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Talk:Totalitarianism/Archive 1

Suggestions
What this article needs most badly is sections or summary of relevant links on the precise methodology and ideology of regimes, whether by country or by topic. For example, collectivization, secret police, counter-intelligence, censorship, concentration camps, and so forth.

Old talk
How about a page on the criticisms and warnings against Totalitarianism? Totalitarianism/Criticisms, perhaps. Tzartzam 12:12 Sep 7, 2002 (UTC)

 * Pages with slashes in the middle are a relic of an older implementation of the wiki software, as I understand it, and are to be avoided these days. If the subject wanted a page of its own, it would be something like Criticisms of totalitarianism, but really, I think it may as well go on this page under a separate heading.

 * Well, maybe I'll start a criticisms and warnings title, and we could take it from there. George Orwell would be a good start... -- Tzartzam

 * By the way, do I understand correctly that you're going to destroy the system from the inside? ;-) --Camembert

 * Haha! You've been reading my livejournal! Hm. Well, probably not. But, y'know, gotta fight somehow... -- Tzartzam

I think this business of Hitler rising to power democratically is very debatable. The Nazis never got a majority of the vote. Hitler was appointed chancellor through a variety of secret deals with and betrayals of other conservatives. The 32 election was rife with riots and intimidation by the stormtroopers. Finally, the mechanism that gave the Nazis power was ruling by decree, an aspect of the German system that is hard to defend as "democracy". It can be argued that Hitler came to power in large part because Germany was not democratic enough, and did not have deep democratic traditions, having retained aristocratic rule longer than most other major European powers. I think the paragraph should either be deleted, or a fuller discussion of the rise of Hitler inserted. I favor the former, as I think the latter too much a digression.

Hieronymous 05:07, 16 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Cut from article:
 * The terms totalitarian democracy and totalitarian republic have also been used to classify a different style of totalitarian rule. In these regimes, the government is generally popular (at least at the beginning), and the ideological justification of the state comes on behalf of the people. Hitler's initially-democratically-elected regime of Nazi totalitarianism is often used as an example of a totalitarian democracy.

I've never heard of these terms. I have, however heard the claim that "Hitler came to power democratically." Since I'm bewildered by the prospect that any people would vote to give up their freedom, I doubt that this could be true. Historian William Sheridan Allen says it's not true.

Let's label the claim as a POV, or leave it out. --Uncle Ed 21:23, 29 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Michael Ledeen
Cut from article:
 * Michael Ledeen has advanced the theory that the role of the United States should be to impose by war the institutions it associates with democracy - waging what he calls total war to eradicate the prior society. This would imply at least a brief period of totalitarian style control in order to erase that society, and teach the next generation the democratic civics.

Am I reading this right? Someone is advocating the use of totalitarianism to advance the cause of democracy? Sounds like screwing for chastity, if you ask me. I must be reading this wrong.

In postwar Japan, MacArthur imposed a democratic constitution by force. But he didn't establish thought police -- he disbanded them. He didn't class emigration as state treason, he didn't espouse full government control of all newspapers, etc.

Is Ledeen talking about Iraq, or what? Let's find out... --Uncle Ed 14:17, 31 Mar 2004 (UTC)

What about some more comments on the position that the very concept of totalitarianism is unsound, and on the uses to which the authoritarianism vs. totalitarianism distinction has been put? Plenty has been written on the subject. An alternative definition of "totalitarianism" that reflects much of its historical usage might be simply "a dictatorship the speaker does not like", as opposed, of course, to a dictatorship the speaker does like.
 * I think that section on Mr. Ledeen is politically partisan and very POV; this page should be about finding a DEFINITION for and an understanding of TOTALITARIANISM, not for taking jabs at ANY nation, wether they deserve it or not! Tom S.

Inline comment moved from article
Regarding this passage,

 * Both the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany built huge "empires" which came into conflict with the "free world", and Allied forces led by the Soviet Union and the United States (amongst others) liberated Germany on V-E Day. Arendt in particular draws parallels between fascism and Stalinism.

there was the following comment:

 * This is a bit oversimplified: The Soviet Empire collapsed under its own weight. And it doesn't add any value.

I don't know how to resolve the issue, but I figured if I move it here people can at least discuss it. Daniel Brockman 09:32, Jul 31, 2004 (UTC)

"Allied forces led by the Soviet Union and the United States (amongst others)" What a lame way to put this. You might simply refer to 'the allies' to include everyone. Because who else? The Brits! Who else? The French and the Canadians were allies too, but that's starting to stretch what is meant here.

the word "Totalitarian" did not originally imply coercion.
"Totalitarianism is any political system in which a citizen is totally subject to a governing authority in all aspects of day-to-day life."

I can't agree with the very basis of this article. Though am unwilling to change it because of modern usage and the divergent consensus thus far so distant from the delvings into which I've found the word to be used earliest. Though I believe it should be mentioned for people who are willing to look up the original context of the word usage in Fascist Italy, that it was one of 'a totality reifying the state,' and nothing to do with authoritarianism. That Totalitarian meant Total-Authoritarian was only used pejoratively, those who called themselves by it meant nothing of authority in it. It was rather a Syndicalist type conception of 'conforming to the proletariat' by their 'total conception' of social life by which it reflected in their actions to form the state. Not that the state was an entity dictating or administering laws about every aspect of living, but every aspect of living built up was what had to be recognized as the 'state' entity cohesively, i.e. 'Totally.' This is how it was seen by the Italian Fascists as intrinsic about themselves, and not used by the Nazis, Falangists or Communists who didn't adhere to such Actual Idealism. In this context also the Italian Fascist system alone can be applied to the word historically whereas none of the other regimes commonly considered do fit it. Which quite the opposite as the article's current definition, where it's postulation now is opposite to the many regime's own self-classification. Nagelfar 11:18, 4 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I second everything said.

Mussolini's dictatorship resulted from the steady, but irrevocable, degradation of democracy. Clearly some people will feel themselves cheated under any system or will find the new way of life objectionable, and the system that does not permit the expression of dissent invariably becomes coercive. If coercion is not a stated objective of a totalitarian movement or party, it is still inevitable. --66.231.38.91 19:30, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Measuring totalitarianism
In response to Trey Stone, on the subject of measuring totalitarianism, the first paragraph correctly lists the definition of totalitarianism. It is about control of "every aspect" of everyday life. It is not just about "indoctrination" and "political imprisonment." The imprisonment rate is a very fair measure of the degree to which the state finds itself needing to intervene in all the aspects of life total and is hence very relevant to the theory of totalitarianism. Stone's point may be relevant somewhere in the Wikipedia, just not on this page about totalitarianism.

Besides which, thanks in part to the theory of "totalitarianism," many would question what is "political imprisonment" in one context and not supposedly in another. That would be a good question for a page on political prisoners. 198.165.90.75 07:20, 28 Nov 2004 (UTC)

The essence of totalitarianism is control by persons with unaccountable power, even over the use of modern technology, and the will to use it. It is essential that we separate the idea of totalitarianism from any concept of 'evil'. If we want to discuss totalitarianism, we must reject the idea that a particularly nasty sort of government, like Idi Amin's Uganda or Anastasio Somoza's Nicaragua, is totalitarian, should it fail to establish an ideological basis for its rule or establish control of the economy as a means of controlling its subjects. All totalitarian states are pathological, but not all pathological states are totalitarian --66.231.38.91 21:56, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Characteristics of the Soviet Union
I have restored the following material to the article as it contains specific material about the major totalitarian regime of the 20th century. It is derived from pages 63, 64 of The Second Russian Revolution, ISBN 0886876834 This is a companion book to a BBC series of the same name. Fred Bauder 02:59, Jan 2, 2005 (UTC)

Political system
Single party rule, combined with democratic centralism, which, in practice, consisted of a hierarchical structure which with the aid of a secret police organization enforced decisions made by a small group of leaders on members of the ruling party as well on the personnel of all governmental institutions, including the courts, the press, cultural and economic organizations and labor unions.

Economic system
All property and economic organizations were owned and controlled by the state which administered them according to plans developed by a central planning bureaucracy. Economic planners focused on development of heavy industry and defense industries. Consumer goods had a low priority. Imports were strictly controlled especially in the area of consumer goods and food.

Legal system
A large secret police organization monitored public activities closely; substantial efforts were made to discover expressions of dissent especially by government employees and Communist Party members and their families using a network of informers. Control over overt expressions of dissent was achieved through imprisonment, committment to mental hospitals, and especially during establishment of the regime by death. During the first decades of the regime an extensive system of labor camps was maintained, the Gulag. The judicial system was controlled by the Party. Travel was tightly controlled with International borders closed to both entrance or exit.

Ideology
Education and political discourse proceeded on the assumption that it was possible to mould people using collectivist institutional forms into an ideal Soviet man or woman. The validity of ideas, public discourse, and institutional form were evaluated in terms of the official ideology of Marxism-Leninism as interpreted by the leaders of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Russian domination
Despite the formal organization of the Soviet Union as a federation of republics, control was highly centralized in central institutions dominated by Russians. Russian language and culture predominated in education and public discourse. Nationalities which resisted were subject to repression which in the early years of the regime included mass imprisonment and deportation.

Control of information
All publications and electronic media were censored, use of copying machines was rigidly controlled, imports of written material tightly controlled, foreign electonic media jammed. Access to government documents and press archives was strictly limited.

Foreign affairs
The regime maintained close relationships on a world wide basis with revolutionary parties continuing support for an international movement to supplant capitalism with communism. It saw itself as subject to attack by developed capitalist countries and maintained massive defensive forces over many decades in anticipation of war.

Comments regarding characteristics of the Soviet Union

 * Now, why exactly did you place that information here rather than integrating it into the various Soviet Union-related articles? (if it isn't there already) I don't think the page on Totalitarianism should involve a subsection on the characteristics of the Soviet Union or any of the other totalitarian societies, especially since there is no universal consensus on which countries were/are "totalitarian". Instead, we should only post links to the articles dealing with various totalitarian (or allegedly totalitarian) states. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu 03:17, 2 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Why? Well this is the article about totalitaritanism and we should have some specific examples of what is involved. I found this list and liked it. It seemed simple and compact. The article should include a definition of what it discusses with examples. It is true that the articles on the Soviet Union should also contain the information, but as a struggle is anticipated in order to include it in any article it seemed best to start here and conserve all our energy. Fred Bauder 12:25, Jan 2, 2005 (UTC)

 * See comments at Talk:Soviet Union. This is simply a poorly written bunch of random claims, which present a very one-sided picture and mostly aren't even relevant to totalitarism. There are also a lot of factual errors and distortions. For example (just looking at Control of information, even though all sections have just as many problems), access to press archives was not strictly limited. Access to government archives was not strictly limited (only access to classified documents, just like in all other countries, though one can argue there were too many of them). Furthermore, this is not very relevant to totalitarism by itself, since many countries, e.g. Tsarist Russia, censored all publications, many countries censor electronic publications (by which you probably mean TV and radio), for example FCC does this in the United States. Censorship doesn't imply totalitarism.

