MetaFilter posts tagged with massacre

Remembering the Montreal Massacre

Hildegarde — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 07:24:53 -0800

Remembering the Montreal Massacre. A gunman confronts 60 engineering students during their class at l'École Polytechnique in Montreal on Dec. 6, 1989. He separates the men from the women and tells the men to leave the classroom, threatening them with his .22-calibre rifle. Before opening fire in the engineering class, he calls the women "une gang de féministes" and says "J'haïs les féministes [I hate feminists]." One person pleads that they are not feminists, just students taking engineering. But the gunman doesn't listen. He shoots the women and then kills himself. Parents of the Polytechnique students wait outside the school crying and wonder if their daughters are among the 14 dead.

Send a Bulllet

Stu-Pendous — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:45:37 -0800

Due to “credible death and kidnapping threats”, T-Pain has cancelled a concert in Guyana for Mashramani, the festival that marks the anniversary of Guyana’s independence from Great Britain. Last years, celebration was soured by a killing spree perpetrated by a heavily armed gang led by man known as “Fine Man”. Because the 23 victims were mainly of East Indian descent, the massacre was a powder keg issue for the tiny South American nation. With a population of 44% East Indian and 30% African ancestries, Guyana tends to be socially and politically divided along ethnic identity lines. What initiated the February 2008 rampage was the fact that “Fine Man’s” (Rondell Rawlins) 18 year-old pregnant girlfriend went missing. The gang leader accused the Ethnic East-Indian controlled government of kidnapping her; employing secret, yet sanctioned vigilante squads to do so. Allegedly linked to the then Guyanese Minister of Home Affairs, these ‘Phantom Death Squads’ have been responsible for the murders of suspected criminals and escaped convicts since 2002. Such squads have also been linked to a prominent Guyanese businessman who may have motives of his own when it comes to his involvement with them. “Fine Man” was killed in a police raid last September. His girlfriend has yet to be found.

Terrorism and Technology

up in the old hotel — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:38:46 -0800

They navigated by GPS. They used Blackberrys to check on the police response via the Internet. They carried cellphones with switchable SIM cards. The practiced using images from Google Earth. They called VOIP numbers to communicate with their leaders. They used a re-mailer to claim responsibility for the Mumbai attacks anonymously. Terrorism in the digital age.

Massacre at Fort Pillow

Mayor Curley — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:53:54 -0800

"Nothing in the history of the Rebellion has equaled in inhumanity and atrocity the horrid butchery at Fort Pillow, on the 13th of April, 1864. In no other school than slavery could human beings have been trained to such readiness for cruelties like these. Accustomed to brutality and bestiality all their lives, it was easy for them to perpetrate the atrocities which will startle the civilized foreign world, as they have awakened the indignation of our own people."

They're all gone

never used baby shoes — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 12:20:09 -0800

Veteran sportscaster Jim McKay dies. The host of ABC's Wide World of Sports for forty years, Jim also called the 1980 Miracle on Ice. However, he will probably be best remembered for being thrust into the role of news journalist during the 1972 Munich Games.

Massacre at Pinkville

madamjujujive — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 07:17:27 -0800

40 years ago tomorrow, more than 500 villagers were raped, tortured, and slaughtered (disturbing images) by American soldiers in a hamlet nicknamed Pinkville. Four Hours in My Lai tells the story. Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Amidst the carnage, a few courageous souls distinguished themselves. Hugh Thompson, Jr. tried to stop events and rescued some children. (Prior mefi thread). Events were covered up for a year until whistle blower Ron Ridenhour wrote a letter that triggered an investigation leading to Seymour Hersh's reporting, the first wide public airing of the atrocities. The My Lai Courts-Martial 1970 found Lt. Calley guilty and sentenced him to life, but he was pardoned by Nixon and today, is a jeweler in Georgia. No one else was held publicly accountable. Varnado Simpson, the soldier whose story opens and closes the video clips in the post, killed himself in 1997. Oliver Stone is working on a film called Pinkville based on My Lai events. Production has been delayed doe to the writer's strike.

The State gives and the State taketh away

adamvasco — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 09:19:40 -0800

The Guajurati State Government has been directly implicated in a massacre of over 2,000 moslems during riots in 2002. There has been surprisingly little coverage by world news media. via pickledpolitics a British based SE Asian current affairs / political blog.

