Constitution Celebrations Niue - Oct 19
The Schedules of the Niue Constitution Act 1974 form the Niue constitution. It stipulates the make-up of the executive branch of the government, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. The Niue Constitution Act 1974 is the supreme law of Niue; any other Niue law that is inconsistent with the Niue Constitution Act 1974 will be deemed to be invalid. Its granting by the New Zealand Parliament in 1974 is celebrated yearly as Niue's independence on "Constitution Day" on 19 October. The road towards self-government for Niue started with the UN Decolonisation Committee putting pressure on New Zealand for Niue to decide what form of status Niue wanted. The people of Niue voted in 1974 choosing the self-government option as the best direction for Niue. The Niue Constitution is the legal doctrine that put the wishes of the Niue people for self-government into practice. Self-government means Pule Fakamotu meaning for Niueans to lead and take charge of their own affairs; this has reduced the number of New Zealand expats working in key Government positions from around 20 in 1974 to none at the moment. The Niue Constitution requires 2/3 majority in the three readings in the Legislative Assembly and also requires 2/3 support from the electors before it can be amended. There is a select committee that have been working on reviewing the constitution but have made little progress, which is normal when dealing with a complex document like this.
Sa m or a Ma c he l D a y Mozambique - Oct 19
Samora Moisés Machel (September 29, 1933 – October 19, 1986) was a Mozambican military commander, revolutionary socialist leader and eventual President of Mozambique. Machel led the country from independence in 1975 until his death in 1986, when his presidential aircraft crashed in mountainous terrain where the borders of Mozambique, Swaziland and South Africa converge.
Early life Samora Machel was born in the village of Madragoa
(today's Chilembene), Gaza Province,Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique), to a family of farmers. He was a member of the Shangana ethnic group and his grandfather had been an active collaborator of Gungunhana. Under Portuguese rule, his father, a native, was forced to accept lower prices for his crops than white farmers; compelled to grow labor-intensive cotton, which took time away from the food crops needed for his family; and forbidden to brand his mark on his cattle to prevent thievery. However, Machel's father was a successful farmer: he owned four plows and 400 head of cattle by 1940. Machel grew up in this farming village and attended mission elementary school. In 1942, he was sent to school in the town of Zonguene in Gaza Province. The school was run by Catholic missionaries who educated the children in Portuguese language and culture. Although having completed the fourth grade, Machel never completed his secondary education. However, he had the prerequisite certificate to train as a nurse anywhere in Portugal at the time, since the nursing schools were not degree-conferring institutions. Machel started to study nursing in the capital city of Lourenço Marques (today Maputo), beginning in 1954. In the 1950s, he saw some of the fertile lands around his farming community on the Limpopo river appropriated by the provincial government and worked by white settlers who developed a wide range of new infrastructure for the region. Like many other Mozambicans near the southern border of Mozambique, some of his relatives went to work in the South African mines where additional job opportunities were found. Shortly afterwards, one of his brothers was killed in a mining accident. Unable to complete formal training at the Miguel Bombarda Hospital in Lourenço Marques, he got a job working as an aide in the same hospital and earned enough to continue his education at night school. He worked at the hospital until he left the country to join the Mozambican nationalist struggle in neighbouring Tanzania.
struggle Liberation Machel was attracted to Marxist ideals and began his political activities in the Lourenço Marques hospital where he
protested against the fact that black nurses were paid less than whites doing the same job. He later told a reporter how bad medical treatment was for Mozambique's poor: "The rich man's dog gets more in the way of vaccination, medicine and medical care than do the workers upon whom the rich man's wealth is built." His grandparents and great grandparents had fought against Portuguese colonial rule in the 19th century, so it was not surprising that in 1962 Machel joined the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO) which was dedicated to creating an independent Mozambique. He left his first wife and four children behind. He received military training in 1963 elsewhere in Africa, and returned in 1964 to lead FRELIMO's first guerilla attack against the Portuguese in northern Mozambique. Machel married his second wife, Josina (née Mutemba), in 1969, who gave him a child later that same year. By 1969, Machel had become commander-in-chief of the FRELIMO army which had already established itself among Mozambique's peasantry. His most important goal, he said, was to get the people "to understand how to turn the armed struggle into a revolution" and to realize how essential it was "to create a new mentality to build a new society". Two months after the assassination of FRELIMO's president, Eduardo Mondlane, in February 1969, a ruling triumvirate comprising Samora Machel, Marcelino dos Santos and Frelimo's vice-president Uria Simango assumed the leadership. Simango was expelled from the party in 1970, and Machel assumed the presidency of the movement.
Memorial
A memorial at the Mbuzini crash site was inaugurated on January 19, 1999 by Nelson Mandela and his wife Graça, and by President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique. Now the monument is made professional and the memorial service is held on the 19th October each year. Designed by Mozambican architect José Forjaz, at a cost to the South African government of 1.5 million Rand (US$ 300,000), the monument comprises 35 steel tubes symbolising the number of lives lost in the air crash. At least eight foreigners were killed there, including the four Soviet crew members, Machel's two Cuban doctors and the Zambian and Zairean ambassadors to Mozambique. Also, a street in Moscow bears his name and the Zimbabwean band R.U.N.N. family had a hit song that mourned his loss.
Mother Teresa Day Albania - Oct 19
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta has been memorialized throughout the world in honor of her selflessness and unswerving devotion to the poor. During her lifetime this commemorization often took the form of awards and honorary degrees bestowed upon her. She has also been memorizalized through museums and dedications of churches, roads and other structures.
Mother Teresa in Albania • Mother Teresa Day (Dita e Nënë Terezës) on October 19 is a
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public holiday in Albania. The airport of Tirana, the capital of Albania, is the Tirana In ternational Airport Nënë Tereza, named after Mother Teresa in 2002. The second largest square in Tirana, the largest being Skan derbeg Square, was named after Mother Teresa. A monu ment of Mother Teresa is also found there. The biggest Civil Hospital in Tirana, was named after her.
Musical Tribute
In 1998 a musical tribute album was compiled and released by Lion Communications (Polygram Records). The album featured artists from around the world paying tribute to Mother Theresa and was called "Mother, We'll Miss You". Some of the artists included on the CD were Latino Grammy legend Jose Feliciano and famed black gospel group Walt Whitman and the Soul Children of Chicago. The album was produced by Scottish singer Dave Kelly, who also wrote and performed the title track. Over fifty major American newspapers, such as the Boston Globe and the Philadelphia Inquirer, featured stories on the release of the tribute album and also took this opportunity to honor the life and work of Mother Teresa.
with Mother Teresa as patroness Parishes Mother Teresa parish, Dakota Dunes, SD, USA - 1 September 1999
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Blessed Teresa of Calcutta parish, Woodinville, WA, USA - 1 July 2004 Blessed Teresa of Calcutta parish, Ferguson, MO, USA - 1 July 2005 Blessed Teresa of Calcutta parish, North Lake, WI, USA - 1 July 2005 Blessed Teresa of Calcutta parish, Limerick, PA, USA - 1 July 2006 Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Parish, Halifax, NS, Canada
Schools Mother Teresa Catholic Elementary School, YCDSB, Markham, Ontario, Canada - 1979
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Blessed Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School (Previously Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School), TCDSB, Scarbrough, Ontario, Canada - 1985 Mother Teresa Catholic High School, OCSB, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada - 1998 Mother Teresa Regional School, Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, US
Streets A block of Lydig Avenue, between Holland and Wallace Avenues, located in the New York City borough of the Bronx
was renamed Mother Teresa Way on 30 August 2009, honoring her and the borough's growing Albanian community.
Kenyatta Day Kenya - Oct 20
During this day Kenyans celebrate the memory of Jomo Kenyatta, considered the founding father of the nation of Kenya, as well as all the freedom fighters of their country. He was a visionary leader, brave and intelligent man who led Kenyans through their fights against British colonialist. These efforts led to a free and independent Kenya.
History
Jomo Kenyatta (20/10/1894 – 22/08/1978), from the ethnic group of the Kikuyu, received the name of Kamau wa Ngengi when he was born in the village of Ngenda. After a common beginning of life, Kenyatta entered into politics in 1924, following the ideas of leaders from the KCA (Kikuyu Central Association). He founded a newspaper in Kenya, the Reconciler, as well as wrote several articles for British newspapers about the KCA. He studied and lived in London from 1934 to 1945, when he returned to Kenya. He started as a teacher in a college and gradually lifted himself through the ranks of politics in colonized Kenya. He remained in jail, from 1951 to 1962, due to his alleged membership with a radical anti-colonial movement. Even so, he was cherished and loved by Kenyans, who demanded his release with a petition of over one million signatures. In 1963 he became prime minister of the autonomous Kenyan government, still under the rule of the British Crown. After independence, he remained as prime-minister and on 1964 he became President when he successfully had Parliament amend the Constitution to make Kenya a republic. He was re elected President several times, until his death in 1978. His face still adorns Kenyan currency notes and coins of all denomination.
Celebrations This day is occasioned by the President’s speech and military parade across the Provincial and District Headquarters in Kenya. Besides Nairobi where the president is scheduled to address the Nation, the other similar meetings are addressed by the Provincial District Commissioners the same day. All over the world there are celebrations of expatriate Kenyans, who in this way join their country brothers, rejoicing in the liberation and independence of Kenya.
Revolution Day Guatemala - Oct 20
This public holiday commemorates the almost bloodless democratic revolution of 1944 when discontented university and military leaders overthrew the military dictator Jorge Ubico y Castaneda. Near the end of World War II, Guatemalans had been ruled by a harsh dictator for over a decade. In the spring of 1944, a coalition of teachers, skilled workers and students decided to put an end to the dictatorship, fuelled by the dream of four freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.
History
As a first act of defiance, the teachers demanded higher wages and refused to march in an annual Teachers Day Parade scheduled for June 30, 1944. On June 29, several non violent protests gathered in the capital’s central square, the dictator responded with the cavalry and killed 200 persons. These became martyrs, which sparked a broad general strike that paralyzed the country and forced Ubico to surrender power to his generals. Alejandro Cordova, a famous Guatemalan journalist, wrote several articles against the government and gave a powerful speech before being assassinated. This gave even more strength to the revolutionary movement among Guatemalans. Ponce called a free election, as if presenting himself as democratic. Dr. Juan Jose Arevalo Bermejo living in exile in Argentina, came back to Guatemala to run against Ponce, who ordered his immediate arrest. After all, Ponce was forced to run to Mexico on October 22 due to an armed revolt led by Major Francisco Arana and Captain Jacobo Arbenz, known as the October Revolutionaries. Free elections were soon held and Arevalo won the elections. This started what is called The Ten Years of Spring, a period of free speech and political activity, proposed land reform, and a perception that great progress could be made in Guatemala.