It is not a bunch of random items. It is derived from pages 63, 64 of The Second Russian Revolution, ISBN 0886876834 This is a companion book to a BBC series of the same name. As to press archives, if you went into a library in the old Soviet Union you could not look at journals or newspapers older than 3 years old. It isn't one thing, it is them all added up into a system. I'm willing to look at any part of this which you feel is not accurate, but remember the information is about the characteristics of the Soviet Union, not other countries which might sin regarding certain particulars. Fred Bauder 19:04, Jan 2, 2005 (UTC)

 * This text simply doesn't add anything valuable to either this article or to Soviet Union. This really looks like an essay about someone's personal opinion and as such is poorly suited for an encyclopedia article. There is little information content that isn't already avialable somewhere else in Wikipedia, but if there is anything, those bits should be rewritten normally in a neutral way and added to relevant articles. Paranoid 13:42, 2 Jan 2005 (UTC)

While some of this information may be scattered around in various places it also belongs in the articles it is relevant to, this article and Soviet Union, although there I going to take 172's suggestion and flush out Politics of the Soviet Union first, perhaps you two can help with that. Fred Bauder 19:04, Jan 2, 2005 (UTC)

Censorship implies Totalitarianism. Detailed discussion of specific Totalitarian states is necessary. Bauder's information is neutral. Soviet apologists should find articles to edit which do not conflict w their POV's. 18:23, 2 Jan 2005 (UTC)

 * Censorship doesn't imply Totalitarianism. Otherwise all countries, in particular United States, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, United Kingdom and others are totalitarian. They all practice censorship to some extent. Paranoid 21:00, 2 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I support the inclusion of the summary for the Soviet Union. Of course, all listed items must properly refer to the corresponding articles about Soviet Union wherever possible. If some references are missing, this would be an indication that more work on Soviet Union articles is to be done. By the way, a similar compacet table for Nazi Germany would be handy, since this is another classical example. Mikkalai 19:26, 2 Jan 2005 (UTC)

 * I hope you don't mind inclusion of more factual information. Paranoid 21:00, 2 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Why is Trotsky in the intro, but not Joseph Stalin?Joe 15:22, 13 July 2005 (UTC)

False and misleading: incompenent or propaganda
I am afraid the USSR section is one good piece of propaganda or incompetency: it mixes true statements with false ones. I agree that this example is important, but it is necessary to weed it out severely. I will try to do this piecesise. Mikkalai 01:43, 3 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Foreign affairs (USSR)
Irrelevant to the definition of totaliarianism. Removed. Mikkalai 01:55, 3 Jan 2005 (UTC)

You reverted and beat me here with the above note. I hope you will reconsider. I have replaced the following which includes the reference information for the entire section:

Foreign affairs
The regime maintained close relationships on a world wide basis with revolutionary parties continuing support for an international movement to supplant capitalism with communism. It saw itself as subject to attack by developed capitalist countries and maintained massive defensive forces over many decades in anticipation of war.

It is particularly inappropriate to remove the reference information. The actual language in the reference (which is actually a definition of Stalinism) reads, "Foreign affairs Stalin and his successors perceived the Soviet Union as being surrounded by enemies. This led to isolation, and arms build-up, and the cultivation of an 'enemy image' of the West." I believe this consciousness of being "at war" with capitalism explains much about the nature of Soviet totalitarianism, as the Nazi notion of being at war with Zionism explains much in that case. Because they are in a state of war there is the danger of spies and sabotage by foreign powers, etc. And the need to control information, dissent, travel, etc. It is in a sense the engine that drives the rest. Fred Bauder 02:05, Jan 3, 2005 (UTC)

 * What you say is true, but it is not what was removed. Mikkalai 02:22, 3 Jan 2005 (UTC)

What is said derogatorily about the Soviet Union is true, but it might just as well be stated in an article called "Soviet totalitarianism". This is an article about a generic character of disparate governments, some claiming to be antitheses of the Soviet system. The Soviet Union may have had the most durable and well-defined of all totalitarian systems, but for balance we need to discuss others for similarities and differences, as well as to illustrate what is totalitarian and what isn't, not only with other communist systems, but also with racist, religious-fundamentalist, and fascist systems. I added Apartheid-era South Africa as an example of totalitarianism on grounds that non-whites living in South Africa experienced economic and personal controls similar in many ways to those that a Soviet citizen might endure, and that the system allowed little opportunity for political opposition even among the privileged whites. I needed say little: one could click on "Apartheid" and get the essence of personal tyranny of most persons living in racist South Africa. I also added Taliban rule in Afghanistan. That nazism, Apartheid, and the Taliban were all hostile to the Marxism and the Soviet Union did not make them any less totalitarian. --66.231.38.91 22:14, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Repression of nationalities
I have restored referenced information regarding repression of nationalities. This is an important part of the totalitarian nature of the Soviet Union. The original language in the source reads, "Nationalities The Soviet Union was a centralized, Russified state. Stalin left his mark even before he became supreme leader: as nationalities commissar under Lenin, he established the basic national frontiers within the Soviet state. Later he incorporated the three Baltic republics of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, plus Western Ukraine (taken from Poland) and Moldavia (taken from Romania). After the war he deported whole nations from their homelands for alleged collaboration with the Germans; these included Crimean Tatars, Meskhetian Turks and ethnic Germans." I think there are some inadequacies in this information, especially with time frame. But it belongs in the article as this is one of the defining characteristics of Soviet totalitarian according to those who have that viewpoint.

Again, what you wrote right now is correct, but this is not what was removed. Removed:
 * Nationalities which resisted were subject to repression which in the early years of the regime included mass imprisonment and deportation.

I personally wrote a number of artciels about repressions of nationalities. I can assure you, their repressions have nothing to do with "resistance to russifiation". I may be wrong, but I will not allow this phrase without original material.

I already see that the book used to create this section was written by underinformed person. For example, the collaboration was far from being "alleged". Mikkalai 02:22, 3 Jan 2005 (UTC)

ignored dictators
The articles provided on the wikipedia web site strangely ignore the mention of so many dictatorships present in the world today.such as the de facto totalitarian dictator {Gadafi} in libya and {al assad} in syria.

We are unable to achieve adequate treatment of Stalin and Hitler, minor characters will just have to wait. Fred Bauder 01:33, Jan 14, 2005 (UTC)

I have added the Apartheid system of the former racist regime of South Africa because (1) by the criterion of an attempt to re-shape human relationships, it is totalitarian, (2) it had a well-defined ideology, (3) it made extensive use of media as an outlet of propaganda, (4) that it systematically repressed and exploited large numbers of people for purposes of re-shaping society contrary to the obvious interests of most of its subjects, (5) it consistently exploited real and imagined dangers of horrific enemies, and (6) that its demise was generally recognized in much the same manner as the demise of other totalitarian (especially Communist) states.

Apartheid depended upon single-party domination that the few eligible voters (whites only, of course) had no means of contesting. The racist Nationalist Party was assured of overwhelming majorities in the parliament that prevented any political change not to its liking. It did not need any personality cult as a basis of power, but the personality cult proved unnecessary.

The Apartheid system, in my opinion, merits inclusion due to its durability (roughly the same as communist states in central and southeastern Europe), its formulation of an anti-democratic ideology, and its distinctiveness as a form of tyranny for many of its subjects. South Africa also had and has a fairly large population, as well as regional importance.--66.231.38.91 19:27, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Problems
The article makes numerous references to the usage of the term by unnamed neoconservatives, but is not engaged in the classic literature on this concept is built by Arendt, Brzezinski, Soper, et al., aside from just briefly mentioning Arendt in the intro. This problem will need to be corrected over time if this is to become a useful encyclopedic entry. 172 17:53, 22 Jan 2005 (UTC)

We can never know the direction of politics. New forms of tyranny can always arise, and each will merit its own explanation. Tyranny may arise in the aftermath of a coup d'état or a violent revolution, devious usurpation, or even the decay of a democratic system. Almost any foreseeable tyranny will be totalitarian in practice, and if so it will merit its own discussion within this article. A discussion of the specific traits of a totalitarian system of the past may not fir some new tyranny, but the broad similarities will most likely apply.

This article is not fixed in form or content; it can adjust itself in a manner that a printed edition of an encyclopedia can never adjust.

Text from Mind control
This text was in Mind control, but does not belong there. See if you can use this here. --Zappaz 04:11, 28 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Totalitarian governments use propaganda repression of freedom of speech to regiment their population. Repression can range from simple censorship through character assassination to threats of outright state-sponsored murder. Stalin's purges offer examples.

deletion of some text
I deleted this:
 * In the case of the Soviet Union, efforts to reform the system to strengthen its economic base under Gorbachev weakened the totalitarian aspects of the Soviet Union into an authoritarianism more vulnerable to internal pressures; in the former socialist regimes of central and southeastern Europe, the stability of communist régimes depended upon military support from the Soviet Union that never came to the aid of communist rulers.

explanation: this doesn't make any sense. Overall, it's a simplification that tosses around some vague terms and doesn't really make sense. It should have no place in the article, until someone can clarify it and back up with any sources. Paranoid 22:08, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * 1) the reform was not intended to strengthen its economic base. Not to mention that even if it did, it brilliantly succeeded to achieve just the opposite result. In fact, the capital investments dropped during Gorbachev's rule and the planned Union-wide modernisation program was not implemented.
 * 2) the hypostasing. You pretend that "weakened the totalitarian aspects of the Soviet Union into an authoritarianism" makes any sense, while it doesn't. What totalitarian aspects? Do you have any references to back up this nonsensical claim?
 * 3) it's all too vague.
 * 4) stability didn't depend on military support.
 * 5) the regime didn't explode from within. The influence of the cold war enemies (the United States, first of all), including the support to the internal opposition (dissidents, etc.) was very significant.

