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Bull Island

Bull Island (Oileán an Tairbh), more properly North Bull Island (Oileán an Tairbh Thuaidh), is an island located in Dublin Bay in Ireland, about 5 km long and 800 m wide, lying roughly parallel to the shore off Clontarf (including Dollymount), Raheny, Kilbarrack, and facing Sutton. The island, with a sandy beach known as Dollymount Strand running its entire length, is a relatively recent, and inadvertent, result of human intervention in the bay. The island lies within the jurisdiction of, and is mostly owned by, Dublin City Council, and is managed by the Council's Parks and Landscape Division.

Bull Island, which is accessed by way of a causeway bridge from Raheny and a wooden bridge from Clontarf, has the most designations of any site in the country, as a National Bird Sanctuary, a biosphere reserve, a National Nature Reserve, a Special Protection Area under the EU Birds Directive, and a Special Area of Conservation under the EU Habitats Directive, while also being the subject of a Special Amenity Area Order. It is a car-free zone. It holds a wide variety of plant and bird species, and a limited range of mammals, one reptile, one amphibian and a modest range of invertebrates; one mammal species, the hare, became extinct in the later 2010s.

Background
In times past, Dublin Bay had a long-running problem with silting, notably at the mouth of the River Liffey. After years of primitive dredging, an attempt to maintain a clear channel more effectively was begun when, in 1715, the first piles were driven of what was to become the Great South Wall, completed in 1730. This barrier was breached by storm action some years later, and in 1761, a stone pier was commenced, working from the Poolbeg Lighthouse (1768), back to shore, the construction of massive granite blocks being completed in 1795. It was during this period that the building of a North Bull Wall was also proposed, and when it was seen that the South Wall did not solve the silting problem, the authorities responsible for Dublin Port commissioned studies on the matter. Captain William Bligh, of Bounty fame, surveyed Dublin Bay for the Ballast Board in 1801, highlighting the potential of the North Bull sandbank. Its purpose was to clear a sandbar by Venturi action.

Bull Bridge, North Bull Wall and the beginning of Bull Island
A wooden bridge, the first Bull Bridge, was erected in 1819 to facilitate the construction of a stone wall, based on a design by Ballast Board engineer, George Halpin. Started in 1820, the Bull Wall was completed in 1825, at a cost of £95,000.

Over the succeeding 48 years, the natural tidal effects created by the walls deepened the entry to the Liffey from 1.8 m to 4.8 m. Much of the silt now scoured from the river course was deposited on the North Bull, and a true island began to emerge, with people venturing out to the growing beach. The volume of visitors was increased by the commencement of horse tram services to Clontarf in 1873, and further by the laying of a full tram line to Howth, opening in 1900, with stops in the Clontarf / Dollymount area, and a Coast Guard station was built at the landward end of the Bull Wall.

A lighthouse sits on the North Bull Wall.

Growth and early usage of the island
The island continued to grow in extent, from the Bull Wall towards Howth Head. In addition to picnics and swimming, the island was used for shooting practice, and in 1880, an international rifle match between Ireland and the USA was held there, with an audience numbering several thousand. In 1889, the Royal Dublin Golf Club, then located at Sutton, sought and received the permission of Colonel Vernon and the Dublin Port and Docks Board to lay out a golf course at the city end of the island and construct a clubhouse.

Sometime in the early 20th century, a track suitable for walking and handcarts, running from a slipway at the point where the Howth Road comes from Raheny's village centre down to the coast, was formed. Usable at low tide, this 150m track allowed access to the island for leisure and beachcombing (timber, coal and other items lost overboard from ships accessing Dublin Port were washed up on the island's strand).

Between 1906 and 1907, a new Bull Bridge was constructed – it is still standing. Then, in 1912, the Dollymount Sea Scouts (9th Dublin (2nd Port of Dublin)) was formed, taking part of the disused Coast Guard station as their den ("Crow's Nest") – the troop continues to operate from there, now called 5th Port Dollymount.

1914 to 1930
The British Army commandeered the whole island on 5 September 1914, for military training – primarily as a firing range but also for trench warfare practice. The Royal Dublin Golf Club clubhouse was used as officers' quarters and considerable damage was done to the building and, particularly due to trench warfare practice, the island environment as a whole. Late in this period, three local people started to dig golf holes at the Raheny end of the island, and after discussions with the Royal Dublin, and with Lady Ardilaun, formed a new golf club, named, in honour of the Guinness estate, St. Anne's. The first drive-in at what was a nine-hole course until 1989, took place on 1 July 1921.

1931 - present
In 1931, a plan was proposed to develop the island and the waters between it and the coast. Called the "Blue Lagoon Scheme," this would have included dams and sluices at the Wooden Bridge and Sutton Channel, maintaining a high water level behind the island, which itself might hold some housing or tourism facilities. Further plans were advanced by Bord Fáilte, including the conversion of much of the island into a theme park.

In 1931 Dublin Corporation was convinced by campaigners like the Jesuit ornithologist Fr. Patrick G. Kennedy SJ (1881–1966), who wrote An Irish Sanctuary – Birds of the North Bull (1953), to apply for Bull Island to be made a sanctuary by the government.

Situation
The island is connected to the mainland by the Bull Bridge, today a one-lane wooden road bridge (with weight and height restrictions) at the southern (Clontarf/Dollymount) end, and by a broad causeway at Raheny, approximately halfway along, and forms part of Raheny and Clontarf districts.

Most of North Bull Island is property of Dublin City Council, after the buying-out of interests such as the Howth Estate, exceptions having included the Bull Wall, the breakwater beyond it, and the wooden bridge to it, which were owned by the Dublin Port Company (and closed for a day each year to ensure that no right of way was created), and the Royal Dublin Golf Club links, only the latter remaining. St. Anne's Golf Club rent from the Council. The bulk of the island comprises the largest park owned by the city.

There are just a few residents on the island, in houses beside the wooden bridge built by the Dublin Port Company for its employees. In addition to the clubhouses of the two golf clubs, there is the newly re-built Sea Scout den at the Clontarf end, and a small cafe.

At the end of the North Bull Wall is the Star of the Sea (Réalt na Mara) statue, funded by Dublin Port workers and sailors, and dedicated by the then archbishop of Dublin in 1972.

Continuing development
The island continues to grow and it is a possibility that within the next half-century continued deposition may lead to its merging with the mainland at Red Rock in Sutton, forming a lagoon, changing the make-up of the area's wildlife and landlocking two dinghy sailing clubs. However, the risk of this is considered small due to the strength of currents and depth of water in Sutton Channel.

Geology and hydrology
The island is primarily a sand structure approximately 5 km long and under 1  km wide. The southeast-facing side is a flat beach, Dollymount Strand, backed by marram-grass-anchored dunes, scrub and marsh. On the northern side of the Bull, between the island and the mainland, is a large linear saltmarsh complex backed by mudflats all of which are covered at high tide. Several of the city's small rivers and streams enter the bay here, notably the Naniken River, the Santry River, Fox Stream, Blackbanks Stream and Daunagh Water. Furthermore, the city's second-largest river by volume, the River Tolka, has its estuary facing the city end of the island, into which the Wad River, and a combination of several smaller watercourses, also flow.

Birds
A wide range of birds visit Bull Island, with a more limited set nesting there; most are either winter feeders, or pass through in spring and autumn. Wading species include Eurasian curlews, Eurasian oystercatchers and redshanks, while others include shelduck, teal, pale-bellied brent geese, and various gulls. Also encountered are grey plovers, bar-tailed godwits, northern shovellers, little egrets, reed buntings, Common cuckoos and little terns.

Mammals
There were a number of terrestrial mammal species on the island for decades, with one becoming extinct in the 2010s and one added. Species include the pygmy shrew, brown rat, red fox, field mouse, hedgehog, European rabbit and Irish hare, the latter having become extinct between 2016 and 2019, while the stoat has been observed since the mid-2010s. There have been claimed sightings of bats also but it is not clear if there are any roosting sites on the island.

Hares, which are believed to have populated the island from the farmlands of Raheny and Kilbarrack, were very common up until the 1960s, but the building of the causeway led to a reduction in their numbers due to disturbance. During the 1970s, fifty to a hundred were still present, but numbers continued to decline, though they were still noted as common at least as late as 1986. Despite a reintroduction programme in the 1990s, their population continued to fall, and has been on the verge of extinction for a period, with only one or two found in surveys undertaken in 2014, no hare has been seen since 2016. During a study of hares on the island during the 1990s, it was concluded that poor breeding success due to disturbance from people and, more seriously, dogs, was the main cause of the drop-off in numbers. Hares were more vulnerable than other species as they do not shelter in burrows; they are also active in the daytime.

The rabbit was also once much more numerous than it is today. In 1991 myxomatosis entered the population and caused devastating losses. Shortly after this, in 1992, rabbit haemorrhagic disease was also found in blood samples taken from sick rabbits.

Common seals and grey seals are also found in the surrounding waters and can regularly be seen hauled out on the sand at low tide at the tip of the island near Howth. The island is a breeding site. Harbour porpoise can also be seen sometimes out in the bay.

Reptiles
There is a modest population of the common lizard on the island.

Amphibians
The common frog has a stable and substantial presence on the island.

Invertebrates
The island is also home to ground beetles, various species of butterflies and moths, aphids, wasps, snails, spiders and harvestmen, earthworms and woodlice.

Flora
The island is home to many species of plants, including the bee orchid, pyramidal orchid, Marsh Helleborine, and common spotted orchids. The most important plant type is marram grass, which helps to retain the structure of the dunes.