Celebrations
The day is marked by massive protests (sometimes with tens of thousands of participants and sometimes lasting more than one day) by unions, farmers, teachers and human rights organizations who still seek the truth about the desaparecidos (vanished), more than 200.000 victims of the Guatemalan civil war. Several speakers take the stage to voice out Guatemalans discontent about current national issues. Besides these there are loud celebrations with music and more, centring on the Plaza Mayor in Guatemala City. Guatemalans are fond of setting off fireworks, and this is no exception. Government tolerates and promotes the day as a good stress reliever for citizens, who the next day returns to their daily lives.
Anniversary of Presiden Ndadaye's Death Burundi - Oct 21
Melchior Ndadaye (March 28, 1953 – October 21, 1993) was a Burundian intellectual and politician. He was the first democratically elected and first Hutu president of Burundi after winning the landmark 1993 election. Though he moved to attempt to smooth the country's bitter ethnic divide, his reforms antagonised soldiers in the Tutsi-dominated army, and he was assassinated amidst a failed military coup in October 1993, after only three months in office. His assassination sparked an array of brutal tit-for-tat massacres between the Tutsi and Hutu ethnic groups, and ultimately sparked the decade-long Burundi Civil War.
Early life
Ndadaye was born in the town of Murama in Muramvya Province. He began studying as a teacher, but his education was interrupted by the massacres of 1972, whereupon he was forced to flee to Rwanda to avoid being killed. He finished his degree in education at the National University of Rwanda, and then completed a second degree in banking at the National Academy of Arts and Trades in France. He worked as a banker thereafter.
Political career Ndadaye had become involved in politics while in Rwanda, serving as the inaugural president of the Mouvement
des Étudiants Progressistes Barundi au Rwanda, a movement of exiled Burundian students from 1976 to 1979. He was involved in the foundation of the Burundi Workers' Party in 1979, and was actively involved in the party until his resignation in 1983 as a result of a dispute over party strategy. Ndadaye returned to Burundi in September of that year, by which time he was developing a political following of his own. Ndadaye had been a key leader of the Burundi Workers' Party, and it subsequently fell into decline after his departure, ultimately being disbanded in the mid-1980s. Although opposition parties were banned in Burundi itself under the rule of military dictator Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, in 1986, Ndadaye and his supporters founded a new underground political movement, the moderate Front for Democracy in Burundi(FRODEBU). It remained underground until 1992, when Pierre Buyoya began a process of political liberalisation in advance of the country'sfirst ever democratic elections and allowed the party to officially register. The elections, held in June 1993, saw Ndadaye, endorsed by FRODEBU and three other predominately Hutu parties, the Rally for the People of Burundi (RPB), People's Party (PP), and the Liberal Party (PL), face up against the ruling Tutsi-dominated government under Buyoya. With the Hutu the dominant population in Burundi, Ndadaye won a crushing victory, receiving 65% of the vote to Buyoya's 32%. The poll was certified by international observers as being free and fair, and none of the candidates contested the poll. It was followed by success for his party in the legislative elections held later that month, winning 65 of 81 seats. After surviving a failed coup attempt on July 3, Ndadaye was sworn in as President of Burundi on July 10, 1993. The victory made him both the first democratically elected and first Hutu president of Burundi.
Presidency
Ndadaye took a cautious, moderate approach as President, and attempted to resolve the deep ethnic divide in Burundian society. He namedSylvie Kinigi, a female Tutsi, as the Prime Minister, and gave one third of the Cabinet posts and two regional governorships to Buyoya's Union for National Progress. He freed political prisoners, granted freedom of the press, granted amnesty to exiled former dictator Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, and moved slowly to address the entrenched disadvantage of the Hutus that had resulted from many years of minority Tutsi rule, so as not to exacerbate tensions. Despite his cautious approach to the presidency, some of his actions nevertheless provoked tensions in the community. He questioned contracts and concessions approved under previous Tutsi governments, which threatened the economics of the powerful Tutsi elite and army. He began reforms to the military, shifting the national police to a separate command and changing the admission requirements for the military and police so as to reduce the entrenched Tutsi dominance. The dominance of FRODEBU caused problems at a local level, as Ndadaye's Hutu supporters took over many positions previously held by Tutsis in the public service, and botched the resettlement of refugees returning after the 1972 massacres in such a way as to leave many Tutsi families homeless. These issues were exacerbated by the newly-free press, who began reporting in such a way as to inflame ethnic tensions.
Overthrow and death Ndadaye's government was to be short-lived, however, as he was overthrown and killed in a military coup on October
21. The exact events have never been clarified, but it appears that Ndadaye, Pontien Karibwami, the president of the National Assembly and Gilles Bimazubute, the vice-president of the National Assembly, were taken to an army barracks before dawn by supposedly loyal soldiers under the guise that there had been a mutiny by sections of the army and that they needed protection. The three, along with a number of other officials and cabinet members, were then executed, with Ndadaye bayonetted to death. Ndadaye's death sparked severe ramifications across the country. The attempted coup rapidly failed, as Francois Ngeze, the civilian politician installed as temporary head of state, refused to support the coup leaders and called for Prime Minister Kinigi, who had survived the coup and was in hiding at the French embassy to assume control, a move soon backed by key military chiefs. Kinigi was thus appointed as acting president while a resolution to the constitutional crisis caused by the assassination of both the president and the president of the assembly was found. The United Nations Security Council condemned the assassination and coup, and was soon followed in doing so by the United Nations General Assembly. Many thousands of civilians on both sides were killed in the resulting carnage, with estimates varying but generally agreed to be above 100,000. The ongoing violence developed into the decadelong Burundi Civil War. A United Nations investigation into Ndadaye's murder, the result of which was released in 1996, accused the army command of being responsible for the assassination and of being complicit in the resulting massacres by Tutsi troops. It did not name specific figures as being responsible, but Buyoya, Ndadaye's predecessor as president, has long been suspected of having some role in the assassination. In 1999, as part of attempts to end the civil war, an array of arrests were made of those suspected of involvement in the Ndadaye assassination. Five men, including the alleged ringleader, army officer Paul Kamana, were sentenced to death. 74 others received sentences ranging from one year to twenty years. Most of the high-ranking officials charged, however, were acquitted, in a verdict condemned by Ndadaye's supporters.
Army Day Honduras - Oct 21
Armed Forces day is a day set aside by Honduras to honor and recognize their armed forces. On this day, in 1956, young military reformists staged a coup that ousted the authoritarian Lozano Diaz from power. This coup marked a turning point in Honduran history. For the first time, the armed forces had acted as an institution rather than as the instrument of a political party or of an individual leader. The new rulers represented younger, more nationalistic, and reform-minded elements in the military. For decades to come, the military would act as the primary actor of Honduran politics.
History
Lozano Díaz began his period as president with large support from Hondurans, but it fell down rapidly as he revealed his development plan to be financed by international loans and increased taxes. Lozano Díaz also introduced the nation’s first labor code. This document guaranteed workers the right to organize and strike but gave employers the right of lockout and forbade strikes in public services. The code also embodied some social welfare and minimum- wage provisions and regulated hours and working conditions. All these provisions gained him some labor support, but in later months relations between the president and labor began to decay. In 1954, a general strike by banana workers on the north coast almost paralyzed the entire country, as this was their main industry. Later it became more clear that Lozano intentions weren´t much democratic and wanted to replace the traditional parties with his own political party to hold on to power. Political leaders were arrested and on August, 1956 an uprising of discontent Hondurans was crushed in the capital by the government. Public opinion was hostile to Lozano and his fall was imminent. Fake elections were held, and Lozano Party declared themselves winners for all seats in Congress. The celebrations of Lozano and his friends were cut short on October 21, when the armed forces led by Major Roberto Gálvez, son of the former president, ousted Lozano and set up a military junta to run the country.
Celebrations Most of the activities during this day are held in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa. The different branches of the
Armed Forces organize a “Parada Militar” (Military Parade), a parade where all the branches of the armed forces display some of their troops and equipment. Since independence, Honduras has been plagued with nearly 300 incidents of unrest, including internal rebellions, civil wars, and changes of government. Today, in 2009, Honduras is crossing a period of political turbulence as his elected president had to run for cover in the Brazilian Embassy. The Armed Forces continue to possess political authority stemming from the inherent weakness of civilian-led institutions and the continued problems of public security.
St. Ursula Day British Virgin Islands - Oc t 2 1
St. Ursula’s Day commemorates the Roman Catholic Saint after whom Columbus named the whole archipelago of islands. Columbus gave them the fanciful name Santa Ursula y las Once Mil Vírgenes (Saint Ursula and her 11,000 Virgins), shortened to Las Vírgenes (The Virgins). The figure on the Territory’s crest is also supposed to represent St. Ursula and the lamps the Virgins. Ursula is Latin and means little female bear.
History Not much is known about the history of St Ursula and her
11.000 virgins, except for what was told by Helentrude, a nun of Heerse near Paderborn in Germany. According to legend, Ursula was a beautiful British princess, daughter of a Christian king, Dionotus of Cornwall. Ursula had taken a vow of chastity, but against her will she was promised in marriage to Conan Meriadoc of Brittany, a pagan prince. Ursula was warned in a dream by an angel to demand the conversion of the prince to Christianity and three years to gather 11.000 for her future kingdom. When she was sent to her husband to be, Ursula was accompanied by 11.000 virginal handmaidens. However, a miraculous storm brought them over the sea in a single day to a Gaulish port, where Ursula declared that before her marriage she would undertake an European pilgrimage. She headed for Rome, with her followers, and persuaded the Pope, Cyriacus, and Sulpicius, Bishop of Ravenna, to join them. On their return, Cologne, Germany, was being sacked by the Huns, who after Ursula refused some advances of their prince, beheaded all 11.001 of them, supposedly in 383 (the date varies). One of the 11,000, St Cordula, escaped death on the first day by hiding, wrote down the tale for posterity, then gave herself up to join her sisters in martyrdom.