 * I'm leaving for a little while (and so will not be editing anything for about a week if I do decide to), so I'll give my first thoughts:

 * I didn't write that portion, so I'm not sure who the "you" is addressing. In fact, I believe that part was there long before I even touched this article.
 * It does make sense, however it is vague. The connection to the intentions of glasnost and perestroika to totalitarian "devolution" (if you will) could be made much more explicitly, but it isn't complete nonsense.  The question of economic targets could be verified but is mostly common sense--Gorbachev was aware of the "collapse" of already faulty schemes of food production, health care, etc. and wished that his attempt at reforms, rather than being merely a humanitarian gesture of goodwill, would lead to economic expansion and more resources for e.g. military expenditures.  Whether it was a success is completely irrelevant.  He also didn't intend for the whole country to collapse either.
 * From my brief skimming, the connection between the paragraphs sounds a bit strange with it removed, so at the very least it needs tidied by someone a bit more anal than I often bother to be. Also even "explosion from within" itself sounds rather odd.
 * "stability didn't depend on military support" is a flat out lie, particularly (and specifically) in regard to East Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Poland, in that order. If the USSR was not at the backdoor and plenty willing to send troops and supplies, the regimes would have collapsed long before the end of their last decade.
 * It would be prudent to mention the external support for dissident groups, etc., but this didn't change the fact that internal forces removed the regime, not war from outside. --TJive 22:33, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Also see my brief comment at the top of the page. This is relevant to Gorbachev's programs (and posited transition from totalitarianism as well. --TJive 22:35, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)

gcheck tag
I copy-edited the article and removed the gcheck tag, which IMHO didn't need to be there in the first place. I made only a few changes. People with more expertise might consider making the tone a little more vernacular and NPOV in some places, but I don't know enough about the topic to help there. If you want to replace the tag for some reason, by the way, please note that gcheck is no longer used - the template is the new standard. --Epistaxis 20:28, Apr 28, 2005 (UTC)

Totalitarianism in fiction
Animal Farm is a fine read for junior high schoolers but it is an allegory and not a dystopia. The Chronicles of Riddick is not a dystopia either; it is however really bad SF.

Jennifer Government doesn't feature a totalitarian government, if anything the government is the opposite of a Totalitarian one as the government exercises very little control over the corporations whose crimes are at the heart of the book. The book is more of a warning of what may happen if there is too little or no government control over companies and individuals.

Some Eastern European regimes
I deleted the (sloppy) reference to a few movements and governments in Eastern Europe because they were either too vague or inaccurate. The Chetniks were not fascists, and while Hungary experienced Nazi occupation and satellization and Romania quasi-Iron Guard rule, it was not to any significant extent (and of very little significance altogether) as to be considered necessarily totalitarian. If they are to be listed, it should be only in a more comprehensive list of governments which might be considered totalitarian. --TJive 13:32, 17 May 2005 (UTC)

Is this sort of thing a sign of totalitarianism?
June 23, 2005 Karl Rove said that "Liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers." Conservatives, he said, "saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war."

about this time he also said "Al Jazeera now broadcasts the words of Senator Durbin to the Mideast, certainly putting our troops in greater danger. No more needs to be said about the motives of liberals."

President Bush has backed these statements.

Isn't making sweeping remarks attacking a domestic group a sign of totalitarianism?

 * No. --TJive June 30, 2005 17:18 (UTC)
 * How could it be? This is no attempt to control other people; merely voicing the opinion of the administration.  It also accurately reflects the opines of conservatives since 9/11.  Call it what you will, simply preparing for war after being served with an act of one does not make one totalitarian.  Nothing stated above can be classified as totalitarian.  Unless your definition of totalitarian is simply:  anything conservative.  Tom S.

Radical Redefinition Idea!
I've noticed the same problem here as I did on the page for "terrorism". By attempting to find examples to fit the definition, contributors create partisan, heavily POV discussions that simply lead to the rather foolish concept that "it cant be defined". I'm willing to bet that with BOTH pages that if we remove, and enforce ongoing removal, of any and all examples, historical and current, regardless of wether a consensus exists on the worthiness of the examples, then a consensus can be reached on the definition. Then the reader of the article will be free to form his/her own conclusions on what entities fit the definition. I'm going to attempt it. Tom S.
 * Someone take a look... I went ahead and did this to the first two paragraphs. It still makes sense.  I think this will really wiki-ize it into NPOV.  I'm going to spread this view onto Terrorism.  :)  Tom S.

I cant believe someone just ditched my changes without giving me the benefit of talk! How rude! If you look under terrorism I was given the benefit of a talk, and my view is starting to gain some validity there. Give me the benefit of discussion or leave my changes in place. Tom S.

 * Sorry, I was distracted with other things, and then of course the events of earlier today. I do believe in general the change is destructive so as to quite literally neutralize any real life reference to totalitarianism out of deference to any particular regimes.  Most blatantly this is true in the example of the sentence concerning Cuba and Chile were neither were qualified as such but were mentioned explicitly in the context of a dispute over the applicability of the term in ideological and partisan propaganda.  --TJive July 8, 2005 02:29 (UTC)
 * I understand the desire to relate the term to real world examples. The problem is that providing examples can and will start revision wars as ANY political view, no matter how widely criticized, will have its followers.  We all have brains; given a simple, definitional exploration of the concept of totalitarianism, we can think of examples in our own minds.  But the addition or omission of examples injects POV or the appearance thereof.  I, for one, as a member of a free soceity would find it very POV to omit Cuba and Chile as examples of totalitarian governments rather than 'partisan propaganda'.  The article should be modified to omit ALL examples, otherwise it may face revision wars by detractors and supporters of the various examples it DOES provide.  It comes down to this:  the article may state "government X is an example of totalitarinism", and 99% of the world's population may agree with the statement, but someone from the 1% gets offended and adds an alternate example such as "you think Hitler was totalitarian??? oh yeah, well Bush signed the Patriot Act so HE'S totalitarian".  Both true from certain points of view.  Emphasis on Points Of View.  Eliminate ANY example, and enforce the continued emission and there wont be any such problem.  My idea seems to be gaining ground in the terrorism section... should work here too!  Tom S.

 * PS --  I did not even think about the possiblity of those tragic events interfering with the talk.  That was short sighted of me and my complaint comes off as heartless in light of that.  My apologies.  Tom S.

 * I would agree to a more careful treatment of reference of examples--which is to say I'm interested in more significant changes that you might perhaps have in mind, but I don't agree that any reference to particular governments needs sanitized, that is, removed. --TJive July 8, 2005 22:07 (UTC)

Of course the other NPOV way of handling it would be to admit that totalitarianism is in the eye of the beholder to some extent and provide separate lists of examples demonstrating the governments which those on the left believe to be totalitarian and which those on the right believe to be totalitarian. This has the advantage of being more informative than the straightforward omission of all examples. -- Derek Ross | Talk 8 July 2005 22:13 (UTC)

 * No, I don't think so. If it is already difficult enough to accept the terms that the USSR and Nazi Germany are considered totalitarian and working from there it would be impossible to consider what differences are among an amorphous "right" and "left" much less on every question.  --TJive July 8, 2005 22:51 (UTC)

title: Talk:Totalitarianism/Archive 1


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World Scrabble Championship 1991

The World Scrabble Championship 1991 was the first World Scrabble Championship. The winner was Peter Morris, a Canadian, representing the United States.

Plans for a World Scrabble Championship had formed as early as 1986/87. After Coleco bought Selchow and Righter, the company announced that they were interested in helping players to organize a "World-Class Open" in 1988. At the 1987 Nationals, John Williams announced that the first World Scrabble Championship would be held the following summer in New York. It would be 1991, however, before it became a reality.

The 48 players were separated into random groups of 6 and played round robins within their groups. The top 2 players from each group then played a knockout to produce two finalists who played a best-of-three finals.

Morris and Cappelletto split their first two games then met for a final game to decide it all. On his tenth move, Cappelletto made a rare blunder by playing the phony SMAIL instead of CLAIMS. The move may have cost him the championship. As it was, Morris pulled out a complicated end game for a 4-point win and the first world title.

Complete Results

 * Finals
 * Game 1: Morris 463 - Cappelletto 349
 * Game 2: Cappelletto 368 - Morris 301
 * Game 3: Morris 371 - Cappelletto 367

title: World Scrabble Championship 1991


text:
Talk:The Electric Joe Satriani: An Anthology

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text:
Lovehunter

Lovehunter is the second studio album by British band Whitesnake, released in 21 September 1979. It was the bands first UK Top 30 album, charting at No. 29 on the UK Albums Chart. "Long Way from Home", the leading track on the album reached No. 55 on the UK charts, while "Walking in the Shadow of the Blues" was one of the most popular and praised Whitesnake's songs in the beginning. The album became controversial because of its cover art.

Background
The band worked on the album at Clearwell Castle. Like their two previous recordings it was also produced by Martin Birch. It was the group's last album to feature Dave Dowle, before being replaced by ex-Purple drummer Ian Paice.

Marsden recalled that at the time band members argued in "a good, healthy, positive" way and "because of that the band got better and more successful with Ready An' Willing (1980) and Come an' Get It (1981)". He considered it a good record, a sentiment Coverdale didn't share and would have rather released it as an EP.

Both Coverdale and Marsden considered "Walking in the Shadow of the Blues" as one of their best compositions, with Coverdale stating that the song "really summed up my musical approach of the time. It was very much my feeling, my perspective and probably my life's philosophy back then ... Bernie and I put the music together very quickly. It was obviously meant to be as a song. I'm very proud of that one". Eduardo Rivadavia writing for AllMusic described it as combining "near-perfect songwriting with one of Coverdale's maturest and most compelling lyrics".

Cover art
Lovehunter's controversial cover art, showing a naked woman straddling a large snake and blood on her hand from a snake bite, was created by fantasy artist Chris Achilleos. Coverdale recalls such an idea was made as response to the critics, "just to piss them off even more". Actually, it did spur more journalistic criticism for sexism, and the cover was "banned" at the time in the USA (woman was partly covered with a sticker; album sold "in a brown paper bag") and Argentina (woman's was partly airbrushed with a "chain-mail bikini bottom").

