text:
Mughrabi Quarter

The Mughrabi Quarter (حارَة المَغارِبة; שכונת המוגרבים, Sh'khunat HaMughrabim), also known as the Maghrebi Quarter, was a neighbourhood in the southeast corner of the Old City of Jerusalem, established in the late 12th century. It bordered the western wall of the Temple Mount on the east, the Old City walls on the south (including the Dung Gate) and the Jewish Quarter to the west. It was an extension of the Muslim Quarter to the north, and was founded as an endowed Islamic waqf or religious property by a son of Saladin.

The quarter was razed by Israeli forces, at the behest of Teddy Kollek, the mayor of West Jerusalem, three days after the Six-Day War of 1967, in order to broaden the narrow alley leading to the Western Wall and prepare it for public access by Jews seeking to pray there. It is now the site of the Western Wall Plaza.

Ayyubid and Mamluk eras
According to the 15th-century historian Mujir ad-Dīn, soon after the Arabs had wrested back Jerusalem from the Crusaders the quarter was established in 1193 by Saladin's son al-Malik al-Afḍal Nurud-Dīn 'Ali, as a waqf (a mortmain consisting of a charitable trust) dedicated to all North African immigrants. The boundaries of this ḥārat or quarter, according to a later document, were the outer wall of the Haram al-Sharif to the east; south to the public thoroughfare leading to the Siloan spring; west as far as the residence of the qadi of Jerusalem, Shams al-Din; the northern limit ran to the Arcades of Umm al-Banat, otherwise known as the Qanṭarat Umam al-Banāt/Wilson's Arch causeway. It was set aside for "the benefit of all the community of the Maghreb of all description and different occupations, male and female, old and young, the low and the high, to settle on it in its residences and to benefit from its uses according to their different needs." Soon after, Jews, many also from North Africa, were also allowed to settle in the city. By 1303, Maghrebi people were well established there, a fact attested by the endowment of a Zāwiyah, or religious institution such as a monastery, made by 'Umar Ibn Abdullah Ibn 'Abdun-Nabi al-Maṣmūdi al-Mujarrad for this quarter.

Al-Afḍal's waqf was not only religious and charitable in its aims, but also provided for the establishment of a madrassa law school there, thereafter called eponymously the Afḍaliyyah, for the benefit of the Malikite Islamic jurists (fuqaha) in the city. On 2 November 1320, a distinguished scion of an Andalusian Sufi family of mystics, Abū Madyan, who had settled in Jerusalem in the early 14th century, drew up a larger waqf endowment consisting of a Zāwiyah near the Bāb al-Silsilah, or Chain Gate, of the Harat, for the Maghrebis. This second document became the foundational act which was to form the legal cornerstone and richest funding source from that time on until 1967 for the Maghrebi Quarter. It consisted in a waqf property at 'Ain Kārim and another at Qanṭarat Umam al-Banāt at the Gate of the Chain—the latter as a hospice exclusively for newly arrived immigrants—the usufruct (manfa'ah) of both to be set aside in perpetuity for the Maghrebis in Jerusalem. The Qanṭarat Umam al-Banāt endowment consisted of a hall, two apartments, a yard, private conveniences, and, below, a store and a cave (qabw). Attached to the document was a stipulation that the properties be placed, after the donor's death, under the care of an administrator (mutawalli) and supervisor (nāzir) selected on the basis of the community's recognition of his outstanding qualities of piety and wisdom. The Ain Karim properties alone were extensive, 15,000 dunams, and covered most of the village.

Some time in the early 1350s, a third waqf was instituted by the Marinid Dynasty's King 'Ali Ibn 'Uthmān Ibn Ya'qūb Ibn 'Abdul-Ḥaqq al-Marini. This consisted of a codex of the Qur'an copied by his own hand Further endowments to the quarter took place in 1595 and 1630.

Until the advent of Muslims in Jerusalem, most of the area below the Western Wall was crammed with rubble, and Jewish prayer throughout the Islamic period appears to have been performed inside synagogues in the Jewish Quarter, or, on public occasions, on the Mount of Olives. The narrow space dividing the Western Wall from the houses of the Mughrabi Quarter was created at the behest of Suleiman the Magnificent in the sixteenth century in order to allow prayers to be said there.

Ottoman era

The Ottoman taxation registers listed 13 households in the quarter in 1525–26, 69 households, 1 bachelor and 1 imam in 1538–39, 84 households and 11 bachelors in 1553–34, 130 households and 2 bachelors in 1562–63, and 126 households and 7 bachelors in 1596–97. Originally developed for Maghrebi people, over the centuries Jewish, Christian and Muslim people from Palestine and elsewhere had at various times taken up residence there. By the time Israel decided to demolish their houses, roughly half of the zone's inhabitants could trace their origins back to Maghreb immigrants.

According to the French traveller Chateaubriand who visited in 1806, some of the residents of the quarter were descended from Moors who had been expelled from Spain in the late 15th century. They had been well received by the local community and a mosque had been built for them. Residents of the neighborhood held on to their culture in the way of food, clothing and traditions until it became assimilated with the rest of the Old City in the 19th century. Thus it also became a natural place of stay to Maghrebi people who came on pilgrimage to the al-Aqsa Mosque.

Over the years a small number of schools and mosques were established in the quarter and Muslim clerics who performed religious duties at the al-Aqsa Mosque lived there.

The site of Jewish prayer and lamentation was a stretch of some 30 m along the wall, accessed via a narrow passage from King David's Street. In depth from the wall the paved area extended 11 feet. At the southern end lay one of the two zāwiyyah dedicated there in medieval times and the lane to the Wailing Wall sector ended in a blind alley closed off by the houses of the Maghrebi people beneficiaries. In 1840 a proposal by a British Jew, the first attempt to change the status quo, was conveyed via the British consul, and requested that Jews be allowed to repave the 120 sq. metre (1300 sq. ft.) area. The plan was rejected both by the Abu Madyan waqf administrator and by Muhammad Ali Pasha. Moslems in the area also complained of the excessive noise, as opposed to past practice, caused by recent Jewish pilgrims. Jews at prayer were asked to continue their traditional practices quietly, and to refrain from proclaiming on doctrinal matters there.

By the beginning of the 19th century Jewish worshippers were few, and according to Yehoshua Ben Arieh, lacked any special distinction. In an account of his travels to the Holy Land in 1845, T. Tobler noted the existence of a mosque in the Mughrabi quarter.

According to Yeohoshua Ben-Arieh, the Maghrebi people regarded the Jews as infidels. They were subjected to harassment and were required to pay a sum in exchange for the right to pray there undisturbed. Increased friction at the site between Jews and Muslims arose with the onset of Zionism and the resulting fear among the Muslims that the Jews would claim the entire Temple Mount. Attempts were made at various times, by Moses Montefiore and Baron Rothschild to buy the whole area, without success. In 1887 Rothschild's bid to purchase the Quarter came with a project to rebuild it as "a merit and honor to the Jewish People" relocating the inhabitants in better accommodation elsewhere. The Ottoman authorities appeared to be ready to give their approval. According to some sources, the highest secular and Muslim religious authorities in Jerusalem, such as the Mutasarrıf or Ottoman Governor of Jerusalem, Şerif Mehmed Rauf Paşa, and the Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammed Tahir Husseini, actually gave their approval. The plan foundered on Jewish, rather than Muslim objections was shelved after the chief rabbinical Haham of the Jerusalemite Sephardi community stated that he had had a "providential intimation" that, were the sale to go through, a terrible massacre of Jews would ensue. His opinion might have reflected a Sephardi fear that the Ashkenazis would thereby take possession of the holiest site in Judaism.

In the first two months after the Ottoman Empire's entry into the First World War, the Turkish governor of Jerusalem, Zakey Bey, offered to sell the quarter to Jews, requesting a sum of £20,000 which, he said, would be used to both rehouse the Muslim families and to create a public garden in front of the Wall. However, the Jews of the city lacked the necessary funds.

British Mandate era

A hospice, the Dar al-Magharibah, existed in the quarter to extend lodgings for Mughrabi Muslims on pilgrimage to the Islamic sites of Jerusalem.

In April 1918, Chaim Weizmann, then a prominent Zionist leader on a visit to Jerusalem, sent a letter via Ronald Storrs offering the sheikhs £70,000 in exchange for the Wall and the buildings of the Mughrabi quarter. This was immediately rejected when the Muslim authorities got wind of the proposal. Nothing daunted, Weizmann then addressed his petition to Arthur Balfour, asking him to resolve the issue by ruling in favour of the Jews. In a letter of 30 May that year, headed THE HANDING OVER OF THE WAILING WALL TO THE JEWS, he gave his reasons as follows: "We Jews have many holy places in Palestine, but the Wailing Wall-believed to be part of the old Temple Wall-is the only one which is in some sense left to us. All the others are in the hands of Christians or Moslems. And even the Wailing Wall is not really ours. It is surrounded by a group of miserable, dirty cottages and derelict buildings, which make the whole place from the hygienic point of view a positive danger, and from the sentimental point of view a source of constant humiliation to the Jews of the world. Our most sacred monument, in our most sacred city, is in the hands of some doubtful Moghreb religious community, which keeps these cottages as a source of income. We are willing to compensate this community very liberally, but we should like the place to be cleaned up; we should like to give it a dignified and respectable appearance."