Celebrations Considering that there is no work on this day and that the Virgin Islands are surrounded by clear water seas, it is
hard to believe that most of islanders would celebrate this holiday away from the beach. The Royal British Virgin Islands Yacht Club annually organizes a St Ursula’s day race. There are different religious celebrations organized all over the 60 islands, who are predominantly Protestant Christian. There are some political movements that want to change the day from the remembrance of the naming of the archipelago by a holiday to recognize fishermen, sailors and boat builders, in appreciation of the Islands marine heritage.
Naval Day Egypt - Oc t 2 1
Naval Day is a public holiday in Egypt to recognize and appreciate Egyptian Naval forces. It is observed annually on 21 October, the anniversary of the sinking of Israeli destroyer Eilat by the Egyptian Navy in 1967.
Origin Egypt is indeed a middle east country with surrounded by
sands and deserts. Yet, the country is also bordered by the Mediterranean and the Read Seas which should be guarded by Egyptian naval forces. The origin of Egyptian Naval Day dates back to 21 October 1967. On that day, the Egyptian Navy succeeded in sinking one Israel destroyers in the Egyptian waters. The day is then commemorated as a public holiday to recognize the achievement of Egyptian Naval forces.
Celebrations
Since Egyptian Naval Day is a public holiday, many private businesses and schools are closed. However, the ministries, government offices, and public institutions in Egypt remain open. Most workers in Egypt are also granted a holiday, so they are able to spend quality time with family. Many people use Egyptian Naval Day holiday to go on a vacation or visit their relatives or friends. Some others prefer spending their holiday at home to take a rest from their busy daily activities.
Chulalongkorn Day Thailand - O c t 2 3
"Chulalongkorn Day" or "Piyamaharaj Day" is celebrated on 23rd October of every year. It is the day that our King Chulalongkorn, or King Rama V, died. He is one of our most important kings in the past. The most important thing he did is abolish slavery but he also did many other reforms in order to modernize the country. King Chulalongkorn (Phra Chulachom Klao Chaoyuhua or RamaV) succeeded to the throne at the death of his father, King Mongkut (or Phra Chom Klao). He was born on September 20, 1853 the first son of Queen Ramphai Pamarapirom (Thepsirindra) and the 9th surviving son of King Mongkut. King Rama V ascended the Throne in 1868 at the age of 15, with Chao Phraya Sri Suriyawongse as Regent. King Rama V’s long reign of 42-years was a busy era of full-scale reform and the emergence of Thailand into the modern age. He learned the systems of Western Governments, made friends with major powers such as Britain, France, America and Russia and sent the royal children to be educated in the West. It seems he was prepared to learn from the West while at the same time, resisting domination by the major powers. Above all, he was the first Thai monarch who traveled widely: to neighboring countries in Asia and to Europe twice. Wherever he went, he was impressed by the hospitality and respect shown to him by the Royalty of the various countries. The King’s reforms, which involved almost every aspect of Thai life, included the abolition of slavery, the expansion of the communication system through the construction of railways, the establishment of post and telegraph services and the creation of a ministerial system in 1892. In addition, the King also established a variety of public utilities, particularly in the fields of health and education. Unfortunately, world events at that time did not allow him to proceed smoothly with his administrative reform as it coincided with the age of colonialism. The King, therefore, had to adapt his foreign policy to maintain a balance between the contending powers. He fostered friendly relations with all powers and avoided confrontation. In the last period of his reign, the country lost a lot of land to France. Thus, at the time of crisis, even though Thailand had to sacrifice some of her territories, she was able to keep her independence. King Chulalongkorn wanted to make the people less subservient, thus, in 1873 after the coronation, he proclaimed that prostration in front of the king was to be abolished. Later, in 1905 he abolished slavery. This slave abolition was the most important royal contribution. The Slave Act was passed by King Rama V in 1905 to prohibit slave-trade. The King traveled extensively throughout the kingdom to personally investigate and share his subjects’ conditions and aspirations, often known in Thai as “Prapasstion”. It is very difficult to mention all of his numerous reforms. All the present-day ministries and departments owe their origin of his far-sighted concepts. His death on October 23, 1910 was a great loss to the entire nation as he was one of the most honored and beloved kings who was often called “Somdej Phra Piyamaharaj”. Moreover, Thai people also believed in the King’s miraculous power of bringing good luck and prosperity to the person who pays respect to him. Thus, the King’s picture is found in almost every house. Thai people from all walks of life lay wreaths at his equestrian statue at the Royal Plaza in Bangkok and his statues in the provinces.
Proclamation Day of the Republic Hungary - Oct 23 Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution or Uprising of 1956 (Hungarian:
1956-os forradalom or felkelés) was a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the government of the People's Republic of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed policies, lasting from 23 October until 10 November 1956. The revolt began as a student demonstration which attracted thousands as it marched through central Budapest to the Parliament building. A student delegation entering the radio building in an attempt to broadcast its demands was detained. When the delegation's release was demanded by the demonstrators outside, they were fired upon by the State Security Police (ÁVH) from within the building. The news spread quickly and disorder and violence erupted throughout the capital. The revolt spread quickly across Hungary, and the government fell. Thousands organized into militias, battling the State Security Police (ÁVH) and Soviet troops. Pro-Soviet communists and ÁVH members were often executed or imprisoned, as former prisoners were released and armed. Impromptu councils wrested municipal control from the ruling Hungarian Working People's Party and demanded political changes. The new government formally disbanded the ÁVH, declared its intention to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact and pledged to re-establish free elections. By the end of October, fighting had almost stopped and a sense of normality began to return. After announcing a willingness to negotiate a withdrawal of Soviet forces, the Politburo changed its mind and moved to crush the revolution. On 4 November, a large Soviet force invaded Budapest and other regions of the country. Hungarian resistance continued until 10 November. Over 2,500 Hungarians and 700 Soviet troops were killed in the conflict, and 200,000 Hungarians fled as refugees. Mass arrests and denunciations continued for months thereafter. By January 1957, the new Soviet-installed government had suppressed all public opposition. These Soviet actions alienated many Western Marxists, yet strengthened Soviet control over Central Europe. Public discussion about this revolution was suppressed in Hungary for over 30 years, but since the thaw of the 1980s it has been a subject of intense study and debate. At the inauguration of the Third Hungarian Republic in 1989, October 23 was declared a national holiday.
Prelude During World War II, Hungary was a member of the Axis Powers, thereby
being allied with the fascist forces of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Romania and Bulgaria. As a part of this, in 1941, the Hungarian military participated in the occupation of Yugoslavia and the invasion of the Soviet Union, joining the Axis Powers. The Soviet army was however able to force back the Hungarian and other Axis invaders, and by 1944, Soviet armies themselves were advancing towards Hungary. Fearing invasion, the Hungarian government began armistice negotiations with the Allies, but these were ended when Nazi Germany invaded and occupied the country and set up their own pro-Axis regime. Both Hungarian and German forces stationed in Hungary were subsequently defeated when the Soviet Union invaded the country in 1945.
Postwar occupation:
After World War II, the Soviet Army occupied Hungary, with the country coming under the Soviet Union's sphere of influence. At the time, Hungary was a multiparty democracy, and elections in 1945 produced a coalition government under Prime Minister Zoltán Tildy. However, the Hungarian Communist Party, a Marxist-Leninist group who shared the Soviet government's ideological beliefs, constantly wrested small concessions in a process named "salami tactics", which sliced away the elected government's influence, despite the fact that had only received 17% of the vote. After the elections of 1945, the portfolio of the Interior Ministry — which oversaw the Hungarian State Security Police (Államvédelmi Hatóság, later known as the ÁVH) — was forcibly transferred from the Independent Smallholders Party to a nominee of the Communist Party. The ÁVH employed methods of intimidation, false accusations, imprisonment and torture, to suppress political opposition. The brief period of multiparty Flag of Hungary, with the commudemocracy came to an end when the Communist Party merged with the nist coat of arms cut out. The flag Social Democratic Party to become the Hungarian Working People's Party, which stood its candidate list unopposed in 1949. The People's Republic with a hole became the symbol of of Hungary was then declared.[8] By 1949, the Soviets had concluded a the revolution. (Photographed at mutual assistance treaty with Hungary which granted the Soviet Union the "Corvin köz") rights to a continued military presence, assuring ultimate political control. Being revolutionary socialists, the Hungarian Communist Party set about to replace the capitalist economy with a socialist one, and as a part of this undertook radical nationalization based on the Soviet model. This however produced economic stagnation, lower standards of living and a deep malaise. Writers and journalists were the first to voice open criticism of the government and its policies, publishing critical articles in 1955. By 22 October 1956, Technical University students had resurrected the banned MEFESZ student union, and staged a demonstration on 23 October which set off a chain of events leading directly to the revolution.
Political repression and economic decline:
Hungary became a communist state under the severely authoritarian leadership of Mátyás Rákosi.The Security Police (ÁVH) began a series of purges of more than 7000 dissidents, who were denounced as "Titoists" or "western agents", and forced to confess in show trials, after which they were relocated to a camp in eastern Hungary. From 1950 to 1952, the Security Police forcibly relocated thousands of people to obtain property and housing for the Working People's Party members, and to remove the threat of the intellectual and 'bourgeois' class. Thousands were arrested, tortured, tried, and imprisoned in concentration camps,deported to the east, or were executed, including ÁVH founder László Rajk. In a single year, more than 26,000 people were forcibly relocated from Budapest. As a consequence, jobs and housing were very difficult to obtain. The deportees generally experienced terrible living conditions and were impressed as slave labor on collective farms. Many died as a result of the poor living conditions and malnutrition. The Rákosi government thoroughly politicized Hungary's educational system to supplant the educated classes with a "toiling intelligentsia". Russian language study and Communist political instruction were made mandatory in schools and universities nationwide. Religious schools were nationalized and church leaders were replaced by those loyal to the government. In 1949 the leader of the Hungarian Catholic Church, Cardinal József Mindszenty, was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment for treason. Under Rákosi, Hungary's government was among the most repressive in Europe. The postwar Hungarian economy suffered from multiple challenges. Hungary agreed to pay war reparations approximating US$300 million, to the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia, and to support Soviet garrisons. The Hungarian National Bank in 1946 estimated the cost of reparations as "between 19 and 22 per cent of the annual national income." In 1946, the Hungarian currency experienced marked depreciation, resulting in the highest historic rates of hyperinflation known. Hungary's participation in the Soviet-sponsored COMECON(Council Of Mutual Economic Assistance), prevented it from trading with the West or receiving Marshall Plan aid. Although national income per capita rose in the first third of the 1950s, the standard of living fell. Huge income deductions to finance industrial investment reduced disposable personal income; mismanagement created chronic shortages in basic foodstuffs resulting in rationing of bread, sugar, flour and meat. Compulsory subscriptions to state bonds further reduced personal income. The net result was that disposable real income of workers and employees in 1952 was only two-thirds of what it had been in 1938, whereas in 1949, the proportion had been 90 per cent. These policies had a cumulative negative effect, and fueled discontent as foreign debt grew and the population experienced shortages of goods.