It was the last album cover Achilleos designed for many years, until 2003 and Gary Hughes' rock opera Once and Future King Part I. The original Lovehunter artwork was stolen in the 1980s.

Critical reception
The Rolling Stone Album Guide noted that "the playing is as good as on any early-'70s Deep Purple album."

Track listing

 * Side one
 * 1) "Long Way from Home"  (David Coverdale)  – 4:58
 * 2) "Walking in the Shadow of the Blues"  (Coverdale, Bernie Marsden)  – 4:26
 * 3) "Help Me Thro' the Day"  (Leon Russell)  – 4:40
 * 4) "Medicine Man"  (Coverdale)  – 4:00
 * 5) "You 'n' Me"  (Coverdale, Marsden)  – 3:25

 * Side two
 * 1) "Mean Business"  (Coverdale, Micky Moody, Marsden, Neil Murray, Jon Lord, Dave Dowle)  – 3:49
 * 2) "Love Hunter"  (Coverdale, Moody, Marsden)  – 5:38
 * 3) "Outlaw"  (Coverdale, Marsden, Lord)  – 4:04
 * 4) "Rock 'n' Roll Women"  (Coverdale, Moody)  – 4:44
 * 5) "We Wish You Well"  (Coverdale)  – 1:39

Bonus tracks
Lovehunter was remastered and reissued in 2006 with several bonus tracks taken from Andy Peebles BBC Radio 1 sessions recorded 29 March 1979 (tracks originally from the band's debut album Trouble).
 * 1) "Belgian Tom's Hat Trick"  (Moody)  – 3:40
 * 2) "Love to Keep You Warm"  (Coverdale)  – 3:30
 * 3) "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City"  (Michael Price, Dan Walsh)  – 4:54
 * 4) "Trouble"  (Coverdale, Marsden)  – 4:30

Personnel

 * Whitesnake
 * David Coverdale – lead vocals (all but track 8), backing vocals
 * Micky Moody – guitars, slide guitar, backing vocals
 * Bernie Marsden – guitars, backing vocals, co-lead vocals on track 1, lead vocals on track 8
 * Neil Murray – bass
 * Dave Dowle – drums
 * Jon Lord – keyboards

 * Production
 * Martin Birch – producer, engineer, mixing at Central Recorders Studio, London
 * Chris Achilleos – LP artwork

title: Lovehunter


text:
ISO/IEC 7813

ISO/IEC 7813 is an international standard codified by the International Organization for Standardization and International Electrotechnical Commission that defines properties of financial transaction cards, such as ATM or credit cards.

Scope
The standard defines:
 * physical characteristics, such as size, shape, location of magnetic stripe, etc.
 * magnetic track data structures

Physical characteristics
ISO/IEC 7813 specifies the following physical characteristics of the card, mostly by reference to other standards:

 * Embossed characters : by reference to ISO/IEC 7811
 * Embossing of expiration date : the format (MM/YY or MM-YY)
 * Magnetic stripe : by reference to ISO/IEC 7811
 * Integrated circuit with contacts : by reference to ISO/IEC 7816-1
 * Integrated circuit without contacts : by reference to ISO/IEC 10536-1, ISO/IEC 14443-1, and ISO/IEC 15693-1

Track 1
Track 1 can store up to 79 alphanumeric characters. ISO 7813 specifies the following structure for track 1 data:
 * SS : Start sentinel "%"
 * FC : Format code "B" (The format described here. Format "A" is reserved for proprietary use.)
 * PAN : Payment card number 4400664987366029, up to 19 digits
 * FS : Field separator "^"
 * NM : Name, 2 to 26 characters (including separators, where appropriate, between surname, first name etc.)
 * FS : Field separator "^"
 * ED : Expiration data, 4 digits or "^"
 * SC : Service code, 3 digits or "^"
 * DD : Discretionary data, balance of characters
 * ES : End sentinel "?"
 * LRC : Longitudinal redundancy check, calculated according to ISO/IEC 7811-2

Track 2
Track 2 can store up to 40 numeric or special characters; it uses a lower density magnetic encoding than Track 1 but a more compact character encoding. ISO 7813 specifies the following structure for track 2 data:
 * SS : Start sentinel ";"
 * PAN : Primary Account Number, up to 19 digits, as defined in ISO/IEC 7812-1
 * FS : Field separator "="
 * ED : Expiration date, YYMM or "=" if not present
 * SC : Service code, 3 digits or "=" if not present
 * DD : Discretionary data, balance of available digits
 * ES : End sentinel "?"
 * LRC : Longitudinal redundancy check, calculated according to ISO/IEC 7811-2

Track 3
Track 3 uses the same density as track 1 but has the same character encoding as track 2, allowing it to store 107 numeric characters. It is virtually unused by the major worldwide networks and often isn't present on payment cards.

A notable exception to this is Germany, where Track 3 content was used nationally as the primary source of authorization and clearing information for debit card processing prior to the adoption of the "SECCOS" ICC standards. Track 3 is standardized nationally to contain both the cardholder's bank account number and branch sort code (BLZ).

Programming
Parsing Track 1 and Track 2 can be done with Regular Expressions.

Track 1
This Regex will capture all of the important fields into the following groups:

 * Group 1: Payment card number (PAN)
 * Group 2: Name (NM)
 * Group 3: Expiration Date (ED)
 * Group 4: Service Code (SC)
 * Group 5: Discretionary data (DD)

Track 2

 * Group 1: Primary Account Number (PAN)
 * Group 2: Expiration date (ED) or
 * Group 3: Service code (SC) or
 * Group 4: Discretionary data (DD) or empty
 * Group 4: Discretionary data (DD) or empty

Implementations

 * Magnetic Track Parser, a Java library to parse magnetic track data
 * Credit Card Track Data Parser, a Javscript library is for parsing credit card track data such as might be returned from a USB card reader
 * magnet, a Ruby library for decoding the track data on magnetic stripe cards
 * Magnetic-Stripe-Parser a .NET C Sharp library to parse magnetic track data direct from stream reader

title: ISO/IEC 7813


text:
Ramdas Kadam

Ramdas Gangaram Kadam  (born 23 July 1953) is an Indian politician from Maharashtra. He was Member of the Legislative Assembly from Khed Vidhan Sabha constituency of Ratnagiri District, Maharashtra, India as a member of Shiv Sena. He has been elected consecutively for 4 terms in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for 1990, 1995, 1999 and 2004. He got elected to Maharashtra Legislative Council from Shiv Sena Party in Jan. 2010. He was Cabinet Minister of Environment in Maharashtra State Government and guardian minister of Nanded district.

Positions held

 * 1990: Elected to Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (1st term)
 * 1995: Re-Elected to Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (2nd term)
 * 1999: Re-Elected to Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (3rd term)
 * 2004: Re-Elected to Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (4th term)
 * 2005-2009: Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly
 * 2005 Onwards: Leader, Shiv Sena
 * 2010: Elected to Maharashtra Legislative Council (1st term)
 * 2014: Cabinet Minister of Environment (पर्यावरण) in Maharashtra State Government
 * 2014-2018: Guardian minister of Aurangabad
 * 2015: Re-elected to Maharashtra Legislative Council (2nd term)
 * 2014-2018: Appointed Guardian minister of Nanded district

title: Ramdas Kadam


text:
Rose Bertin

Marie-Jeanne "Rose" Bertin (2 July 1747, Abbeville, Picardy, France – 22 September 1813, Épinay-sur-Seine) was a French fashion merchant. She was particularly noted for her work with Queen Marie Antoinette. Bertin was the first celebrated French fashion designer and is widely credited with having brought fashion and haute couture to the forefront of popular culture.

Biography
Marie-Jeanne Bertin was the daughter of Nicolas Bertin (d. 1754) and Marie-Marguerite Méquignon, and spent her childhood in St Gilles in Picardie. She was the sixth of seven children born to the couple. Bertin's family was of small means; her mother worked as a nurse, which at the time was a profession with very low salary and status, and the financial situation became even worse after the death of her father, who had worked in the local constabulary.

Early career
Bertin's home town of Abbeville had a tradition of textile manufacture, reaching back to 1665 when Louis XIV's finance minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert established a manufacture of fine cloth in the Spanish and Dutch style in the area. Bertin probably acquired knowledge of textiles from a young age. When she was nine years old, Bertin was apprenticed to a fashion merchant in Abbeville, Victoire Barbier, who appears to have been a distant aunt.

In the mid-1760s Bertin moved to Paris, where she became apprenticed to a successful fashion merchant, Mademoiselle Pagelle, with clients among the aristocracy. Bertin's early success can be attributed to her good relations with the Princesse de Conti, the Duchesse de Chartres and the Princesse de Lamballe, who would one day arrange her meeting with Marie Antoinette.

In 1770, Bertin opened her own shop, Le Grand Mogol, on the Rue Saint-Honoré with the support of the Duchesse de Chartres (it moved to 26 Rue de Richelieu in 1789). She quickly found customers among influential noble ladies at Versailles, many of whom followed her from Mademoiselle Pagelle's, including many ladies-in-waiting to the new Dauphine, Marie Antoinette.

Fashion merchant to Marie Antoinette
Before Marie Antoinette arrived in France from Austria, she had been schooled in the nuances of galant spoken French and French fashions. She was introduced to Bertin in the summer of 1774. Marie Antoinette commissioned Bertin to make her robes for the Coronation of Louis XVI, which were reportedly so heavy that they had to be carried to Rheims from Paris on a stretcher.

Marie Antoinette was so enamoured of her fashion merchant that she abolished the historic custom of dressing in public in a formal levée ceremony, choosing instead to be dressed in private by Bertin. Twice a week, Bertin would present her newest creations to the queen and spend hours discussing them. The queen adored her wardrobe and was passionate about every detail, and Bertin, as her milliner, became her confidante and friend. Her position as the designer to the queen also secured her role as the leading fashion designer of the French aristocracy and, as French fashion was the leader in Europe, the central figure of European fashion.

Called "Minister of Fashion" by her detractors, Bertin was the brains behind almost every new dress commissioned by the queen. Dresses and hair became Marie Antoinette's personal vehicles of expression, and Bertin clothed the queen from 1770 until her deposition in 1792. Bertin became a powerful figure at court, and she witnessed—and sometimes effected—profound changes in French society. Her large, ostentatious gowns ensured that their wearer occupied at least three times as much space as their male counterpart, thus making the woman a more imposing presence. Her creations also established France as the center of the fashion industry, and from then on, dresses made in Paris were sent to London, Venice, Vienna, Saint Petersburg and Constantinople. This inimitable Parisian elegance established the worldwide reputation of French couture.