Designations
North Bull Island has the most designations of any site in Ireland and its importance for nature conservation has been recognised since 1914 when it was listed as a Rothschild Reserve. It was the first National Bird Sanctuary, designated in 1931. It has been designated since 1981 by UNESCO as biosphere reserve that is part of the Dublin Bay Biosphere Reserve. It is the only Biosphere Reserve entirely in a capital city in the world. In 1988, it was designated a National Nature Reserve. It is of European Union importance, and part of the Natura 2000 Network as both a Special Protection Area under the EU Birds Directive and a Special Area of Conservation under the EU Habitats Directive. It is also a National Special Amenity Area since 1995, one of 3 in Ireland. This recognises both its outstanding beauty and nature conservation values.

Intrepretative centre
There is an Interpretative Centre at the end of the causeway on the right-hand side which has displays and information on the flora and fauna of the island, and there are also information signs to either side of the causeway access, and on the roundabout where the causeway road approaches the beach. The Centre was opened in 1986 and provides a base for many schools and educational groups to visit the Island. It was funded by the European Commission and the Dublin Rotary Club.

Walking
Dollymount Strand, the 5 km beach on the island, is a popular walking and recreational area. The walking of dogs is also popular, though they are supposed to be kept under control, due to the National Nature Reserve status, and in particular to fears of attacks on rabbits and hares. It is possible to walk a circuit that includes the beach and St. Anne's Park.

Driving
Many people learned to drive on the firm flat sandy foreshore at low tide; there are even (very low) speed limits posted on the beach. For about two decades, access by car was limited to a portion of the island near the Bull Bridge and two sections reached from the causeway at Raheny, the latter having ceased in 2016.

Swimming
The strand is historically a popular swimming spot but usage fell sharply as pollution rose in the 1980s, mainly due to sewage and stormwater pollution. There are a series of bathing shelters and lifeguard stations that were designed by Herbert Simms in his role as Dublin Corporation Housing Architect. In July 2021, Dublin City Council demolished one of Simms' lifeguard stations dating from 1934 without notice, citing ongoing issues with anti-social behaviour at the abandoned structure.

Following the Dublin Bay Water Quality Management Plan programme in the 1990s, there were significant improvements to water quality and in 2006 it was awarded the Blue Flag status for the first time. The area has lost and held Blue Flag status in the years since then. Water quality continues to be affected by several issues, including lack of capacity of existing sewage treatment facilities, excess nutrients flowing into Dublin Bay from the River Liffey and other watercourses, and stormwater pollution.

Kite-surfing
As of the 21st century, Bull Island is popular with kite-surfers, with a declared kite-surfing launch area near the Bull Wall, accessed from the wooden Bull Wall Bridge. The shallow water and long stretch of straight beach allow for safe kite-surfing. This has encouraged many beginners to take up the sport on the island.

Golf
The island has two golf courses, the more famous belonging to the Royal Dublin Golf Club, and the newer, owned by Dublin City Council, operated by St. Anne's Golf Club. Each has a clubhouse with dining facilities.

Film and television
It has been used as a location in many Dublin themed movies such as Neil Jordan's Michael Collins, Stephen Frears's The Van, Brendan O'Carroll's Mrs. Brown's Boys D'Movie and John Carney's Oscar-winning movie Once.

Publications

 * An Irish Sanctuary – Birds of the North Bull, by Fr. Patrick G. Kennedy SJ, Dublin: The Sign of The Three Candles, 1953.
 * 1986, an Foras Forbartha, Dublin for Dublin Corporation, Parks Department: Bull Island (information booklet)
 * May 2014, The Liffey Press, Dublin: The Island Imagined By the Sea: A History of Bull Island by Kieran McNally.
 * May 2015, Orange Crate Press: "Waveforms: Bull Island Haiku" by poet and broadcaster Pat Boran, featuring a rensaku (sequence) of 135 haiku accompanied by monochrome photographs taken by the author over the course of a year of visits to the island.

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Talk:Bull Island

Golf links
I did not know that about the Royal Dublin owning their course. But St. Anne's do just lease from the Council, yes? Twilson r 00:49, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

In need of one or two upper article images
An overall pic preferably in summer ? 194.165.178.199 22:43, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

1914 to 1961
Surely a typo - the British Army left the island long before 1961, but when? Autarch (talk) 12:24, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

 * Looks like this section was meant to be a whole phase of history but was left unfinished. Well spotted! SeoR (talk) 12:36, 13 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes, seems someone meant to do more and stopped, diff:

23:19, 25 January 2008 81.211.8.2 (Talk) (9,595 bytes) (Updating, and expanding history - I will have to return tomorrow to add more.)
 * SeoR (talk) 12:37, 13 May 2008 (UTC)
 * I found a sentence that might explain it here: On the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, the Bull Island was taken over by the British army for arms training but they departed after the Rising of Easter, 1916., but I don't know how authoritative it is. (It does mesh with a very faint memory of mine, but I'm certain there's a Wikipedia policy covering that! :-)) Autarch (talk) 17:03, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

 * Some progress, I see. SeoR (talk) 19:56, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

External links modified
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title: Talk:Bull Island


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Defining length

In genetic algorithms and genetic programming defining length L(H) is the maximum distance between two defining symbols (that is symbols that have a fixed value as opposed to symbols that can take any value, commonly denoted as # or *) in schema H. In tree GP schemata, L(H) is the number of links in the minimum tree fragment including all the non-= symbols within a schema H.

Example
Schemata "00##0", "1###1", "01###", and "##0##" have defining lengths of 4, 4, 1, and 0, respectively. Lengths are computed by determining the last fixed position and subtracting from it the first fixed position.

In genetic algorithms as the defining length of a solution increases so does the susceptibility of the solution to disruption due to mutation or cross-over.

title: Defining length


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David McMurtrie Gregg

David McMurtrie Gregg (April 10, 1833 – August 7, 1916) was an American farmer, diplomat, and a Union cavalry general in the American Civil War.

Early life and career
Gregg was born in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. He was the first cousin of future Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin and the grandson of Pennsylvania Congressman Andrew Gregg. He graduated from the United States Military Academy (West Point) in 1855 and was given a commission as a brevet second lieutenant in the 2nd U.S. Dragoons Regiment (heavy cavalry). During his tenure at West Point, he interacted with two classmates who would become great cavalry generals—an opponent and a commander, respectively: J.E.B. Stuart, class of 1854, and Philip Sheridan, class of 1853.

His first real assignment was in the New Mexico Territory, as a company commander in the 1st U.S. Dragoons. His unit was ordered to California and he traveled with his friend Dorsey Pender; they later bought a racehorse together. His company then marched to Fort Vancouver, in Washington Territory. During this tour of duty, Lt. Gregg had his first taste of combat, engaged with 160 men against 1,000 Indian warriors, who had surrounded them. The fighting lasted for three days, although casualties were minor, and Gregg managed a fighting retreat.

Civil War
At the start of the Civil War, Gregg returned to Washington, D.C., where he was promoted to captain in the 3rd U.S. Cavalry, followed soon by a transfer to the 6th U.S. Cavalry. He developed typhoid fever and barely escaped death when his Washington hospital caught fire. In January 1862 he became colonel of the 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry.

Gregg and the 8th Pennsylvania fought in the Peninsula Campaign, where he distinguished himself in the Seven Days Battles, expertly screening retreating Union infantry. The Battle of Antietam was his next engagement, but cavalry played little role. He received a furlough and married Ellen F. Sheaff on October 6, 1862, in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania; the couple honeymooned in New York City.

Gregg was promoted to brigadier general just before the Battle of Fredericksburg. As at Antietam, the cavalry was underutilized and held in reserve. He commanded a brigade in the division of Alfred Pleasonton. Gregg was sent to assume command of another cavalry brigade when its commander, Brig. Gen. George Dashiell Bayard, was killed by an artillery shell that reached behind the infantry lines. After Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker assumed command of the demoralized Army of the Potomac, he shook up the cavalry organization, because the mounted arm had not been used effectively. He removed cavalry units from corps and divisions, and consolidated them as a separate Cavalry Corps, under Maj. Gen. George Stoneman. Gregg assumed command of the 3rd Division in February 1863. (Although infantry divisions are typically commanded by major generals, few Union cavalry division leaders rose above brigadier general, and Gregg was no exception.)

At the Battle of Chancellorsville, Stoneman's corps, including Gregg's division, was dispatched on a raid around Lee's left flank to destroy facilities in his rear. The raid lasted nine days and caused a lot of destruction in the rear of the Army of Northern Virginia, but it accomplished little strategically and Stoneman was widely criticized for lack of aggression and not being able to draw any Confederate forces away from the main battle. Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton replaced Stoneman in command of the Cavalry Corps.

During the start of the Gettysburg Campaign, Lee's stealthy troop movements away from the Fredericksburg area caused Union consternation and Pleasonton was ordered to find out where they were going. Launching a surprise attack on Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart at Brandy Station resulted in the largest predominantly cavalry engagement of the war. The initial assault crossed the Rappahannock River at Beverly Ford under command of Brig. Gen. John Buford. While Buford attacked, Gregg led the 2nd and 3rd Divisions across Kelly's Ford to attack the flank and rear of the Confederates on Fleetwood Hill, where Stuart's headquarters were located. The fighting was fierce, saber-wielding, and hand-to-hand. The Confederates managed to repulse Gregg. The battle overall was essentially a draw, although it surprised and humiliated Stuart, and orders left behind provided valuable intelligence about Lee's intentions to invade Maryland and Pennsylvania.

