This Week in History
This week in history: January 14-20
14 January 2019
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: January 7-13
7 January 2019
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: December 31-January 6
31 December 2018
This week in history
This week in history: December 24-30
24 December 2018
25 years ago: Chinese Communist Party celebrates Mao centenaryOn December 27, 1993, the Chinese Communist Party marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Mao Zedong with a series of ceremonies which sought to present the pro-capitalist course of the leadership of the Stalinist party as the logical continuation of the Chinese Revolution of 1949, with which Mao’s name was still popularly associated.
This week in history: December 17-23
17 December 2018
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: December 10-16
10 December 2018
25 years ago: US admits secret tests of radiation weapons The US government deliberately released massive amounts of radiation into the environment as part of a secret program aimed at developing a weapon using radioactive fallout, according to congressional report released on December 15, 1993. The General Accounting Office conducted a nearly two-year investigation into the radiation releases, which took place in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and its findings were confirmed by officials of the Department of Energy, which operates the US nuclear weapons production and testing system.
This week in history: December 3-9
3 December 2018
25 years ago: Christian Democrats suffer political collapse in ItalyIn two rounds of municipal and regional elections concluding December 5, 1993, the Christian Democratic Party, which had ruled Italy as part of coalition governments throughout the period since World War II, suffered an historic rout, with millions of voters shifting their support both to the neo-fascist right and the Party of the Democratic Left (PDS), the successor organization to the Italian Communist Party.
This week in history: November 26-December 2
26 November 2018
25 years ago: Belgium rocked by general strikeThe biggest general strike in Belgium since 1936 paralyzed the country on Friday, November 27, as a wave of workers’ struggles continues throughout western Europe. The strike was called by the social democratic and the Christian Union federations to protest the austerity measures adopted by a coalition government of Christian Democrats and social-democrats. The general strike was particularly effective in closing down all public transport. International trains had to be diverted. In most hospitals there was only emergency cover. The approach roads to Brussels airport were blocked and most flights severely disrupted. The port of Antwerp had already been blocked on Thursday.
This week in history: November 12-18
12 November 2018
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: November 5-11
5 November 2018
25 years ago: Castro speech, “We are becoming bourgeois”In a speech to an audience of foreign businessmen on November 6, 1993, Cuban President Fidel Castro declared that his government was learning the ways of the capitalist world but still had extensive work to do in enforcing discipline on the Cuban working class. “We are becoming bourgeois,” he told his approving audience at an international trade fair in Havana, “not because we are getting rich as people, but because we are learning to do business. We are doing many new things with your experience.”
This week in history: October 29-November 4
29 October 2018
25 years ago: Maastricht Treaty establishes European UnionOn November 1, 1993, the European Economic Community (EEC) was officially transformed into the European Union (EU) as the Treaty on European Union, informally known as the Maastricht Treaty, went into effect. The accord, initially of 12 nations, later expanded to 28, increased the power of Brussels over the national states and laid the basis for the creation of the single European currency, the euro.
This week in history: October 22-28
22 October 2018
25 years ago: Massacres begin in Burundi after assassination of presidentIn the week following the assassination of Burundi’s first Hutu president, Melchior Ndadaye, in an unsuccessful coup by the Tutsi-dominated military, tens of thousands of Tutsis and Hutus were slaughtered. Ndadaye had been elected in June 1993 by an overwhelming margin of 65 percent to 32 percent, reflecting the large Hutu majority in the population, more than 85 percent. He defeated the incumbent president, Pierre Buyoya, a Tutsi.
This week in history: October 15-21
15 October 2018
25 years ago: Benazir Bhutto begins second term as Pakistan prime ministerAfter two weeks of political maneuvering following Pakistan’s general election, Benazir Bhutto of the Pakistan Peoples Party won the endorsement of parliament October 20, 1993 to become the country’s prime minister, displacing an interim military government which had replaced Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in April. Bhutto’s party actually won slightly fewer votes than Sharif’s in the October 6 election, but the PPP won more seats in parliament thanks to its dominance in its political base of Sindh province.