International events:
On 5 March 1953, Joseph Stalin died, ushering in a period of moderate liberalization during which most European communist parties developed a reform wing. In Hungary, the reformist Imre Nagy replaced Mátyás Rákosi, "Stalin's Best Hungarian Disciple", as Prime Minister. However, Rákosi remained General Secretary of the Party, and was able to undermine most of Nagy's reforms. By April 1955, he had Nagy discredited and removed from office. After Khrushchev's "secret speech" of February 1956, which denounced Stalin and his protégés, Rákosi was deposed as General Secretary of the Party and replaced by Ernő Gerő on 18 July 1956. On 14 May 1955, the Soviet Union created the Warsaw Pact, binding Hungary to the Soviet Union and its satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe. Among the principles of this alliance were "respect for the independence and sovereignty of states" and "noninterference in their internal affairs". In 1955, the Austrian State Treaty and ensuing declaration of neutrality established Austria as a demilitarized and neutral country. This raised Hungarian hopes of also becoming neutral and in 1955 Nagy had considered "...the possibility of Hungary adopting a neutral status on the Austrian pattern". In June 1956, a violent uprising by Polish workers in Poznań was put down by the government, with scores of protesters killed and wounded. Responding to popular demand, in October 1956, the government appointed the recently rehabilitated reformist communist Władysław Gomułka as First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party, with a mandate to negotiate trade concessions and troop reductions with the Soviet government. After a few tense days of negotiations, on 19 October the Soviets finally gave in to Gomułka's reformist demands.News of the concessions won by the Poles— known as Polish October—emboldened many Hungarians to hope for similar concessions for Hungary and these sentiments contributed significantly to the highly charged political climate that prevailed in Hungary in the second half of October 1956. Within the Cold War context of the time, by 1956 a fundamental tension had appeared in U.S. policy towards Hungary and the Eastern Bloc generally. The United States both hoped to encourage East European countries to break away from the bloc through their own efforts, but also wished to avoid a U.S.-Soviet military confrontation, fearing escalation into nuclear war. For these reasons, U.S. policy makers had to consider other means of diminishing Soviet influence in Eastern Europe, short of a rollback policy. This led to the development of containment policies such as economic and psychological warfare, covert operations, and, at a later stage, negotiation with the Soviet Union regarding the status of the East-bloc states. In the summer of 1956, relations between Hungary and the U.S. began to improve. At that time, the U.S. responded very favorably to Hungary's overtures about a possible expansion of bilateral trade relations. Hungary's desire for better relations was partly attributable to the country's catastrophic economic situation. Before any results could be achieved, however, the pace of negotiations was slowed by the Hungarian Ministry of Internal Affairs, which feared that better relations with the West might weaken Communist rule in Hungary.
Social unrest builds:
Rákosi's resignation in July 1956 emboldened students, writers and journalists to be more active and critical in politics. Students and journalists started a series of intellectual forums examining the problems facing Hungary. These fo- A recreation of the statue of Joseph Stalin, rums, called Petőfi circles, became very popular and attracted thousands of participants. On 6 October 1956, toppled during the revolution (currently on László Rajk, who had been executed by the Rákosi gov- display at Szoborpark near Budapest) ernment, was reburied in a moving ceremony which strengthened the party opposition. On 16 October 1956, university students in Szeged snubbed the official communist student union, the DISZ, by re-establishing the MEFESZ (Union of Hungarian University and Academy Students), a democratic student organization, previously banned under the Rákosi dictatorship. Within days, the student bodies of Pécs, Miskolc, and Sopron followed suit. On 22 October, students of the Technical University compiled a list of sixteen points containing several national policy demands. After the students heard that the Hungarian Writers’ Union planned on the following day to express solidarity with pro-reform movements in Poland by laying a wreath at the statue of Polish-born General Bem, a hero of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 (1848–49), the students decided to organize a parallel demonstration of sympathy.
Revolution First shots:
On the afternoon of 23 October 1956, approximately 20,000 protesters convened next to the statue of Józef Bem - a national hero of Poland and Hungary. Péter Veres, President of the Writers’ Union, read a manifesto to the crowd, the students read their proclamation, and the crowd then chanted the censored patriotic poem the "National Song", which refrains: "This we swear, this we swear, that we will no longer be slaves." Someone in the crowd cut out the communist coat of arms from the Hungarian flag, leaving a distinctive hole and others quickly followed suit. Afterwards, most of the crowd crossed the Danube to join demonstrators outside the Parliament Building. By 6 p.m., the multitude had swollen to more than 200,000 people; the demonstration was spirited, but peaceful. At 8 p.m., First Secretary Ernő Gerő broadcast a speech condemning the writers' and students' demands. Angered by Gerő's hard-line rejection, some demonstrators decided to carry out one of their demands - the removal of Stalin's 30-foot-high (9.1 m) bronze statue that was erected in 1951 on the site of a church, which was demolished to make room for the Stalin monument. By 9:30 p.m. the statue was toppled and jubilant crowds celebrated by placing Hungarian flags in Stalin's boots, which was all that was left of the statue. At about the same time, a large crowd gathered at the Radio Budapest building, which was heavily guarded by the ÁVH. The flash point was reached as a delegation attempting to broadcast their demands was detained and the crowd grew increasingly unruly as rumors spread that the protesters had been shot. Tear gas was thrown from the upper windows and the ÁVH opened fire on the crowd, killing many. The ÁVH tried to re-supply itself by hiding arms inside an ambulance, but the crowd detected the ruse and intercepted it. Hungarian soldiers sent to relieve the ÁVH hesitated and then, tearing the red stars from their caps, sided with the crowd. Provoked by the ÁVH attack, protesters reacted violently. Police cars were set ablaze, guns were seized from military depots and distributed to the masses and symbols of the communist regime were vandalized.
Fighting spreads, government falls:
During the night of 23 October, Hungarian Working People's Party Secretary Ernő Gerő requested Soviet military intervention "to suppress a demonstration that was reaching an ever greater and unprecedented scale." The Soviet leadership had formulated contingency plans for intervention in Hungary several months before. By 2 a.m. on 24 October, under orders of the Soviet defence minister, Soviet tanks entered Budapest. By noon on 24 October, Soviet tanks were stationed outside the Parliament building and Soviet soldiers guarded key bridges and crossroads. Armed revolutionaries quickly set up barricades to defend Budapest, and were reported to have already captured some Soviet tanks by mid-morning. That day, Imre Nagy replaced András Hegedüs as Prime Minister. On the radio, Nagy called for an end to violence and promised to initiate political reforms which had been shelved three years earlier. The population continued to arm itself as sporadic violence erupted. Armed protesters seized the radio building. At the offices of the Communist newspaper Szabad Nép unarmed demonstrators were fired upon by ÁVH guards who were then driven out as armed demonstrators arrived. At this point, the revolutionaries' wrath focused on the ÁVH; Soviet military units were not yet fully engaged, and there were many reports of some Soviet troops showing open Vice-President Richard Nixon addresses Hungarian sympathy for the demonstrators. On 25 October, a mass of protesters gathered in refugees, including author S.I. Horvath. front of the Parliament Building. ÁVH units began shooting into the crowd from the rooftops of neighboring buildings. Some Soviet soldiers returned fire on the ÁVH, mistakenly believing that they were the targets of the shooting. Supplied by arms taken from the ÁVH or given by Hungarian soldiers who joined the uprising, some in the crowd started shooting back. The attacks at the Parliament forced the collapse of the government. Communist First Secretary Ernő Gerő and former Prime Minister András Hegedüs fled to the Soviet Union; Imre Nagy became Prime Minister and János Kádár First Secretary of the Communist Party. Revolutionaries began an aggressive offensive against Soviet troops and the remnants of the ÁVH. As the Hungarian resistance fought Soviet tanks using Molotov cocktails in the narrow streets of Budapest, revolutionary councils arose nationwide, assumed local governmental authority, and called for general strikes. Public Communist symbols such as red stars and Soviet war memorials were removed, and Communist books were burned. Spontaneous revolutionary militias arose, such as the 400-man group loosely led by József Dudás, which attacked or murdered Soviet sympathizers and ÁVH members. Soviet units fought primarily in Budapest; elsewhere the countryside was largely quiet. One armored division stationed in Budapest, commanded by Pál Maléter, instead opted to join the insurgents. Soviet commanders often negotiated local cease-fires with the revolutionaries. In some regions, Soviet forces managed to quell revolutionary activity. In Budapest, the Soviets were eventually fought to a stand-still and hostilities began to wane. Hungarian general Béla Király, freed from a life sentence for political offenses and acting with the support of the Nagy government, sought to restore order by unifying elements of the police, army and insurgent groups into a National Guard. A ceasefire was arranged on 28 October, and by 30 October most Soviet troops had withdrawn from Budapest to garrisons in the Hungarian countryside.
Interlude:
Fighting had virtually ceased between 28 October and 4 November, as many Hungarians believed that Soviet military units were indeed withdrawing from Hungary.