The wall as well as the Mughrabi Quarter nonetheless, throughout the British Mandatory period, remained Waqf property, while Jews retained their longstanding right to visit it. During the 1929 Palestine riots Jews and Muslims did however clash over competing claims on the area adjacent to the Mughrabi Quarter, with Jews denying they had no aims regarding the Haram al-Sharif but demanding the British authorities expropriate and raze the Mughrabi quarter. Jewish Maghrebi people and Muslim Maghrebi people pilgrims, both groups on a visit to Jerusalem, were present at the riots, and several of the former were killed or injured. Great Britain appointed a commission under the approval of the League of Nations to settle the issue. The Commission again reaffirmed the status quo, while placing certain restrictions on activities, including forbidding Jews from conducting the Yom Kippur prayers (the holiest holiday in Judaism), which involved the blowing of the Shofar, and Muslims from carrying out the Dhikr (Islamic prayers) close to the wall or to cause annoyance to the Jews.

Jordanian era
When Jordanian forces emerged as the victors in the battle for possession of the Old City in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, 1,500 Jewish residents, coinciding with the flight or expulsion of 70,000 Palestinians from Israeli-occupied areas of Jerusalem, were expelled from the Jewish Quarter, which was in the vicinity of the Mughrabi zone.

Disputes were not infrequent between the quarter's inhabitants and Palestinian landlords, squabbling over property rights. In 1965, Palestinian squatters in Jewish properties on the edge of the Mughrabi Quarter were evicted by the Jordanian government and resettled in the Shu'afat refugee camp, four kilometers north of the Old City. The motives behind this ejection are unknown.

According to French historian Vincent Lemire, during the period of Jordanian control the French Fourth and Fifth Republics claimed extraterritorial jurisdiction over the Waqf Abu Madyan, an Algerian waqf located in the Mughrabi Quarter. France had claimed jurisdiction over the waqf on 6 July 1949. In the aftermath of the Arab–Israeli War, Israel annexed the village of Ein Karem. The Waqf Abu Madyan depended on the village's agricultural output for income and was thus left in a precarious financial situation, precipitating France's sovereignty claim.

The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs used its position in Jerusalem to curry favor with Israel, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco by providing financial support to the waqf and, therefore, North African Muslim pilgrims. For example, in 1954 French intellectual Louis Massignon organized a charitable collection at the gates of the Great Mosque of Tlemcen in Algeria in support of the waqf in an effort to improve Franco-Algerian relations. On 12 February 1962—four days after the Charonne Métro station massacre and about one month prior to the signing of the Évian Accords, a ceasefire agreement between France and Algeria—France abandoned its claim to the waqf.

Preparations
The razing of the quarter took place without any official authorization. Responsibility for demolishing the Mughrabi Quarter is contested between several figures: Teddy Kollek, Moshe Dayan, Colonel Shlomo Lahat, Uzi Narkiss and David Ben-Gurion. The precise details of how the operation was carried out are not clear, since no paper trail was left by the participants. According to one source, the retired Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion played a pivotal role in the decision to demolish the quarter. He visited the Wall on 8 June, with Teddy Kollek, Shimon Peres and Ya'akov Yannai, head of the National Parks Authority at the time Ben-Gurion was upset at sighting a sign in Arabic on 9 June, the day after the Old City had been captured and protested at the presence of a sign in Arabic. "He noticed a tile sign in front of the Wall, which read 'Al-Burak Road' in English and Arabic but not in Hebrew. It was a reminder of the prophet Mohammad's legendary horse, Buraq, left tethered by the Wall as the prophet took his journey to heaven from the famous rock above. Ben-Gurion looked at the sign with disapproval and asked if anyone had a hammer. A soldier tried to pry off the tile with a bayonet, but Ben-Gurion was concerned about damage to the stone. An axe was produced and the name on the tile carefully removed. The symbolism of expunging Arabic from the redeemed Jewish holy site was not lost on the surrounding crowd, or on Ben-Gurion. They cheered, and Ben-Gurion exclaimed, 'This is the greatest moment of my life since I came to Israel.'"

Ben-Gurion also proposed the following day that the walls of the Old City be demolished since they weren't Jewish, but the government did not take up the idea. Teddy Kollek in his memoirs wrote that it was necessary to knock down the quarter because a pilgrimage to the wall was being organized with hundreds of thousands of Jews, and their passage through the "dangerous narrow alleys" of the "slum hovels" was unthinkable: they needed a clear bright space to celebrate their return to the site after 19 years. To that end, archaeologists and planners had examined the area the day before to map out what had to be demolished. The operations had a larger scope, not only to clear the Mughrabi quarter, but also expel all the Palestinian inhabitants of the contiguous, predominantly Arab-owned Jewish Quarter, who, he claimed, had "no special feeling" for the place and would be satisfied to receive ample compensation for their expulsion. The Jerusalem Post described the area as a jumble of hovels on the same day bulldozing operations began, and a writer later commented on this designation as follows: "The day the bulldozing began the quarter was described in The Jerusalem Post as a slum. Two days later it was reported as having been by and large abandoned during the siege. I expect in time that its existence will vanish altogether from the pages of developing Zionist history."

Shlomo Lahat, who had just flown back from a fund-raising campaign in South America, recalled that on his arrival at 4 am 7 June, Moshe Dayan informed him of the imminent conquest of Jerusalem, and that he wanted Lahat, a stickler for discipline, as military governor of the city. He needed someone "prepared to shoot Jews if need be". Once the city was taken, at a meeting involving himself, Dayan, Kollek and Uzi Narkiss, Lahat suggested that the programmed visit of Jews on Shavuot meant that there would be a crush of people crowding in, risking a higher casualty rate than that sustained by the war, and suggested the area be cleared, an idea that met Dayan's approval. This is disputed by Ya'akov Salman who stated that it was he who raised the problem of the courtyard's limitations.

Demolition
There were 135 houses in the quarter, and the destruction left at least 650 people refugees. According to one eyewitness, after its capture by Israel, the entire Old City was placed under a strict curfew. On Saturday evening 10 June, the last day of the Six-Day War, coinciding with the end of the Jewish Sabbath, a number of searchlights were positioned and floodlit up the quarter's warrens. Twenty-odd Jerusalem building contractors, hired by Kollek, first knocked down a public lavatory with sledgehammers. Army bulldozers were then brought in to raze the houses.

The residents were given either a few minutes, fifteen minutes or three hours to evacuate their homes. They initially refused to budge. In the face of this reluctance, lieutenant Colonel Ya'akov Salman, the deputy military governor, issued an order to an Engineering Corps officer to start bulldozing, and, on striking one particular structure, caused the whole building to collapse. It was this act which caused the remaining residents to flee their apartments and enter vehicles that were stationed outside to bus them away. Amidst the rubble, a middle-aged, or elderly woman, al-Hajjah Rasmiyyah 'Ali Taba'ki, was discovered in her death throes. One of the engineers, Yohanan Montsker, had her rushed to hospital but by midnight she was dead. According to an interview given two decades later by Eitan Ben-Moshe, the engineer attached to the IDF Central Command who oversaw the operation, she was not the only victim. He recalled recovering three bodies that were transported to the Bikur Cholim Hospital, and while some other bodies were buried with the disposed rubble: "I had thrown out all the garbage. We threw out the wreckage of houses together with the Arab corpses. We threw Arab corpses and not Jewish, so that they would not convert the area to a place where it is forbidden to tread." The following morning, Colonel Lahat described the demolition workers as mostly being drunk "on wine and joy".

Permission to salvage their personal belongings was denied. The reason given by an Israeli soldier was that they were pressed for time, since only two days remained before the feast of the "Passover" (actually Shavuot), and many Jews were expected to arrive on the following Tuesday at the Western Wall. The haste of demolition was necessary, it was argued, to prepare a yard for the festive worshippers. The prime minister at the time, Levi Eshkol, was completely unaware of the operation, and phoned Narkiss on the 11th asking the reason why the houses were being demolished. Narkiss, pretending not to know, replied that he'd look into the matter.

Historic buildings razed
In addition to 135 houses, the demolition destroyed the Bou Medyan zaouia, the Sheikh Eid Mosque, – one of the few mosques remaining from the time of Saladin, whose historic significance was identified by the Israel Antiquities Authority. In destroying the small mosque near the Buraq section of the Wall, associated with the ascent of Mohammad on his steed Buraq to heaven, the engineer Ben Moshe is quoted as having exclaimed: "Why shouldn't the mosque be sent to Heaven, just as the magic horse did?"