In the middle of the Gettysburg Campaign, Pleasonton reorganized his corps and Gregg now commanded the 2nd Division. He led it in cavalry engagements at Aldie, Middleburg, and Upperville. While his fellow, newly promoted division commander Brig. Gen. John Buford was initiating the Battle of Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, Gregg was still moving north. His division arrived mid-day on July 2 and took up positions to protect the right flank and rear of the Union Army. On July 3, three miles east of Gettysburg, in what is now called "East Cavalry Field", Stuart's forces collided with Gregg's division and Brig. Gen. George A. Custer's brigade of the 3rd Division. A lengthy mounted battle, including hand-to-hand combat, ensued. Both sides claimed victory.

On July 16, during the Battle of Williamsport in the Army of Northern Virginia's long Retreat from Gettysburg, Gregg's division clashed with the cavalry brigades of Brig. Gens. Fitzhugh Lee and John R. Chambliss near Shepherdstown.

In October 1863, Lee attempted to flank the Union army near Warrenton, Virginia. Gregg's division delayed Lee until the II Corps under Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren arrived to block the movement. Gregg caused an incident when, after this engagement, he did not get adequate mention in Maj. Gen. George G. Meade's after action report and demanded a court of inquiry to correct the record. Gregg commanded the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac in early 1864 until the arrival of Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan, who commanded the cavalry of the forces of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in the Overland Campaign. The most important use of Gregg's cavalry during this campaign was to screen Union movements southward, battle to battle, but a significant raid was staged that culminated in the Battle of Yellow Tavern, where J.E.B. Stuart was mortally wounded, dealing the Confederacy a hard blow. Gregg's division also was heavily engaged at the Battle of Haw's Shop, where it fought Wade Hampton's troopers west of Hanovertown, Virginia. Hampton had superior numbers, but Gregg's troopers had the Spencer repeating rifle. Finally, Custer's brigade attacked through difficult terrain, ousting Hampton's men from their position.

Concluding the raid culminating in the Battle of Trevilian Station, Sheridan's cavalry retreated toward Bermuda Hundred. Gregg's division covered the retreat, especially in the Battle of Saint Mary's Church. Gregg's division survived a strong attack directed by Wade Hampton, but it lost several prisoners, including Colonel Pennock Huey.

Gregg commanded the cavalry division that remained near Petersburg while Sheridan was engaged in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign against Jubal Early. In his role as cavalry commander, Gregg screened various union movements in the Siege of Petersburg. Gregg's division was particularly engaged at the Second Battle of Deep Bottom, the Second Battle of Ream's Station, and the Battle of Peebles' Farm.

Later life
David Gregg resigned his army commission, in a letter dated January 25, 1865:

"Having for more than three years been on uninterrupted service in the field, commanding cavalry in the Army of the Potomac, I at this time find such an imperative demand for my continued presence at home that my personal attention may be given to pressing private duties and business, that I can no longer defer action to secure my discharge from the service."

Gregg's resignation from the Regular Army and the volunteers was effective on February 9, 1865. On December 12, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln nominated Gregg for appointment to the grade of brevet major general of volunteers to rank from August 1, 1864. The United States Senate confirmed the appointment on February 14, 1865.

Gregg's real reasons for resigning before the end of the war are lost to history. According to Edward Longacre's biography of Gen. John Buford, Gregg feared a violent death in battle and described himself as a "coward" when, in late 1864, his nerve finally gave way and he resigned his commission. He missed exciting cavalry actions in the Appomattox Campaign. He settled in Reading, Pennsylvania, his wife's home. He farmed near Milford, Delaware, but his life was dull and he apparently regretted leaving the army. In 1868 he applied for reinstatement, but the cavalry command he wanted went to his cousin, John Irvin Gregg, so he remained an unhappy civilian. In 1874, he was appointed by President Grant to be U.S. Consul to Prague, Austria-Hungary, but soon returned home because his wife was homesick.

Gregg was active in state and local affairs and raised funds to preserve Valley Forge as a national shrine. He visited Gettysburg Battlefield numerous times and gave speeches at events. In 1891, he became active in politics and was elected to a four-year term as Auditor General of Pennsylvania. In 1899, he refused the Republican Party's nomination for the office of state treasurer, citing his declining health.

Gregg died in Reading, Pennsylvania, one of the oldest survivors of the war in the state, and is buried there in Charles Evans Cemetery. He is memorialized with a bronze equestrian statue in Reading, and the city's American Legion Post is named "Gregg Post" in his honor. The Gregg Cavalry Shaft, on East Cavalry Field in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, honors both Union and Confederate forces who fought there.

title: David McMurtrie Gregg


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HMS Swiftsure (1804)

HMS Swiftsure was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched from Bucklers Hard on 23 July 1804.

She fought at Trafalgar. Coincidentally the French 74-gun ship Swiftsure also took part in the battle; she had originally been a British ship that the French had captured in 1801.

This Swiftsure became a receiving ship in 1819, In September 1844, she heeled over and sank at Portchester, Hampshire. In November 1844, she was in use as a target ship by HMS Excellent. She was sold out of the service in 1845.

title: HMS Swiftsure (1804)


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Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Blason

 This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion of the article below. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record. The result of the debate was keep. Joyous 21:05, Feb 26, 2005 (UTC)

Blason
According to this page, blason is a minor literary term. Google yields some 400 hits on this while only 1 link I could see got any reference. Inter 19:21, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep and expand. It was a common literary device in Elizabethan lyric poetry, eg. teeth like pearls, lips like coral. Megan1967 05:49, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Comment. As it stands this is a substub dicdef at best. I don't doubt that it could be a decent article if the author had done a proper job of it, but unless someone expands it slightly this is not worthy of inclusion in Wikipedia. Trilobite (Talk) 10:02, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Weak keep. This article could indeed use vast improvements, but could indeed be made a valid article.  The content here would still remain useful for someone who wished to write a better one.  -- Smerdis of Tlön 15:41, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Comment. Cleaned up and expanded. Also added term blason populaire. Megan1967 08:16, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep, nice work Kappa 02:58, 19 Feb 2005 (UTC)

This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and, like some other VfD subpages, is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue, the deletion, or the decision-making process should be placed on the relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page.

title: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Blason


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List of regicides of Charles I

The Regicides of Charles I were the people responsible for the execution of Charles I on 30 January 1649. The term generally refers to the fifty-nine commissioners who signed the execution warrant. This followed his conviction for treason by the High Court of Justice.

After the 1660 Stuart Restoration, the fifty-nine signatories were among a total of 104 individuals accused of direct involvement in the sentencing and execution. They were excluded from the Indemnity and Oblivion Act, which granted a general amnesty for acts committed during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and subsequent Interregnum.

Regicide is not a term recognised in English law, and there is no agreed definition, with some historians including all 104 individuals. Twenty of the fifty-nine Commissioners died before the Restoration, including John Bradshaw, who presided over the trial, and Oliver Cromwell, its originator. Eight of the survivors were executed, sixteen died awaiting trial or later in prison, two were pardoned, and the remainder escaped into exile.

Background

The 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms were fought by Royalist supporters of Charles I, and an alliance between his Parliamentarian and Covenanter opponents in England and Scotland respectively. Although Royal authority in political and religious matters were key issues,  fought primarily over political power and religious authority. Charles was defeated in the 1642 to 1646 First English Civil War

In January 1649 a trial was arranged, comprising 135 commissioners. Some were informed beforehand of their summons, and refused to participate, but most were named without their consent being sought. Forty-seven of those named did not appear either in the preliminary closed sessions or the subsequent public trial. At the end of the four-day trial, 67 commissioners stood to signify that they judged Charles I had "traitorously and maliciously levied war against the present Parliament and the people therein represented". Fifty-seven of the commissioners present signed the death warrant; two further commissioners added their names subsequently. The following day, 30 January, Charles I was beheaded outside the Banqueting House in Whitehall; Charles II went into exile. The English monarchy was replaced with, at first, the Commonwealth of England (1649–1653) and then the Protectorate (1653–1659) under Cromwell's personal rule.

Following the death of Cromwell in 1658 a power struggle ensued. General George Monck—who had fought for the King until his capture, but had joined Cromwell during the Interregnum—brought an army down from his base in Scotland and restored order; he arranged for elections to be held in early 1660. He began discussions with Charles II who made the Declaration of Breda—on Monck's advice—which offered reconciliation, forgiveness, and moderation in religious and political matters. Parliament sent an invitation to Charles to return, accepting the Restoration of the monarchy as the English political form. Charles arrived in Dover on 25 May 1660 and reached London on 29 May, his 30th birthday.

Treatment of the regicides
In 1660, Parliament passed the Indemnity and Oblivion Act which granted amnesty to many of those who had supported the Parliament during the Civil War and the Interregnum, although 104 people were specifically excluded; of these 49 named individuals and the two unknown executioners were to face a capital charge. Charles would probably have been content with a smaller number to be punished, but Parliament took a stronger line, according to Howard Nenner, writing for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Of those who were listed to receive punishment, 24 had already died, including Cromwell, John Bradshaw (the judge who was president of the court) and Henry Ireton. They were given a posthumous execution: their remains were exhumed, and they were hanged, beheaded and their remains were cast into a pit below the gallows. Their heads were placed on spikes above Westminster Hall the building where the High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I had sat. In 1660, six of the commissioners and four others were found guilty of regicide and executed; one was hanged and nine were hanged, drawn and quartered. On Monday 15 October 1660, Pepys records in his diary that "this morning Mr Carew was hanged and quartered at Charing Cross; but his quarters, by a great favour, are not to be hanged up." Five days later he writes, "I saw the limbs of some of our new traitors set upon Aldersgate, which was a sad sight to see; and a bloody week this and the last have been, there being ten hanged, drawn, and quartered." In 1662 three more regicides were hanged, drawn and quartered. Some others were pardoned, while a further nineteen served life imprisonment. Most had their property confiscated and many were banned from holding office or title again in the future. Twenty-one of those under threat fled Britain, mostly settling in the Netherlands or Switzerland, although some were captured and returned to England, or murdered by Royalist sympathisers. Three of the regicides, John Dixwell, Edward Whalley and William Goffe, fled to New England, where they avoided capture, despite a search.