This week in history: October 8-14
8 October 2018
25 years ago: Clinton announces stepped-up intervention in SomaliaUS President Bill Clinton, in a nationally televised address October 7, 1993, announced that he was sending a total of 2,350 more American soldiers to Somalia, as well as an aircraft carrier task force with 3,600 naval personnel, including Marines who could be deployed onshore. The fresh infusion of troops doubled the number of American soldiers in the occupied east African country, in a military operation that had already killed thousands of Somalis and reduced much of the capital city, Mogadishu, to rubble.
This week in history: October 1-7
1 October 2018
25 years ago: Yeltsin orders bombardment of Russian parliamentOn October 4, 1993, Moscow was a scene “of carnage, squalor and hideous destruction,” according to press reports, after Russian President Boris Yeltsin ordered the military storming of the Russian White House, the seat of the Russian Duma or parliament. The result was the bloodiest clashes in the streets of the capital city since the Russian Revolution.
This week in history: September 24-30
24 September 2018
25 years ago: Earthquake kills 10,000 in western IndiaA powerful earthquake struck the western Indian state of Maharashtra on September 30, 1993, killing nearly 10,000 people and injuring at least 30,000 more. The epicenter was in the district of Latur, nearly 500 kilometers east of Mumbai, and only 10 km below the surface, unusually shallow. This made the shock waves from the quake, which measured at 8.2 on the Richter scale, much more damaging.
This week in history: September 17-23
17 September 2018
25 years ago: Yeltsin assumes dictatorial powers in RussiaOn September 21, 1993, Russian President Boris Yeltsin disbanded parliament, suspended the constitution and assumed dictatorial powers, blowing to pieces the pretense that his regime represented the development of “democracy” in Russia after the dissolution of the USSR. The action was the first in a series leading up to the bombardment of the Russian parliament building in October.
This week in history: September 10-16
10 September 2018
25 years ago: Clinton begins campaign for NAFTA ratificationOn September 14, 1993, the US administration of President Bill Clinton began its efforts to win ratification of the North American Free Trade Agreement with a ceremony at the White House where Clinton signed side agreements to NAFTA on labor and environmental issues.
This week in history: September 3-9
3 September 2018
25 years ago: US helicopter gunships murder hundreds in SomaliaOn September 9, 1993, two US Cobra helicopter gunships swooped down on a large crowd of Somali civilians protesting at a checkpoint in Mogadishu, the capital city, mowing down hundreds with gunfire from 20 millimeter cannons, whose rounds are powerful enough to destroy armored vehicles and soldiers in fortified bunkers.
This week in history: August 27-September 2
27 August 2018
25 years ago: Israeli cabinet approves Oslo AccordOn August 30, 1993, the Israeli cabinet gave its approval to a tentative agreement reached between the Palestine Liberation Organization and the government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in secret negotiations held in Oslo, Norway. The agreement marked the end of a protracted struggle by the PLO against imperialist oppression and colonial domination, and its transformation into armed guards of the Zionist state and defenders of foreign capital.
This week in history: August 20-26
20 August 2018
25 years ago: Jury convicts two Detroit cops in murder of Malice GreenOn August 23, 1993, a Detroit jury returned verdicts of second-degree murder against two white policemen for the beating death of Malice Green, a young black worker. Walter Budzyn and Larry Nevers smashed in Green’s skull with heavy flashlights while seven other policemen stood around them and allowed the savagery to continue without interference. At least one of these accomplices, Robert Lessnau, kicked and punched Green during the beating, as he put handcuffs on the dying man.
This week in history: August 13-19
13 August 2018
25 years ago: Clinton unveils health care “reform” to cut costs for corporate employersIn a speech to the National Governors Association on August 16, 1993, President Bill Clinton outlined the substance of his proposed health care reform program. Speaking to the group that he previously headed while governor of Arkansas, Clinton largely dropped the reformist pretenses associated with his promises to working people and explained in blunt language that the purpose of the “reform” was to cut costs for the government and corporate employers.
This week in history: August 6-12
6 August 2018
25 years ago: Coalition government in Japan excludes former ruling partyOn August 9, 1993, an eight-party coalition government was formed in Japan, without the Liberal Democratic Party, which had ruled in Tokyo continuously for the previous 38 years. The shaky coalition was established after weeks of negotiations following the country’s July 18 election, in which the LDP lost its majority in the Diet, the lower house of parliament.