Two years later, another complex of buildings close to the wall, that included Madrasa Fakhriya (Fakhriyyah zawiyya) and the house in front of the Bab al-Magharibah that the Abu al-Sa'ud family had built and inhabited since the 16th century but which had been spared in the 1967 destruction, were demolished in June 1969. The Abu al-Sa'ud building was a well-known example of Mamluk architecture, and there were several reasons given for its demolition. Its removal enabled Israeli archaeologists to excavate in the area; to provide open ground to enable the IDF to access the area rapidly should troubles arise at the Wall, and finally, while the antiquity of the housing complex was admitted, the fact too that extensive repairs to the roof and balconies had been made using railway track beams and concrete was adduced to assert that they had sufficient modern traces to be accidental to the area's history. Yasser Arafat's mother was of al-Sa'ud stock, and it appears that Arafat had lived in the house during his childhood, in the years 1933 to 1936.

On 12 June, at a Ministerial Meeting on the Status of Jerusalem, when the issue of demolitions in the Old City was broached, the Justice Minister Ya'akov Shapira judged that: "They are illegal demolitions but it's good that they are being done." Lieutenant Colonel Yaakov Salman, the deputy military governor in charge of the operation, aware of possible legal trouble on account of the Fourth Geneva Convention forearmed himself with documents from the East Jerusalem municipality testifying to the poor sanitary conditions in the neighborhood and Jordanian plans to eventually evacuate it. By the 14th, some 200,000 Israelis had come to visit the site.

Aftermath
On 18 April 1968, the Israeli government expropriated the land for public use and paid from 100 to 200 Jordanian dinars to each family that had been displaced. 41 heads of families who had been evicted from the area wrote to Kollek to thank him for his assistance in resettling them in better housing conditions. The rest of the families have refused compensation on the grounds that it would lend legitimacy to what Israel did to them.

In the post-1967 period, many of the evicted refugees managed to emigrate to Morocco via Amman due to the intervention of King Hassan II. Other refugee families resettled in the Shu'afat refugee camp and other parts of Jerusalem. The prayer site was extended southwards to double its length from 28 to 60 meters, and the original plaza of four meters to 40 meters: the small 120 square meter area in front of the wall became the Western Wall Plaza, now in use as an open-air synagogue covering 20,000 square meters.

In a letter to the United Nations, the Israeli government stated nine months later that the buildings were demolished after the Jordanian government had allowed the neighborhood to become a slum area.

The expelled community continues to elect an administrator or mukhtar for the no-longer existing Mughrabi Quarter.

Archeological excavations in early January 2023 revealed walls nearly a metre (3ft) high, traces of paint, a cobbled courtyard and a system to drain rainwater.

Interpretations
According to Gershom Gorenberg, "The action fit the pre-state strategy of the Zionist left, which believed in speaking softly and 'creating facts'; using faits accomplis to determine the political future of disputed land."

title: Mughrabi Quarter


text:
Talk:Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 22:50, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Untitled
I know there was a truth commission that said it was genocidal. Personally, I don't quite understand it. Brutal and indiscriminate, yes. Racist against Mayan culture, yes. But I know of no plans on the part of Lucas Garcia or Rios Montt to exterminate the entire Mayan populace. The fact is that's where the guerrillas drew most of their support. That explains why the military was forcing certain villages into the PACs and eliminating others, even if it doesn't excuse it. I think the term is employed too loosely nowadays, personally. J. Parker Stone 23:37, 20 July 2005 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Egpguate.JPG
Image:Egpguate.JPG is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in Wikipedia articles constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 05:49, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Farguate.JPG
Image:Farguate.JPG is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in Wikipedia articles constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 07:51, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Orpaguate.JPG
Image:Orpaguate.JPG is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 05:43, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Pgtguate.JPG
Image:Pgtguate.JPG is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 06:20, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Inconstant Moon

Inconstant Moon is a science fiction short story collection by American author Larry Niven that was published in 1973. "Inconstant Moon" is also a 1971 short story that is included in the collection. The title refers to "O, swear not by the moon, th' inconstant moon", a quote from the balcony scene in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The collection was assembled from the US collections The Shape of Space and All the Myriad Ways.

Story synopses (Sphere paperback edition)
The 1974 Sphere paperback version of the collection only contained seven of the twelve stories originally included in the 1973 Gollancz hardback edition.

"Inconstant Moon"
First appearance: 1971 short story collection All the Myriad Ways. The short story won the 1972 Hugo Award for best short story.

Stan, the narrator, notices that the Moon is glowing much brighter than ever before. The people he meets as the story begins all praise the Moon's increased beauty but lack the scientific background to understand its cause. However the narrator surmises that the Sun has gone nova, the day side of the Earth is already destroyed, and this is the last night of his life. He then calls and visits his girlfriend Leslie, presuming her ignorant of the situation, but she realizes it independently when Jupiter brightens with appropriate delay; they then enjoy their last night on the town, before rain and winds start.

Later, he realizes one other possibility. In case he is right, they find appropriate supplies and seek refuge from the coming natural disasters in Leslie's high-rise apartment. The second possibility turns out to be correct: the Earth has "merely" been struck by an enormous solar flare—by far the worst disaster in human history, with most (if not all) people in the Eastern Hemisphere presumed dead, but humans in the Americas have a chance of surviving the cataclysm. The vaporized seawater leads to torrential rains, hurricanes and floods. The story ends at the break of an overcast, gray morning, with Leslie's apartment becoming an island among the raging flood waters, but with the narrator rather optimistically wondering "if our children would colonize Europe, or Asia, or Africa."

In 1996, the story was made into an episode of The Outer Limits television series written by Brad Wright.

Jo Walton in 1997 wrote a short poem, "The End of the World in Duxford", as "an unauthorised version of 'Inconstant Moon', a British equivalent."

"Bordered in Black"
First appearance: The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, April 1966.

A prototype faster-than-light spacecraft crewed by two men is sent to the Sirius system, known from robotic exploration to include a terrestrial world. In orbit around the world, they notice that one of the continents has a thin, strange border all the way around its coastline, which radiates a low heat and appears black in visible light. After exploring the edges of the smaller continents, and discovering that the ocean hosts only one lifeforma single species of algae that they think might have been genetically engineeredthey decide to explore the large continent with the border.

When they discover just what the black border isa seething mass of trapped humans with very dark skin, feeding off the algae and each otherthe result is the death, by suicide, of one of the crew, and the self-destruction of the ship by the traumatized survivor upon his return to Earth—and a chilling reminder that there may be great danger waiting for further human explorers. The story ends on a hopeful note, with the project leader believing that Earth can help the humans at Sirius, and a fearful one, with the crewman then speculating that the humans were seeded by carnivorous aliens as food animals.

In the notes to his collection Convergent Series, Niven wrote that "Bordered in Black"

"How the Heroes Die"
First appearance: Galaxy Science Fiction, October 1966. A Known Space story.

The 15-man team setting up the first base on Mars experience tragedy when a murder is committed. Carter, the murderer, in the process of escaping on one of the transportation buggies crashes through the plastic bubble which holds in the base's atmosphere in an attempt to kill everyone else; however, it fails, and he is soon chased by Alf, the brother of the victim on another buggy.

The lethal chase, with the two combatants in constant radio communication, slowly reveals the community stresses which resulted in the murder. Alf wants to kill Carter in revenge for his brother, while Carter wishes the same and to try once more to destroy the base ... but with limited oxygen in their tanks, the two men must ensure that they have enough left to return to base.

"At the Bottom of a Hole"
This story appeared originally on Galaxy Science Fiction, in December 1966. It is a Known Space story.

A sequel to "How the Heroes Die". Muller, a smuggler with a cargo of precious magnetic monopoles, attempts to use Mars (the 'hole' of the title; to spacers, planets are merely gravity wells to be avoided if possible) as a means to whip his ship to a new orbit that will enable him to escape the customs authorities who are chasing him. His plan fails, and he crashlands, close to the now-abandoned base. Over the next few days, he explores the ruins and finds out the terrible story of what happened. Unfortunately, he himself suffers the same fate as the original colonists—all of which he commits to his log, which is later recovered.

The two Mars stories do belong to "Known Space" and they are specifically referred to and to some degree influence the plot of Protector, which takes place a long time later. Also, the failure of Mars colonization as depicted here contributes to the generally held opinion in that future history that planets (at least in the Solar System) are virtually worthless and it is asteroids which are the truly desirable real property.

"One Face"
First appearance: Galaxy Science Fiction, June 1965.

During a routine hyperspace jump, an accident involving a small meteoroid striking into the machinery causes the ship to be trapped in a stasis until billions of years have passed. They emerge in the Solar System's far future, at which time the sun has become a greenish-white dwarf and Earth has lost its atmosphere and become a tidally locked world; i.e., it only presents one face to the sun. The ship's main computer has also been damaged, so its decision to have the captain replaced by one of the passengers to maximize survival causes disagreement. The damage to the ship prevents it traveling faster than light, and the passengers and crew debate using the ship's remaining sub-light engine to travel relativistically to a neighboring star to look for a more viable planet.