The New Hungarian National Government:
The rapid spread of the uprising in the streets of Budapest and the abrupt fall of the Gerő-Hegedüs government left the new national leadership surprised, and at first disorganized. Nagy, a loyal Party reformer described as possessing "only modest political skills", initially appealed to the public for calm and a return to the old order. Yet Nagy, the only remaining Hungarian leader with credibility in both the eyes of the public and the Soviets, "at long last concluded that a popular uprising rather than a counter-revolution was taking place". Calling the ongoing insurgency "a broad democratic mass movement" in a radio address on 27 October, Nagy formed a government which included some non-communist ministers. This new National Government abolished both the ÁVH and the one-party system. Because it held office only ten days, the National Government had little chance to clarify its policies in detail. However, newspaper editorials at the time stressed that Hungary should be a neutral, multiparty social democracy. Many political prisoners were released, most notably Cardinal József Mindszenty. Political parties which were previously banned, such as the Independent Smallholders and the National Peasants' Party, reappeared to join the coalition. Local revolutionary councils formed throughout Hungary, generally without involvement from the preoccupied National Government in Budapest, and assumed various responsibilities of local government from the defunct communist party. By 30 October, these councils had been officially sanctioned by the Hungarian Working People's Party, and the Nagy government asked for their support as "autonomous, democratic local organs formed during the Revolution". Likewise, workers' councils were established at industrial plants and mines, and many unpopular regulations such as production norms were eliminated. The workers' councils strove to manage the enterprise whilst protecting workers' interests, thus establishing a socialist economy free of rigid party control. Local control by the councils was not always bloodless; in Debrecen, Győr, Sopron, Mosonmagyaróvár and other cities, crowds of demonstrators were fired upon by the ÁVH, with many lives lost. The ÁVH were disarmed, often by force, in many cases assisted by the local police.
Soviet perspective:
On 24 October, the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (the Politburo) discussed the political upheavals in Poland and Hungary. A hard-line faction led by Molotov was pushing for intervention, but Khrushchev and Marshal Zhukov were initially opposed. A delegation in Budapest reported that the situation was not as dire as had been portrayed. Khrushchev stated that he believed that Party Secretary Ernő Gerő's request for intervention on 23 October indicated that the Hungarian Party still held the confidence of the Hungarian public. In addition, he saw the protests not as an ideological struggle, but as popular discontent over unresolved basic economic and social issues. After some debate, the Presidium on 30 October decided not to remove the new Hungarian government. Even Marshal Georgy Zhukov said: "We should withdraw troops from Budapest, and if necessary withdraw from Hungary as a whole. This is a lesson for us in the military-political sphere." They adopted a Declaration of the Government of the USSR on the Principles of Development and Further Strengthening of Friendship and Cooperation between the Soviet Union and other Socialist States, which was issued the next day. This document proclaimed: "The Soviet Government is prepared to enter into the appropriate negotiations with the government of the Hungarian People's Republic and other members of the Warsaw Treaty on the question of the presence of Soviet troops on the territory of Hungary." Thus for a brief moment it looked like there could be a peaceful solution. On 30 October, armed protestors attacked the ÁVH detachment guarding the Budapest Hungarian Working People's Party headquarters on Köztársaság tér (Republic Square), incited by rumors of prisoners held there, and the earlier shootings of demonstrators by the ÁVH in the city of Mosonmagyaróvár. Over 20 ÁVH officers were killed, some of them lynched by the mob. Hungarian army tanks sent to rescue the party headquarters mistakenly bombarded the building. The head of the Budapest party committee, Imre Mező, was wounded and later died. Scenes from Republic Square were shown on Soviet newsreels a few hours later. Revolutionary leaders in Hungary condemned the incident and appealed for calm, and the mob violence soon died down, but images of the victims were nevertheless used as propaganda by various Communist organs. On 31 October the Soviet leaders decided to reverse their decision from the pre- Time's "Man of the Year" for vious day. There is disagreement among historians whether Hungary's declaration 1956 was the Hungarian Freeto exit the Warsaw Pact caused the second Soviet intervention. Minutes of the 31 October meeting of the Presidium record that the decision to intervene militarily dom Fighter. was taken one day before Hungary declared its neutrality and withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact. However, some Russian historians who are not advocates of the Communist era maintain that the Hungarian declaration of neutrality caused the Kremlin to intervene a second time. Two days earlier, on 30 October, when Soviet Politburo representatives Anastas Mikoyan and Mikhail Suslov were in Budapest, Nagy had hinted that neutrality was a long-term objective for Hungary, and that he was hoping to discuss this matter with the leaders in the Kremlin. This information was passed on to Moscow by Mikoyan and Suslov. At that time, Khrushchev was in Stalin's dacha, considering his options regarding Hungary. One of his speechwriters later said that the declaration of neutrality was an important factor in his subsequent decision to support intervention. In addition, some Hungarian leaders of the revolution as well as students had called for their country's withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact much earlier, and this may have influenced Soviet decision making. Several other key events alarmed the Presidium and cemented the interventionists' position: Simultaneous movements towards multiparty parliamentary democracy, and a democratic national council of • workers, which could "lead towards a capitalist state." Both movements challenged the pre-eminence of the Soviet Communist Party in Eastern Europe and perhaps Soviet hegemony itself. For the majority of the Presidium, the workers' direct control over their councils without Communist Party leadership was incompatible with their idea of socialism. At the time, these councils were, in the words of Hannah Arendt, "the only free and acting soviets (councils) in existence anywhere in the world". The Presidium was concerned lest the West might perceive Soviet weakness if it did not deal firmly with Hungary. • On 1956-10-29, Israeli, British and French forces invaded Egypt. Khrushchev reportedly remarked "We should reexamine our assessment and should not withdraw our troops from Hungary and Budapest. We should take the initiative in restoring order in Hungary. If we depart from Hungary, it will give a great boost to the Americans, English, and French—the imperialists. They will perceive it as weakness on our part and will go onto the offensive... To Egypt they will then add Hungary. We have no other choice." Khrushchev stated that many in the Communist Party would not understand a failure to respond with force in • Hungary. De-Stalinizationhad alienated the more conservative elements of the Party, who were alarmed at threats to Soviet influence in Eastern Europe. On 17 June 1953, workers in East Berlin had staged an uprising, demanding the resignation of the government of the German Democratic Republic. This was quickly and violently put down with the help of the Soviet military, with 84 killed and wounded and 700 arrested. In June 1956, in Poznań, Poland, an anti-government workers' revolt had been suppressed by the Polish security forces with between 57 and 78 deaths and led to the installation of a less Soviet-controlled government. Additionally, by late October, unrest was noticed in some regional areas of the Soviet Union: while this unrest was minor, it was intolerable. • Hungarian neutrality and withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact represented a breach in the Soviet defensive buffer zone of satellite nations. Soviet fear of invasion from the West made a defensive buffer of allied states in Eastern Europe an essential security objective. The Presidium decided to break the de facto ceasefire and crush the Hungarian revolution. The plan was to declare a "Provisional Revolutionary Government" under János Kádár, who would appeal for Soviet assistance to restore order. According to witnesses, Kádár was in Moscow in early November, and he was in contact with the Soviet embassy while still a member of the Nagy government.Delegations were sent to other Communist governments in Eastern Europe and China, seeking to avoid a regional conflict, and propaganda messages prepared for broadcast when the second Soviet intervention had begun. To disguise these intentions, Soviet diplomats were to engage the Nagy government in talks discussing the withdrawal of Soviet forces. According to some sources, the Chinese leader Mao Zedong played an important role in Khrushchev's decision to suppress the Hungarian uprising. Chinese Communist Party Deputy Chairman Liu Shaoqi pressured Khrushchev to send in troops to put down the revolt by force. Although the relations between China and the Soviet Union had deteriorated during the recent years, Mao's words still carried great weight in the Kremlin, and they were frequently in contact during the crisis. Initially Mao opposed a second intervention and this information was passed on to Khrushchev on 30 October, before the Presidium met and decided against intervention. Mao then changed his mind in favor of intervention, but according to William Taubman it remains unclear when and how Khrushchev learned of this and thus if it influenced his decision on 31 October. On 1 November to 3 November, Khrushchev left Moscow to meet with his East-European allies and inform them of the decision to intervene. At the first such meeting, he met with Władysław Gomułka in Brest. Then he had talks with the Romanian, Czechoslovak, and Bulgarian leaders in Bucharest. Finally Khrushchev flew with Malenkov to Yugoslavia, where they met with Josip Broz Tito, who was vacationing on his island Brioni in the Adriatic. The Yugoslavs also persuaded Khrushchev to choose János Kádár instead of Ferenc Münnich as the new leader of Hungary.
International reaction:
Although the United States Secretary of State recommended on 24 October that the United Nations Security Council convene to discuss the situation in Hungary, little immediate action was taken to introduce a resolution, in part because other world events unfolded the day after the peaceful 'interlude' started, when allied collusion started the Suez Crisis. The problem was not that Suez distracted U.S. attention from Hungary, but that it made the condemnation of Soviet actions very difficult. As Vice President Richard Nixon later explained: "We couldn't on one hand, complain about the Soviets intervening in Hungary and, on the other hand, approve of the British and the French picking that particular time to intervene against [Gamel Abdel] Nasser". Responding to the plea by Nagy at the time of the second massive Soviet intervention on 4 November, the Security Council resolution critical of Soviet actions was vetoed by the Soviet Union; instead resolution 120 was adopted to pass the matter onto the General Assembly. The General Assembly, by a vote of 50 in favor, 8 against and 15 abstentions, called on the Soviet Union to end its Hungarian intervention, but the newly constituted Kádár government rejected UN observers. The U.S. President, Dwight Eisenhower, was aware of a detailed study of Hungarian resistance which recommended against U.S. military intervention, and of earlier policy discussions within the National Security Council which focused upon encouraging discontent in Soviet satellite nations only by economic policies and political rhetoric. In a 1998 interview, Hungarian Ambassador Géza Jeszenszky was critical of Western inaction in 1956, citing the influence of the United Nations at that time and giving the example of UN intervention in Korea from 1950 to 1953. During the uprising, the Radio Free Europe (RFE) Hungarian-language programs broadcast news of the political and military situation, as well as appealing to Hungarians to fight the Soviet forces, including tactical advice on resistance methods. After the Soviet suppression of the revolution, RFE was criticized for having misled the Hungarian people that NATO or United Nations would intervene if the citizens continued to resist.
