What is it about May that brings out not just rutting, but rebellion, the latter so often followed by brutal crackdowns? Here’s a small sample:
- May 1886 – Haymarket in Chicago
- May 1919 – May Fourth Movement in Beijing
- May 1921 – Palestine
- May 1929 – Blutmai in Berlin
- May 1937 – Barcelona in Republican Spain
- May 1968 – France everywhere
- May 1970 – Kent State in Ohio
- May 1980 – Kwangju in Korea
- May 1989 – Tiananmen in Beijing
- May 1998 – Jakarta in Indonesia
- May 2004 – South Beirut in Lebanon
- May 2005 – Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan seems initially to have got short shrift from Western media, in their obsession with the role of one of their own (Newsweek) in the other two “Stans.” Bloggers were beating them to the punch: especially Registan, my first stop for news and analysis of Central Asia (and the very first blog to link to my own), Gateway Pundit, and Winds of Change.
UPDATE: On 18 May, the Marmot began daily recaps of key events that fateful day in Kwangju 25 years ago.
Far Outliers 