Reluctantly, believing that any other similarly senescent star will offer no better option, the people accede to the new captain's order to land on Earth despite the lack of an atmosphere. However, this is not a haphazard decision by the new captain, who is an astrophysicist. He is convinced that there is a remnant atmosphere frozen on the dark side, and uses the ship's drive to begin to re-spin Earth. (The drive really is powerful enough to achieve this within a reasonable timescale, if only the planet's crust can withstand the seismic stresses without catastrophic earthquakes.) This will, he hopes, convert this frozen gas back to a breathable atmosphere.

"Becalmed in Hell"
First appearance: The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, July 1965. A Known Space story.

A ship with a two-man crew—Howie, a normal human, and Eric, the disembodied brain of a seriously injured man who has been installed in the ship to serve as a living computer and control system—is exploring the upper atmosphere of Venus, using the empty fuel-tank as a dirigible device.

About to return to Earth, Eric reveals that something is wrong with the ramjet that propels the craft, necessitating a landing in order to fix the problem. When Howie can find nothing physically wrong with the system, he can only conclude that, disturbingly, the problem is with Eric. He believes Eric has a psychosomatic disorder preventing him from operating the ramjets, using the analogy of a traumatized soldier that can no longer feel his hand and pull the trigger of a gun.

After revealing his theory to Eric, Eric admits it is a possibility but insists that Howie keep inspecting the ship, reasoning that Howie is the only one that can check for mechanical problems. Howie agrees, but secretly has convinced himself that the problem is truly with Eric.

In an effort to cure Eric using a placebo, Howie creates buckets of ice-water using the ship's freezer, and dumps it into the wiring panels on the wings, telling Eric that the heat and pressure of Venus might be affecting the ship's function. Eric regains the use of the ramjets and the pair manage to escape from Venus and back to Earth.

On the trip back, Howie reveals his ruse to Eric. Eric insists that the cause was mechanical, and challenges Howie to a $5,000 bet that the problem will be found back on Earth. Howie accepts the bet. Back on Earth, the mechanics determine that, indeed, it was a mechanical problem due to the pressure of Venus's atmosphere.

"Becalmed in Hell" was nominated for the 1965 Nebula Award for best short story.

"Death by Ecstasy"
First appearance: Galaxy Science Fiction, January 1969 (as "The Organleggers"). A Known Space story, first of "Gil the Arm" line.

Asteroid miner Owen Jennison is found dead in an apartment on Earth, apparently of suicide: He was a wirehead, directly stimulating the pleasure center of the brain, and starved.

Gil Hamilton, an operative of the United Nations Police (and friend of Owen's) must solve what appears to be a classic locked room mystery: he does not believe that Owen was the type to turn wirehead or commit suicide, so the death must have been planned by somebody else.

His investigations lead him to people associated with organlegging – the illicit handling and sale of spare body-parts. Eventually, Gil is captured by the organlegging gang, until, under threat of being harvested alive for his organs, his "third arm" - a psychologically limited form of psychokinesis – allows him to kill his captor in spite of being completely bound.

The title, a play on the tradition of murder mysteries, is a reference to the story's investigators speculating about the experience of being electrocuted through the pleasure centre of the brain:

"Had his death been momentary Hell, or all the delights of paradise in one singing jolt? Hell, I hoped, but I didn't believe it."

"Death by Ecstasy" was adapted as a graphic novel by Bill Spangler, Terry Tidwell, and Steve Stiles in 1991.

The story is part of the “Known Space” series, where the political and cultural differences between Earth humans and those of the asteroid belt are an important recurring theme. It is one of a group of Known Space stories in which Niven speculates on the effect on human culture of simple universal organ transplants:

"Every voter had a bit of the organlegger in him. In voting the death penalty for so many crimes, the lawmakers had only bent to pressure from the voters. There was a spreading lack of respect for life, the evil side of transplant technology."

Additional story synopses (Gollancz hardback edition)
The original 1973 Gollancz hardback edition (ISBN 0-575-01586-1) included five stories that were omitted from the Sphere paperback edition:

"Wait It Out"
First appearance: The Future Unbounded Program Book, 1968.

"Not Long Before the End"
First appearance: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, April 1969.

Part of The Magic Goes Away "mana" series.

"Passerby"
First Appearance: Galaxy Magazine, September 1969.

"The Deadlier Weapon"
First appearance: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, June 1968.

"Convergent Series"
First appearance (under the original title, "The Long Night"): The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, March 1967.

title: Inconstant Moon


text:
Gardner gun

The Gardner gun was an early type of mechanical machine gun. It had one, two or five barrels, was fed from a vertical magazine or hopper and was operated by a crank. When the crank was turned, a feed arm positioned a cartridge in the breech, the bolt closed and the weapon fired. Turning the crank further opened the breechblock and extracted the spent case.

Development
The Gardner machine gun was invented in 1874 by William Gardner of Toledo, Ohio, formerly a captain in the Union Army during the American Civil War. After producing a prototype he went to the Pratt and Whitney company, who after a year of development produced a military version of the weapon.

A demonstration to officers at the United States Navy yard in 1875 was successful, however they recommended that Pratt and Whitney continue with development of the system, incorporating improvements to the feed system, which were designed by E. G. Parkhurst, an engineer at Pratt and Whitney. The army attended the tests, but showed no interest in the weapon.

Parkhurst added many improvements to the gun's firing mechanism which made it more reliable. During 1877 additional tests took place with a .45 calibre (11.4 mm) version of the weapon, which determined its muzzle velocity to be 1,280 feet per second (390 m/s).

On 17 June 1879 a further demonstration was carried out at the Navy Yard, during which the weapon was presented by Francis A. Pratt and Amos Whitney. The weapon fired a total of 10,000 rounds during the test, taking a total elapsed time of 27 minutes 36 seconds, with breaks between firing to resolve an issue with one of the extractors. While the test was not without issues the weapon managed to fire 4,722 rounds before the first stoppage, and after the stoppage was resolved it fired approximately 5,000 rounds without incident.

On 15 January and 17 March 1880 duplicate tests were conducted at Sandy Hook proving ground in front of an Army review board. The weapon performed well, and they recommended that the Army buy a limited number for field evaluation, noting the low cost of the weapon. However the Army declined to purchase.

At this point, the British Royal Navy, which had successfully deployed the Gatling gun, became interested in the weapon, and Gardner was invited to England to exhibit his invention. The Admiralty were so impressed by the demonstrations that they adopted the weapon and purchased the rights to produce it in England. Gardner remained in England to supervise the construction of the weapons.

The British Army then took an interest in machine guns and after a series of trials selected the Gardner gun. During these tests a five-barrelled Gardner gun fired 16,754 rounds before a failure occurred, with only 24 stoppages. When operator-induced errors were taken into account, there were only four malfunctions in 10,000 rounds fired. The Army adopted the weapon, although its introduction was delayed because of opposition from the Royal Artillery. It saw action in the Mahdist War (in Sudan), notably at the Battle of Abu Klea, where its mechanism proved vulnerable to desert sand and dust blowing about.

There was also the .577/450 Martini–Henry calibre Bira gun, based upon the Gardner gun but with dual barrels, an overhead drum magazine, and designed in Nepal.

It is noted that the Bira was only ever produced in very small numbers. These are extremely rare and a wonderful example of Victorian firepower. An American company, International Military Antiques, found a limited number of these exceptionally scarce weapons in the Old Palace of Lagan Silekhana in Kathmandu, Nepal, which were included with the purchase of over 50,000 antique firearms from the Royal Nepalese Army in 2003. There is controversy, as the arms cache had to tranship through India and questions remain as to the purchase.

Users

 * 🇦🇷 Argentina
 * Austrian Empire
 * 🇧🇴 Bolivia
 * 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
 * 🇨🇱 Chile
 * 🇩🇰 Denmark
 * Kingdom of Italy
 * 🇳🇱 Netherlands
 * 🇵🇪 Peru
 * Qing Empire
 * 🇺🇸 United States

Conflicts
War of The Pacific

Mahdist War

First Matabele War

First Sino-Japanese War

World War I

Weapons of comparable role, performance and era

 * Nordenfelt gun: similar hand-cranked machine gun

title: Gardner gun


text: User talk:172.214.32.186

title: User talk:172.214.32.186


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Kerim Tekin

 This page is an archive of the proposed deletion of the article below. Further comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or on a Votes for Undeletion nomination). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was KEEP for now whilst it is translated since that is the correct course of action in the first place. -Splash talk 22:18, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

Kerim Tekin
I don't know Turkish - but this doesn't look like a proper entry a_conz 22:23, 20 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Completing VfD nom never added to a daily page. No vote.  JYolkowski // talk 20:54, 6 September 2005 (UTC)
 * Move to Turkish language version of Wikipedia. --Isotope23 00:36, 7 September 2005 (UTC)
 * Pause — I went ahead and added a notenglish template. I vote to hold off on the VfD for two weeks to see if it gets translated. — RJH 15:58, 7 September 2005 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in an undeletion request). No further edits should be made to this page.