Nenner records that there is no agreed definition of who is included in the list of regicides. The Indemnity and Oblivion Act did not use the term either as a definition of the act, or as a label for those involved, and historians have identified different groups of people as being suitable for the name.

Shortly after the Restoration in Scotland the Scottish Parliament passed an Act of Indemnity and Oblivion. It was similar to the English Indemnity and Oblivion Act, but there were many more exceptions under the Scottish act than there were under the English act. Most of the Scottish exceptions were pecuniary, and only four men were executed (all for treason but none for regicide), of whom the Marquess of Argyll was the most prominent. He was found to be guilty of collaboration with Cromwell's government, and beheaded on 27 May 1661.

Commissioners who signed the death warrant

In the order in which they signed the death warrant, the Commissioners were:

Commissioners who did not sign

The following Commissioners sat on one or more days at the trial but did not sign the death warrant:

Others exempted from the general pardon and found guilty of treason

Under the Scottish Act of indemnity and oblivion (9 September 1662), as with the English act most were pardoned and their crimes forgotten, however, a few members of the previous regime were tried and found guilty of treason (for more details see General pardon and exceptions in Scotland):

title: List of regicides of Charles I


text:
Jean Ratelle

Joseph Gilbert Yvon Jean Ratelle (born October 3, 1940) is a Canadian former ice hockey player who played for the New York Rangers and Boston Bruins. He featured in three Stanley Cup Finals (1972, 1977, 1978). In twenty-one seasons he averaged almost a point a game and won the Lady Byng Trophy twice in recognition of his great sportsmanship. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1985.

In 2017 he was named one of the "100 Greatest NHL Players" in history.

Playing career
Ratelle's hockey career almost ended at age 23 when he suffered a serious back injury and had to undergo major spinal cord surgery. He recovered to become a regular with the Rangers from 1963 to 1975. His greatest success came with linemates Vic Hadfield and Rod Gilbert in the "GAG Line" (i.e. Goal-a-Game Line). He led the Rangers in scoring between 1968 and 1973 when the team was a powerhouse among the league's best.

Ratelle was poised to beat out Boston Bruins' legend Phil Esposito for the scoring title in 1972 when he had to sit out fifteen games due to an injury but came back for the Stanley Cup finals against Boston to lead his team. Only three other players - Esposito, Bobby Orr and Johnny Bucyk - had scored as many points in any season as Ratelle had done in his shortened season. His 109 points that season remained a Rangers' scoring record until 2006, when Jaromír Jágr broke it.

In November 1975, Ratelle was traded with Brad Park and Joe Zanussi to the Boston Bruins for Esposito and Carol Vadnais. Rangers general manager Emile Francis made the trade out in part out of respect so that Ratelle did not have to relocate his family far, plus the Bruins had sought Ratelle's skills at center.

With the Bruins for the remainder of the 1975-76 season, Ratelle scored over 100 points that season for the second time in his career. He played five more seasons with Boston, gaining admiration for his slick passing, skill at faceoffs, and all-around excellent play.

At the time of his retirement after the 1980-81 season, Ratelle was the league's sixth all-time leading scorer. While he never played on a team that won the Stanley Cup (being a finalist in 1972, 1977, and 1978), he was a member of the 1972 Team Canada squad that defeated the Soviet Union in the first Summit Series. He was well known as a gentlemanly player, finishing in the top five for the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for sportsmanship and excellence nine times, including a stretch between the 1970 and 1978 seasons where he was in the top three six times and won the trophy twice.

Post-playing career
Ratelle retired as a player after the 1980-81 season and remained in the Bruins organization, serving for four years as an assistant coach and then sixteen years as a scout.

In 1985, Jean Ratelle was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

In the 2009 book 100 Ranger Greats, the authors ranked Ratelle at No. 7 all-time of the 901 New York Rangers who had played during the team's first 82 seasons.

On August 28, 2017, the Rangers announced that they would retire Ratelle's number 19 jersey on February 25, 2018; this was done in a pre-game ceremony.

title: Jean Ratelle


text:
User talk:Stefanym

Bold text What's up?????

title: User talk:Stefanym


text:
FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix

The FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix was an annual women's volleyball competition created in 1993. The men's version of the competition was called World League. This event should not be confused with the other international volleyball competitions, the World Championship, the World Cup and the World Grand Champions Cup.

From 2018, the World Grand Prix was replaced by the FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League and Challenger Cup.

Origins
World Grand Prix was created in 1993 as part of the FIVB's marketing strategy to promote the sport of volleyball by establishing annual international competitions. It was modelled after the World League, a successful event for men that had been introduced three years before.

The Grand Prix made women's volleyball very popular in East Asia. As of 2004, the competition was maintained mainly with the support of Asian investors. The early competitions and the finals were usually held in East Asia, because the volleyball market in East Asia is large and has a large audience (such as Hong Kong). Later, some competitions were held in Europe and the United States, for example, the 2003 finals was held for the first time in Italy, and 2015 finals was held in the United States.

The budget for prize money grew steadily since 1993, but at a rather slow pace. The figures have reached $1.295 million in 2004 - meager when compared to the World League's $13 million.

Although the status of the Grand Prix was less than the other three international competitions, the prize money and popularity was far better. Because it is purely commercial competition, the winner of the Grand Prix championship is generally not considered a world champion. But the Grand Prix has created stars for female volleyball players, and thus contributed to the promotion of the sport of female volleyball in the world.

The predominance of Asian sponsors determined the first major break with the World League's formula. Most of the cities that host preliminary round matches are located in Asia. A host country may or may not have a national volleyball team involved in the competition. A second break was introduced in later years: in some continents, teams must qualify to participate in the competition.

Winners
The history of Grand Prix's previous winners is a clear indication of how women's volleyball has been dominated, since the early 1990s, by four teams: Cuba, Brazil, Russia and China. Along with five-times winner USA, they are the only ones to hold a title at this competition as of 2005.

In 1993, the Cubans padded their already impressive record of a gold medal in the 1992 Olympic Games by winning the first edition of the Grand Prix. They were also running for the gold in 1994, but were defeated by an underranked Brazil: at that time, the Brazilians had never been able to catch a single medal in any major women's volleyball competition.

In the following years, Brazil proved beyond any doubt that their time as underdogs was over. It lost the finals in 1995 to USA, but came back in 1996 for a second Grand Prix title, winning all the matches that made up the Final Four round in five sets.

The Brazilians withdrew from the competition in 1997, and the winners were Russia. But they were back in 1998 for another gold. Russia took revenge in 1999, and defeated Brazil in straight sets to win their second Grand Prix title.

Russia's win in 2002 made them, like Brazil, three-time winners. But the South Americans untied the score by conquering the 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2009, and, afterwards, also 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017 editions of the tournament. The winners in 2000, 2001 and 2003 were Cuba, USA and China, respectively. Netherlands won their first trophy in 2007. USA won four gold medals in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2015.

Competition formula
The Grand Prix's competition formula has proved less stable than the World League's. In the following years, major changes are likely to be introduced in an attempt to make women's volleyball more attractive to the audience. Some of the rules that are still in practice as of 2004 are:

 * The Grand Prix has qualification procedures. They are not the same in every continent: teams may have to play a specific qualification tournament, or may qualify based on the FIVB World Rankings.
 * The competition is divided in at least two phases: a preliminary round, with a system of rotating host cities; and one or more final rounds, with one or more host nations.
 * The preliminary round is divided in weeks. Each week, the participating teams are organized in pools, and each team plays one match against all other teams in its pool.
 * All games in a pool take place over a weekend in the same city. The cities are mostly located in Asia. Pools may be hosted in countries which are not actually involved in the competition.
 * When all matches of the preliminary round have been played, the top n teams (overall standings) qualify for the final round(s), and the remaining ones leave the competition. The value of n depends on the number of participating teams and the format that will be employed in the finals, but it is usually five or six.
 * If involved in the competition, host nation(s) automatically qualify for the final round(s).
 * The 2013 Gran Prix has seen a record number of 20 teams taking part in the competition. The first 5 plus organisers Japan qualify to the finals.
 * The FIVB has tried different formats for the final round(s). Originally, it was a round-robin "Top Four" system in which four teams played against each other and the winner was determined by number of wins, set average, point average, direct confrontation. For some years now (2004), the most commonly used is a mixed format: quarter-finalists are organized in two pools, and the top two teams in each pool play semi-finals and finals according to the Olympic format.
 * In the preliminary round, a team is usually given the right to work with a list of eighteen players, from which the coach builds the twelve-player line-up that will be employed in a particular weekend. For the final round(s), only twelve players are allowed.

Hosts
List of hosts by number of final round championships hosted.

