian, feminist society, and an economy built on self-sufficiency, ecological regeneration, and independence from Western powers.

#TodayInHistory Ram Prasad Bismil,Ashfaqullah Khan and Roshan Singh are hanged in 1927, as they give up their life for the cause of freedom and inspire many a revolutionary. #LestWeForget

Shahjahanpur was a hub of revolution during the freedom struggle. Most of the revolutioaries in the North, were from this town. And among them, the most famous were two friends, whom destiny would bring together- Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqullah Khan.

Ashfaqullah Khan was born at the turn of the 20th century on October 22, while Bismil was born 3 years earlier on June 11, in the same town. Both of them were excellent writers in Urdu and Hindi.

Both of them would come together under the Hindustan Republican Association, not to mention the fact that Ashfaq was an admirer of Bismil’s poetry, and became close friends with him on that account.

And both these men were hanged on the same date, December 19, 1927 for their involvement in the Kakori event. Two men from different religions, different backgrounds, yet destiny would bring them together.

A thread on Wallelign Mekonnen’s 1969 essay “On the Question of Nationalities in Ethiopia” - which catalyzed the student movement that overthrew Ethiopia’s Solomonic dynasty in 1974 (Wallelign was killed in 1972 while hijacking an Ethiopian airlines plane) https://t.co/Ol0ElagLJq

Wallelign wrote that, while some call the question of nationalities "tribalism" - it is in fact "nationalism." Ethiopia is not one nation, he wrote, “it is made up of a dozen nationalities with their own languages, ways of dressing, social organization and territorial entity.”

Culture is nothing more than the superstructure of an economic basis that presupposes subjugation of the peasantry and proletariat. To be a “genuine Ethiopian” one has to speak Amharic and adhere to their culture. One must “wear an Amhara mask”- to use Frantz Fanon's terminology.

A common refute to the Neftegna system, whereby Abyssinian elites took lands from southern peoples, was that there are Amhara and Tigray masses in poverty. Another centred on representational politics. In reality, the feudal system oppressed all, but some groups more than others.

While Abyssinians are not dominant because of inherent imperialist tendencies, this is no excuse to perpetuate this situation. The only way forward is a state where every nationality is given equal opportunity to preserve and develop its language, culture and self-administration.

Today is Jayanti of Satyendranath Bose or more popularly known as S.N.Bose. Well known for the Bose-Einstein condensate theory. And also a class of particles called Bosons named after him by Paul Dirac. One of the great scientists of modern era.

But then again to call S.N.Bose just a scientist, would be akin to calling Leonardo Da Vinci a mere painter. Much like his other namesake and contemporary, J.C.Bose, he was a polymath, equally adept in music, literature,mineralogy.

The multi facted genius was born on January 1, 1894 in a middle class Kolkata family, his father Surendranath Bose, an accountant in the East India Railway Company. The only son in a family that had six daughters after him.

Bought up by his mother Amodini Devi, he later joined the New Indian School in the Goabagan neigbhorhood of Kolkata. Seeing his skills at mathematics, his father encouraged him more by giving problems to solve.

Joining the prestigious Hindu School in 1907 at the age of 13, he soon got recognition as an oustanding student in maths and science. His maths teacher, believed he could be the next Pierre Laplace.

To India! We go together with one of the most original minds of the late antique and early medieval world: Cosmas Indicopleustes. Cosmas thought that the world was a box. He thought that god resided in its lid. But he also travelled a large part of that box! 1/ #medievaltwitter

Cosmas was born at the end of the fifth or the beginning of the sixth century probably in Alexandria, the great city of Roman Egypt. We actually don’t know his real name, Cosmas the India-Sailor is a monicker he got around 9th century. 2/

We know though that he became a merchant in Constantinople. From there he traveled south to Egypt and then to the kingdom of Aksum, modern day Ethiopia. He is best informed about the topography of the region and there is little doubt that he visited it in person. 3/

He is called the India-Sailor because of his description of the current-day Malabar coast and Sri Lanka. But has he made it that far? Was it even viable in the sixth century? 4/

Cosmas does mention detailed descriptions of the South Asian fauna and flora like the hog-deer which he has “seen and eaten”. He also knows coconuts and pepper and seems to have understood if not witnessed how they were harvested. 5/

We will likely never be able to establish with certainty the identity of the two Black men painted by Rembrandt. There are no documents found, linking the painting to individuals. But we can make a reasoned guess. #BlackHistoryMonth #day20 #rembrandt #identification

First there is the problem of the date. The inventory with a reference to 'two Moors in one painting' was drawn up in 1656 in what is now the @Rembrandthuis; however, the painting that hangs in the @Mauritshuis bears not only Rembrandt’s signature but also the year 1661.

Was the painting made in 1656 while Rembrandt was still living and working in Jodenbreestraat, and not signed and sold until 1661, when he had moved to the Jordaan district? The 1656 estate inventory suggests this.

On the other hand, it is of course possible that Rembrandt painted several pictures featuring two black men. Nevertheless, supposing that it is one and the same
painting, then we can assume that the two men
were in the studio in Jodenbreestraat to be portrayed in or before 1656.

Of course there still are dozens of candidates, since there was a small Black community in the area. However, it is striking, and exceptional, that two men are portrayed instead of one, as was customary in this genre.