text:
User talk:Comradematt

Thanks for experimenting with Wikipedia. Your test worked, and has been reverted or removed. Please use the sandbox for any other tests you want to do. Take a look at the welcome page if you would like to learn more about contributing to our encyclopedia. Thanks. Lucky 6.9 22:24, 20 July 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:Comradematt


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Adam ozery

 This page is an archive of the proposed deletion of the article below. Further comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or on a Votes for Undeletion nomination). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was Speedy; either hoax or Deletion of vanity articles. mikka (t) 23:13, 20 July 2005 (UTC)

Adam ozery
No relevant Google hits. 2600 children? I smell a hoax. smoddy 22:24, 20 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Or an attack page. Is this a speedy under the new policy? - Lucky 6.9 22:47, 20 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Under Article ss. 6&7? I don't really think so.  It pushes the margin, but it asserts notability and it isn't that short. smoddy 22:50, 20 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete hoax, plain and simple, it would be googleable for something like that alfrin 22:48, July 20, 2005 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in an undeletion request). No further edits should be made to this page.


text:
User:Jnc/wiki.e

/* A personal favourite - convert paragraphs to very long lines, and copies the * result to the clipboard - very useful for doing text on Wikipedia. * It knows about Wikipedia syntax, so it supresses the line collection * wherever i) the preceding line ended with a '=' (i.e. it was a section * header line), or the next line starts with a '*' or '#' (i.e.* it's a list * element), a ':' (i.e. it's an indented section), or a '<' (i.e. it's a * comment). */

command wikify_region on reg_tab[ALT('W')]

{	int	obuf, wbuf; char	c, oc, nc;

save_spot point; fix_region;

obuf = bufnum; wbuf = zap("-wiki-"); oc = '\n';

while (point < mark) { c = curchar; point++;

if (c != '\n') { binsert(wbuf, c); if (c == '=') oc = '='; else oc = '+'; continue; }

nc = curchar; if ((oc != '=') && (oc != '\n') &&		   (nc != ':') && (nc != '*') && (nc != '#') && (nc != '<') &&		    (nc != '\n')) { binsert(wbuf, ' '); oc = '-'; continue; }

binsert(wbuf, '\n'); oc = '\n'; }

bufnum = wbuf; point = 0; mark = size; copy_to_clipboard; bufnum = obuf;

say("Region Wikified."); }

title: User:Jnc/wiki.e


text:
Ildebrando Pizzetti

Ildebrando Pizzetti (20 September 1880 – 13 February 1968) was an Italian composer of classical music, musicologist, and music critic.

Biography
Pizzetti was born in Parma in 1880. He was part of the "Generation of 1880" along with Ottorino Respighi, Gian Francesco Malipiero, and Alfredo Casella. They were among the first Italian composers in some time whose primary contributions were not in opera. The instrumental and a cappella traditions had never died in Italian music and had produced, for instance, the string quartets of Antonio Scontrino (1850–1922) and the works of Respighi's teacher Giuseppe Martucci; but with the "Generation of 1880" these traditions became stronger.

Ildebrando Pizzetti was the son of Odoardo Pizzetti, a pianist and piano teacher who was his son's first teacher. At first Pizzetti seemed headed for a career as a playwright—he had written several plays, two of which had been produced—before he decided in 1895 on a career in music and entered the Parma Conservatory. There he was taught from 1897 by Giovanni Tebaldini and gained the beginnings of his lifelong interest in the early music of Italy, reflected in his own music and his writings.

He taught at the Florence Conservatory (director from 1917 to 1923), directed the Milan Conservatory from 1923, and was Respighi's successor at the National Academy of St Cecilia in Rome from 1936 to 1958. His students included Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Olga Rudge, Manoah Leide-Tedesco, Franco Donatoni and Amaury Veray. Also a music critic, he wrote several books on the music of Italy and of Greece and co-founded a musical journal. Pizzetti was an active supporter of fascism and signed the Manifesto of the Fascist Intellectuals in 1925.

A disciple of poet, playwright and revolutionary Gabriele d'Annunzio, Pizzetti wrote incidental music to his plays, and was highly influenced by d'Annunzio's dark neoclassic themes. One of Pizzetti's later operas, La figlia di Jorio, is a setting of d'Annunzio's 1904 eponymous play.

He was named to the Royal Academy of Italy in 1939. As noted by Sciannameo, his relations with the Fascist government of the 1940s were often positive, sometimes mixed; he received at one point high awards, and the one symphony of his mature years was the product of a commission from their Japanese allies to celebrate the "XXVI Centennial of the foundation of the Japanese Empire" (Benjamin Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem was also commissioned for this event, though it was rejected on account of its finale; its original finale was rediscovered after Britten's death and only premiered then.) Pizzetti's Symphony in A was premiered as noted in the article, and recorded in 1940, and again by Naxos with his Harp Concerto  (Naxos 8573613, 2017).

His Violin Concerto in A was premiered in 1944 by Gioconda de Vito; this seems to be the only 20th-century violin concerto she ever played.

Some of his works were published under the name "Ildebrando da Parma".

Operas

 * Sabina (1897)
 * Il Cid (1903)
 * Aeneas (1903)
 * Mazeppa (1905, unfinished)
 * Gigliola (1914, unfinished)
 * Fedra (1915)
 * Dèbora e Jaéle (1922)
 * Fra Gherardo (1928)
 * Lo straniero (1930)
 * Orsèolo (1935)
 * L'oro (1947)
 * Vanna Lupa (1949)
 * Ifigenia (1950)
 * Cagliostro (1953)
 * La figlia di Jorio (1954)
 * Povera gente (1956, unfinished)
 * Assassinio nella cattedrale (1958) (with Nicola Rossi-Lemeni and Leyla Gencer in the first cast, conducted by Gianandrea Gavazzeni, staged by Margherita Wallmann at La Scala)
 * Il calzare d'argento (1961)
 * Clitennestra (1965)

Orchestral music

 * Symphony in A in celebrazione del XXVIo centenario della fondazione dell'Impero giapponese. 1940
 * Incidental music, especially to plays by d'Annunzio, especially
 * La Pisanelle (1912–13)
 * Suite from La Pisanelle (premiered 1919)
 * Harp concerto in E-flat (1960)
 * 3 Sonetti del Petrarca
 * Tre composizioni corali
 * Other vocal works, e.g. Epithalamium (1939? 1940, played at a Library of Congress concert in April 1940 and again in 1977)
 * Cello concerto in C minor (1933-4)
 * Violin concerto in A (1944)
 * Viola concerto (1955, unfinished)
 * Canti della stagione alta : concerto for piano and orchestra (1930)
 * Sinfonia del fuoco (from music for the silent film Cabiria)
 * Rondo veneziano (1929)
 * Concerto dell'Estate
 * Tre Preludii sinfonici per L'Edipo Re di Sofocle (1903)

Chamber music

 * Violin sonata in C minor (1900)
 * String Quartet n.1 in A major (1906)
 * Violin sonata in A (championed by Yehudi Menuhin) written 1918–9, pub. 1920
 * Cello sonata in F 1921, pub. 1922
 * Tre canti for cello and piano (1924)
 * Piano sonata pub. 1942
 * Piano trio in G minor (1900)
 * Piano trio in A (from 1925)
 * String Quartet n.2 in D (written 1932–33, pub. 1934.)

Sacred music

 * Messa di Requiem (1922-1923)
 * Cantata: Filiae Jerusalem, Adjuro Vos (1966)

Film scores

 * Cabiria (1914) (Pizzetti provided the 10-minute Sinfonia del Fuoco for the pivotal sacrifice scene of the film)
 * The Ship (1921)
 * The Betrothed (1941)

title: Ildebrando Pizzetti


text:
Talk:WCCO-TV

"Deceased" is redundant in one section
In this section, "Notable former on-air staff," the word "deceased" is repeatedly used redundantly. "Fred Smith (1935-2005)" is enough, not "Fred Smith (1935-2005); deceased". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.21.84.194 (talk) 18:26, 22 July 2018 (UTC)

Splitting WCCO -Radio and WCCO-TV
Would it be better if WCCO Radio and WCCO-TV were split into 2 separate articles? - Hinto 22:26, 20 July 2005 (UTC)

 * Probably. While they started with a common history, WCCO-TV and WCCO-Radio are really two very different programming entities.  -- Kaszeta 13:21, 21 July 2005 (UTC)
 * I'm bringing up the matter again, and I have added a split template atop the page. -- WC  Quidditch  ☎   ✎  17:31, 16 December 2005 (UTC)
 * Beaten to it... -- WC  Quidditch  ☎   ✎  17:32, 16 December 2005 (UTC)

Removal of newscast schedules?
To all editors, please see the discussion at Wikipedia_talk:What_Wikipedia_is_not, where the issue of removing locally originated programming schedules is discussed. Calwatch 05:22, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

Rectangle logo
Though they still seem to be using the CBS eye logo for their watermark, all new WCCO segments and the set seem to bear a newer rectangular logo. See here for example. I don't think it should be the primary logo yet at least, but are there any objections to adding it the logo mini-gallery? Sean Hayford O'Leary 06:22, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

Unspecified source for Image:712big.jpg
I found Image:712big.jpg and noticed that the file's description page currently doesn't specify who created the content, so the copyright status is unclear. Someone will need to specify the owner of the copyright. If it was obtained it from a website, then a link to the website from which it was taken, together with a restatement of that website's terms of use of its content, is usually sufficient information. However, if the copyright holder is different from the website's publisher, then their copyright should also be acknowledged.