Appearance
China and Japan are the only teams that participated in all editions of the World Grand Prix. {{legend|#BBF3BB|Team last allocated in Group 1}} {{legend|#BBF3FF|Team last allocated in Group 2}} {{legend|#FFFFBB|Team last allocated in Group 3}} {{legend|#FFFFFF|Team was inactive in the last World Grand Prix}}

Most valuable player by edition

 * 1993 – 🇨🇺 Mireya Luis (CUB)
 * 1994 – 🇧🇷 Fernanda Venturini (BRA)
 * 1995 – 🇺🇸 Tara Cross-Battle (USA)
 * 1996 – 🇧🇷 Leila Barros (BRA)
 * 1997 – 🇷🇺 Yevgeniya Artamonova (RUS)
 * 1998 – 🇧🇷 Leila Barros (BRA)
 * 1999 – 🇧🇷 Virna Dias (BRA)
 * 2000 – 🇷🇺 Lyubov Sokolova (RUS)
 * 2001 – 🇺🇸 Danielle Scott-Arruda (USA)
 * 2002 – 🇷🇺 Yevgeniya Artamonova (RUS)
 * 2003 – 🇮🇹 Paola Cardullo (ITA)
 * 2004 – 🇺🇸 Logan Tom (USA)
 * 2005 – 🇧🇷 Paula Pequeno (BRA)
 * 2006 – 🇧🇷 Sheilla Castro (BRA)
 * 2007 – Manon Flier
 * 2008 – 🇧🇷 Mari Steinbrecher (BRA)
 * 2009 – 🇧🇷 Sheilla Castro (BRA)
 * 2010 – 🇺🇸 Foluke Akinradewo (USA)
 * 2011 – 🇺🇸 Destinee Hooker (USA)
 * 2012 – 🇺🇸 Megan Hodge (USA)
 * 2013 – 🇧🇷 Thaísa Menezes (BRA)
 * 2014 – 🇯🇵 Yūko Sano (JPN)
 * 2015 – 🇺🇸 Karsta Lowe (USA)
 * 2016 – 🇧🇷 Natália Pereira (BRA)
 * 2017 – 🇧🇷 Natália Pereira (BRA)

title: FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix


text:
Henophidia

Henophidia is a former superfamily of the suborder Serpentes (snakes) that contains boas, pythons and numerous other less-well-known snakes.

Snakes once considered to belong to superfamily Henophidia include two families now considered Amerophidia (Aniliidae – red pipe snakes, and Tropidophiidae – dwarf "boas" or thunder snakes), three families now considered Uropeltoidea (Cylindrophiidae – Asian pipe snakes, Anomochilidae – dwarf pipe snakes, and Uropeltidae – shield-tailed snakes and short-tailed snakes), three families now considered Pythonoidea (Pythonidae – pythons, Loxocemidae – Mexican burrowing snake, and Xenopeltidae – sunbeam snakes), at least one family now considered Booidea (Boidae – boas [including sand boas and many other lineages often called boas, mostly now considered subfamilies of Boidae] ), and Bolyeriidae – Round Island splitjaw snakes.

Because these snakes do not form a monophyletic group they can no longer be formally referred to using a single name. In modern usage, "Henophidia" is often placed in quotes, because it can be convenient to refer to all lineages that used to be considered Henophidia. Another way of thinking about it is that "henophidian" snakes are all snakes that are not Scolecophidia (blindsnakes) or Caenophidia (so-called "advanced snakes"). "Henophidian" snakes are sometimes said to be more "basal" or "primitive" than those belonging to the Caenophidia, but this does not mean that they are inferior or that they have evolved less, rather that we think they share more traits with their common ancestor in comparison to the Caenophidia.

Etymology
Henophidia comes from the Greek heno- meaning one or former and ophidia meaning serpent, so former/older snakes (in contrast to Caenophidia, i.e. recent snakes).

Former families

 * Aniliidae – coral pipe snakes and pipe snakes.
 * Anomochilidae – dwarf pipe snakes.
 * Boidae – boas (including sand boas)
 * Bolyeriidae – Round Island boas.
 * Cylindrophiidae – Asian pipe snakes.
 * Loxocemidae – Mexican burrowing snake.
 * Pythonidae – pythons
 * Tropidophiidae – dwarf boas.
 * Uropeltidae – shield-tailed snakes and short-tail snakes.
 * Xenopeltidae – sunbeam snakes.

title: Henophidia


text:
C. J. van Rijsbergen

C. J. "Keith" van Rijsbergen FREng (Cornelis Joost van Rijsbergen; born 1943) is a professor of computer science at the University of Glasgow, where he founded the Glasgow Information Retrieval Group. He is one of the founders of modern Information Retrieval and the author of the seminal monograph Information Retrieval and of the textbook The Geometry of Information Retrieval.

He was born in Rotterdam, and educated in the Netherlands, Indonesia, Namibia and Australia. His first degree is in mathematics from the University of Western Australia, and in 1972 he completed a PhD in computer science at the University of Cambridge. He spent three years lecturing in information retrieval and artificial intelligence at Monash University before returning to Cambridge to hold a Royal Society Information Research Fellowship. In 1980 he was appointed to the chair of computer science at University College Dublin; from there he moved in 1986 to Glasgow University. He chaired the Scientific Board of the Information Retrieval Facility from 2007 to 2012.

Awards and honors
In 2003 he was inducted as a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery. In 2004 he was awarded the Tony Kent Strix award. In 2004 he was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. In 2006, he was awarded the Gerard Salton Award for Quantum haystacks. In 2009, he was made an honorary professor at the University of Edinburgh.

title: C. J. van Rijsbergen


text:
Belfast Labour Party

The Belfast Labour Party was a political party in Belfast, Ireland from 1892 until 1924.

It was founded in 1892 by a conference of Belfast Independent Labour activists and trade unionists.

Labour ran the Unionist Party close in Belfast North in a by-election in 1905 and in the general election of 1906 with William Walker as its candidate.

The party won 12 seats on Belfast Corporation in 1920, but later lost these. Suffragette, Independent Labour and Co-operative activist Margaret McCoubrey in 1920 was elected a Labour councillor for the Dock ward of Belfast. Nonetheless, the party came a very close second in Belfast West in the 1923 UK general election before merging with others to become the Northern Ireland Labour Party.

Position on partition & united Ireland
The party found it difficult to sidestep the issue of partition between 1920 and 1922, when the topic pervaded political life in Ireland. In its desire to avoid division over the subject, the party did not directly contest the 1921 Northern Irish election, instead supporting 4 independent candidates.

The party's attempt to tip-toe the national question was shown in the campaign run by Harry Midgley in 1924 in the constituency of Belfast West. In the Protestant Belfast ward of Shankill Midgley emphasized his Protestantism and his military service in the British army during World War One. In contrast, in the Catholic Falls area he attacked the policy of internment of prisoners and showed support for the idea of a United Ireland.

title: Belfast Labour Party


text:
Talk:List of regicides of Charles I

Untitled
I moved this page because it was going to have to be moved anyway (the capitalisation was wrong) and I thought this might be a bit more neutral. No objection to categories or the other language. DJ Clayworth 19:28, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)

List of signatories to the death warrant of Charles I
(written without seeing the above) Thanks for moving this article from underneath me - I thought the article name was already long enough as List of regicides, etc., but now it is even longer.

You'll note that the article contains, or was intended to contain, a section with details of associates who were prosecuted as Regicides even though they were not signatories. As such, the new name is inappropriate. Please revisit the article and remove this section.

Also, this article is filed in categ Regicide under Charles I. If you read the category description, you'll notice that the current scope of the category is Charles I - as such this article is a major article in the category as currently defined. Please revisit the category and adjust its scope. Thanks, Ian Cairns 19:39, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Ian

Sorry about that, List of signatories to the death warrant of Charles I seemed like an appropriate title based on the content I saw. If you are going to expand beyond the signatories feel free to move this elsewhere. You can do it yourself - use the 'move' button, usually at the top of the page. I suggest List of regicides of Charles I. DJ Clayworth 19:45, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * DJC - Thanks. As a sysop, I'm fully aware of the Move function. With the skin I'm using, there are no buttons at top or elsewhere. My comments still stand. Regards, Ian Cairns 23:29, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * I have no objection to any of the changes you suggest. And no sarcasm intended about the 'move' function - I didn't look to see how many contributions you had made. DJ Clayworth 23:34, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Ambiguity relating to Hewlett sentencing
Minor ambiguity - in the sentencing section. William Hewlett is stated as "Found guilty of regicide at the same trial as Daniel Axtel, but not executed with him." - does that mean he wasnt executed or executed separately to Axtel? THanks

Matthew Thomlinson
Matthew Thomlinson rightly appears in two different places, but a casual observer might not realise that this is the same individual - might it be worth doing something to denote that this is the same person, particularly as the notes sections do not exactly match? Dunarc (talk) 15:04, 8 February 2018 (UTC)
 * Well spotted User:Dunarc. As he never sat as a commissioner, I have removed his name from that list, but I have added to the notes that he was appointed as one in the other entry. -- PBS (talk) 18:29, 27 February 2018 (UTC)
 * Thanks PBS. Dunarc (talk) 18:37, 27 February 2018 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the. —Community Tech bot (talk) 11:24, 30 May 2023 (UTC)
 * Charles I execution, and execution of regicides.jpg

title: Talk:List of regicides of Charles I


text:
Wilhelm, Duke of Urach

Count Friedrich Wilhelm Alexander Ferdinand of Württemberg, 1st Duke of Urach (6 July 1810 – 17 July 1869), was the son of Duke Wilhelm of Württemberg (1761–1830), younger brother of King Frederick I of Württemberg, by his morganatic wife, Baroness Wilhelmine von Tunderfeldt-Rhodis (1777–1822), who had married in 1800. He was the first Head of the House of Urach.

Wilhelm served as a cavalry officer in the army of the then-independent Kingdom of Württemberg. He also tested cannon for the Army of Württemberg, some of which can still be seen at Lichtenstein Castle, which he substantially rebuilt in the 1840s. He was inspired by the romantic historical novel Lichtenstein by Wilhelm Hauff (1826). Hauff was in turn inspired by the works of Walter Scott. He was created Duke of Urach on 28 March 1867, with the style of Serene Highness.

Wilhelm was a junior member of the royal family of Württemberg. He was a nephew of King Frederick (d. 1816), and was a first cousin of King William I of Württemberg (ruled 1816–1864).

