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I saw it live on Raw and it was the coolest thing I have ever seen on television...ever! EVER! I screamed so loud that I scared the kids and the dogs!
I am a big Edge fan, but it was amazing to see Punk cash in MITB and totally steal the title. My throat hurts from yelling so much. Seriously, it went on for like ten minutes. I almost hyperventilated. Sweet.
A new page entitled “Articles and Texts” features links to a number of Internet articles dedicated to Zoya’s story. Included in this section are two new texts transcribed exclusively for greeklish.org. One text is an excerpt entitled "The Heroic Struggle Waged by the Soviet Partisans," taken from the multi-volume set A History of the USSR which was published by Foreign Languages Publishing House in 1947. We have also added the full transcription of the article "Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya" from the 1947 volume Soviet Calendar: Thirty Years of the Soviet State, 1917-1947, also published by Foreign Languages Publishing House.
Additionally, we have posted a new image gallery entitled, "Statues, Busts and Monuments," which features pictures of some of the many sculptural representations of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya.
We are particularly grateful to Benedicte P. S. for granting us permission to use her fantastic photo of the statue of Zoya from the Partizanskaya Metro Station in Moscow. This photo is from Benedicte’s "sleep in the fog" gallery.
Our friend Nina Lebed provided translations of some of the captions for the images in our galleries. Большое спасибо, Nina!
About a month ago, I visited a local antiquarian bookseller and, among other things, I picked up a book called The Socialism of To-day. The book was published by Henry Holt and Company in 1916 by members of a committee of the Intercollegiate Socialist Society and purports to be “the first international and comprehensive source-book dealing with the Socialist movement in any language.”
An appealing feature of this volume is the fact that it was published just a year before the Russian Revolution and my natural inclination was to flip immediately to the section entitled “Russia and Finland” (Part I, Section II, Chapter VI) and review the authors’ assessment of Lenin and company on the eve of the birth of the USSR. It is actually Kerensky and not Lenin who dominates the 7½ pages devoted to Russia, the latter of whom is referred to only in passing on page 98 through the collective reference of six deputies of the Duma known as the “Lenin followers.”
The movement in America garners extensive coverage in this book. Entire sections are devoted to the efforts of American socialist organizations in addressing vital topics of the day such as the then-burgeoning tensions involving immigrant workers and racial and ethnic minorities. The narratives therein clearly show the care and attention that America’s radical left was willing to devote to these matters many decades before the American government offered anything other than relative indifference and complete disregard. Eugene Debs and Daniel De Leon are mentioned in these sections, highlighting their integral roles in the organization of American workers and activists.
Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht and Otto Bauer feature prominently in an extensive section of the book entitled “The Proposed General Strike for the Equal Suffrage in Prussia” (Part II, Chapter II). Included here are addresses and resulutions by Luxemburg, et al. and and editorial summary from Vorwaerts (Vorwärts).
I was pleasantly surprised to find material dedicated to the movement in Greece as part of the chapter entitled “Roumania, Bulgaria and Greece” (Part I, Section I, Chapter IX). The piece chronicles the struggles of the early socialist movement in Greece, highlighting the work of Dr. Dracoules. Eleftherios Venizelos merits only a passing mention in the piece, although the two decades following the publication of this volume would see the political career of Venizelos in a succession of high highs and low lows...often to the collective detriment of the the Greek people.
Reproduced below are pages 188 through 190 of The Socialism of To-day in their entirety. This text has been reproduced in accordance with Fair Use provisions.
GREECE
Greece has experienced a rapid industrial development during the last 15 years. As far back as the year 1885, Dr. Dracoules began with his propaganda work. In 1893, as leader of the Greek Socialist Party, he secured 4,000 votes in Athens, and in 1901 he was elected to the Greek Parliament, where he served several years.
Προλετάριοι όλων των χωρών ενωθείτε!
Attempts have often been made during the past few years to establish a consolidated economic or political organization, but up to the present without any satisfactory results. This regrettable state of affairs may be attributed to the fact that emigration is increasing day by day, and it is just the most skilled and intelligent workers who are driven from their homes on account of their unfortunate political and economic conditions. At any rate, the constant agitation of a more progressive body has already had a great influence upon public opinion, and it is to-day generally recognized that the present conditions are untenable.
It was in 1909 that the military arose and swept away the existing government. The movement was supported by a great mass of the people, because an improvement in their conditions was hoped for as soon as new members were elected to the government. The new government relied to a certain extent upon the Socialist or semi-Socialist elements which had arisen from the Dracoules propaganda, and had developed a program "of struggle against the plutocracy." Venizelos, the skillful prime minister, succeeded in turning a part of the movement to his purposes, at the same time that he was building up the Balkan League against Turkey inspired by the idea–launched by the Socialists–of a confederation of all the nations of the peninsula.
The government also succeeded in serving their own financial interests under the cloak of a propaganda campaign against modern capitalism. The people were forced to put up with this because they were helpless and disunited. The new political power offered brutal opposition to any attempt on the part of the workers to organize. Dr. Dracoules, in 1912, secured 12,000 of the 48,000 votes of Athens, and was almost elected in another district where he was also candidate. Nevertheless, the propaganda and the rising number of votes for the new movement resulted in a small progressive group in Parliament pushing forward with the labor laws.