Soviet intervention of 4 November:
On 1 November, Imre Nagy received reports that Soviet forces had entered Hungary from the east and were moving towards Budapest.Nagy sought and received assurances from Soviet ambassador Yuri Andropov that the Soviet Union would not invade, although Andropov knew otherwise. The Cabinet, with János Kádár in agreement, declared Hungary's neutrality, withdrew from the Warsaw Pact, and requested assistance from the diplomatic corps in Budapest and the UN Secretary-General to defend Hungary's neutrality. Ambassador Andropov was asked to inform his government that Hungary would begin negotiations on the removal of Soviet forces immediately. On 3 November, a Hungarian delegation led by the Minister of Defense Pál Maléter were invited to attend negotiations on Soviet withdrawal at the Soviet Military Command at Tököl, near Budapest. At around midnight that evening, General Ivan Serov, Chief of the Soviet Security Police (KGB) ordered the arrest of the Hungarian delegation, and the next day, the Soviet army again attacked Budapest. This second Soviet intervention, codenamed "Operation Whirlwind", was launched by Marshal Ivan Konev. The five Soviet divisions stationed in Hungary before 23 October were augmented to a total strength of 17 divisions. The 8th Mechanized Army under command of Lieutenant General Hamazasp Babadzhanian and the 38th Army under command of Lieutenant General Hadzhi-Umar Mamsurov from the nearby Carpathian Military District were deployed to Hungary for the operation. Some rankand-file Soviet soldiers reportedly believed they were being sent to Berlin to fight German fascists. By 9:30 p.m. on 3 November, the Soviet Army had completely encircled Budapest. At 3:00 a.m. on 4 November, Soviet tanks penetrated Budapest along the Pest side of the Danube in two thrusts: one up the Soroksári road from the south and the other down the Váci road from the north. Thus before a single shot was fired, the Soviets had effectively split the city in half, controlled all bridgeheads, and were shielded to the rear by the wide Danube river. Armored units crossed into Buda and at 4:25 a.m. fired the first shots at the army barracks on Budaõrsi road. Soon after, Soviet artillery and tank fire was heard in all districts of Budapest.Operation Whirlwind combined air strikes, artillery, and the coordinated tankinfantry action of 17 divisions. The Hungarian Army put up sporadic and uncoordinated resistance. Although some very senior officers were openly pro-Soviet, the rank and file soldiers were overwhelmingly loyal to the revolution and either fought against the invasion or deserted. The United Nations reported that there were no recorded incidents of Hungarian Army units fighting on the side of the Soviets. At 5:20 a.m. on 4 November, Imre Nagy broadcast his final plea to the nation and the world, announcing that Soviet Forces were attacking Budapest and that the Government remained at its post. The radio station, Free Kossuth Rádió, stopped broadcasting at 8:07 a.m.An emergency Cabinet meeting was held in the Parliament building, but was attended by only three Ministers. As Soviet troops arrived to occupy the building, a negotiated evacuation ensued, leaving Minister of State István Bibó as the last representative of the National Government remaining at post. He wrote For Freedom and Truth, a stirring proclamation to the nation and the world. At 6:00 am on 4 November, in the town of Szolnok, János Kádár proclaimed the "Hungarian Revolutionary Worker-Peasant Government". His statement declared "We must put an end to the excesses of the counter-revolutionary elements. The hour for action has sounded. We are going to defend the interest of the workers and peasants and the achievements of the people's democracy." Later that evening, Kádár called upon "the faithful fighters of the true cause of socialism" to come out of hiding and take up arms. However, Hungarian support did not materialize; the fighting did not take on the character of an internally divisive civil war, but rather, in the words of a United Nations report, that of "a well-equipped foreign army crushing by overwhelming force a national movement and eliminating the Government." By 8:00 am organised defence of the city evaporated after the radio station was seized, and many defenders fell back to fortified positions. Hungarian civilians bore the brunt of the fighting, as Soviet troops spared little effort to differentiate military from civilian targets. For this reason, Soviet tanks often crept along main roads firing indiscriminately into buildings. Hungarian resistance was strongest in the industrial areas of Budapest, which were heavily targeted by Soviet artillery and air strikes. The last pocket of resistance called for ceasefire on 10 November. Over 2,500 Hungarians and 722 Soviet troops had been killed and thousands more were wounded.
Soviet version of the events:
Soviet reports of the events surrounding, during, and after the disturbance were remarkably consistent in their accounts, more so after the Second Soviet intervention cemented support for the Soviet position amongst international Communist Parties. Pravda published an account 36 hours after the outbreak of violence, which set the tone for all further reports and subsequent Soviet historiography: On 23 October, the "honest" socialist Hungarians demonstrated against mistakes made by the Rákosi and Gerő 1. governments. 2. Fascist, Hitlerite, reactionary, counter-revolutionary hooligans financed by the imperialist west took advantage of the unrest to stage a counter-revolution. 3. The honest Hungarian people under Nagy appealed to Soviet (Warsaw Pact) forces stationed in Hungary to assist in restoring order. 4. The Nagy government was ineffective, allowing itself to be penetrated by counter-revolutionary influences, weak ening then disintegrating, as proven by Nagy's culminating denouncement of the Warsaw Pact. Hungarian patriots under Kádár broke with the Nagy government and formed a government of honest Hungarian 5. revolutionary workers and peasants; this genuinely popular government petitioned the Soviet command to help put down the counter-revolution. Hungarian patriots, with Soviet assistance, smashed the counter-revolution. 6. The first Soviet report came out 24 hours after the first Western report. Nagy's appeal to the United Nations was not reported. After Nagy was arrested outside of the Yugoslav embassy, his arrest was not reported. Nor did accounts explain how Nagy went from patriot to traitor.The Soviet press reported calm in Budapest while the Western press reported a revolutionary crisis was breaking out. According to the Soviet account, Hungarians never wanted a revolution at all. In January 1957, representatives of the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania met in Budapest to review internal developments in Hungary since the establishment of the Soviet-imposed government. A communiqué on the meeting "unanimously concluded" that Hungarian workers, with the leadership of the Kádár government and support of the Soviet army, defeated attempts "to eliminate the socialist achievements of the Hungarian people". Soviet, Chinese and other Warsaw Pact governments urged Kádár to proceed with interrogation and trial of former Nagy government ministers, and asked for punitive measures against the"counter-revolutionists". In addition the Kádár government published an extensive series of "white books" (The Counter-Revolutionary Forces in the October Events in Hungary) documenting real incidents of violence against Communist Party and ÁVH members, and the confessions of Nagy supporters. These white books were widely distributed in several languages in most of the socialist countries and, while based in fact, present factual evidence with a colouring and narrative not generally supported by non-Soviet aligned historians.
Aftermath Hungary:
In the immediate aftermath, many thousands of Hungarians were arrested. Eventually, 26,000 of these were brought before the Hungarian courts, 22,000 were sentenced, 13,000 imprisoned, and several hundred executed. Hundreds were also deported to the Soviet Union, many without evidence. Approximately 200,000 fled Hungary as refugees. Former Hungarian Foreign Minister Géza Jeszenszky estimated 350 were executed. Sporadic armed resistance and strikes by workers' councils continued until mid-1957, causing substantial economic disruption. By 1963, most political prisoners from the 1956 Hungarian revolution had been released. With most of Budapest under Soviet control by 8 November, Kádár became Prime Minister of the "Revolutionary Worker-Peasant Government" and General Secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party. Few Hungarians rejoined the reorganized Party, its leadership having been purged under the supervision of the Soviet Presidium, led by Georgy Malenkov and Mikhail Suslov. Although Party membership declined from 800,000 before the uprising to 100,000 by December 1956, Kádár steadily increased his control over Hungary and neutralized dissenters. The new government attempted to enlist support by espousing popular principles of Hungarian self-determination voiced during the uprising, but Soviet troops remained. After 1956 the Soviet Union severely purged the Hungarian Army and reinstituted political indoctrination in the units that remained. In May 1957, the Soviet Union increased its troop levels in Hungary and by treaty Hungary accepted the Soviet presence on a permanent basis. The Red Cross and the Austrian Army established refugee camps in Traiskirchen and Graz. Imre Nagy along with Georg Lukács, Géza Losonczy, and László Rajk's widow, Júlia, took refuge in the Embassy of Yugoslavia as Soviet forces overran Budapest. Despite assurances of safe passage out of Hungary by the Soviets and the Kádár government, Nagy and his group were arrested when attempting to leave the embassy on 22 November and taken to Romania. Losonczy died while on a hunger strike in prison awaiting trial when his jailers "carelessly pushed a feeding tube down his windpipe." The remainder of the group was returned to Budapest in 1958. Nagy was executed, along with Pál Maléter and Miklós Gimes, after secret trials in June 1958. Their bodies were placed in unmarked graves in the Municipal Cemetery outside Budapest. During the November 1956 Soviet assault on Budapest, Cardinal Mindszenty was granted political asylum at the United States embassy, where he lived for the next 15 years, refusing to leave Hungary unless the government reversed his 1949 conviction for treason. Because of poor health and a request from the Vatican, he finally left the embassy for Austria in September 1971.