Public life

Wilhelm was raised in the mentally stimulating parental home. From 1819 to 1823, William and his elder brother Alexander, who later became famous as a poet, stayed at the Fellenberg'sche Hofwyl Institute in Bern. Wilhelm returned to Stuttgart and was appointed Captain in the mounted artillery at the age of 18. In 1835, he was promoted to Major, and in 1837 to Colonel and commander of the artillery. In 1841, he was promoted to Major General and put in charge of an infantry brigade.

He can be seen in 1847, sixth from the right in "Reporting to King William I", a painting of William I of Württemberg and his advisers, by the court painter Franz Seraph Stirnbrand. He is talking with Crown Prince Charles, and the King is interviewing Prince Frederick.

In 1848 Württemberg contributed a field brigade to the combined division of the southern German states that marched into the First Schleswig War. The division was led by Lieutenant General Moriz von Miller; Wilhelm assumed command of the Württemberg brigade. After the Treaty of Malmö, the brigade was stationed at Altona and did not see any real action. Most of the brigade, including Wilhelm was then moved to Upper Baden, leaving on battalion in Schleswig. The brigade did observation work in Upper Baden, especially in the Constance district, but did not engage in any fighting.

Wilhelm was promoted to Lieutenant General in 1855. In 1857, he was appointed governor of Ulm. In 1841 he converted to Roman Catholicism to enable his first marriage to Théodolinde de Beauharnais. In 1867, he was promoted to General of the Infantry. On 28 May 1867, he was raised to Duke of Urach (Herzog von Urach), while retaining the dignity of Count of Württemberg.

Duke William's favorite weapon was the artillery. He was regarded as an outstanding mathematician and an officer of his weapon and made some inventions, especially with regards to the mounting of the guns. He tried to dampen the recoil of the gun by suspending the gun carriage in a movable frame. His very active and universally educated mind did not find enough activity in the military during the long period of peace.

Historian

He was keenly interested in the arts and sciences, and in particular in art history and archeology. He made study trips and co-founded the württembergischen Altertumsverein (Württemberg Society for Ancient History) in 1843 and the Verein für vaterländische Naturkunde (Association for National Natural history) in 1844 and continued to support these. He also acted repeatedly as president of the overall association of German societies of Ancient History. His taste for art showed in 1840 and 1841, when he constructed Lichtenstein Castle on the spot of the by then completely ruined ancient castle made famous by Wilhelm Hauff's novel Lichtenstein. He moved a significant number of Renaissance style sculptures from the Neues Lusthaus in Stuttgart to Lichtenstein Castle when the Lusthaus was to be demolished in 1844, to make room for the Royal Court Theater. He was an honorary member of several scientific associations and learned societies, such as the Bavarian Academy of Sciences.

Academia and literature
In 1845, he received an honorary PhD from the philosophy department of the University of Tübingen, in recognition of his scientific endeavour. Among his literary works were Wegweiser durch sämtliche Malerschulen und Gemäldesammlungen von W. W. ("Guide to all schools of painting and art collections by W.W.") and Graphisch-archäologische Vergleichungen ("Graphical-archaeological comparisons") and the meteorological Aufklärende Worte über Wetterprophezeihung von W. W. ("Clarifying words about the prediction of the weather, by W.W."). His Politische Skizzen über Deutschland und Württemberg aus der Mappe eines Conservativen ("Political Sketches of Germany and Württemberg from the folder of a conservative") appeared anonymously in 1852.

In 1869 Duke Wilhelm suffered a stroke. He went to Bad Wildbad in the Black Forest in the hope that he might be healed by the southern climate. However, this was in vain. He died in 1869 at his Lichtenstein castle, from another stroke.

Marriages and issue

 * On 8 February 1841, Duke Wilhelm married Théodolinde de Beauharnais (Mantua, 13 April 1814 – Stuttgart, 1 April 1857), the daughter of Eugène de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg. To contract the marriage he converted to Roman Catholicism. Four daughters were born from this marriage:
 * Princess Augusta of Urach (27 December 1842 – 11 March 1916); Married firstly Count Rudolf von Enzenberg zum Freyen und Jochelsthurn; secondly Count Franz von Thun und Hohenstein
 * Princess Marie Josephine (10 October 1844 – 13 January 1864)
 * Princess Eugenia Amalie (13 September 1848 – 26 November 1867)
 * Princess Mathilde (14 January 1854 – 13 July 1907); married Paolo Altieri, Prince of Viano.
 * On 15 February 1863 in Monaco, he married Princess Florestine of Monaco (Fontenay, 22 October 1833 – Stuttgart, 24 April 1897), daughter of Florestan I, Prince of Monaco, and they had two sons:
 * Wilhelm, 2nd Duke of Urach (3 March 1864 – 24 March 1928), later King Mindaugas II of Lithuania.
 * Prince Karl (15 February 1865 – 5 December 1925), an Orientalist

An unexpected outcome of this marriage was the Monaco Succession Crisis of 1918.

title: Wilhelm, Duke of Urach


text: User talk:68.44.211.56

title: User talk:68.44.211.56


text:
User talk:Atomse

Afrisecal Movement
Afrisecal thought and ClanKind is the kernel and product of a new wave of renaissance sweeping across Africa called AFRISECAL movement. In whatever sphere of human endeavour you point to, you can see that a new generation of Africans are setting the pace. Whether in the realm of Computing and cyber technologies one can see men like Philip Emeagwali and Ejeckam, in politics we now have political Icons like Nelson Mandela and the late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere. Long ago it was the African ( African-American?) Diasporic entertainers and athletes that painted the front pages. At one point, it almost looked like the cerebral aspect of neo cultural development of man-kind was not for us until more people like Maya Angelou and Wole Soyinka hit the scene. The truth of the matter is that walls are breaking down every day and the world as a whole is discovering what it had hitherto overlooked by allowing institutionalized racism to hold sway for so long

The African has taken sometime in getting to where it is now. Thanks to the progressive works of men like Marcus Garvey, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Dubois, Malcom X, Kwame Nkrumah, Azikiwe ,Aime Cesair and a host of others who fought to get us to the place we now sit. Afrisecal movement is a building block of continuity of the into the future. It attempts to walk where Black Pantherism, and the traditional American Civil Rights movements stopped. It is for charting a path for the future that includes all men irrespective of races. It understands that the future world will be populated by a society of people, maybe like Colin Powell and Tiger Woods.

political scope
The political front in Africa has shown great courage insetting up of the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) with its praiseworthy peer review mechanism and also revisiting the visions of the founding fathers of the Organization of African by forming the African Union. These are parts of the Afrisecal flames running through the present generation of Leaders. In most of his writings, Francis Ohanyido had tried to capture the essence of the Afrisecal wind blowing through the continent and the world in general.The term ClanKind is a summative representation and personification of the Afrisecal man or woman -the sum total of the renaissance African .One may go a step further to say that going by what evolutionists tell us, Man first walked on the old continent, the ClanKind may then be representativeof all Men.

title: User talk:Atomse


text:
Paul Rusesabagina

Paul Rusesabagina ( born 15 June 1954) is a Rwandan human rights activist. He worked as the manager of the Hôtel des Mille Collines in Kigali, during a period in which it housed 1,268 Hutu and Tutsi refugees fleeing the Interahamwe militia during the Rwandan genocide. None of these refugees were hurt or killed during the attacks.

An account of Rusesabagina's actions during the genocide was later depicted in the film Hotel Rwanda in 2004, in which he was portrayed by American actor Don Cheadle. The film has been the subject both of critical acclaim and controversy in Rwanda.

On the back of newly-found international fame, Rusesabagina embarked on a successful career as a public speaker, mostly touring universities in the United States. He campaigns for the Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation, which he founded in 2006. He holds Belgian citizenship, and a U.S. green card, and has homes in Brussels, Belgium and San Antonio, Texas. Since fleeing Rwanda in 1996, he has become a prominent critic of Paul Kagame and the RPF government. He founded the PDR-Ihumure political party in 2006, and is currently President of the MRCD.

On 31 August 2020, believing he was taking a chartered flight to Burundi from Dubai, he arrived in Kigali, where he was arrested on nine charges of terrorism that related to his association with the FLN (National Liberation Front), the armed wing of PDR-Ihumure, who claimed responsibility for terrorist attacks in 2018 which killed at least nine people.

On 20 September 2021, he was convicted on terrorism charges and sentenced to 25 years in prison. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention rendered their opinion on 18 March 2022 that Rusesabagina had been illegally kidnapped, tortured, and sentenced after an unfair trial. The Working Group further found that Rusesabagina has been targeted by the government on account of his work as a human rights defender, because of his criticism of the government on a broad range of issues.

In 2023, after serving two years in Mageragere prison, Rusesabagina's sentence was commuted by the Rwandan president.

Early life, education, and family
Rusesabagina was born in 1954. He was one of nine children born to a Hutu father, a respected community elder named Thomas Rupfure, and a Tutsi mother in Murama, Rwanda. Although stating that he grew up poor, in a "house ... made of mud and sticks" and "without shoes", Rusesabagina described his upbringing as "solidly middle class by the standards of Africa in the 1950s".

Rusesabagina's parents sent him to school in a town near Gitwe run by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. By the age of 13, he was fluent in English and French, as well as his native Kinyarwanda.

Due to distance and his commitment to work, he and his wife Esther legally separated in 1981. Rusesabagina was granted full custody of their three children: Diane, Lys, and Roger. In 1987, he was invited to a wedding where he met Tatiana, a nurse who lived in Ruhengeri. Tatiana and Paul married two years later and she adopted his children. She gave birth twice, but only their son, Trésor, survived infancy. Rusesabagina's father died in 1991, and his mother shortly after.