In the mid-18th century, French women had begun to "pouf" (raise) their hair with pads and pomade and wore oversized luxurious gowns. Bertin used and exaggerated the leading modes of the day, and created poufs for Marie Antoinette with heights up to three feet. The pouf fashion reached such extremes that it became a period trademark, along with decorating the hair with ornaments and objects which showcased current events. Working with Léonard Autié, the queen's hairdresser, Bertin created a coiffure that became the rage all over Europe: hair would be accessorized, stylized, cut into defining scenes, and modeled into shapes and objects—ranging from recent gossip to nativities to husbands' infidelities, to French naval vessels such as the Belle Poule, to the pouf aux insurgents in honor of the American Revolutionary War. The queen's most famous coif was the "inoculation" pouf that she wore to publicize her success in persuading the king to be vaccinated against smallpox.

Clothing had long served in France as one of the most visible markers of social privilege and aristocratic status. Antoinette was known for wearing many of the new groundbreaking fashions. Bertin came up with the idea of the chemise à la Reine or robe “en Gaulle”, a more free-flowing gown, which was initially created for Marie-Antoinette and was one of her favorite silhouettes. The dress sparked a mini-revolution and became very popular from 1781 onwards. It was a gown made to be worn in private spaces and made of white cotton, gauze, or silk. It was straight, very low cut and it was fastened with a belt around the waist, lightly accentuating the female figure. Antoinette and Bertin popularized English-inspired, sporty fashion, inspired by equestrian fashion. All the dresses were made of expensive fabrics such as silk, velvet, and very rarely cotton. It took hard work and dedication to create such masterpieces.

Marie Antoinette also asked Bertin to dress dolls in the latest fashions as gifts for her sisters and her mother, the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. Bertin's fashion dolls were called "Pandores," and were made of wax over jointed wood armatures or porcelain. There were small ones the size of a common toy doll, or large ones as big or half as big as a real person, petites Pandores and grandes Pandores. Fashion dolls as couriers of modes remained in vogue until the appearance of Fashion magazines.

With the queen's patronage, Bertin's name became synonymous with the sartorial elegance and excess of Versailles. Bertin's close relationship with the queen provided valuable background into the social and political significance of fashion at the French court. The frequent meetings between the queen and her couturière were met, however, with hostility from the poorer classes, given Bertin's high prices: her gowns and headdresses could easily cost twenty times what a skilled worker of the time earned in a year.

During Marie Antoinette's imprisonment, Bertin continued to receive orders from her former prized customer, for much smaller, almost negligible ribbons and simple alterations. She was to provide the former queen's mourning outfit following the execution of Louis XVI, recalling a dream that Marie Antoinette had had years before of her favorite milliner handing her ribbons that all turned to black.

French Revolution
The French Revolution did not immediately diminish her business despite the emigration of many of her clients abroad, and she continued to be in favor of the queen, though the bills were significantly lower.

According to Léonard Autié, he, Bertin and Henriette Campan collectively contributed to the secret negotiations between the queen and Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau by informing her about political gossip and public opinion and the fear that Mirabeau would ally himself with the Duke of Orléans. Their information allegedly convinced the queen to meet Auguste Marie Raymond d'Arenberg in the rooms of her maid Marie-Élisabeth Thibault and ask him to meet with Mirabeau in the home of Florimond Claude, Comte de Mercy-Argenteau, resulting in contact between the queen and Mirabeau.

Bertin made several journeys abroad during the Revolution, which attracted attention. She made a trip to England and Germany in 1791–92, leading to suspicions that she was acting as Marie Antoinette's agent. According to these speculations, she secretly visited Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor to deliver a message from Marie Antoinette, as the latter's correspondence was scrutinized and an oral message through a loyal messenger was regarded as the safest method to deliver a sensitive message across borders. This is unconfirmed, but not improbable, as the queen is confirmed to have used her hairdresser Léonard Autié as a messenger during the Flight to Varennes, and it is noted that Henriette Campan claimed that the queen managed to get secret messages to her nephew the emperor during this period. Officially, these were business trips, and Bertin is confirmed to have been in Germany in July 1791, when her presence is noted at the French émigré court in the Castle Schoenbornhut in Koblenz, where she was said to have contributed to the extravagant fashion of the women attending the court.

Bertin was absent from France during the September Massacres, which resulted in her being placed in the list of émigrés. She managed to have herself removed from the list and returned to France in December 1792 to attend to her business. During this stay, popular legend says she destroyed her account books in order to spare the queen from having her bills used against her during her trial. However, this does not appear to be true: all the bills of the queen prior to August 1792 were already in the possession of the government through Henry, liquidator of the civil estate, and there was at that point not yet a trial planned against Marie Antoinette. It would therefore have been pointless for Bertin to destroy her account books for that reason, and the bills of Marie Antoinette were in fact inherited by her heirs, who would demand payment of them until 1830.

In February 1793, Bertin left France for London. For a while, she was able to serve her old clients among the émigrés, and her fashion dolls continued to circulate among European capitals, as far away as Saint Petersburg. During these years, her main income was through demanding payment of bills owed to her by her old foreign clients, such as the queen of Sweden, Sophia Magdalena of Denmark. Her business in Paris still operated, despite her absence, through representatives she appointed and money she sent to it from London, and she still delivered orders to Marie Antoinette.

Later career
In January 1795, Bertin managed to have her name struck from the list of émigrés through her lawyer, who claimed that she had been absent legally since she left the country for business purposes on a legal passport from July 1792 (omitting her stay in France December 1792-February 1793), and she was thus free to return and resume her business. She is alleged to have acted as a secret messenger for émigrés during this trip, and it is known that she provided them with funds, but this could have been merely a sign of her well-known generosity.

Her business never fully recovered, but continued on a smaller scale. This was partially because of inflation and partially because fashions changed after the French Revolution ended. Joséphine de Beauharnais was among her clients, and she had foreign clients such as Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily (1799) and Maria Luisa of Parma (1808). She was eventually replaced as the leading fashion designer by Louis Hippolyte Leroy.

As the nineteenth century dawned, Bertin transferred her business to her nephews and retired to her estate in Épinay. She died in 1813 in Épinay-sur-Seine.

Acquisition of the nickname 'Rose'
As historian Michelle Sapori has noted, Bertin was not known as 'Rose' during her lifetime. The nickname Rose came to be associated with female fashion merchants in general after the publication of Pierre-Jean-Baptiste Nougaret's 1769 novel Ainsi va le monde, which featured a heavily romanticised fashion merchant character called Rose. After Bertin's death, a memoir was published purporting to have been written by Bertin, which was in fact the work of Jacques Peuchet. Peuchet took several liberties in his account of Bertin's life, including inventing love affairs. He used the name Rose to associate the real figure of Bertin with the romanticized image of fashion merchants in the popular imagination.

Famous quote
Bertin is said to have remarked to Marie Antoinette in 1785, when presenting her with a remodelled dress, "Il n'y a de nouveau que ce qui est oublié" ("There is nothing new except what has been forgotten").

title: Rose Bertin


text:
Bobo Brazil

Houston Harris (July 10, 1924 – January 20, 1998) was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Bobo Brazil. Credited with breaking down barriers of racial segregation in professional wrestling, Harris is considered one of the first black professional wrestlers.

Early life
Houston Harris was born on July 10, 1924, in Little Rock, Arkansas, but later lived in East St. Louis, Illinois, and Benton Harbor, Michigan. His father died when he was seven years old, which resulted in him doing odd jobs such as working on a local fruit farm for fifty cents a container. He played baseball in the Negro leagues for The House of David, where he was discovered to become a wrestler at a steel mill.

Professional wrestling career
Harris was trained by Joe Savoldi after meeting him at matches at the Naval Armory. Savoldi originally named Harris "BuBu Brasil, The South American Giant," where he wrestled using a sequined satin cape stitched together by his wife, but a promoter misprinted his first name as "Bobo" in an advertisement, and the name stuck with Harris throughout his career. During that time, segregation in the South normally limited African-American wrestlers to wrestling other African-American wrestlers; Harris proved so popular that promoters put aside their prejudices in order to make money.

Brazil's first recorded match was on March 29, 1948, in Benton Harbor, wrestling as "Houston Harris, The Black Panther" against Armand Myers to a 30-minute draw. Harris was taught by Joe Savoldi to "be an honest athlete in the ring and never to take shortcuts on anybody to win a match. He was instilled to be a crowd’s friend right to the end." Finding success in Detroit, Brazil developed a fanbase among both the black and white populace with his modesty and stylish dress and professionalism, making him a big draw and an appealing babyface to both races of fans. Although loved by fans, Brazil nonetheless dealt with bigotry and discrimination during that time. In the era when Harris ascended to stardom, African American fans were forced to sit in areas that made it hard to see his matches; Harris himself was banned from going to restaurants, hotels, and even wrestling in certain territories due to the color of his skin. In the early 50s, he also performed in Japan.

Brazil had many matches with competitors such as Killer Kowalski, Dick the Bruiser, Johnny Valentine, Haystacks Calhoun and The Sheik, who feuded with Brazil over the course of several decades, with a variety of their matches being acclaimed bloody matchups. These and other rivals would all fall victim to Brazil's finishing maneuver, the Coco Butt. Brazil also once wrestled Bill Miller to a draw, and challenged Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship in a battle of two top babyface competitors. On October 18, 1962, Brazil defeated "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers by hitting him in the groin causing Rogers to be unable to continue. Brazil refused the championship and they met a couple of weeks later and Rogers won. At the time, the promoters were working a gimmick where the champion would be hit in the groin and the challenger wouldn't accept the title. The same scenario occurred in Toronto two weeks earlier with Bruno Sammartino and Rogers. Neither Brazil nor Sammartino were officially recognized by the NWA as having won the World Heavyweight Championship. (This distinction is usually given to Ron Simmons, the first recognized African American world champion after winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship).