As well as adding the source, please add a proper copyright licensing tag if the file doesn't have one already. If you created/took the picture, audio, or video then the GFDL-self-no-disclaimers tag can be used to release it under the GFDL. If you believe the media meets the criteria at Fair use, use a tag such as or one of the other tags listed at Image copyright tags. See Image copyright tags for the full list of copyright tags that you can use.

If there are other files on this page, consider checking that they have specified their source and are tagged properly, too. Unsourced and untagged images may be deleted one week after they have been tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If the image is copyrighted under a non-free license (per Fair use) then the image will be deleted 48 hours after 04:22, 26 May 2007 (UTC). If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you. Betacommand (talk • contribs • Bot) 04:22, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:712big.jpg
Image:712big.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in Wikipedia articles constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale.

If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.Betacommand (talk • contribs • Bot) 04:22, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Kcco old.gif
Image:Kcco old.gif is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in Wikipedia articles constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 15:45, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Wccoblue4.jpg
Image:Wccoblue4.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

contribs) 06:45, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

BetacommandBot (talk) 03:22, 12 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Approved fair use rationale has been added. dhett (talk • contribs) 22:56, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

I notice Mike Max has been doing weekends for over a month at least and not just filling in not sure if he is now the weekend sports or if Bob is on long term vacation or what. Just though i would point that out.

July 15th 2008 WCCO in press release that Chris Shaffer will now become the prime weather anchor during there evening news 5pm, 6pm, 10pm Mondays - Fridays. So i changed it in the main section that he is now the evening weather anchor. I think for now Ron Trenda will do mornings now until they hire someone to do the morning news and Mike Fairborne will go back to weekends i am guessing. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jminnesota (talk • contribs) 05:06, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

Newswatch 4 internal contradiction
The article states that the Newswatch 4 moniker was used a couple times, and then also states Newswatch 4 was never used by WCCO. Obviously mutually exclusive. So which is it?TjoeC (talk) 00:55, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

Adding unreferenced entries of former employees to lists containing BLP material
Hello, Please do not add unreferenced names as entries to the list of former employees in articles. Including this type of material in articles does not abide by current consensus and its inclusion is strongly discouraged in our policies and guidelines. The rationales are as follows:

 * 1) WP:NOT tells us, Wikipedia is "not an indiscriminate collection of information." As that section describes, just because something is true, doesn't necessarily mean the info belongs in Wikipedia.
 * 2) As per WP:V, we cannot include information in Wikipedia that is not verifiable and sourced.
 * 3) WP:Source list tells us that lists included within articles (including people's names) are subject to the same need for references as any other information in the article.
 * 4) Per WP:BLP, we have to be especially careful about including un-sourced info about living persons.

If you look at articles about companies in general, you will not find mention of previous employees, except in those cases where the employee was particularly notable. Even then, the information is not presented just as a list of names, but is incorporated into the text itself (for example, when a company's article talks about the policies a previous CEO had, or when they mention the discovery/invention of a former engineer/researcher). If a preexisting article is already in the encyclopedia for the person you want to add to a list, it's generally regarded as sufficient to support their inclusion in list material in another article. -- ḾỊḼʘɴίcả  •  Talk  •  I DX for fun! • 03:45, 19 April 2011 (UTC) 03:45, 19 April 2011 (UTC)

Big huge deletion by IP (69...)
So, there's obviously been disagreement about whether or not the removals by 69.235.231.211 are legitimate. First, in a technical sense, 69...is within policy to delete everything xe did. None of that material was sourced, and, as such, may be removed at any time if any editor questions its accuracy. WP:V requires verification for all non-obvious facts, and detailed station history, personnel, etc. are clearly non-obvious facts.

Of course, I can understand why another IP and Milonica reverted the removals--usually, when someone strips out half of an article, it looks like vandalism. The question is, knowing now that the edits are not vandalism, do Milonica or anyone else have a justification for why so much unsourced info should stay in the article? I haven't reverted either way yet, but I would, more than anything, like to just see the back-and forth reversions stop. 69... is close to approaching edit warring, even though I think xe is probably correct in this case; in any event, even if one is "right", the correct next step is to discuss on talk, rather than just reverting one another. Qwyrxian (talk) 05:37, 4 July 2011 (UTC)

Qwyrxian has wisely described the situation here. I take no joy in policing but the rules are the rules. Thanks for recognizing that the edits are not vandalism and should never have been characterized as such. --69.235.231.211 (talk) 06:29, 4 July 2011 (UTC)
 * The problem is, while the IP did remove 'some' of the unsourced material, I am also afraid that some of the sourced material may have fell to the deletion too. For example, the channel that the station broadcasts on is widely known via FCC records (digital channel 32, via PSIP displays 4). The edit also removed several other details from the infobox... power, haat, and other technical details that are ALL available on the FCC query at the bottom of the page. These technical details are on all other television articles on wikipedia and are all sourced via the FCC. Now I agree with removing some of the sections regarding affiliation and stuff like that but the technical side of the article is well sourced (by third parties as well as the FCC) so I would argue for that to be re-included, and I will re-include that because it is sourced and conforms will all other television station articles in this encyclopedia. WCCO is not special, WCCO does not need to hide its technical details for some reason or the other. -- ḾỊḼʘɴίcả  •  Talk  •  I DX for fun!  13:51, 4 July 2011 (UTC)

 * Fair enough. None of the removed data was annotated and I neglected to notice that the tech data is verified by the external links. Call it strict interpretation of the rules. Having said that, the edit reversal(s) could have been limited to the data which remained unsourced and uncited. (It is silly to suggest an intention to "hide" data; the issue before us is clear: following the rules of Wiki.) 69.235.231.211 (talk) 18:54, 4 July 2011 (UTC)

 * I agree about following the rules, but removing a significant chunk of the article without a good reason or notice (stated on the talk page) stated prompted me to revert the edits, as did Cluebot which follows the same rules I and you should too. You have to understand, when I see that big of a removal of content, especially by an IP address, the first thing that pops into my mind is vandalism. Further, seeing what was deleted included sourced information which I knew for a fact was real and true, lead me to warning you. There is a brief explanation of why I did what I did. -- ḾỊḼʘɴίcả  •  Talk  •  I DX for fun!  20:58, 4 July 2011 (UTC)

 * So it looks like we got this all sorted out, right? Do we all agree that the info currently in the article is sourced, and that everything sourced has been restored? Qwyrxian (talk) 23:29, 4 July 2011 (UTC)

 * Yes, I think it's resolved. Note to milonica: the edits were explained in the edit summary, a normal, acceptable and proper location for such notice. It is my opinion that your initial reaction to a large portion of material being excised was rational but to then go a step further and reverse the edits without additional consideration and review was a hasty and kneejerk reaction, especially when it was done more than once.69.235.231.211 (talk) 05:24, 5 July 2011 (UTC)

WCCO-TV's ownership
Was WCCO owned by Westinghouse from the day it signed on to 1995? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.142.175.21 (talk) 02:17, 21 February 2013 (UTC)

On-air staff
I've removed the list of random names for the same reason that they are removed from other similar articles. A section on names should not take up half the article when there are no non-primary sources showing that those names are that relevant to the article. - SudoGhost 02:19, 24 May 2013 (UTC)

 * well i feel its ok to put who the main anchors are for wcco tv. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.105.224.42 (talk) 22:21, 29 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia bases its content on reliable sources, not what people feel is okay. A list of people has to meet the criteria of WP:LISTPEOPLE, which isn't a hard criteria to meet; it ensures that any list of people is actually relevant to the subject at hand and not WP:UNDUE.  If a given person is relevant enough to the article to warrant mentioning in a list of people, then reliable sources should be available to show that relevance.  Otherwise, it's just a list of WP:UNDUE and random names with little meaning. - SudoGhost 19:20, 30 May 2013 (UTC)

