BC HISTORY
Saved by @Jacobtldr

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.

 As debt crises mount across Africa, his ideas are more vital now than ever. I wrote about Sankara's legacy in these two pages from The Divide:
Today, Sankara's legacy is inspiring a new generation of revolutionary thinkers and activists across the continent and beyond. As Sankara himself put it, with uncanny prescience, “You can assassinate revolutionaries, but you cannot kill ideas”.
Sankara knew his assassination was coming. Speaking to African leaders at the OAU, he said "I would like this conference to clearly declare that we will not repay the debt; we must do it together, to avoid being assassinated individually..."
"...If Burkina Faso is the only one to refuse, I will not be here at the next conference."
"Let's create a united front against the debt. And let's stop competing with each other. Our lands are rich. We have plenty of manpower, and a large market. Let the African market belong to Africans. Let's manufacture in Africa and consume in Africa..."
"...Let's produce what we need and consume what we produce, instead of importing goods. I, along with my delegation, we are dressed by our weavers, with cotton from our farmers. Not a single thread comes from Europe or America. This is how you live with freedom and dignity."

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Jonathan Ware
Jonathan Ware
@ReassessHistory
So when it first appeared in Normandy, the Sherman Firefly and it's meaty 17 pounder represented an ideal combo of reliable chassis, great gun and devastating firepower right?

Ummm...

Truth is a bit more complex. /1
#WW2 #SWW #History


Deliveries of Firefly to units only commenced in April 1944,
just a few weeks before Overlord & left minimal time for familiarisation.

Armoured Regiments mostly utilised Fireflies on a basis of 1 per troop of 4 tanks. /2


Finally each armoured regiment troop had access to integral, meaty, anti-tank firepower capable of dealing serious damage to any German AFV likely to be encountered. /3


The dual purpose 75mm gun was quite capable of laying down a reasonable HE shell or AP round for dealing with Panzer III or IV.

Firefly's 17 Pounder had.... problems with HE, but excelled at tank killing. So Tigers and Panthers would need to be wary. /4


Firefly's design history dated back to March 1943 when the General Staff published "Policy on Tanks" which effectively stated the majority of tanks should have a good HE weapon and...

[See image below] /5
HISTORY
Kristen
Kristen
@mediaperuana
A challenge with society in general is a facile understanding of the word “coup.” When the population at large thinks of a coup, they imagine a violent military (Chile, 1973) or paramilitary (Cuba, 1959) overthrow of the government.
Coups are often far more complex and nuanced.

So, let’s talk about the autogolpe—the “self coup” (a perfect example of how some words in Spanish are objectively better than their English equivalents). An autogolpe is, at its simplest, when a duly elected leader revolts against his *own* government to consolidate power.

He (it’s always been a “he”) usurps powers that traditionally reside with the legislative and judiciary bodies, and of course, maintains that power beyond his elected term.

This kind of coup requires a lot of prep work. Generally speaking, you can’t just up and announce your takeover overnight. Instead, you have to spend a few years undermining federal institutions so that, when the time comes, they are powerless and/or unwilling to stop you.

How? You start by installing loyalists in key positions and courting *personal* loyalty within your party.
“Oh, everybody does that!”
Not exactly. Key positions in a democracy, for example, require approval from the legislative body.
So you have to work around that.
HISTORY
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Mark Ponte
Mark Ponte
@voetnoot
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.
HISTORY
Ancient Kemite
Ancient Kemite
@ancientkemite
I am for Afrakan-centered unity, not "Black" unity. People often assume that they are the same thing.


Black unity is the concept that people unify with anybody who has Black skin; as a result, they often find themselves uniting with people who are Eurasian Supremacists (since 95% of Black people are devout Eurasian supremacists) and if you unify with them they will only lead…

…you to their Eurasian master. Most activist in the Black population only preach Black unity, which is why we are not able to develop anything.

This was the same problem with Nkrumah's Pan-African unity.

It resulted in exploitation of the concept by Arabs, Asiatic "Berbers," Chinese and Indians, and even Europoids.

Afrakan-centered unity is distinct from Black unity because it requires the Black person to be Afrakan-centered.

This safeguards the unity because they don't just have skin in common, but common understanding. This is essential because in order to build something we have to have a common understanding of what we are building, why, and for whom.
HISTORY
Vertigo_Warrior
Vertigo_Warrior
@VertigoWarrior
The Panch Kedar Mandirs are amongst the most divine pilgrimage sites for followers of Sanatan Dharm. Apart from being Bhagwan Shiv`s abodes, they bear a strong connection to our history. Let`s explore their origins. #Thread


As per legend, the Panch Kedar Mandir relate directly to the Mahabharat and are an important part of our history. At the time of Mahabharat after the Kurukshetra Yudh, the Pandavs committed the sin of “Gotra Hatya” and “Brahmanahatya” by killing the Kauravs and Guru Droṇacarya.


Wanting to repent, Pandavs handed over the control of their kingdom to their kin and left in search of Bhagwan Shiv to ask for his forgiveness. Initially the Pandavs went to Kashi in search of Bhagwan Shiv but couldn`t find him there.


Bhagwan Shiv was furious at the deceit, death and destruction taking place during the Kurukshetra war. He was indifferent to the Pandavs prayers and took the form of a powerful bull and hid in the Gharwal Himalayas.


As Pandavs did not find Bhagwan Shiv in Kashi, after wandering for a bit they went to Gharwal Himalayas. The second eldest Pandav Bhim spotted a large bull grazing near GuptKashi in Kedar Kantha.
HISTORY

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There is co-ordination across the far right in Ireland now to stir both left and right in the hopes of creating a race war. Think critically! Fascists see the tragic killing of #georgenkencho, the grief of his community and pending investigation as a flashpoint for action.


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Dr Catherine Pemble is...
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Right, screw it. Here's a thread on *that* FBLive by Alex Cairnie about #Govanhill. Lets do a watch-through shall we? (Mind, I'm a resident of Govanhill, and a sociologist. I'm also 5'3, and a visibly queer woman so if half his claims are true I should be living in terror)

00:30: Welcomes viewers and uses points out that his videos are only getting attention b/c they're 'horrific'. Directs folk to his Youtube page. So already clout hunting.

1:08: "I've been warned to stay out of Govanhill. I'm a marked man" (proceeds to use a beanie as a disguise)

1:30 "Laughing and joking aside, here's somebodys front garden." Proceeds to show litter and claim its thrown from windows and this is 'common'. I know a handful of streets with litter issues like this, but its neither common nor unique to #govanhill and other deprived areas.

2:10 "Don't be under any illusion I'm only showing you the bad bits" - only shows you the bad bits.

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Katie Mack
Katie Mack
@AstroKatie
Light travels at about 1 foot per nanosecond.

Hold your hand up 12 inches from your face: you’re seeing your hand as it was a nanosecond ago. Everything you look at is, to one degree or another, in the past. The farther away in space, the more ancient in time.

You can’t see the Sun as it is now, but you can see it as it was about 8 minutes ago. You can’t see Alpha Centauri now, but you can see it 4.4 years ago. You can see the Andromeda Galaxy as it was 2.5 million years in the past. And so on.

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Zen Black
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@z3nblack
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Thanks to @chamath for laying this out in Social Capital's 2018 annual letter.

I've always appreciated his outspokenness.

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3/ Because of this, when the VC industry invests capital into fast growing startups today, the plurality (if not majority) of invested capital will go into user acquisition and ad spending, for better or worse— usually worse.

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This is creating a big bill that will soon come due...

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