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reetings from Australia.
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The eternal laws of religion devote to my worship the day born of this night. Tomorrow my priests offer me the first-fruits of the new sailing season by dedicating a ship to me; for at this season the storms of winter lose their force, the leaping waves subside and the sea becomes navigable once more. Isis, once stalled in Phoroneus' caves, now queen of Pharos and a deity of the breathless East, welcome with the sound of many sistrums the Mareotic bark, and gently with your own hand lead the peerless youth. |
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... to honour the Titan, Atlas, King of Mauritania, a learned philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer.
Gerardus Mercator was the first to use the word 'atlas' for a
collection of maps, and explained his reason in these words
Freedom is always the freedom of dissenters.
Rosa Luxemburg, Jewish Polish-born German Marxist theorist,
socialist philosopher, and revolutionary, born on March 5, 1871
The modern proletarian class doesn't carry out its
struggle according to a plan set out in some book or theory; the modern workers'
struggle is a part of history, a part of social progress, and in the middle of
history, in the middle of progress, in the middle of the fight, we learn how we
must fight ... That's exactly what is laudable about it, that's exactly why this
colossal piece of culture, within the modern workers' movement, is
epoch-defining: that the great masses of the working people first forge from
their own consciousness, from their own belief, and even from their own
understanding the weapons of their own liberation.
Rosa Luxemburg; Collected Works 2, 'The Politics of Mass Strikes and
Unions'
The friends of peace in bourgeois circles believe that world peace and
disarmament can be realised within the frame-work of the present social order,
whereas we, who base ourselves on the materialistic conception of history and on
scientific socialism, are convinced that militarism can only be abolished from
the world with the destruction of the capitalist class state.
Rosa Luxemburg; Peace Utopias (1911), first published in Leipziger
Volkszeitung (May 6 & 8, 1911), copyleft: Luxemburg Internet Archive
(marxists.org) 2004
Plausible as the idea of the United States of Europe as a peace
arrangement may seem to some at first glance, it has on closer examination not
the least thing in common with the method of thought and the standpoint of
social democracy … At the present stage of development of the world market and
of world economy, the conception of Europe as an isolated economic unit is a
sterile concoction of the brain. Europe no more forms a special unit within
world economy than does Asia or America.
Rosa Luxemburg; ibid
Freedom only for the members of the government, only for the members of
the Party – though they are quite numerous – is no freedom at all. Freedom is
always the freedom of dissenters. The essence of political freedom depends not
on the fanatics of 'justice', but rather on all the invigorating, beneficial,
and detergent effects of dissenters. If 'freedom' becomes 'privilege', the
workings of political freedom are broken.
Rosa Luxemburg; unsourced
The leadership has failed. Even so, the leadership can and must be
recreated from the masses and out of the masses. The masses are the decisive
element, they are the rock on which the final victory of the revolution will be
built. The masses were on the heights; they have developed this 'defeat' into
one of the historical defeats which are the pride and strength of international
socialism. And that is why the future victory will bloom from this 'defeat'.
"Order reigns in Berlin!" You stupid henchmen! Your 'order' is built on
sand. Tomorrow the revolution will already 'raise itself with a rattle' and
announce with fanfare, to your terror: I was, I am, I will be!
Rosa Luxemburg; Collected Works 4, 'Order reigns in Berlin'. Her last
written words.
Franz Mehring, the biographer of Marx, did not exaggerate when he called
Rosa Luxemburg the best brain after Marx. But she did not contribute her brain
alone to the working-class movement; she gave everything she had – her heart,
her passion, her strong will, her very life.
Tony Cliff on Rosa
Luxemburg
With a will, determination, selflessness and devotion for which words are
too weak, she consecrated her whole life and her whole being to Socialism. She
gave herself completely to the cause of Socialism, not only in her tragic death,
but throughout her whole life, daily and hourly, through the struggles of many
years ... She was the sharp sword, the living flame of revolution.
Clara Zetkin, Rosa
Luxemburg's closest friend
I used to pray that God would do this or that. Now I
pray only that God will make his will known to me.
Soong May-ling (also known as Madame Chiang Kai-shek; born on March 5, 1897),
wife of Chinese Republican leader
Chiang Kai-shek
She can talk beautifully about democracy. But she does not know how to
live democracy.
Eleanor Roosevelt,
on Soong May-ling
Madame Chiang was a close friend of the United States throughout her
life, and especially during the defining struggles of the last century.
Generations of Americans will always remember and respect her intelligence and
strength of character. On behalf of the American people, I extend condolences to
Madame Chiang's family members and many admirers around the world.
George W Bush upon
the death of Soong May-ling (October
23, 2003)
All diplomacy is a continuation of war by other
means.