 * Firstly, let's be factual. The list of notable former staff does not consist of anywhere near half the article - so that claim is a red herring. Regarding notability, the names meet the Wiki criteria cited by SudoGhost; there are Wiki articles about 11 of the 25 people listed and the others have reliable sources. It can be reasonably assumed that SudoGhost is not familiar with Minneapolis-St. Paul TV history, for if he was, he would recognize the people listed and their standing in the local area; thus, he would not be arguing whether these people are appropriately cited wrt their notability (notability which is further confirmed by the hiring of many of the listed by the news divisions at major TV networks). The fact that SudoGhost has twice reversed edits to versions that contain non-notable people supports this view. Further, SudoGhost reverses edits containing material that he claims doesn't meet Wiki standards instead of removing the content, which, according to his logic, would be the appropriate action to take. Again, a moot point because the content meets Wiki standards but worth noting because, while SudoGhost wishes others to follow his invocations, he doesn't adhere to the same rules he cites. SudoGhost's repeated edit actions and rhetoric have the appearance of protecting a WCCO competitor and/or supporting a personal opinion rather than furthering the interests of Wikipedia and the sharing of knowledge. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.235.4.115 (talk) 02:17, 2 June 2013 (UTC)
 * The version I was referring to was indeed half of the article, not in bytes by by page length. It's not a red herring if it's accurate and relevant.  The names also do not meet WP:LISTPEOPLE; someone including their own name in a book they wrote is not an independent source; a website where someone works is not an independent source.  To show notability, subject must have third-party sources that are independent of the subject.  It doesn't matter one bit if someone is "familiar with" the history of a given thing; it needs to be verified, not alluded to.  Your speculation as to the reason your edit is being reverted has no basis in fact, and is a personal attack.  Please do not continue to add inappropriate names to the article or the page may be protected again.  If the individual does not meet WP:LISTPEOPLE, it does not belong per that guideline and WikiProject Television Stations, and the names as presented with the references given do not meet that criteria. - SudoGhost 05:28, 2 June 2013 (UTC)

 * Sir, there was no personal attack in my previous statement. It was speculation and there is good reason for it. The list of notable former staff in no way is/was half the article regardless of measurement; my gosh, I don't want to know where you were taught math. Your continued reverts to non-notables contradicts your stance and is, honestly, laughable given your position on this discussion. No cited source is a book written by a listed person. You clearly haven't reviewed all the sources and if you think you have, your comprehension is incorrect. Notability is relative; if you aren't familiar with a topic or a person, they won't be notable. All the people listed are notable for different reasons to people in the Minneapolis-St. Paul TV market; Wikipedia is a place to learn about such facts. Your continued vandalism to the article (that is what it has become) has risen to the level of sport for sport's sake and might be seen as an attempt to wipe history from this entity. Please stop.
 * Speculation to which you have no proof is a personal attack, and even if it were not does not reflect well upon your argument. Notability has to be established; it is not "relative" and if you have to live in a certain area and know someone to think they are notable, then they are not.  If there are not independent reliable sources that can show notability, the name does not belong on the article.  It is as simple as that.  It is not vandalism to follow Wikipedia's policies and guidelines, and Wikipedia is not a place for every little trivial detail of a subject; either include reliable sources per WP:LISTPEOPLE and WikiProject Television Stations, or the content will be removed. - SudoGhost 06:03, 2 June 2013 (UTC)

 * I understand that, but how about at least the main 4 anchors like current main anchors: Frank, Amelia, Chris and Mark. so when people read about wcco they know who the main anchors are. to keep it short and simple — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.105.224.42 (talk) 17:49, 4 June 2013 (UTC)
 * If there are reliable sources that would show that they are notable enough to include per WP:LISTPEOPLE, I'd have no problem with that. - SudoGhost 05:09, 5 June 2013 (UTC)

Notable former on-air staff
There is a consensus at WikiProject Television Stations that former on-air staff needs to show some basic level of notability through reliable sources or a standalone article. Per WP::LISTPEOPLE, this threshold is true for current staff, and doubly so for former staff. WP:LISTPEOPLE is not a difficult criteria to meet, so if a name fails to meet that basic requirement, it does not warrant a mention in the article. The section is called "Notable former on-air staff" for a reason. - Aoidh (talk) 10:30, 16 December 2013 (UTC)
 * I have added sourcing for Loescher. 55401612MSP (talk) 07:24, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

Regarding staff and links
Per WP:LISTPEOPLE and the longstanding consensus at WikiProject Television Stations, the names of on-air staff need to meet the basic criteria at WP:LISTPEOPLE or they do not belong in the article. As for the idea that WL:ELNO requires no concensus, that's inaccurate. External links is very clear on that matter: "Disputed links should normally be excluded by default unless and until there is a consensus to include them." A link to a few clips without context and to a random image don't really seem to improve the article, so I don't see any reason why they should stay in the article. - Aoidh (talk) 02:22, 5 November 2014 (UTC)

Missing Notable Former On-Air Staff
Housekeeping note that the following personnel should be added to the article.

Al Austin - news reporter (later with CBS News) Jerry Bowen - news reporter (later with CBS News) Mary Davies - children's show personality "Carmen The Nurse" (1954–1977; deceased) John Gallos - children's show personality "Clancy The Cop" and other characters, host of weekly Laurel & Hardy films program, host of public service programs and staff announcer Phil Jones - news reporter (later with CBS News) Randi Kaye - news reporter, news anchor (later with CNN) Don Kladstrup - news reporter (later with CBS News then ABC News) Bud Kraehling - weather anchor/staff announcer (1949–1996) Skip Loescher - news anchor, news reporter (later press secretary for U.S. Sen. Walter Mondale and anchor/reporter at CNN; deceased) Allan Lotsberg - children's show personality "Willie Ketchum" Pat Miles - news anchor (1978–1988) Ann Rubenstein - news reporter, news anchor (later with NBC News) Hal Scott - sports anchor (1960s–1980; deceased) Heather Tesch - meteorologist (later with The Weather Channel) 2606:6000:6704:F900:741A:C4B5:AD3E:21C4 (talk) 00:45, 23 April 2015 (UTC)
 * They are not notable and Wikipedia is not a directory. If the do have an article, then they can be listed; if not, then they need to be remained off of here.  Corky  |  Chat?  00:51, 23 April 2015 (UTC)
 * This is simply a housekeeping note for future reference. These people are all notable in the context of station history, the local viewing area and those to whom they are notable: the viewers. 2606:6000:6704:F900:741A:C4B5:AD3E:21C4 (talk) 01:01, 23 April 2015 (UTC)

 * They seem to be properly sourced. But where is a list of current reporters? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 09:06, 19 December 2017 (UTC)

 * Latest list for future reference (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WCCO-TV&oldid=837160366):
 * Notable former on-air staff
 * Al Austin - news reporter (later with CBS News)[26] (deceased)
 * Jerry Bowen - news reporter (later with CBS News)[27]
 * Clellan Card - children's show personality "Axel" (1954–1966; deceased)
 * Bill Carlson - entertainment reporter, midday news anchor (deceased)
 * Mary Davies - children's show personality "Carmen The Nurse" (1954–1977; deceased)[28]
 * Paul Douglas - chief meteorologist (1997–2008; later with StarTribune and WCCO Radio)
 * Ralph Jon Fritz – sports anchor (1968-2008; deceased)[29]
 * John Gallos - children's show personality "Clancy The Cop" and other characters, host of weekly Laurel & Hardy films program, host of public service programs and staff announcer[30]
 * Phil Jones - news reporter (later with CBS News)[31]
 * Randi Kaye - news reporter, news anchor (later with CNN)
 * Don Kladstrup - news reporter (later with CBS News then ABC News)[32]
 * Bud Kraehling - weather anchor/staff announcer (1949–1996; deceased)
 * Skip Loescher - news anchor, news reporter (later press secretary for U.S. Sen. Walter Mondale and anchor/reporter at CNN; deceased)[33]
 * Allan Lotsberg - children's show personality "Willie Ketchum"[34]
 * Bob McNamara - news reporter (later with CBS News)[35]
 * Pat Miles - news anchor (1978–1988),[36] later wth KARE
 * Dave Moore - news anchor (1950s–1998; deceased)
 * Barry Petersen - news reporter (later with CBS News)
 * Susan Peterson - news reporter (later with CBS News and NBC News)[37][38]
 * Ann Rubenstein - news reporter, news anchor (later with NBC News)[39]
 * Hal Scott - sports anchor (1960s–1980; deceased)
 * Don Shelby - news reporter/news anchor (1978-2010; retired)
 * Susan Spencer - news reporter, news anchor (later with CBS News)
 * Bill Stewart - news reporter (later with ABC News, murdered in Nicaragua in 1979 while on assignment)
 * Michele Tafoya - sports anchor/sports reporter (later with CBS Sports, NBC Sports, ABC Sports and ESPN)
 * Heather Tesch - meteorologist (later with The Weather Channel)[40]
 * Ben Tracy - news reporter (later with CBS News)
 * Jamie Yuccas - news reporter (later with CBS News)[41]
 * ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 67.49.181.119 (talk) 02:20, 21 April 2018 (UTC)

 * Updated list (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WCCO-TV&oldid=932747301)