On October 9, 1970, Brazil and El Mongol defeated Mr. Ito and The Great Ota in the first racially mixed match in Atlanta history. Brazil served as a mentor to wrestler "Soulman" Rocky Johnson and was inspirational to boxer Joe Frazier. Brazil's manager was James Dudley, the first African American to be in charge of a major arena in the United States. Dudley would run to the ring waving a towel, as Brazil followed behind. Brazil retired in 1993 after a four-decade career. His last official match was in Chicago, Illinois against Kelly Kiniski, son of rival Gene Kiniski. Brazil was inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame class of 1994 by longtime rival Ernie Ladd. The following year, Brazil inducted Ladd into the WWF Hall of Fame.

Personal life and death
Harris had a wife and six children. After retiring from wrestling, he ran a restaurant called Bobo's Grill which lasted for more than 20 years.

His son Karl (born 1952) wrestled as Bobo Brazil Jr. in the independent circuit. His brother wrestled as Hank James.

Harris died on January 20, 1998, at the Lakeland Medical Center in St. Joseph, Michigan. He had been admitted to the hospital on January 14 and used a wheelchair, after suffering a series of strokes.

Championships and accomplishments

 * Big Time Wrestling (Detroit)
 * NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (Detroit version) (9 times)
 * NWA World Tag Team Championship (Detroit version) (8 times) – with Art Thomas (1), Bill Miller (1), Athol Layton (1), The Stomper (1), Tony Marino (3) and Fred Curry (1)
 * Big Time Wrestling (San Francisco)
 * NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (San Francisco version) (1 time)
 * Championship Wrestling from Florida
 * NWA Florida Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Sweet Brown Sugar (1) and Dusty Rhodes (1)
 * Eastern Sports Association
 * ESA North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
 * Class of 2023
 * Japan Wrestling Association
 * NWA International Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
 * Maple Leaf Wrestling
 * NWA Canadian Open Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Whipper Billy Watson
 * NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (Toronto version) (1 time)
 * Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling
 * NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (Mid-Atlantic version) (1 time)
 * Midwest Wrestling Association (Ohio)
 * MWA Ohio Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * MWA Ohio Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Frankie Talaber
 * National Wrestling Alliance
 * NWA Hall of Fame (Class of 2013)
 * NWA Hollywood Wrestling/Worldwide Wrestling Associates
 * NWA Americas Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
 * NWA "Beat the Champ" Television Championship (1 time)
 * NWA International Television Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Wilbur Snyder (2), Sandor Szabo (1), and Primo Carnera (1)
 * NWA Pacific Coast Heavyweight Championship (Los Angeles version) (1 time)
 * WWA World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
 * Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
 * Television Era (Class of 2008)
 * Pro Wrestling Illustrated
 * PWI Editor's Award (1998)
 * Superstars of Wrestling
 * SoW United States Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * World Wrestling Association (Indianapolis)
 * WWA World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
 * WWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Chris Carter
 * World Wide Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Federation
 * WWWF United States Heavyweight Championship (7 times)
 * WWF Hall of Fame (Class of 1994)
 * Wrestling Observer Newsletter
 * Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)
 * Other championships
 * World Negro Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

1 Not officially recognized as champion because conflicting interests

title: Bobo Brazil


text:
William A. Welch

Major William Addams Welch (August 20, 1868 – May 4, 1941) was an American engineer and environmentalist who would have a major impact on the state and national park systems of the United States. Born in Cynthiana, Kentucky, he obtained a civil engineering degree from Colorado College in 1882 and a master's degree from the University of Virginia in 1886.

Background
In the 1890s, working for the U.S. government in Alaska, he assembled the first iron steamship to be built in that territory. He also designed railroads in southwest Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela, and worked on the legendary 228 mi Madeira-Mamoré Railway in Bolivia. In 1907, yellow fever forced him to return to the U.S. where he worked for John C. and Frederick Law Olmsted.

In 1912, he was hired as assistant engineer by George W. Perkins, chairman of the newly formed Palisades Interstate Park Commission (PIP), and in 1914, he was made chief engineer and general manager. Under his leadership, Bear Mountain State Park and Harriman State Park grew from an initial 10000 acre to 43000 acre. By 1919, it was estimated that a million people a year were coming to the park. In the early 1920s, Welch's engineering work gained nationwide attention when he built Storm King Highway into the sheer cliffs above the Hudson River north of Bear Mountain.

When Welch started work on Bear Mountain State Park and Harriman State Park, there were no existing models or precedents to guide him. Welch organized a massive reforestation program, built 23 new lakes, a hundred miles of scenic drives and 103 children's camps, where 65,000 urban children enjoyed the outdoors each summer. He helped found the Palisades Interstate Park Trail Conference and served as chairman of the Appalachian Trail Conference.

The Boy Scouts of America presented the Silver Buffalo Award to Welch in 1927 for his work in engineering and conservation. Lake Welch in Harriman State Park is named after him.

title: William A. Welch


text:
World Scrabble Championship 1993

The World Scrabble Championship 1993 was the second World Scrabble Championship. The winner was Mark Nyman, representing the United Kingdom, as this was before the countries of the UK were given individual representation.

The first 15 rounds used modified Swiss pairing. After this, players #1 and #3 and players #2 and #4 played a best-of-five semifinal to determine the finalists while the remaining 64 players played three more games. The semifinals were followed by a best-of-five finals while the two other semifinalists played a best-of-five match to determine third and fourth place.

The first game of the finals looked like it would go Nyman's way when he bingoed with MUTAGENIC from an MU on his second play and then challenged off Wapnick's DOX. But Nyman later played a phony of his own (VERGINGS) and then got stuck with the Q while Wapnick drew both blanks and won by 38.

In game two, Wapnick drew both blanks again and won by almost 100 points, aided by the 102-point DYSURIC.

Game three was tight until Nyman played two successive bingos and went on to a 530-victory. The fourth game again started close, until Wapnick scored 212 points on three successive turns (though he missed a 107-point bingo in the process) and took a seemingly insurmountable 174-point lead. A few turns later, Wapnick had the opportunity to take a 212 point lead with HELMING, but the play would have opened a triple-triple line with both blanks unseen so he opted for a more conservative 41-point play and still led by 170. Against the odds, Nyman came back with a 50-point X play and bingos with both blanks and went on to a devastating 9-point victory.

The key point in the final game came when Wapnick, holding a blank, played STUM instead of SMUR (of which he was unsure). Nyman then bingoed with BEDAWIN setting up an S-hook on the O column. Unable to play a bingo ending in S because of his STUM play, Wapnick instead played GROANERs when he could have blocked the O column with ORANGiER. Sure enough, Nyman drew an S and played VELURES for 91 points then coasted to an easy win to become the first non-North American to win the world championship.

Complete Results

 * Semifinals
 * Mark Nyman 3 – David Gibson 2
 * Joel Wapnick 3 – Gareth Williams 2
 * Consolation Match
 * David Gibson 3 – Gareth Williams 2
 * Finals
 * Game 1: Wapnick 446 – Nyman 408
 * Game 2: Wapnick 443 – Nyman 357
 * Game 3: Nyman 530 – Wapnick 374
 * Game 4: Nyman 469 – Wapnick 460
 * Game 5: Nyman 417 – Wapnick 369

title: World Scrabble Championship 1993


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Jimmy Gnecco

James Francis Gnecco III (born September 30, 1973) is an American singer, songwriter and multi instrumentalist who makes music both under his name and the moniker Ours. Gnecco is known for his multi-octave vocal range and singing style, often described as 'dramatic and emotional'.

Career
Gnecco began making music in 1988. He would play under the names Lost Child and Harmony Bandits before Ours formed officially in 1992. Gnecco's first album, Sour (1994), was a demo compilation with which he was dissatisfied. In 2005 he said, "In 1994, I was only 20 years old, and labels with offering record deals to me, but I knew I was too young, that's not where I was going yet. So, I made one demo record with that Ours line-up and then left it; I didn't want to be known as the ex-singer from those Sour recordings. The band on Sour is not Ours- we were just a bunch of young kids, just messing around. I wasn't allowed to be insane, like I wanted, and I had no patience, and wondered why we felt we had to put it out."

In 1997, he signed to DreamWorks Records and released two records under the label before its disbandment. Ours released their fourth record 'Ballet the Boxer I' on their own label Cage Recording Co. The band toured with acts such as The Cult, A-Ha, Powderfinger, The Wallflowers, Marilyn Manson, Blue October and Filter.

Gnecco also contributed on the track "Our Final Hymn" from Neverending White Lights' debut album, Act 1: Goodbye Friends of the Heavenly Bodies and also the track "Dove Coloured Sky" from their second album Act 2: The Blood and the Life Eternal.

In 2004 Gnecco and Brian May of the band Queen recorded "Someone to Die For", a duet for the Spider-Man 2 soundtrack. The song is written by Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider of Eleven in collaboration with Chris Cornell.

In 2006 Gnecco sang a cover of Big Country's "Big Country" for a Kohl's television commercial.

Gnecco released his debut solo album, entitled The Heart, on July 20, 2010, via indie label Bright Antenna.

Gnecco toured with Norwegian band A-ha as a supporting act of the band during the concerts of October and November 2010 of A-ha's farewell tour Ending on a High Note.

In 2011 he collaborated with A-ha's Paul Waaktaar-Savoy in a new band called Weathervane.

In 2013, Gnecco contributed vocals to two tracks for the game Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, "Collective Consciousness" and "It Has To Be This Way".

In 2022, Gnecco appeared on Stone Temple Pilots's bassist Robert DeLeo's single Love is Not Made Of Gold.

Discography
Ours have released five official albums to date: Ours (2021), New Age Heroine II (2018), Ballet the Boxer 1 (2013), Mercy (Dancing for the Death of an Imaginary Enemy) (2008), Precious (2002), and their label debut Distorted Lullabies (2001). They have also released an EP titled Media Age (2020).

title: Jimmy Gnecco


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title: User talk:Jawdirk


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Sarbadars

The Sarbadars (from sarbadār, "head on gallows"; also known as Sarbedaran سربداران) were a mixture of religious dervishes and secular rulers that came to rule over part of western Khurasan in the midst of the disintegration of the Mongol Ilkhanate in the mid-14th century (established in 1337). Centered in their capital of Sabzavar, they continued their reign until Khwaja 'Ali-yi Mu'ayyad submitted to Timur in 1381, and were one of the few groups that managed to mostly avoid Timur's famous brutality.