Ministry
By the end of his adolescence, Rusesabagina had decided to become a minister. He studied at the Faculty of Theology in Yaoundé. In Cameroon, he soon became disillusioned with the prospect of a career as a clergyman, deciding he wanted to live an 'urban life'.

Hotel des Mille Collines
In December 1978, Rusesabagina moved to Kigali. While there, an acquaintance, Isaac Mulihano, invited Rusesabagina to apply for an opening to work at the Hôtel des Mille Collines. He was offered a position and was sent to Nairobi and then to Switzerland and Brussels to study hotel management.

As he rose through the ranks at the Hôtel des Mille Collines, his promotions earned him the resentment of some fellow Rwandans in the staff. Some took to calling him 'muzungu' – a Kinyarwandan word for 'white man'. In 1992, Paul Rusesabagina was promoted to assistant general manager of the Diplomates Hotel, an affiliate of the Hôtel des Mille Collines.

Events leading to genocide
During Rusesabagina's training abroad, and his rise as a distinguished hôtelier, the Hutu-dominated government of President Juvénal Habyarimana was facing military pressure from the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). After a ceasefire in Arusha brought the Civil War to an end in 1993, several reports of militia activity – including the stockpiling of weapons and the creation of lists of Tutsis – had been received by the UN and other authorities. Alongside this, radio stations including the infamous Radio Télévision Libre des Milles Collines (RTLM) were broadcasting messages about Tutsi plots to murder Hutus, and encouraging violence towards Tutsis.

On 6 April 1994, a plane containing President Habyarimana (and others, including Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira) was shot down as it approached the Kigali Airport for landing. Everyone on board was killed. 'Hutu Power' extremists within the government and local militias blamed this event on the Tutsi, and consequently, the Rwandan genocide started on 6 April 1994. Interahamwe militias consulted their lists and began searching the city for Tutsis and Tutsi 'sympathisers' to murder. Though Rusesabagina was Hutu (as his father was Hutu and his mother Tutsi), his wife Tatiana was a Tutsi and his children considered mixed – meaning that his family was under considerable threat.

Providing shelter
When the violence broke out, soldiers came to Rusesabagina's house, asking him to open the Hôtel Diplomates, which the interim Hutu government used as a headquarters. Rusesabagina bribed the soldiers with money from the hotel safe to ensure safe passage for his family. When the government evacuated the hotel, on account of RPF shelling, Rusesabagina arrived at the Hôtel des Mille Collines. Upon arrival, Rusesabagina promptly phoned the hotel's corporate owners, Sabena, imploring them to put him in charge as the acting general manager of the Mille Collines. They sent through a fax, and he assumed control of the hotel from the staff who had been running it since the killings began.

Despite Rusesabagina's claims that Romeo Dallaire 'rescinded' an order for UN protection of the hotel, there was in fact, a strong UN peacekeeping presence at the Hotel, including Mbaye Diagne, a Senegalese military observer who was ferrying threatened Tutsis into the Hotel. General Dallaire – in charge of the UN deployment, and his deputy, Brent Beardsley, were also often at the hotel, ensuring its safety from killings.

Rusesabagina sheltered approximately twelve hundred people during the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. One radio reporter said: "Nobody had been killed, injured, beaten, tortured, expelled or retrieved from the hotel during the whole time we were refugees. Paul Rusesabagina managed to do the impossible to save our lives at the moment when others were massacring their own children, their own wives."

Family impact
On 3 May, Rusesabagina ensured that his wife and children fled safely in a truck past the militia's roadblocks. The truck set out for Kigali airport so they could flee to Belgium. He remained in the hotel. Tatiana and her children were specifically targeted within the convoy by radio messages on RTLM, and they returned to the hotel after being attacked.

Tatiana's family faced extreme tragedy. Her mother, brother and sister-in-law, and four nieces and nephews died in the genocide. Her father paid Hutu militia to execute him so that he would not die a more painful death:

"We all knew we would die, no question. The only question was how. Would they chop us in pieces? With their machetes they would cut your left hand off. Then they would disappear and reappear a few hours later to cut off your right hand. A little later they would return for your left leg etc. They went on till you died. They wanted to make you suffer as long as possible. There was one alternative: you could pay soldiers so they would just shoot you. That's what her [Tatiana's] father did."

By the end of the massacre, four of Rusesabagina's eight siblings remained alive. He comments in his autobiography that "for a Rwandan family, this is a comparatively lucky outcome."

Post-genocide and politics
After staying in Rwanda for two more years after the genocide, Rusesabagina applied for asylum in Belgium and moved to Brussels with his wife, children, and two nieces in 1996, fearing for his life. There he worked as a taxi driver. They later settled in San Antonio, Texas.

Hotel Rwanda
In 1999, Rusesabagina received a phone call from an American screenwriter named Keir Pearson. Pearson, along with his colleague Terry George, went on to write the script for Hotel Rwanda in consultation with Rusesabagina. The script was made into a Hollywood film, starring Don Cheadle as Rusesabagina. The film was released in 2004 to much critical acclaim. It received three Academy Award nominations, including for Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor for Don Cheadle's portrayal of Rusesabagina.

In response to critics, Odette Nyiramilimo, a prominent survivor who became a senator in the new government, has openly testified that Rusesabagina was a friend, who helped save her and her family – "because of him, I am here", she said. She has also denied claims that he threatened to evict refugees who were unable to pay their bills.

Criticism
In 2008, the book Hotel Rwanda or the Tutsi Genocide as seen by Hollywood, by Alfred Ndahiro, a public relations advisor to Kagame, and journalist Privat Rutazibwa, was published. The authors conducted interviews with 74 people who had stayed in the Hotel during the genocide. Their accounts provide an alternative take to the portrayal of Rusesabagina's actions as seen in the film Hotel Rwanda: many of the survivors criticise Rusesabagina in their interviews. This was followed by the 2011 publication of Inside the Hotel Rwanda: The Surprising True Story ... And Why it Matters Today, co-written by Hotel des Mille Collines Survivor Edouard Kayihura and American writer Kerry Zukus. Both books are critical of Rusesabagina, alleging that he forced refugees to pay for their rooms and all of the food which was given to them, he cut off communication lines to the hotel which were located outside his own office, he was a prominent member of Hutu Power politics, and he handed a list of refugees over to Interahamwe forces and broadcasters at the RTLM, among other things.

UN Peacekeepers who were present at the Hotel des Mille Collines during the genocide have also been critical of the film. At a conference in 2014, General Romeo Dallaire, who led the UNAMIR mission, said that the film was "not worth looking at."

Awards
He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honour in the United States, by President George W. Bush on 9 November 2005 for "remarkable courage and compassion in the face of genocidal terror".

Speaking career
After the success of Hotel Rwanda, Rusesabagina acquired global fame. He used this to embark on a career as a public speaker – listed for bookings by both the American Programme Bureau in the United States and the London Speaker Bureau. Rusesabagina's speaking engagements ranged from schools and universities to churches and businesses, in his own words: "whoever wants to invite me, invites me and I talk about my experiences of 1994".

Founding of The Party for Democracy in Rwanda
In June 2006, in Washington D.C., he founded a political party in exile: The Party for Democracy in Rwanda: PDR-Ihumure. The party's general ideology is somewhat unclear, but as Rusesabagina described in a 2012 speech, its policy is broadly oriented towards the "political struggle to liberate Rwanda from the current RPF dictatorship". The party's membership is mostly Hutu, and is almost entirely based abroad – particularly in Belgium and the United States. In January 2016, Rusesabagina announced his intent to run for President of Rwanda.

Criticism of RPF & President Kagame
Rusesabagina has been critical of Rwandan President Paul Kagame, denouncing him as a dictator and accusing him of extrajudicial killings.

In 2007, in an interview with American journalist Keith Harmon Snow, Rusesabagina blamed the 1994 genocide on the RPF, claiming that Interahamwe leaders, including Robert Kaguja, were working for Paul Kagame, who had ordered them to begin the genocide. He also claimed that the RPF shot down Juvénal Habyarimana's plane, a theory ruled out by a ballistics report, and that the killings committed by the RPF rebels during the conflict constituted genocide. The historian Gérard Prunier agrees that the RPF committed "horrendous crimes", but he rejects the notion of a "double genocide", which he argues "does not stand up to serious inquiry".

In a 2012 speech, Rusesabagina expressed a disillusionment with the RPF, casting doubt on their ability to institute a democratic process and calling for general mobilization to remove them from power.

In an open letter to President Bill Clinton in 2012, Rusesabagina warned against the Clinton Foundation's support for Kagame. In this letter, he made claims that Rwandan nurses were being ordered to kill by the government. He said that one nurse was "ordered to give tainted vaccines to prisoners, Hutus and other enemies of the Kagame administration" and to "control population growth among undesirable populations by causing birth and surgical complications". For example, during C-sections, nurses were to place metal objects such as scissors into the abdomen before closing the wound to cause infections and death".

Government response
His comments have attracted strong criticism in Rwanda. On 6 April 2006, Kagame suggested, "[Rusesabagina] should try his talents elsewhere and not climb on the falsehood of being a hero, because it's totally false". Francois Xavier Ngarambe, the president of Ibuka, the umbrella body of survivors' associations for the genocide, said of Rusesabagina, "he has hijacked heroism. He is trading with the genocide. He should be charged." Terry George, the director of Hotel Rwanda, characterized the comment as part of a smear campaign. The Rwandan government has accused Rusesabagina of genocide denial. Various media outlets in Rwanda, including The New Times, have accused him of genocide denial.