International:
Despite Cold War rhetoric by the West espousing a rollback of the domination of Eastern Europe by the USSR, and Soviet promises of the imminent triumph of socialism, national leaders of this period as well as later historians saw the failure of the uprising in Hungary as evidence that the Cold War in Europe had become a stalemate. The Foreign Minister of West Germany recommended that the people of Eastern Europe be discouraged from "taking dramatic action which might have disastrous consequences for themselves." The Secretary-General of NATO called the Hungarian revolt "the collective suicide of a whole people". In a newspaper interview in 1957, Khrushchev commented "support by United States... is rather in the nature of the support that the rope gives to a hanged man." In January 1957, United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld, acting in response to UN General Assembly resolutions requesting investigation and observation of the events in Soviet-occupied Hungary, established the Special Committee on the Problem of Hungary.The Committee, with representatives from Australia, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Denmark, Tunisia and Uruguay, conducted hearings in New York, Geneva, Rome, Vienna and London. Over five months, 111 refugees were interviewed including ministers, military commanders and other officials of the Nagy government, workers, revolutionary council members, factory managers and technicians, communists and non-communists, students, writers, teachers, medical personnel and Hungarian soldiers. Documents, newspapers, radio transcripts, photos, film footage and other records from Hungary were also reviewed, as well as written testimony of 200 other Hungarians. The governments of Hungary and Romania refused the UN officials of the Committee entry, and the government of the Soviet Union did not respond to requests for information. The 268-page Committee Report was presented to the General Assembly in June 1957, documenting the course of the uprising and Soviet intervention, and concluding that "the Kádár government and Soviet occupation were in violation of the human rights of the Hungarian people." A General Assembly resolution was approved, deploring "the repression of the Hungarian people and the Soviet occupation", but no other action was taken. Time magazine named the Hungarian Freedom Fighter its Man of the Year for 1956. The accompanying Time article comments that this choice could not have been anticipated until the explosive events of the revolution, almost at the end of 1956. The magazine cover and accompanying text displayed an artist's depiction of a Hungarian freedom fighter, and used pseudonyms for the three participants whose stories are the subject of the article. Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány referred to this famous Time Man of the Year cover as "the faces of free Hungary" in a speech to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1956 uprising. Prime Minister Gyurcsány, in a joint appearance with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, commented specifically on the TIME cover itself, that "It is an idealised image but the faces of the figures are really the face of the revolutionaries" At the Melbourne Olympics in 1956, the Soviet handling of the Hungarian uprising led to a boycott by Spain, the Netherlands and Switzerland. At the Olympic Village, the Hungarian delegation tore down the Communist Hungarian flag and raised the flag of Free Hungary in its place. A confrontation between Soviet and Hungarian teams occurred in the semi-final match of the water polo tournament. The match was extremely violent, and was halted in the final minute to quell fighting amongst spectators. This match, now known as the "blood in the water match", became the subject of several films. The Hungarian team won the game 4–0 and later was awarded the Olympic gold medal. The events in Hungary produced ideological fractures within the Communist parties of Western Europe. Within the Italian Communist Party (PCI) a split ensued: most ordinary members and the Party leadership, including Palmiro Togliatti and Giorgio Napolitano, regarded the Hungarian insurgents as counter-revolutionaries, as reported in l'Unità, the official PCI newspaper. However Giuseppe Di Vittorio, chief of the Communist trade union CGIL, repudiated the leadership position, as did the prominent party members Anto- 1956 Revolution Flag flying in front of the nio Giolitti, Loris Fortuna and many other influential Communist in- Hungarian Parliament Building tellectuals, who later were expelled or left the party. Pietro Nenni, the national secretary of the Italian Socialist Party, a close ally of the PCI, opposed the Soviet intervention as well. Napolitano, elected in 2006 as President of the Italian Republic, wrote in his 2005 political autobiography that he regretted his justification of Soviet action in Hungary, and that at the time he believed in Party unity and the international leadership of Soviet communism. Within the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), dissent that began with the repudiation of Stalin by John Saville and E.P. Thompson, influential historians and members of the Communist Party Historians Group, culminated in a loss of thousands of party members as events unfolded in Hungary. Peter Fryer, correspondent for the CPGB newspaper The Daily Worker, reported accurately on the violent suppression of the uprising, but his dispatches were heavily censored; Fryer resigned from the paper upon his return, and was later expelled from the communist party. In France, moderate communists, such as historian Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, resigned, questioning the policy of supporting Soviet actions by the French Communist Party. The French philosopher and writer Albert Camus wrote an open letter, The Blood of the Hungarians, criticizing the West's lack of action. Even Jean-Paul Sartre, still a determined communist, criticised the Soviets in his article Le Fantôme de Staline, in Situations VII.
Commemoration:
In December, 1991, the preamble of the treaties with the dismembered Soviet Union, under Mikhail Gorbachev, and Russia, represented by Boris Yeltsin, apologized officially for the 1956 Soviet actions in Hungary. This apology was repeated by Yeltsin in 1992 during a speech to the Hungarian parliament. On 13 February 2006, the US State Department commemorated the Fiftieth anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Former US Secretary of State Rice commented on the contributions made by 1956 Hungarian refugees to the United States and other host countries, as well as the role of Hungary in providing refuge to East Germans during the 1989 protests against communist rule. US President George W. Bush also visited Hungary on 22 June 2006, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary. On June 16, 1989, the 30th anniversary of his execution, Imre Nagy's body was reburied with full honors. The Republic of Hungary was declared in 1989 on the 33rd anniversary of the Revolution, and 23 October is now a Hungarian national holiday.
Contributed by: Mr. Attila SZANTO (Hungarian diplomat to Pakistan)
National Mole Day U.S. - Oct 23
Mole Day is an unofficial holiday celebrated among chemists on October 23, between 6:02 AM and 6:02 PM, making the date 6:02 10/23 in the American style of writing dates. The time and date are derived from Avogadro's number, which is approximately 6.02×1023, defining the number of particles (atoms or molecules) in one mole of substance, one of the seven base SI units. Mole Day originated in an article in The Science Teacher in the early 1980s. Inspired by this article, Maurice Oehler, now a retired high school chemistry teacher from Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, founded the National Mole Day Foundation (NMDF) on May 15, 1991. Many high schools around the United States, South Africa, Australia and in Canada celebrate Mole Day as a way to get their students interested in chemistry, with various activities often related to chemistry or moles.
Cambodia Peace Treaty Day Cambodia - Oct 23
Cambodia celebrates the peace treaty among the opposing factions that was signed in Paris on October 23 in 1991.
History The Khmer Rouge attacked its neighboring countries in
1977, to reclaim territories it lost many centuries before. Vietnam invaded Cambodia in November 1978 to stop Khmer Rouge incursions across the border and the genocide in Cambodia. In January 1979, Vietnam created a protectorate regime called the People’s Republic of Kampuchea (PRK). The new regime restored much of Cambodia’s way of life, which includes the practice of Buddhism and a national education system. Vietnam deployed more than 100,000 troops in Cambodia in the 1980s. The economy of Cambodia further deteriorated under continuous fighting between PRK and DK forces. The claimed thousands of lives, people were either killed in battle or maimed by landmines. Cambodia’s foreign minister, Hun Sen, became prime minister of the PRK in 1985. Talks began in Paris to try to settle the Cambodian civil war in 1987. Vietnam proclaimed its plans to pull out its occupying forces from Cambodia in 1989. On October 23, 1991, all of Cambodia’s opposing factions signed a peace treaty. The United Nations assumed the government’s administrative functions as agreed in the treaty. Under the auspices of the United Nations the elections were held in May 1993. In September 1993, a new democratic government was installed.
Celebrations
Cambodia’s holidays and festivals are a time of great jubilation for the largely rural populace. The people make an effort to go to the capital in order to take part in the celebrations and witness the organized fireworks displays, which accompany the festivals.
Independence Day Zambia - Oct 24
Zambia officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west. The capital city is Lusaka, located in the southcentral part of the country. The population is concentrated mainly around the capital Lusaka in the south and the Copperbelt to the northwest. Originally inhabited by Khoisan peoples, the region of what is now Zambia was reached by theBantu expansion by ca. the 12th century. After visits by European explorers starting in the 18th century, Zambia became the British colony of Northern Rhodesia towards the end of the nineteenth century. For most of the colonial period, the country was governed by an administration appointed from London with the advice of the British South Africa Company. On 24 October 1964, the country declared independence from the United Kingdom and prime minister Kenneth Kaunda became the first head of state. Zambia was governed by Kenneth Kaunda of the socialist United National Independence Party (UNIP) from 1964 until 1991. From 1972 to 1991 Zambia was a one-party state with UNIP the sole legal political party. From 1991 to 2002, Zambia was governed by president Frederick Chiluba of the social-democratic Movement for Multi-Party Democracy during which the country saw a rise in social-economic growth and increased decentralisation of government. Levy Mwanawasa was the third President of Zambia. He presided over the country from January 2002 until his death in August 2008. He is credited with having initiated a campaign to rid the country of corruption, and increasing standards of living from the levels left by Frederick T.J. Chiluba. The World Bank in 2010 named Zambia as one of the world's fastest economically reforming countries. The headquarters of COMESA are in the capital Lusaka.
Etymology
The territory of what is now Zambia was known as Northern Rhodesia from 1911. It was renamed to Zambia on the occasion of its independence, in 1964. The new name of Zambia was derived from the Zambezi river (Zambezi may mean "God's river") which flows through the western region of the country.