In the meantime a Socialist weekly paper was established for the purpose of furthering the propaganda and organization work systematically. This was the first necessity–having regard to the great disruption in the existing groups. There is a very mixed "Labor Federation of Athens and Piraeus," to which 17 industries belong, whilst 1 yellow organization has compromised 14 groups since 1910. Some 15 organizations, which are naturally still weak, both numerically and financially, belong to a third tendency. They represent no unity, it is true, but there are hopes of building up modern organizations with these as a basis. The followers of Dracoules created a labor league in 1909, which comprised two separate organizations–one Socialist Party and one trades-union center. This league has organizations in several towns. It propagates an understanding between the workers of the other Balkan States, hoping to put an end to the race hatred which exists.
August 27, 1994: Shane Douglas throws down the NWA title and makes history
Is there any better wrestling blog/column these days than Paul Heyman's "The Heyman Hustle"? I really don't think so. And is it really that big of a surprise that Heyman is so insightful? Nah. I mean, the guy changed the face of the pro wrestling industry almost a decade and a half ago and quite a bit of what wrestling fans see these days – good and bad – bears the unmistakable imprint of Heyman's creative genius. He doesn't have the golden touch every time, he's not always right, and sometimes he's downright unbearable...but when he is on the mark, nobody can touch him. His recent column on Ric Flair and the NWA Hall of Fame was both poignant and hilarious at the same time. And how great is it that Heyman can still get a rise out of the NWA's top brass almost a decade and a half after he almost single-handedly buried the entire promotion by having Shane "The Franchise" Douglas throw down the NWA title (watch the video here). Hell, the NWA was so pissed at Heyman after his last column that they even issued a press in an effort to refute his piece, but in the end they just ended up looking as ridiculous as they did when he screwed them in 1994. The man knows how to play ball. Too bad Paul E. probably doesn't read greeklish.org, because I totally think he is the man.
I am currently reading Hardcore History - The Extremely Unauthorized Story of ECW by Scott E. Williams and I have to say it is pretty good. In some places, it kind of reads like a synopsis of the The Rise and Fall of ECW and Forever Hardcore DVDs, but I like revisiting a lot of these old stories anyway and there are some good, relatively obscure nuggets in the book that make it a worthwhile read if you're interested in wrestling.
And speaking of ECW, over at 411mania.com, there's a new series underway called "The History of the (WWE) ECW Title." I just read part one today and found that it's not so much "history" as it is one person's opinion wrapped in contempt and elitism. Here's the first couple sentences:
At One Night Stand in 2006 Rob Van Dam cashed in his Money in the Bank title opportunity against WWE Champion John Cena. Thanks to the assistance of a Paul Heyman, Edge, and a table, RVD defeated Cena for the title much to the delight of classless, intolerant ECW fans worldwide.
Ummm...what? Wow, you jerk. Way to alienate a whole bunch of your readers right of the bat. Seriously, even though most people are less than excited about WWE version of ECW these days, I think most ECW and WWE fans still acknowledge that RVD beating Cena at ONS 2006 was entertaining, shocking and incredibly exciting. That is, unless you're a Cena fan...I guess. Kudos to the guy who posted a comment to the article in which he quoted the "classless and intolerant" quip and then called the article's author "pathetic."
Phillyburbs.com, another good online wrestling news source, gets it. They just posted a "Top 5" ONS moments column in which the RVD/Cena match comes in as the best ONS moment of all time. But the column's author Eric Gargiulo doesn't stop there, saying "This is one of the greatest main-events in all of WWE pay-per-view history." No kidding. It is still a really great match to watch even today, but some of the drama is probably lost on folks who aren't familiar with all of the plot and drama leading up to the event and the controversial finish.
By sheer coincidence (I hadn't seen either of the above-mentioned columns until yesterday), this weekend I added a clip of RVD winning the title at ONS to my "What I'm Watching on YouTube" on the left of the main page of our site. And not only that – just yesterday, I got one of my most recent eBay purchases in the mail: an authentic "take home" folding chair from the actual ONS show on June 11, 2006. Nothing says "I am obsessed with wrestling" like a limited edition folding chair!
Oh yeah...I saw Jericho's heel turn on Raw last night. I thought it was pretty impressive.
Yet another release! To members of Friends of the Equality and Freedom Seeking University Students of Iran
Mike B. June 5 at 9:58am
According to some friends who are close to the situation in Iran, Ali Kantouri was released on May 25, 2008, on $150,000 bail. He is second accused in the case of the Equality and Freedom Seeking Students, and he is currently awaiting trial.
Aluta continua! M.
The Call for Supporting the Campaign to free Davood Bagheri, Iranian activist Imprisoned in Turkey
To members of Friends of the Equality and Freedom Seeking University Students of Iran
Clara Statello Today at 3:55am
Active member of the Freedom and Equality Seeking Students Movement, Davood Bagheri was forced to flee Iran on winter 200…, after the recent wave of crackdowns on the group by the Islamic government's Intelligence Service agents. Mr. Bagheri arrived in Turkey with the intention to seek asylum where he was captured by the police before he was able to inform UNHCR about his condition in that country. He has been kept in Aderna’s refugee camp under horrific conditions since.
It is in our best knowledge and belief that the Turkey government and the police have acted against Amnesty International’s Refugee Commissary’s Laws and Regulations. Freedom and Equality Seeking Students urge all Human Rights activists and all who believe in social justice and the rights of people who under the threat of their country of origin seek refuge in safer parts of the world, to join this campaign and help us free him from the refugee camp detention center. Davood Bagheri has been treated harshly and brutally in this camp since he was taken into custody. He has attempted suicide in the camp where detainees take their own life as the shortest way to free themselves from the horrors and their hopeless situation in that center.
Freedom and Equality Seeking Students
Sign the petition below and pass it on, please. It's urgent!
To members of Friends of the Equality and Freedom Seeking University Students of Iran
To members of Friends of the Equality and Freedom Seeking University Students of Iran
