July 25– PHOOLAN DEVI
India’s Bandit Queen, dacoit, rape survivor, avenger.
JULY 25, 2009 HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS
*England: St. James’ Day. Opening of oyster season.
*London: St. Christopher’s Day. Cars line up outside Church of St. Michael Paternoster for royal “blessings” to guard against hazards of the road.
*Belgium: Procession of Penitence, followed by Pleasure Fair.
*Puerto Rico: Fiesta of Santiago, whose cult is somewhat fused with that of Yoruba warrior god Shango. Festival of Picaresque Animality.
ALSO ON JULY 25 IN HISTORY…
1867 — Karl Marx’s Das Kapital first appears in Germany.
1908 — Radical poet, theoretician Luce Fabbri born, Rome, Italy.
1969 — German social critic, painter Otto Dix dies, Hemmenhofen, Germany.
2001 — India’s “Banidt Queen” Phoolan Devi shot dead by avengers, New Delhi.
Excerpted from The 2009 Autonomedia Calendar of Jubilee Saints: Radical Heroes for the New Millennium by James Koehnline and the Autonomedia Collective