History
A statue of David Livingstone on the
The area of modern Zambia was inhabited by Khoisan huntergatherers until around AD 300, when more technologically ad- Zambian side of Victoria Falls. vanced migrating ethnic groups began to displace or absorb them. In the 12th century, major waves of Bantu-speaking immigrants arrived during the Bantu expansion. Among them, the Tonga people (also called Ba-Tonga, "Ba-" meaning "woman") were the first to settle in Zambia and are believed to have come from the east near the "big sea". The Nkoya people also arrived early in the expansion, coming from the Luba–Lunda kingdoms located in the southern parts of the modern Democratic Republic of the Congo and northern Angola, followed by a much larger influx, especially between the late 12th and early 13th centuries. In the early 19th century, the Nsokolo people settled in the Mbala district of Northern Province. During the 19th century, the Ngoni and Sotho peoples arrived from the south. By the late 19th century, most of the various peoples of Zambia were established in the areas they currently occupy. The arrival of Europeans was just yet another such influx. The earliest account of a European visiting the area was Francisco de Lacerda in the late 18th century, followed by other European visitors in the 19th century. The most prominent of these was David Livingstone, who had a vision of ending the slave trade through the "3 Cs" (Christianity, Commerce and Civilization). He was the first European to see the magnificent waterfalls on the Zambezi River in 1855, naming them "Victoria Falls" after Queen Victoria. Locally the falls are known as "Mosi-o-Tunya" or "(the) thundering smoke" (in the Lozi or Kololo dialect). The town of Livingstone, near the falls, is named after him. Highly publicised accounts of his journeys motivated a wave of European visitors, missionaries and traders after his death in 1873. In 1888, the British South Africa Company (BSA Company), led by Cecil Rhodes, obtained mineral rights from the Litunga, the king of the Lozi or Ba-rotse for the area which later became North-Western Rhodesia. To the east, in December 1897 a section of the Angoni or Ngoni (originally from Zululand) under Tsinco, the son of King Mpezeni, rebelled, but the rebellion was put down, and Mpezeni accepted the Pax Britannica. That part of the country then came to be known as North-Eastern Rhodesia. In 1895, Rhodes asked his American scout Frederick Russell Burnham to look for minerals and ways to improve river navigation in the region, and it was during this trek that Burnham discovered major copper deposits along the Kafue River. North-Eastern Rhodesia and North-Western Rhodesia were administered as separate units until 1911 when they were merged to form the British Colony of Northern Rhodesia. In 1923, the BSA Company ceded control of Northern Rhodesia to the British Government after the government decided not to renew the Company's charter. That same year, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), a conquered territory which was also administered by the BSA Company, became a self-governing British Dominion. In 1924, after negotiations, administration of Northern Rhodesia transferred to the British Colonial Office. In 1953, the creation of theFederation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland grouped together Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia andNyasaland (now Malawi) as a single semi-autonomous region. This was undertaken despite opposition from a sizeable minority of Africans, who demonstrated against it in 1960– 61. Northern Rhodesia was the centre of much of the turmoil and crisis characterizing the federation in its last years. Initially, Harry Nkumbula's African National Congress (ANC) led the campaign that Kenneth Kaunda's United National Independence Party (UNIP) subsequently took up. A two-stage election held in October and December 1962 resulted in an African majority in the legislative council and an uneasy coalition between the two African nationalist parties. The council passed resolutions calling for Northern Rhodesia's Liberation statue in secession from the federation and demanding full internal self-government under a front of a government new constitution and a new National Assembly based on a broader, more democratic building franchise. The federation was dissolved on 31 December 1963, and in January 1964, Kaunda won the first and only election for Prime Minister of Northern Rhodesia. The Colonial Governor, Sir Evelyn Hone, was very close to Kaunda and urged him to stand for the post. Soon after, there was an uprising in the north of the country known as the Lumpa Uprising led by Alice Lenshina – Kaunda's first internal conflict as leader of the nation. Northern Rhodesia became the Republic of Zambia on 24 October 1964, with Kaunda as the first president. At independence, despite its considerable mineral wealth, Zambia faced major challenges. Domestically, there were few trained and educated Zambians capable of running the government, and the economy was largely dependent on foreign expertise. There were over 70,000 British in Zambia in 1964, who were of great economic importance. During the next decade, Kaunda's regime supported movements such as UNITA in Angola; the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU); the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa; and the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO).[citation needed] Kaunda developed close relations with communist regimes in the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. Kaunda also developed a close friendship with Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. Conflict with Rhodesia resulted in the closure of the border with that country in 1973 and severe problems with international transport and power supply. However, the Kariba hydroelectric station on the Zambezi River provided sufficient capacity to satisfy the country's requirements for electricity (despite the fact that the control centre was on the Rhodesian side of the border). A railway to the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam, built with Chinese assistance, reduced Zambian dependence on railway lines south to South Africa and west through an increasingly troubled Angola. Until the completion of the railway, however, Zambia's major artery for imports and the critical export of copper was along the TanZam Road, running from Zambia to the port cities in Tanzania. The Tazama oil pipeline was also built from Dar-es-Salaam to Ndola in Zambia. By the late 1970s, Mozambique and Angola had attained independence from Portugal. Zimbabwe achieved independence in 1980 in accordance with the 1979 Lancaster House Agreement. Zambia's problems, however, were not solved. Civil war in the former Portuguese colonies created an influx of refugees and caused continuing transportation problems. The Benguela railway, which extended west through Angola, was essentially closed to traffic from Zambia by the late 1970s. Zambia's strong support for the ANC (despite both the Zambian ANC and the SA ANC being banned within Zambia), which had its external headquarters in Lusaka, created security problems as South Africa raided South African ANC military training Mwata Kazembe XVII Paul camps in Zambia. In the mid-1970s, the price of copper, Zambia's principal export, suffered Kanyembo Lutaba, chief of the a severe decline worldwide. In Zambia's situation, the cost of transporting Lunda people in Zambia in the copper great distances to market was an additional strain. Zambia 1961. turned to foreign and international lenders for relief, but, as copper prices remained depressed, it became increasingly difficult to service its growing debt. By the mid-1990s, despite limited debt relief, Zambia's per capita foreign debt remained among the highest in the world. In June 1990 riots against Kaunda accelerated. Many protesters were killed by the regime in breakthrough June 1990 protests. Kaunda faced one coup attempt in 1990. In 1991, Kaunda agreed to re-institute multiparty democracy (having instated one party rule under the Chona Commission of 1972) and was replaced by multiparty elections. In the 2000s, the economy stabilized, attaining single-digit inflation in 2006–2007, real GDP growth, decreasing interest rates, and increasing levels of trade. Much of its growth is due to foreign investment in Zambia's mining sector and higher copper prices on the world market. All this led to Zambia being courted enthusiastically by aid donors, and saw a surge, in investor confidence in the country reflected in a growing number of investors.
United Nations Day Oct 24
In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly declared 24 October, the anniversary of the Charter of the United Nations, as which "shall be devoted to making known to the peoples of the world the aims and achievements of the United Nations and to gaining their support for" its work. In 1971 the United Nations General Assembly adopted a further resolution (United Nations Resolution 2782) declaring that United Nations Day shall be an international holiday and recommended that it should be observed as a public holiday by all United Nations member states. United Nations Day is devoted to making known to peoples of the world the aims and achievements of the United Nations Organization. United Nations Day is part of United Nations Week, which runs from 20 to 26 October.
Commemoration
United Nations Day has traditionally been marked throughout the world with meetings, discussions and exhibits about the achievements and goals of the organization. In 1971, the General Assembly recommended that member states observe it as a public holiday. Several international schools throughout the world also celebrate the diversity of their student body on United Nations Day (although the event is not necessarily celebrated on 24 October). Celebrations often include a show of cultural performances in the evening and a food fair, where food is available from all over the world. In the United States, the President has issued a proclamation each year for United Nations Day since 1946. The most recent such proclamation was issued by Barack Obama. In Kosovo, United Nations Day is an official non-working day as the province is administered by the Interim Administration Mission.
World Development Information Day Oct 24
In 1972, the United Nations General Assembly decided to institute a World Development Information Day coinciding with United Nations Day on 24 October. The General Assembly had the object of drawing the attention of world public-opinion each year to development problems and the necessity of strengthening international co-operation to solve them. The day was further recognized as the date on which the International Development Strategy for the Second Nations Development Decade was adopted in 1970. On May 17, 1972, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) proposed measures for information dissemination and for the mobilization of public opinion relative to trade and development problems. These became known as resolution 3038 (XXVII), which the UN General Assembly passed on December 19, 1972. This resolution called for introducing World Development Information Day to help draw the attention of people worldwide to development problems. A further aim of the event is to explain to the general public why it is necessary to strengthen international cooperation to find ways to solve these problems. The assembly also decided that the day should coincide with United Nations Day to stress the central role of development in the UN's work. World Development Information Day was first held on October 24, 1973, and has been held on this date each year since then. In recent years many events have interpreted the title of the day slightly differently. These have concentrated on the role that modern information-technologies, such as the Internet and mobile telephones can play in alerting people and finding solutions to problems of trade and development. One of the specific aims of World Development Information Day was to inform and motivate young people and this change may help to further this aim.
Suez Day Egypt - Oct 24
The Suez Day is celebrated on October 24th of every year in Egypt. It Celebrates the resistance of local citizens in Suez during the October War. The Egyptian forces crossed the Suez Canal on this day in 1973 during the war against Israel on October 6th. On this day in 1973 marked the end of the Fourth Arab-Israeli War and restored control of the Suez Canal to Egypt. After World War II Egypt pressed for evacuation of British troops from the Suez Canal Zone.
Constitution Day Lithuania - Oct 25
The Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucija) defines the legal foundation for all laws passed in the Republic of Lithuania. It was approved in a referendum on October 25, 1992.
History
Lithuania's first constitution was adopted on May 3, 1791 in an effort to reform the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth, consisting of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland. However, it was short-lived and was never completely implemented. The Third Partitions of Poland took place in 1795 and the commonwealth ceased to exist when Lithuania became part of the Russian Empire. After World War I, Lithuania declared independence on February 16, 1918. Three separate draft constitutions were presented on November 2, 1918, April 4, 1919 and June 10, 1920. The Constituent Assembly (Steigiamasis Seimas) did not adopt a constitution until August 1, 1922. It resembled modern Western European constitutions. In 1928 and 1938 new constitutions were adopted to reflect the authoritarian leadership of Antanas Smetona. In 1940 and 1978, new constitutions of Lithuanian SSR were adopted, similar to the other Soviet constitutions.
Republic Day Kazakhstan - Oct 25
In the waning days of Soviet rule, individual republics of the Soviet Union sought greater autonomy. The Soviet Union agreed in early 1990 to give up its monopoly of political power. Following the lead of Lithuanian SSR, Russian SFSR and others, Kazakh SSR declared its sovereignty on 25 October 1990, and Kazakhstan subsequently became independent on 16 December 1991 as the Soviet Union collapsed. 25 October, the anniversary of the adoption of the "Declaration on State Sovereignty of Kazakh SSR" by the Kazakh legislature in 1990, is now commemorated as Republic Day (Kazakh: Республика күні, Respwblïka küni), a public holiday in Kazakhstan.
Thanksgiving Day Grenada - Oct 25
In Grenada, Thanksgiving Day is a public holiday that commemorates the anniversary of the 1983 Caribbean and American military intervention in Grenada. A joint military force arrived in Grenada on Oct 25th to restore stability to the country following the deaths of then Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and some of his colleagues.
History
Grenada attained the status of “Associated State of the United Kingdom” in 1967. In 1974, independence was granted with Sir Eric Matthew Gairy as the first Prime Minister of Grenada. Conflict between Eric Gairy’s government and some opposition parties gradually broke out including the New Jewel Movement (NJM). In 1976, Gairy’s party won elections but the opposition party did not acknowledge the outcome. The opposition accused Gairy of election fraud. Maurice Bishop and his New Jewel Movement launched a paramilitary attack on the government in 1979 resulting in its overthrow. Even though the constitution was suspended agrarian reforms started by the Gairy government were continued under the reign of Maurice Bishop. Bernard Coard and his wife Phyllis with backing of the Grenadian Army, led a coup against the government of Maurice Bishop on October 19, 1983. Bishop was later placed under house arrest. These events were followed by street demonstrations in various locations in the island. Bishop had enjoyed strong support from the populace. Later he was freed by a large demonstration in the capital. Coard had Bishop captured and executed by soldiers along with his cabinet ministers. The regime of Coard then put the island under martial law. U.S. President Ronald Reagan became worried because a communist leaning government overthrew a moderate one. Another concern was Cuban military personnel building a 10,000-foot airstrip on Grenada. Reagan was also worried about the security of the 800 American medical students enrolled at St. George’s School of Medicine in the island. Reagan and his advisers saw that rescuing the students was enough justification to invade the island. In an operation codenamed Operation Urgent Fury, Grenada was invaded by the allied forces from the United States, the Regional Security System (RSS) and Jamaica on October 25.
Celebrations
Thanksgiving Day in Grenada is commemorated by formal ceremonies although the event is largely not given much attention in the rural communities.