Haun's Mill Massacre

Falconetti — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 13:18:31 -0800

The Haun's Mill Massacre: Outbursts of violence led Governor Lilburn W. Boggs on October 27 to issue an "Extermination Order," demanding that the Latter-day Saints leave the state or be exterminated. Here is a dramatic reenactment from the LDS financed propaganda film, Legacy.

Mountain Meadow Massacre

Falconetti — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 09:43:54 -0800

Mountain Meadow Massacre When I left Los Angeles, the 23rd ultimo, General Clarke, commanding the Department of California, directed me to bury the bones of the victims of that terrible massacre which took place on this ground in September, 1857. The fact of this massacre of (in my opinion) at least 120 men, women and children, who were on their way from the State of Arkansas to California, has long been well known. I have endeavored to learn the circumstances attending it, and have the honor to submit the following as the result of my inquiries on this point:

How Deadly Was My Parsley

jonp72 — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 17:13:35 -0800

Holding up sprigs of parsley, Trujillo's men queried their prospective victims: What is this thing called? The terrified victim's fate lay in his pronunciation of the answer. Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo spearheaded an anti-Haitian massacre in which armed thugs killed every Creole speaker who couldn't pronounce the trilled R in the Spanish word for parsley. (Using pronunciation to make ethnic distinctions is called a shibboleth, a tactic often used in wars.) The murders inspired Edwige Danticat's The Farming of Bones and Mario Vargas Llosa's Feast of the Goat, as well as a poem recited for Bill Clinton by poet laureate Rita Dove. Ironically, Trujillo's desire to "whiten" Hispaniola not only led him to order the 1937 massacre, but to lobby in 1938 for the settlement of Jews fleeing Hitler.

Documents from the Hellmouth

BeerFilter — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 20:15:46 -0800

Today Jefferson County Sheriff's office released over 900 pages of documents [32MB pdf] relating to what happened at Columbine High School in 1999.

They had all been shot in the head, in the chest.

Flashman — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 16:32:55 -0800

Another massacre. Is this this just what war does to people?

My Lai II

Mr. Six — Thu, 18 May 2006 08:18:54 -0800

U.S. Marines "overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood", according to Rep. Murtha (D - Pa.), whose previous comments regarding the "unwinnable" nature of the Iraq conflict drew retaliation and accusations of treason from the GOP and associates. From reports verified by the military, troops "shot dead 15 members of two families, including a 3-year-old girl", despite initial reports that officially claimed a firefight had killed Iraqi civilians. Some have suggested this incident echoes the My Lai massacre of the Vietnam War.

Super Columbine Massacre RPG

juv3nal — Sat, 06 May 2006 18:44:23 -0800

Super Columbine Massacre RPG! A computer role playing game based on the Columbine massacre and the event leading up to it in which the player plays the part of the killers. Think it's in poor taste? A Columbine survivor paralyzed from the chest down disagrees.

A smaller scale Mai Lai in Iraq?

jonson — Sun, 19 Mar 2006 23:07:02 -0800

According to eyewitnesses and local officials interviewed over the past 10 weeks, the civilians who died in Haditha on Nov. 19 were killed not by a roadside bomb but by the Marines themselves, who went on a rampage in the village after the attack, killing 15 unarmed Iraqis in their homes, including seven women and three children.

Happy Independence Day

dios — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 11:22:44 -0800

Today is Texas Independence Day On March 2, 1836, the Texas Declaration of Independence was signed at Washington-on-the-Brazos. The document was created by the Convention of 1836 while almost a couple hundred brave Texans at the Alamo held Gen. Santa Anna's army of several thousand at bay for 13 days. On March 6, the Alamo finally fell, slaughtered to the last man. On March 27, 352 Texas soliders were slaughtered at the Goliad Massacre. Finally on April 21, the untrained armies of Texas, outnumbered and under the command of Sam Houston, decisively defeated the much larger and better trained and equipped Army of Mexico at the Battle of San Jacinto and captured the Mexican dictator Santa Anna. Happy Texas Independence Day.

RIP

Smedleyman — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 18:02:27 -0800

Hugh Thompson Jr., dies at 62.

My Lai. (NSFW photo) "'We had conspired with the government of South Vietnam to literally destroy the hopes, aspirations and emotional stability of thirteen thousand human beings....This was not war it is genocide....'."