Zhou Enlai, born March 5, 1898, prominent Chinese Communist leader who was
Premier of the People's Republic of China from 1949 until his death in 1976;
attributed
Khrushchev: The difference between the Soviet Union and China is that I
rose to power from the peasant class, whereas you came from the privileged
Mandarin class.
Zhou: True. But there is this similarity. Each of us is a traitor to his
class.
Attributed exchange between Zhou Enlai and
Nikita Khrushchev
From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe, Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in many cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow.
Winston Churchill in his famous 'Iron Curtain' speech on
'The
Sinews of Peace'
which he delivered on March 5, 1946 at Westminster College in
Fulton, Missouri
And so one becomes, or I become, anyway, slightly
obsessive, particularly about my health, because you wouldn't want to read the
letters people write when you're off and they're disappointed – it's so awful,
the guilt one feels for not being there.
Elaine Paige OBE,
English singer and actress, primarily in musicals, born on March 5, 1948; 'Show
girl' by Lynn Barber in The Guardian (May
16, 2000)
In this the darkest hour of my earthly existence I feel, as I have long felt, that I would have far better off had my execution taken place years ago, and I might now be with those companions, whose ghosts, I assure you do not haunt me, for if the soul has existence beyond this mortal life, each and every one of those unfortunate men knows that I am innocent. As it is there is some unexplainable power which restrains my hand from freeing my soul. Hence all the brightness in the firmament of my earthly future is centered in the hope that I may eventually be given an opportunity of proving to the world that I am "less black than has been painted." And to all my kind friends I can but reiterate that my heart to-day, as before, abounds with thankful gratitude for your many expressions of good will. I should like to be set at liberty under the banner of a pardon, but if that should not be deemed best, I would gladly avail myself of the opportunity that a commute would give of showing that I came into existence under circumstances similar to that of others, and that I still possess a desire to live and do right. O! my friend! Were it not for the flame of hope which forever burns within the human heart, life would certainly be beyond endurance. Gratefully Yours,
Alferd Packer (alleged cannibal and murderer; see On this day
in history, 1981, below)
March 5 is the 64th day of the year in the Gregorian
Calendar (65th in leap years), with 301 remaining.
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Navigium Isis, or, Isidis Navigatum, ancient Egypt
A festival called 'the ship of Isis' (Isidis Navigium), in recognition of that Egyptian goddess (a life-death-rebirth deity), being the patron of navigation and inventor of sail. The festival straddled both the Egyptian and Roman civilizations and was still extant at the time of the 6th Century writer, John of Lydia (Johannes Lydus; 490 - c. 565), who tells us it was also called ploiaphesia, in honour of "ancient Isis or the Moon" (De Mensibus, or On Months, 4,45).
A procession was held, the vanguard of which was composed of a number of people in fancy dress. Then walked beautifully attired women crowned with flowers, who scattered flowers along the road while others sprinkled the streets with perfume. Then came a party of women with ivory combs in their hands who acted as if they were combing the goddess's hair. Following them were pipers, flutists and choirboys, and men who cried "Make way for the goddess!"
Then followed the leading priests who carried the oracular emblems of the goddess. The Chief Priest held a lamp shaped like a golden boat. The priest following him held an auxiliaria, or ritual pot, in each hand, and the third carried a miniature palm-tree. The fourth carried a model of the left hand with the fingers stretched out – an emblem of justice. He also held a golden breast-shaped urn, from the nipple of which a thin stream of milk fell to the ground. The fifth priest, meanwhile, bore a winnowing-fan woven with golden rods. The priests were followed by a layman carrying a wine-jar. Next in the procession were actors dressed as various Egyptian deities.
The procession moved to the docks where a priest dedicated to the goddess a beautifully built ship, with Egyptian hieroglyphics painted over the hull. The ship's hold was loaded with spices, gifts and prayers for good fortune. Priests then cut the vessel free of its moorings and sent it off as an offering to "the queen of the stars, the mother of the seasons, the mistress of the universe".
Isidis Navigium in Notre Dame illustration
The Isidis Navigium is known to have been celebrated in
Paris. The following is from a description of an illustration: "the Zodiac of the main porch of the Cathedral Notre Dame de
Paris .... Still further left (ie, of January) Aquarius and Isis launching a ship. The ship is Navis seen just opposite Aquarius. Over this figure we see
Pisces." (Eisler, Royal Art of Astrology, p. 269).
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Feast day of
St 
Legend: St. Piran 'rediscovered' tin-smelting (tin had been smelted in
Cornwall since before the Romans arrival, but the methods had since
been lost) when his black hearthstone, which was evidently a slab of
tin-bearing ore, had the tin smelt out of it and rise to the top in
the form of a white cross (thus the image on the flag).