FDLR
Rusesabagina has consistently denied allegations put forward by the Rwandan government accusing Rusesabagina of helping the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Rwandan Hutu Power rebel group, which has been condemned by the UN Security Council for "serious violations of international law involving the targeting of women and children". In an open letter to the UN, he equated the FDLR to the RPF, and cast them as "bona fide refugees" who had been "collectively demonized". In a 2010 interview with CNN, Rusesabagina said: "I have sent no money to terrorists... He [the prosecutor] is not only lying, but lying with bad logic... This is pure and simple fabrication from Kigali". Text messages intercepted by German intelligence, between Rusesabagina and the FDLR's former leader, Ignace Murwanashyaka, came to light during Murwanashyaka's trial in 2011. Rusesabagina's wife also denies his association with FDLR. She told the New York Times: "the rebel group "hates Paul because he protected Tutsis during the genocide."

FLN
The armed wing of Paul Rusesabagina's PDR-Ihumure and MRCD political parties, the FLN, was accused of terror attacks in South-West Rwanda in 2018. In an interview broadcast on Voice of America Kinyarwanda in 2018, when asked if FLN rebels were in the Nyungwe forest near where the attacks took place, Rusesabagina responded: "We are angry. We did not enter it to abandon it, we are there to demand our rights as Rwandan natives". After his arrest, he admitted that he had founded the FLN "as an armed wing, not as a terrorist group.... I do not deny that the FLN committed crimes but my role was diplomacy". He has denied any wrongdoing.

Rusesabagina has admitted to backing and "diplomatically" supporting the group, as evidenced in a widely disseminated video in which he pledges his "unreserved support" for the FLN and denies any wrongdoing. In the video, Rusesabagina's speech includes:

"The time has come for us to use any means possible to bring about change in Rwanda, as all political means have been tried and failed. It is time to attempt our last resort. Hence, I plead my unreserved support that our youth, The National Liberation forces, NLF, launches against the Kagame army in order to free the Rwandan people. As Rwandans it is important to understand that this is the only way to bring about change in the whole country."

Kidnapping
Rusesabagina, a permanent resident of the United States who has not lived in Rwanda since an assassination attempt was made on him in 1996, had gone on a trip to Dubai shortly before being arrested. In a jailhouse interview with The New York Times, Rusesabagina stated that in Dubai, he boarded a GainJet charter jet that he thought was bound for Burundi, where he planned to speak at the invitation of a Christian pastor; instead, the plane took him to Kigali. In a February 2021, interview with Marc Lamont Hill on Al Jazeera, Rwandan Minister of Justice Johnston Busingye admitted that the Rwandan government had paid for the private jet that brought Rusesabagina to Kigali.

On 31 August 2020, Rusesabagina was kidnapped and taken to Kigali where he was arrested on charges of terrorism, arson, kidnap and "murder perpetrated against unarmed, innocent Rwandan civilians on Rwandan territory". The charges refer to terrorist attacks that took place in the south of Rwanda, near the Burundi border, in 2018. At least nine people were killed in these attacks, including two children.

Trial
In October 2020, the Rwandan Prosecution Authority announced that it would try Rusesabagina along with 16 alleged rebels. His trial was initially scheduled for the 26 January 2021, but was postponed due to ongoing complications with the COVID-19 situation in Kigali. His trial, alongside 20 co-defendants, began on 17 February 2021. Rusesabagina told the court that he did not have Rwandan citizenship, so he could not face trial in Rwanda. Another defendant, FLN spokesperson Callixte Nsabimana, seemed to be shocked by these comments, testifying that Rusesabagina "had ambitions to become the president of Rwanda. Now how do you have such ambitions when you're not Rwandan? We waged war on Rwanda, and failed and were captured. It is embarrassing for him to now claim that he is not Rwandan."

Following a hearing held on 12 March 2021, Rusesabagina stated his intention to no longer engage in the court process due to his belief that justice would not be achieved, and accusing the court of not respecting his rights to a fair trial. Rusesabagina did not attend subsequent hearings, with the presiding judge Antoine Muhima ruling that the trial would continue. In July 2021, the court announced that the verdict of the trial would be promulgated on 20 August 2021.

On 20 September 2021, he was found guilty of terrorism-related charges. During the court proceeding, he denounced president Paul Kagame and reported that he had been abducted from exile to stand trial in Rwanda. Following his conviction, Rusesabagina was given a 25-year prison sentence. Human rights advocates stated that they believed the charges were politically motivated due to Rusesabagina's criticism of Kagame. On 24 January 2022, prosecutors in the Kigali court sought life imprisonment for Rusesabagina in the trial.

Criticism
Rusesabagina's lawyers have argued that the arrest was motivated by Rusesabagina's outspoken criticism of the Rwandan government, in line with other arrests and disappearances of dissidents under the presidency of Paul Kagame. They have also argued that his flight to Rwanda was illegal under international law and constitutes extraordinary rendition.

Human Rights Watch called Rusesabagina's trial "flawed" and an example of Rwanda's overreach and manipulation of the country's justice system. Rwandan authorities repeatedly violated Rusesabagina's due process rights during the trial and interfered with his right to counsel. HRW accused Rwanda of violating international criminal laws by kidnapping Rusesabagina.

Family
Rusesabagina's adopted daughter Carine Kanimba has protested against his arrest, calling it politically motivated. Kanimba claimed: "What they're accusing him of is all made up. There is no evidence to what they're claiming...We know this is a wrongful arrest".

Rusesabagina's family is a part of the Bring Our Families Home campaign which advocates to bring home wrongful detainees and hostages. His image is featured in a 15-foot mural in Georgetown (Washington, D.C.) along with other Americans wrongfully detained abroad.

Activists
Human rights activists and celebrities have called for the release of Rusesabagina. Don Cheadle has called for his release. Others who have supported Rusesabagina include Joaquin Phoenix, Doc Rivers, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, and Sophie Okonedo.

CHOGM
Rwanda is hosting the 2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM 2022) and there have been calls for Commonwealth governments to pressure Rwanda to release Rusesabagina.

European Union
The European Union criticised the arrest in February 2021 by adopting a resolution (2021/2543[RSP]) condemning the arrest. The Rwandan parliament criticised the EU resolution, saying that it gave an "unrealistic and baseless characterisation" of his arrest.

United States
The United States government considers Rusesabagina to have been "wrongfully detained." The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution authored by Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20) and Congresswoman Young Kim (CA-39) that calls on the Rwandan government to release Paul Rusesabagina.

U.N. Group on Arbitrary Detention
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found on 18 March 2022 that he had been illegally kidnapped, tortured, and sentenced after an unfair trial. The Working Group stated that: "It is clear on the facts that Mr. Rusesabagina has been targeted by the Government on account of his work as a human rights defender, because of his criticism of the Government on a broad range of human rights issues, including unfair elections and a lack of democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of association and freedom of the press. He has also challenged cases of arbitrary detention, torture and extrajudicial killings." The Working Group called on the Government "to release Mr. Rusesabagina immediately and accord him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law" and "to ensure a full and independent investigation of the circumstances surrounding the arbitrary deprivation of liberty of Mr. Rusesabagina and to take appropriate measures against those responsible for the violation of his rights."Rusesabagina's family welcomed the Working Group's finding, and were "hopeful that the world will listen to this call by the United Nations and put pressure on Rwanda to immediately free our father and husband".

Lawsuits
Some of Rusesabagina's family members are suing charter airline GainJet for not disclosing the true destination of the flight to Rusesabagina and aiding in his kidnapping.

Rusesabagina's family filed a lawsuit against the Rwandan government and high-ranking officials in Rwanda alleging that they conspired to "facilitate and execute an elaborate plot to lure" Rusesabagina from his home in San Antonio to Rwanda "where he would be tortured and illegally detained for the remainder of his life".

Release
On 24 March 2023, Rusesabagina's appeal for clemency was granted following intervention from the United States and Qatar. His sentence was commuted to time served with schedule for release on 25 March 2023.

Awards received

 * 2000 – Immortal Chaplains Prize for Humanity
 * 2005 – Wallenberg Medal of the University of Michigan
 * 2005 – National Civil Rights Museum Freedom Award
 * 2005 – Presidential Medal of Freedom
 * 2005 – Conrad N. Hilton Foundation Humanitarian Award
 * 2007 – Honorary Doctorate of Law from the University of Guelph
 * 2008 – Honorary Degree from Gustavus Adolphus College
 * 2009 – Honorary Degree from Loyola University Chicago
 * 2011 – Tom Lantos Human Rights Prize from the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice

Books
Rusesabagina's story was first told in Philip Gourevitch's book We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families, which was published in 1998.

His autobiography An Ordinary Man (written with Tom Zoellner ISBN 0-670-03752-4) was published by Zach Bell in April 2006.

In 2008, Alfred Ndahiro – a close advisor to Paul Kagame – and Rwandan scholar Privat Rutazibwa wrote Hotel Rwanda: Or the Tutsi Genocide as Seen by Hollwood (ISBN 2-296-05046-8). In 2014, Edouard Kayihura, who hid in the Hotel during the 100 days of genocide, wrote Inside the Hotel Rwanda: The Surprising True Story ... and Why It Matters Today (written with Kerry Zukus ISBN 1-937-85673-9). Both have been critical of Rusesabagina.

In October 2023, Yvonne Uwera, a Rwandan human rights activist published the book "RESCUING THE HERO: A Daughter's Quest to Free The Hotel Rwanda Legend" ISBN-13:979-8863644448 about the Carine Kanimba's relentless fight to free her adoptive father, Paul Rusesabagina.

Film
Rusesabagina's work during the genocide is dramatized in the 2004 movie Hotel Rwanda, he is portrayed by Don Cheadle. Cheadle's performance was met with critical acclaim and the actor was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama and Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role.

title: Paul Rusesabagina