Religion
The Sarbadar state was marked by divisions in religious belief during its existence. Its rulers were Shi'i, though often Sunnis claimed leadership among the people with the support of Ilkhanid rulers. The leadership of the Shi'is stemmed chiefly from the charisma of Sheikh Khalifa; a scholar from Mazandaran, the shaikh had arrived in Khurasan some years before the founding of the Sarbadar state and was subsequently murdered by Sunnis. His successor, Hasan Juri, established the former's practices in the Sarbadar state. The followers of these practices were known as "Sabzavaris" after the city. The Sabzavaris, however, were divided; among their number were moderate Shi'is who were often at odds with the dervishes, adherents of a mystic ideology. The capital city of Sabzavar likely had a large Shi'ite community, but as the Sarbadars conquered the neighboring territory, they acquired cities with Sunni populations.

Government
The Sarbadars are unique among the major contenders in post-Ilkhanid Persia in that none of their leaders ruled as legitimate sovereigns. None of them had a legitimate claim to the Ilkhanid throne, or were related to a Mongol or any other royal house, and none of them had previously held a high post within the Ilkhanate. While they on occasion recognized claimants to the Ilkhanid throne as their overlord, they did so purely as a matter of convenience, and in all other aspects they had no ties to the Ilkhanate. This fact had a strong influence regarding the nature of the Sarbadar political state.

The Sarbadars had a form of government which would, in modern times, probably be identified as an oligarchy or a republic. Unlike their neighbors, the Sarbadars had no dynastic lines; power usually went to the most ambitious. This view is not universally held, however. Some point to the fact that one of the Sarbadar rulers, Vajih al-Din Mas'ud, produced a son who also eventually reigned, named Lutf Allah. While seven other rulers separated the reign of Mas'ud and that of his son, those seven rulers are sometimes considered regents for Lutf Allah, until he was old enough to grab power for himself. Nevertheless, the seven are generally considered the heads of state in their own right.

A ruler would hold power for as long as he could; the fact that several of them met violent deaths was a sign of the instability that plagued the state for most of its existence. The founder of the Sabadar state, 'Abd al-Razzaq, used the title of amir during his reign. While many of the Sarbadar leaders were secular, the dervishes also had their turns in power, and on occasion they ruled the state in co-dominion with each other; such partnerships, however, tended to fall apart quickly. Because the two sides held radically different views on how the Sarbadar government should be run, there were often drastic changes in policy as one side would supplant the other as the most powerful.

Foundation
The Sarbadar state came into existence around early 1337. At that time, much of Khurasan was under the control of the Ilkhanid claimant Togha Temur and his amirs. One of his subjects, 'Ala' al-Din Muhammad, had jurisdiction over the city of Sabzavar. His oppressive taxation of the area caused an 'Abd al-Razzaq, a member of the feudal ruling class, to murder a government official in Bashtin, a district of the city. The official was a nephew of 'Ala' al-Din, and 'Abd al-Razzaq raised the standard of revolt. The rebels at first settled in the mountains, where they defeated militias sent against them and raided caravans and herds of cattle, and then in the summer of 1337 took possession of Sabzavar. Togha Temur was most likely campaigning in the west at this time, against the Jalayirids, making him unable to deal with the revolt. 'Abd al-Razzaq took the title of amir and had coins made in his name, but he was stabbed to death by his brother Vajih al-Din Mas'ud during an argument in 1338. Mas'ud, taking command of the Sarbadars, made peace with Togha Temur, promising to recognize him as sovereign and to pay taxes to him. The khan agreed, in the hope that it would put a stop to the Sarbadar raids on his supply trains.

In the meantime, Shaikh Kalifa's follower Hasan Juri had been preaching in towns all across Khurasan, with great success. His accomplishments attracted the suspicion of the government authorities, and in May 1336 he fled to eastern Iraq. When he returned some years later, Togha Temur's lieutenant and commander of the Ja'un-i Qurban Arghun Shah had him arrested in 1339 or 1340. He was eventually released, perhaps due to the insistence of Mas'ud, who soon after decided to take advantage of Hasan Juri's popularity. He joined Hasan's order as a novice, and had him proclaimed as joint ruler. Hasan Juri proclaimed that the Twelfth Imam would soon return. While the sharing of power began well, differences quickly emerged between the two. Mas'ud believed in accepting the nominal suzerainty of Togha Temur, while Hasan Juri was intent on establishing a Shi'i state. The two rulers each gained bases of support; the former had his family and the gentry, while the latter had the dervishes, the aristocracy, and the trade guilds. Both also had their own armed forces; Mas'ud had 12,000 armed peasants and a bodyguard of 700 Turkish slave troops, while Hasan Juri had an army composed of artisans and merchants.

In 1340 Mas'ud moved against the Ja'un-i Qurban under Arghun Shah; the latter was forced to abandon Nishapur and retreat to Tus. The Sarbadars continued to mint coins in Togha Temur's name, in the hope that he would ignore this move as he was campaigning in the west again at this time. The khan, however, moved against them; his forces were destroyed, and while fleeing to Mazandaran several important figures such as 'Ala' al-Din (formerly in charge of Sabzavar), 'Abd-Allah, and Togha's own brother 'Ali Ke'un were killed. The Sarbadars gained control of Jajarm, Damghan and Simnan, along with Togha's capital of Gurgan. Mas'ud and Hasan Juri, however, soon came into disagreement over several issues. Mas'ud, following the defeat of Togha Temur, gained a new suzerain in the form of Hasan Kucek of the Chobanids, as well as the latter's puppet khan Sulaiman. Mas'ud considered the move necessary; with the conquest of Simnan, the Chobanids were now neighbors. Since the Chobanids were Sunnis, however, this doubtless did not go over well with Mas'ud's co-ruler.

With the defeat of the Ja'un-i Qurban and Togha Temur, the Sarbadars still had one more force to contend with in Khurasan: the Kartids of Herat. Their leader Mu'izz al-Din Husain also recognized Togha Temur's overlordship, and when the Sarbadars threw off the khan's nominal rule, they became enemies. The Sarbadars decided to destroy the Kartids with an offensive campaign. The armies of the two forces met at the Battle of Zava on July 18, 1342. The battle started out well for the Sarbadars, but then Hasan Juri was taken and killed. His supporters, assuming (perhaps correctly) that his death had been the result of an assassin of Mas'ud, promptly retreated, turning the tide of the battle. The Kartids therefore survived. Following the return home, Mas'ud attempted to rule without the support of the dervishes, but his power was decreased. He attempted to end the threat of Togha Temur, who had in the meantime made his camp in the Amul region and was preventing the Sarbadars from staying in contact with the Chobanids. Mas'ud undertook a campaign against him in 1344 which got off to a good start, but ended in disaster. On the route from Sari to Amul, the Sarbadar army was trapped in a pincer movement, and Mas'ud was taken prisoner and executed. Most of the Sarbadar conquests were lost as a result of the two losses; only the region around Sabzavar, as well as maybe Juvain and Nishapur remained in their hands. Togha Temur returned to Gurgan and once again gained the allegiance of the Sarbadars.

1344–1361
Mas'ud's first three successors ruled for a period totaling only three years. Both of the first two men had served as his military commanders; Mas'ud's brother Shams al-Din came next, only to fall as well. These internal conflicts were countered by good news on the external front; namely, the death of Arghun Shah in 1343, and the rise of his successor Muhammad Beg, who abandoned the alliance of the Ja'un-i Qurban with Togha Temur in favor of one with the Sarbadars. Shams al-Din was replaced in turn by the dervish Shams al-Din 'Ali in 1347, marking the loss of power by Mas'ud's adherents. Shams al-Din 'Ali was an effective administrator, reorganizing the state finances, carrying out tax reforms, and paying officials in cash. As a religious man, he attempted to stamp out prostitution, drugs and alcohol, and lived a simple life. His military was effective; although he failed to take Tus, he was able to destroy a rebellion in Damghan in the west. He was, however, prevented from turning the Sarbadar state to the Shi'i creed by Mas'ud's supporters, who kept the government Sunni. In the meantime, he gained enemies among the opponents of the dervishes, as well as the corrupt officials of the state that hated his reforms. One of these officials named Haidar Qassab, who was possibly a member of the artisan guild, murdered him around 1352.

Shams al-Din 'Ali's successor was a member of the Sabzavari aristocracy named Yahya Karavi. Yahya was forced to deal with Togha Temur, who in spite of the loss of the allegiance of the Ja'un-i Qurban and, in 1349, the Kartids, still was a danger of the Sarbadars. His army of 50,000 dwarfed the Sarbadar army, which numbered only around 22,000. Yahya neutralized the khan by recognizing him as suzerain, striking coins in his name and paying taxes to him. He also promised to visit Togha Temur once a year. He was probably making one of these visits when he arrived in November or December 1353 at the khan's camp of Sultan-Duvin near Astarabad. Yahya and a group of his followers entered the camp and were allowed into Togha Temur's tent. There, they murdered the khan and his courtiers, then put to death the Mongol troops and killed the nomads' herds. With the death of Togha Temur, the last serious contender for the Ilkhanid throne was gone. The Sarbadar lands then expanded to the borders reached by Mas'ud, and then gained even more: the area around Ray, the city of Tus, and Astarabad and Shasman. Yahya, however, was murdered around 1356, possibly at the hands of Mas'ud's adherents. Mas'ud's son Lutf Allah was possibly involved in the murder.

Haidar Qassib, the murderer of Shams al-Din 'Ali, now took advantage of the situation. Arriving from Astarabad, ostensibly to hunt down Yahya's killers, he installed Yahya's nephew Zahir al-Din Karavi to rule. Soon afterwards, however, he removed him from power and ruled in his own name. Unfortunately for him, he was unpopular with nearly everyone even before he came to power. As a former member of Shams al-Din 'Ali's party, the supporters of Mas'ud disliked him, and his murder of Shams al-Din 'Ali alienated him from the dervishes. Nasr Allah, Lutf Allah's tutor, allied with Yahya's murderers and rose in revolt in Isfara'in, the second city of the Sarbadars. Haidar moved to put the rebellion down, but before he could he was stabbed to death by an assassin hired by a Hasan Damghani. Lutf Allah now gained control of the state, but he soon came into conflict with Hasan Damghani as well. He was defeated, and in the process Mas'ud's adherents were mostly eliminated.