This week in history: July 30-August 5
30 July 2018
25 years ago: Clinton declares war on social spending programsAugust 3, 1993: In a nationally televised speech, US President Bill Clinton declared war on what he called the “politics of entitlement,” defending an austerity budget and reaffirming his pledges during the 1992 election campaign to “end welfare as we know it.”
This week in history: July 23-29
23 July 2018
25 years ago: Clinton administration proposes anti-immigrant legislationThe administration of Democratic President Bill Clinton announced a new round of attacks on immigrants and democratic rights on July 27, 1993, unveiling new legislation titled the “Expedited Exclusion and Alien Smuggling Enhanced Penalties Act,” to be sponsored in Congress by the leading Senate liberal, Edward Kennedy.
This week in history: July 16-22
16 July 2018
25 years ago: Record flood waters devastate the American MidwestThis week in July 1993 marked a high point in the great Midwest flood of that year, as states across the upper-Midwest experienced the highest rainfalls and the highest flood waters on record. On July 17, 1993, for example, 12 inches of rain fell on Baraboo, Wisconsin in a three-hour period, while two inches of rain in one hour fell on Montgomery, Iowa.
This week in history: July 9-16
9 July 2018
25 years ago: US helicopter gunships kill scores in SomaliaJuly 12, 1968: A US attack force of 17 Cobra helicopter gunships and Blackhawk helicopters struck a neighborhood in the center of the Somali capital of Mogadishu. Firing 16 missiles and more than 2,000 rounds of 20-millimeter cannon fire, the fleet of warplanes laid waste to a building which housed large numbers of civilians. Somalis reported 73 dead and more than 200 wounded in the attack. Many of the victims were women and children.
This week in history: July 2-8
2 July 2018
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history, June 25-July 1
25 June 2018
<em>This Week in History</em> provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history, June 18-24
18 June 2018
25 years ago: Supreme Court rules against Haitian refugees On June 22, 1993, in the case of Sale v. Haitian Centers Council, the US Supreme Court upheld the Bush and Clinton administrations’ policy of intercepting fleeing Haitians at sea and returning them to Haiti without asylum hearings, where many were imprisoned, tortured and even murdered by the US-backed military dictatorship.
This week in history: June 11-17
11 June 2018
25 years ago: US military slaughters Somali civiliansOn June 11, 1993, six months after US troops landed in Somalia for the supposed purpose of feeding starving people, US warplanes reduced large parts of the capital city, Mogadishu, to rubble, while United Nations troops carried out house-to-house raids and cold-blooded massacres.
This Week in History June 4-10
4 June 2018
Eight immigrants die in wreck of Golden Venture on Rockaway Beach On June 6, 1993, the wreck of the freighter Golden Venture on the shores of Rockaway Beach, New York revealed a modern form of the slave trade, in which Chinese immigrant workers were packed into the holds of ships and smuggled into the United States to work as sweatshop labor.
This week in history: May 28-June 3
28 May 2018
25 years ago: German neo-Nazis kill five Turkish immigrants in SolingenOn the night of May 28-29, 1993, five members of a Turkish family in Solingen, in the German state of North-Rhine Westphalia, died in a house fire set by a gang of neo-Nazi youth. The dead included three young girls and two women, while another 14 people, including several children, were injured in the blaze, some severely. The extended family had lived in Germany since 1970, and in the house for 12 years.
This week in history: May 21-27
21 May 2018
25 years ago: Eritrea wins independence from Ethiopia after 30-year civil warOn May 24, 1993, following a UN-supervised referendum in Eritrea in which the local population voted overwhelming to separate from Ethiopia and establish an independent state, Eritrea was declared an independent and sovereign republic. Four days later the new country was admitted to the United Nations.
This week in history: May 14-20
14 May 2018
25 years ago: Maastricht Treaty to establish European Union passes last hurdles Denmark ratified the Maastricht Treaty, establishing the European Union, in a referendum vote on May 18, 1993. It was the second attempt at ratification in the small Scandinavian country, after a previous referendum was defeated narrowly in June 1992. The margin in the second vote was 56.8 percent for ratification and 43.2 percent against, a shift in sentiment obtained in part by the adoption of four amendments to the treaty to satisfy nationalist objections.