"Thompson landed his chopper between the troops and the shelter, then jumped out and confronted the lieutenant in charge of the chase...Furious, Thompson announced he was taking the civilians out. He went back to Colburn and Andreotta and told them if the Americans fired, to shoot them."

1913 Massacre

Miko — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 09:38:59 -0800

Take a trip with me to 1913.
To Calumet, Michigan, in the Copper Country.
I'll take you to a place called Italian Hall,
Where the miners are having their big Christmas Ball.

This time of year, Woody Guthrie's haunting ballad "1913 Massacre" brings to mind one of the most tragic incidents in American labor history. At the midpoint of the bitter and violent miners' strike of 1913-14, miners and their families gathered for a Christmas party given by their union. An unidentified "stupid person" gave the shout of "fire", causing a panicked rush to escape. Unable to get out the door, more than 70 people, mostly children, were smothered to death. A forthcoming documentary (main link) explores the legacy of the event, using Guthrie's song as its starting point.

Amazing Atlas

blahblahblah — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 22:45:14 -0800

Matthew White's Historical Atlas of the 20th Century. One of those amazing internet reference sites created by some guy (okay, Matthew White). Lots of fascinating, incredibly researched stuff: complete lists of all manmade megadeaths in the 20th century, the 100 most important works of art of the 20th century, maps showing changes in the types of government by decade, comments on Wikipedia, and much more. Also, some fun stuff, like what the US would look like if every secessionist movement succeeded. Previously posted in 2001, but much updated and worth a second look

Sometimes gentle persuasion needs a boost.

DeepFriedTwinkies — Thu, 12 May 2005 13:24:04 -0800

Mormons versus Indians. Once upon a time, Mormons and Shoshone didn't get along particularly well. Mormon cattle ate Shoshone grass. Shoshone took Mormon cattle as rent. Both sides were poor and sometimes barely able to feed themselves. Help was needed.

Chief Sagwich's Northwestern Band of Shoshone had their world shattered on January 23, 1863 when the US Army's 3rd California Volunteers under the leadership of a bitterly xenophobic Patrick E Connor, killed 250 of the 450 tribal members at the behest of Utah territorial officials to have the tribe disciplined. This slaughter, known as the Bear River Massacre, was the largest such mass killing of natives (even surpassing Wounded Knee) and the only official Civil War battle that took place in what is now Idaho.

The good chief survived along with about 90 of his tribe and, ten years later, converted to Mormonism along with all of his people. The tribe survives.

Worst since Columbine

Demogorgon — Mon, 21 Mar 2005 21:16:33 -0800

School shootings in Red Lake Minnesota leave ten dead.

The Greensboro Massacre

lyam — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 10:27:31 -0800

Greensboro, NC , a relatively progressive southern city, is not without it’s own skeletons.

“On Nov. 3, 1979, Klansmen and Nazis pulled rifles and pistols from the trunks of their cars and opened fire on a group of anti-Ku Klux Klan marchers in the Morningside Homes neighborhood of Greensboro, N.C. Five of the demonstrators were killed by the bullets and several others were injured. The victims had close ties with the local Communist Worker’s Party..”

The Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Project, the first of it’s kind in the United States, using the concept of restorative justice, “seeks to heal relations between opposing sides by uncovering all pertinent facts, distinguishing truth from lies, and allowing for acknowledgement, appropriate public mourning, forgiveness and healing.” ( a little more inside)

French Massacre

kablam — Sat, 20 Nov 2004 16:20:18 -0800

French Soldiers Machine-gunning Civilians. NOTE: 100Mb video download, very graphic content. So much for the "moral high ground" of the French, as they slaughter civilians in the Ivory Coast.

RoPma

dash_slot- — Tue, 07 Sep 2004 15:41:14 -0800

Russian TV broadcasts siege video: [BBC link: RealPlayer/RealAlternative/Windows MPC] SFW
Unknown provenance of footage, but clearly genuine. Terrorist uses 'Dead Man's Brake' switch on a bomb, also shots of Hoop Bombs'. Beware: NewsFilter

????? ??? ????? ?????? ?? captors

Keyser Soze — Fri, 03 Sep 2004 01:19:53 -0800

Possibly 1,000 Hostages taken at Russian School. Earlier reports were 350, but an anonymous report claims total is much larger. So far more than one dozen hostages have been killed.