Hasan Damghani was now forced to deal with Amir Vali, who was a son of the former governor of Astarabad before its conquest by the Sarbadars. Amir Vali had taken advantage of Haidar Qassib's move out of Astarabad to return to the city. Amir Vali then claimed to be acting in the name of Luqman, the son of Togha Temur, although he never handed power over to him. Hasan sent two expeditions against him, both of which ended in failure; he himself led a third force, but met no more success, allowing Amir Vali to be in a position to gain more Sarbadar territory. Meanwhile, in the east a radical Shi'i named Darvish 'Aziz revolted and established a theocratic state in Mashhad in the name of the Twelfth Imam. Darvish 'Aziz gained more territory with his conquest of Tus. Hasan recognized that the entire Sarbadar state was in jeopardy: the Sabzavari dervishes might declare their support for the theocratic state at any time. He moved against Darvish 'Aziz, defeated him and destroyed the Mahdist state; Darvish 'Aziz went to Isfahan in exile. Soon afterward, however, an 'Ali-yi Mu'ayyad rose in revolt in Damghan and gained the support of Hasan's enemies. He recalled Darvish 'Aziz from exile and joined his order. While Hasan was besieging the castle of Shaqqan, near Jajarm, 'Ali-yi Mu'ayyad captured Sabzavar around 1361. In the process, he captured the possessions and families of many of Hasan's followers. When he demanded Hasan's head, they therefore complied.

Decline and submission to Timur
'Ali-yi Mu'ayyad enjoyed, by far, the longest reign out of all the Sarbadar rulers. The partnership with Darvish 'Aziz lasted for ten months; while 'Ali-yi Mu'ayyad, who was Shi'i, helped raised Shi'ism to the state religion, he opposed several of Darvish 'Aziz's theocratic ideas. Tensions were high when a campaign was begun against the Kartids of Herat. Even before they had met any resistance, the Sarbadar army erupted in violence. While on the march, 'Ali's men picked a quarrel with the dervishes; Darvish 'Aziz and many of his followers were killed trying to escape. 'Ali returned and attempted to destroy the power of the dervishes completely. He moved against their organization and forced them out of Sabzavar, and even destroyed the graves of Shaikh Khalifa and Hasan Juri. The dervishes, however, fled, being granted refuge by the Kartids, the Ja'un-i Qurban, and the Muzaffarids of Shiraz. Meanwhile, the Ja'un-i Qurban regained Tus, though the two sides seemed to have no further conflict. Amir Vali gained control of Simnan and Bistam, though Astarabad was temporarily reconquered by the Sarbadars (1365/6-1368/9. Administratively, 'Ali increased the quality of the coinage, and instituted tax reforms.

In 1370 Mu'izz al-Din Husain of the Kartids died, to be succeeded by his sons Ghiyas al-Din Pir 'Ali and Malik Muhammad. Pir 'Ali, a grandson of Togha Temur by his mother Sultan Khatun, considered the Sarbadars his enemy, and used the emigrant Sabzavaris in his realm to stir up discontent against Ali-yi Mu'ayyad. The latter responded by supporting Malik Muhammad, who ruled a small part of the Kartid lands from Sarakhs. Pir 'Ali then moved against his stepbrother, but Ali-yi Mu'ayyad stopped him by a flanking attack after overcoming one of Pir 'Ali's castles near the border, whose commanders were Sabzavaris. Pir 'Ali was forced to come to terms with his stepbrother. The fighting with the Sabadars, however, continued, and 'Ali was forced to throw his forces to defend Nishapur, leaving the western part of his lands exposed. At the same time, he made a hostile enemy out of Shah Shuja of the Muzaffarids. A revolt in 1373 in Kirman against Shah Shuja led by Pahlavan Asad received military support from 'Ali, but the rebellion was defeated in December 1374. The dervishes in Shiraz, meanwhile, found a leader in Rukn al-Din, a former member of Darvish 'Aziz's order. Shah Shuja gave them money and arms, and they conquered Sabzavar around 1376, forcing 'Ali to flee to Amir Vali. At about the same time, Nishapur was conquered by the Kartids of Pir 'Ali.

The new government in Sabzavar established a Shi'i rule based on the teachings of Hasan Juri. Not long afterward, however, Amir Vali arrived before the city. His group included Ali-yi Mu'ayyad, as well as the Muzaffarid Shah Mansur. 'Ali was reinstated as Sarbadar ruler once the city was captured, but many of his reforms had been abandoned. The partnership with Amir Vali furthermore did not last, and in 1381 the latter was besieging Sabzavar again. 'Ali, believing he had little other choice, asked for the assistance of Timur the Lame. He submitted to the conqueror in Nishapur, and Timur responded by ravaging Amir Vali's lands in Gurgan and Mazandaran. In Radkan, as he was returning from the victorious campaign, he confirmed 'Ali as governor of Sabzavar.

'Ali remained loyal to Timur, dying in 1386 after being wounded during Timur's campaign in Lesser Luristan. As a reward for this loyalty, Timur never occupied Sabzavar with his own troops, and allowed 'Ali to retain his local administration. After 'Ali's death, the Sarbadar territories were split amongst his relatives, who mostly remained loyal to Timur as well and took part in his campaigns. Muluk Sabzavari did become involved with the revolt of Hajji Beg of the Ja'un-i Qurban (which had been forcibly submitted to Timur's rule around 1381) in Tus in 1389, and afterwards sought refuge with the Muzaffarid Shah Mansur in Isfahan, but was eventually pardoned by Timur and given the governorship of Basra near the end of 1393. That same year, following the conquest of Baghdad by Timur, the governorship of that city was given to 'Ali's nephew Khwaja Mas'ud Sabzavari, who had a force of 3,000 Sarbadars. Despite this, he was forced to retreat in 1394 when Sultan Ahmad of the Jalayirids marched to recapture the city, and he retreated to Shushtar. Following the death of Timur, the Sarbadars slowly fell out of prominence.

Legacy
Historically, the Sarbadars have been considered a robber-state; they have been accused of being a group of religious fanatics who terrorized their neighbors, with little regard for legitimate rule. Considering the conduct of nearly all of the Persian states during this time period, this assessment seems needlessly harsh. Other historians have considered the Sarbadars to be an example of class struggle; the downtrodden rising up against oppressive taxation by their masters, and establishing a republic in the middle of several feudal states. This, however, is not entirely accurate either. 'Abd al-Razzaq was a member of the ruling class, which was taxed the heaviest at the time. It could however be said that it was definitely a struggle of a people with a certain belief system against an oppressive ruler desiring to establish what could be easily be labelled a republic. Religious orders were common in this period of Persian history, as the order of the Ilkhanate fell apart, to be replaced by a period of anarchy and incessant warfare. Aside from the Safavid dynasty of Persia in the 16th century, the Sarbadars were probably the most successful example of such orders, although they rarely managed to achieve the state that they so desired.

Sarbadar influence
The Sarbadars had an indirect influence on northern Iran, where several Shi'i attempts to gain power locally were launched:

Mazandaran: During Shams al-Din 'Ali's reign, a supporter of Hasan Juri named 'Izz al-Din, with a group of fellow adherents, returned to his homeland in Mazandaran. They were apparently unable to accept the moderate tone taken by the Sabadars in Sabzavar. 'Izz al-Din died en route, leaving his son Sayyid Qivan al-Din (also known as Mir-i Buzurg) to lead the group. They arrived in Amul and set up a state together with Kiya Afrasiyab, a son of a Hasan Chulabi, who had destroyed the local Bavand dynasty in 1349. Like the Sarbadars, conflict soon erupted in this state between the secular rulers and the dervishes; the latter eventually won. Destroyed in 1392 by Timur, it emerged once more after his death, but only for a brief time.

Gilan: In Gilan, in northwestern Persia, a group of Shi'i shaikhs received help from the Mazandarani dervishes, and gained control of the region under Shaikh Amir Kiya. Due to the region's relative obscurity, the state survived until 1592, when it was absorbed by the Safavid Persians.

Other Sarbadars
Samarkand: A group of "sarbadars" (it is not known whether they actually called themselves that) was instrumental of the defeat of the khan of Moghulistan (the Eastern Chagatai Khanate), Ilyas Khoja, during his invasion of the Western Chagatai Khanate in 1365. The sarbadars of Samarkand closed the gates of the city and refused to open them for the invader. They withstood the subsequent siege and organized ambushes on the enemy until an epidemic began striking down the Moghul horses, forcing them to retreat. Shortly afterwards, an early ally of Timur, Husayn, forced his way into Samarkand and put most of the sarbadar leaders to death. Despite being a nomad, Timur decided to court the assistance of the sedentary sarbadars following the breakdown of the alliance with Husayn, and they were an important factor in his rise to power in the Chagatai horde.

Rulers

 * Abd al-Razzaq ibn Fazlullah (1332–1338)
 * Wajih ad-Din Masud ibn Fazlullah (1338–1343)
 * Muhammad Ay Temur (1343–1346)
 * Kulū Isfendiyar (1346–1347)
 * Lutf Allah (1347-1348 d.1361)
 * Khwaja Tadj ad-Din Ali (1348–1353)
 * Yahyā Karābi (1353–1356)
 * Zahir ad-Din (1358–1359)
 * Haidar al-Qassab (1359–1360)
 * Lutf Allah (restored) (1360–1361)
 * Hasan al-Damghani (1361–1364)
 * Khwaja 'Ali-yi Mu'ayyad ibn Masud (1364-1376 d.1386)
 * Rukn ad-Din (1376–1379)
 * Khwaja 'Ali-yi Mu'ayyad ibn Masud (restored) (1379–1386)

title: Sarbadars


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Wikipedia:WikiProject Chicago/PictureVote

I moved the vote to Talk:Chicago, Illinois, where most people wanted it. Dralwik 00:48, 18 July 2005 (UTC)


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Christian Democracy (Brazil)

The Christian Democracy (Democracia Cristã, DC) is a Christian democratic political party in Brazil. It was founded in 1995 as the Christian Social Democratic Party (Partido Social Democrata Cristão, PSDC), and was officially registered in 1997. the party is presided by José Maria Eymael, who has competed the presidential elections six times. In 2017, it changed its name to the current one.

The PSDC was established to be a continuation of the Christian Democratic Party, which had merged with the Democratic Social Party to form the Reform Progressive Party in 1993.

title: Christian Democracy (Brazil)