This week in history: May 7-13
7 May 2018
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: April 30-May 6
30 April 2018
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: April 23-29
23 April 2018
25 years ago: “Human rights” crusade for bombing of Serbs On April 26, 1993, President Bill Clinton issued an order aligning the US with United Nations sanctions imposed on Yugoslavia. The sanctions aimed at a total embargo, not just on Yugoslav exports and imports, which had been in effect since 1992, but even on the transshipment of goods through Yugoslavia. The extreme sanctions, passed by a UN Security Council vote that saw Russia and China abstain, came amidst a growing crescendo of hysterical calls for military intervention in the Bosnian civil war in the name of “human rights.”
This week in history: April 16-22
16 April 2018
25 years ago: FBI raid in Waco, Texas, kills 76 On April 19, 1993, US Attorney General Janet Reno ordered a military-style FBI raid on the compound of a small Christian sect near Waco, Texas, resulting in 76 deaths, including 25 children.
This week in history: April 9-15
9 April 2018
25 years ago: Riots erupt after ANC leader assassinated in South Africa On April 10, 1993, Chris Hani, head of the Communist Party of South Africa and the Umkhonto we Sizwe militia arm of the African National Congress, was gunned down outside his home in the racially-mixed suburb of Boksburg.
This week in history: April 2-8
2 April 2018
25 years ago: Clinton-Yeltsin summit works out plan for selloff of Russian economy In an April 4, 1993 summit held in Vancouver, US President Bill Clinton offered strong political support to Russian President Boris Yeltsin, as well as more than $1 billion in aid in exchange for the guarantees on the plunder of what remained of the social wealth of the Soviet Union.
This week in history: March 26-April 1
26 March 2018
25 years ago: Electoral disaster for Mitterrand and French Socialist PartyElections held on March 28 and March 21, 1993 for the French National Assembly delivered a shattering blow to the Socialist Party (PS) of President François Mitterrand.
This week in history: March 19-25
19 March 2018
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: March 12-18
12 March 2018
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: March 5-11
5 March 2018
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: February 26-March 4
26 February 2018
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: February 19-25
19 February 2018
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: February 12-18
12 February 2018
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history:
5 February 2018
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: January 29-February 4
29 January 2018
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: January 22-28
22 January 2018
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: January 15-21
15 January 2018
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: February 13-19
13 February 2017
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: February 6-12
6 February 2017
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: January 30-February 5
30 January 2017
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: January 23-29
23 January 2017
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: January 16-22
16 January 2017
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: December 26-January 1
28 December 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: December 19-25
19 December 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: December 12-18
12 December 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: December 5-11
5 December 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: November 28-December 4
28 November 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: November 21-27
21 November 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: November 14-20
14 November 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: November 7-13
7 November 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: October 31-November 6
31 October 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: October 24-30
24 October 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: October 17-23
17 October 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: October 10-16
10 October 2016
This week in history: October 3-9
3 October 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: September 19-25
19 September 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: September 12-18
12 September 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: September 5-11
5 September 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: August 29-September 4
29 August 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: August 22-28
22 August 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: August 15-21
15 August 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: August 8-14
8 August 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: August 1-7
1 August 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: July 25-31
25 July 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: July 18-24
18 July 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: July 11-17
11 July 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: July 4-10
4 July 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: June 27-July 3
27 June 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: June 20-26
20 June 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: June 13-19
13 June 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: June 6-12
6 June 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: May 30—June 5
30 May 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: May 23-29
23 May 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: May 16-22
16 May 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: May 9-15
9 May 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: May 2-8
2 May 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: April 25-May 1
25 April 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: April 18-24
18 April 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: April 11-17
11 April 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: April 4-10
4 April 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: March 28-April 3
28 March 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: March 21-27
21 March 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: March 14-20
14 March 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: March 7-13
7 March 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
This week in history: February 29-March 6
29 February 2016
This Week in History provides brief synopses of important historical events whose anniversaries fall this week.
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