 * Notable former on-air staff
 * Al Austin - news reporter (later with CBS News) (deceased 2018)
 * Jerry Bowen - news reporter (later with CBS News)
 * Clellan Card - children's show personality "Axel" (1954–1966; deceased 1966)
 * Bill Carlson - entertainment reporter, midday news anchor (deceased 2008)
 * Mary Davies - children's show personality "Carmen The Nurse" (1954–1977; deceased 2014)
 * Paul Douglas - chief meteorologist (1997–2008; later with StarTribune and WCCO Radio)
 * Ralph Jon Fritz – sports anchor (1968-2008; deceased 2017)
 * John Gallos - children's show personality "Clancy The Cop" and other characters, host of weekly Laurel & Hardy films program, host of public service programs and staff announcer (deceased 2005)
 * Phil Jones - news reporter (later with CBS News)
 * Randi Kaye - news reporter, news anchor (later with CNN)
 * Don Kladstrup - news reporter (later with CBS News then ABC News)
 * Bud Kraehling - weather anchor/staff announcer (1949–1996; deceased 2015)
 * Skip Loescher - news anchor, news reporter (later press secretary for U.S. Sen. Walter Mondale and anchor/reporter at CNN; deceased 2013)
 * Allan Lotsberg - children's show personality "Willie Ketchem" (deceased 2019)
 * Bob McNamara - news reporter (later with CBS News)
 * Pat Miles - news anchor (1978–1988), later wth KARE
 * Dave Moore - news anchor (1950s–1998; deceased 1998)
 * Barry Petersen - news reporter (later with CBS News)
 * Susan Peterson - news reporter (later with CBS News and NBC News)
 * Ann Rubenstein - news reporter, news anchor (later with NBC News)
 * Hal Scott - sports anchor (1960s–1980; deceased 2010)
 * Don Shelby - news reporter/news anchor (1978-2010; retired)
 * Susan Spencer - news reporter, news anchor (later with CBS News)
 * Bill Stewart - news reporter (later with ABC News, murdered in Nicaragua in 1979 while on assignment)
 * Michele Tafoya - sports anchor/sports reporter (later with CBS Sports, NBC Sports, ABC Sports and ESPN)
 * Heather Tesch - meteorologist (later with The Weather Channel)
 * Ben Tracy - news reporter (later with CBS News)
 * Jamie Yuccas - news reporter (later with CBS News)
 * MPLSTVHISTORY

KCCO-TV shutdown
Though CBS shut down WCCO-TV satellite KCCO-TV in Alexandria as a result of its spectrum being sold in the FCC's spectrum incentive auction, it also had the option for the station to channel-share with its former parent WCCO-TV and move its license from Alexandria to a city in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area, which would have effectively formed another duopoly in the market between the station and WCCO-TV (and possibly turned it into a CW affiliate owned by CBS, replacing WUCW (channel 23)). The station also would have likely changed its call sign and would have needed to change its virtual channel as well, likely to WCCO-TV’s virtual channel 4 (with it being either on 4.2 or 4.3), unifying their virtual channels in a setup similar to the existing commercial duopolies of KSTP-TV/KSTC-TV, and KMSP-TV/WFTC as well as noncommercial KTCA-TV/KTCI-TV which also unify their virtual channels corresponding to KSTP, KMSP and KTCA-TV’s respective former analog VHF channel assignments. 64222368Z260O (talk) 20:44, 26 November 2018 (UTC)

title: Talk:WCCO-TV


text:
Ovimbundu

The Ovimbundu, also known as the Southern Mbundu, are a Bantu ethnic group who live on the Bié Plateau of central Angola and in the coastal strip west of these highlands. As the largest ethnic group in Angola, they make up 38 percent of the country's population. Overwhelmingly the Ovimbundu follow Christianity, mainly the Igreja Evangélica Congregacional de Angola (IECA), founded by American missionaries, and the Catholic Church. However, some still retain beliefs and practices from African traditional religions.

History
The origins of the Ovimbundu are Bantu populations who drifted in from the North, over the last millennium, and formed local/regional groups which slowly became political units and foci of social identity: M'Balundu, Sele, Wambo, Bieno and others. They developed a sophisticated agriculture, completed by the breeding of small animals (chicken, goats, swine) as well as of a modicum of cows bought from the farmer-herders to the South (Nyaneka-Nkhumbi, Ovambo).

Incisive change came about when the Portuguese established a colonial bridgehead in Benguela, in the 16th century. Several of the small "kingdoms" saw their advantage in organising an intense caravan trade between Benguela and peoples of the East, in particular the Chokwe, the Luvale and the Mbunda, from whom they obtained wax, rubber, honey and ivory. Each trading caravan had a professional leader and diviner. Trade agreements that had linked the independent chiefdoms led to the development of regional specializations, including metalwork and cornmeal production. Slavery and the slave trade were also an integral part of Ovimbundu societies. Caravan trading declined with the suppression of the slave trade and, more importantly, the construction of the Benguela Railway in 1904, and came to an end shortly after 1910.

In the following years, the Ovimbundu completely changed their economy to cash crop production of corn, sold to a rapidly increasing network of Portuguese traders. However, because of their demographic growth, and because significant portions of their lands were appropriated by Europeans for coffee, sisal and other plantations, many Ovimbundu started to work as paid labour, mainly on European plantations in their own region or in Northwest Angola, but also in Namibian mines.

The Ovimbundu are the main social basis of UNITA, an anti-colonial movement that fought against the Portuguese from 1966 to 1974, was an adversary of the rival movement  MPLA during the Angolan Civil War of 1975 to 2002, and is at present an opposition political party.

During the Civil War the two major cities located in Umbundu territory, Huambo and Kuito, were to a large extent destroyed by the MPLA and UNITA respectively, as were a considerable number of villages and much infrastructure (roads, railways, bridges etc.). Many people died, and many others fled to cities either in their own area (Benguela, Lobito) or in distant areas (mainly Luanda and its surroundings, but also Lubango). During long periods parts of Umbundu territory were under UNITA control.

Since 2002, considerable efforts at reconstruction have been made - by the government, interested in national reconciliation, but to a large extent by the people themselves, by the churches and by a variety of NGOs. A significant proportion of the "internally displaced" Ovimbundu have returned to their places of origin, where traditional forms of social organization have often survived or then been reconstituted. However, larger or smaller Ovimbundu communities have remained in many cities outside their habitat, so that a significant part of this people is now scattered all over Angola.

In political terms, the Angolan parliamentary elections of 2008 reflected an important shift in Ovimbundu loyalty: while most of them had voted UNITA in the previous (1992) election, their majority now voted MPLA - because (after the death of Jonas Savimbi) UNITA had lost much of its credibility, but also because strengthening UNITA was seen as implying the risk of a renewal of armed violence.

title: Ovimbundu


text:
Cuneiform law

Cuneiform law refers to any of the legal codes written in cuneiform script that were developed and used throughout the ancient Middle East among the Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Elamites, Hurrians, Kassites, and Hittites. The Code of Hammurabi is the best-known of the cuneiform laws, but there were a number of precursor laws.

Features
Although they were written in several different cities and kingdoms, these early laws have a number of formulae in common. Most contain both an epilogue and a prologue, which usually explain the purpose of composing the laws, invoke divine authority, and command the reader to abide by them. They are always imposed or 'enacted' in the name of a ruler—be it a prince or king—and show no sign of being the result of legislative bodies.

While many of these codes are only partially known, they still paint a fairly clear picture that enables us to learn what issues pertaining to rules were considered significant by the societies they governed in the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st millennia BC.

Unlike modern codes, Cuneiform law provides no universal formula for general areas of law. Rather, laws typically consist of specific "if... then..." cases that are meant to act as an example or precedent. Punishments for crimes vary from code to code, but not all prescribe vengeance. Some call only for fines in certain instances, such as in the Code of Ur-Nammu, where one line reads: "If a man knocks out the eye of another man, he shall weigh out one-half a mina of silver." These cases are sometimes arranged in a seemingly random order, though this may be the result of an inability to properly interpret them today as they would have been at the time they were enforced.

Cuneiform law is generally classified separately from later Middle Eastern law, but has been viewed as a predecessor of Biblical and Jewish law. The Middle Eastern communities that made use of cuneiform law were generally all in contact with one another, and developed similar cultures. Akkadian, a cuneiform language, was used throughout the entire area and beyond, reaching Egypt as a means of diplomatic communication during the Amarna Period.

Timeline

 * c. 2350 BC – Reforms of Urukagina of Lagash – not extant, but referenced in other sources.
 * c. 2060 BC – Code of Ur-Nammu (or Shulgi?) of Ur – Neo-Sumerian (Ur-III). Earliest code of which fragments have been discovered. The code speaks of witchcraft and the flight of slaves.
 * c. 1934-1924 BC – Code of Lipit-Ishtar of Isin – With a typical epilogue and prologue, the law deals with penalties, the rights of ordinary people, right of kings, marriages, and more.
 * c. 1800 BC – Laws of the city of Eshnunna (sometimes ascribed to king Bilalama)
 * c. 1758 BC – Code of Hammurabi – The most famous and also most preserved of the ancient laws. Discovered in December 1901, it contains over 282 paragraphs of text, not including the prologue and epilogue.
 * c. 1500-1300 BC – Assyrian law
 * c. 1500-1400 BC – Hittite laws

title: Cuneiform law