Are we on the brink of a major escalation? ??‍♂️????? As per the plan.... ? Trump: "I'm not happy with what Putin's doing. He's killing a lot of people. I don't know what the hell happened to Putin."

In the 1983 miniseries V, enormous alien motherships suddenly appear over major cities worldwide, revealing humanoid extraterrestrials called the Visitors who claim to come in peace, seeking Earth’s resources in exchange for advanced technology. Initially welcomed, their true intentions unravel as a group of humans, including journalist Mike Donovan and scientist Julie Parrish, discover the Visitors are reptilian beings planning to harvest humans for food and enslave the planet. The humans form a resistance movement, uncovering the Visitors’ fascist-like control and experimenting with a red dust toxin to combat them, while internal Visitor dissent, led by figures like Martin, aids the human fight. The conflict escalates as the resistance battles to expose the Visitors and protect humanity from their sinister agenda. V (1983) Review No one’s claiming that the original V is a masterpiece, but it is a pretty astounding accomplishment as far as sci-fi made specifically for 80s television goes. Although the effects are obviously not up to today’s standards, many of them, especially the “big” ones like the face reveals and the motherships, are just as impactful now as they were in 83. That’s as much thanks to the performances as to the innovative special effects crew. Sure, it has its fair share of overly dramatic and smoky mugging. Still, for what it is, The Beastmaster‘s Marc Singer and crew do a more than respectable job of carrying the emotional through line through even the hammier bits. If you’re looking for some 80s nostalgia or easily digestible popcorn fun, the 1984 V mini-series might just be Worth it to watch. WOKE ELEMENTS Town House A black character calls his buddy a “honky.” However, it’s just guys busting each other’s chops. Run To The Border A Mexican character of dubious citizenship smuggles some white people across the border, and he jokes about the practice that he’s had doing it. However, it seemed more done as a joke than sociopolitical commentary. The post V (1983) first appeared on Worth it or Woke.

In 2020, a farmer outside of Liverpool, England, served up one of the most beautiful helpings of karma the world has ever seen, and people are still talking about it to this day. It all began when Stuard Baldwin, then 56, visited his 2,500-acre farm and found that someone had dumped tires on his property. Stuart and his family own SED Services Ltd, a recycling company that turns green waste into usable materials like compost.Start was no stranger to illegal dumpers, or fly-tippers, as they call them in the UK, but this was unheard of, and he had to do something about it. So, he set up a security camera on his property to see if he could catch the guy."I was getting so angry with people fly-tipping on my land, it was time to do something about it, to take matters in our own hands. We put a camera up in the bushes and we caught the man who did it on the camera,” Stuart told the Manchester Evening News. “My daughter put a picture on Facebook and we found out who it was he actually came forward,” he continued. Tires dumped in a field.via Canva/PhotosBeing a gentleman, Stuart found out where the man lived and gave him days to come to his farm and pick up the tires. “He came down and he said he was going to move them, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and a couple of days breathing – but he never moved them. I thought he must have forgot, so I took them back to remind him,” he told The Daily Mail.In a video that later went viral, Tsuart and his team loaded up all 421 tires onto a truck and then dumped them in front of the man’s house. Footage shows the tires rolling all over the front of the man’s house and bouncing into the street. “We have come to my land at Haydock, and somebody has put these tires here overnight. Luckily, we found out who has forgotten them, so we are going to take them back to the person who put them here, thank you,” Start says in the video. - YouTube youtu.be “We wish no harm to him or any property hence why we will placed them in his garden without causing any damage, we just want to prove a point that you can't just go around fly-tipping wherever you want as it isn’t fair,” Stuart said. "I was so angry when I saw the tyres and I'm a big believer in karma - karma has got him here."The act of perfect retribution done in the most fair way possible is a great message, and that’s probably why the story is still popular after five years. The moral of the story is simple: take care of your own garbage; don’t make a teenager have to do it for you. If so, you may not like how he handles business."Nobody likes a fly-tipper. We've been inundated with congratulations since the video went online,” Stuart told the Manchester Evening News. "The response has been amazing, it's gone the right way for us."

So much about allyship is helping to make those who are excluded feel welcome again. And there are numerous ways to accomplish that. For John Piermatteo, allyship came in the form of simply playing catch. Over the past five years, Piermatteo, a straight dad, has been showing up to Pride events offering to toss a ball around with members of the LGBTQ+ community. Inspired by the “mom hugs” and “grandmother hugs” he’d seen offered at Pride events, the straight dad thought that a game of catch was a unique and personal way to offer a meaningful father figure experience to those who might have been rejected by their own families. Piermatteo first brought his idea to life in 2019 at York Unity Fest in York, Pennsylvania, where he sat under a tree, football at the ready, next to a hand painted sign that read “Play Catch With a Dad.” It took several trips past my sign before anyone engaged,” he recalls on his website. “I watched people go by looking at the sign out of the side of their eye, then, on the next pass, they might make eye contact with me.” Eventually, people began walking up to Piermatteo directly to ask “Can I play catch with you?” The exchanges easily turned emotional. “ I lost count of the number of times we both cried. It was powerful.” Play Catch With A Dad | Facebook Play Catch With A Dad | Facebook www.facebook.com Despite taking a setback during COVID, “Play Catch With a Dad” has turned into a full on movement, with Piermeeto and friend traveling nationwide to toss the ol’ pigskin with folks with upward of hundreds of people per day. So far, they’ve visited not only York, Lancaster, Lititz and Chambersburg in Pennsylvania, but San Diego Pride and Phoenix Pride as well. In 2025, they plan to add Maryland and Chicago to the list. Playing catch is just one of those activities that instantly evokes the image of a safe, healthy, loving father-child relationship. And considering that at least one study has shown that upwards of 70% of lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth experience some degree of parental rejection of their sexual identity, it’s easy to see how this innocent offering likely fills a yearning for so many. Piermatteo’s contribution, and the massively positive response to it, shows that where allyship does take action, it’s often the simplest acts of compassion that make the most meaningful impact. Yes, we need to fight for policies that protect LGBTQ individuals from discrimination, but sometimes…playing catch really is enough to say “you are welcome, just as you are.” If you’d like to donate to Play Catch With Dad, or even set up a Play Catch With a Dad event in your area, you can find more information here.

When it comes to billionaire parenting, one thinks of pouting children, upset that their pony’s coat isn’t the right color. Or jam-packed schedules and elite boarding schools, where there are fancy plaid uniforms and everyone speaks three-to-four languages, minimum. But sometimes, the best advice comes in the simplest form, wisdom that Mark Cuban, the billionaire entrepreneur and former Shark Tank investor seems understand well.During a recent appearance on the Your Mom’s House podcast, Cuban opened up about how he and his wife, Tiffany Stewart, tried to raise their children somewhat “normally,” despite the glaring fame, fortune, and pressure that comes with being a person like Mark. With an estimated net worth of $5.7 billion, it’d be more than easy for him to outsource parenting duties to hired professionals, or to prescribe his children a 65-year plan drawn up before they were even born. However, he explains that he and his wife decided to foster one essential trait: “Everything’s changing so rapidly, from a technological perspective, just the world in general. So, you know, just be curious,” he says. “That’s what I try to get them to do, right? Be curious so that you always want to learn something, and figure things out.”Curiosity is overlooked as a trait to cultivate in children, yet research has shown that curiosity is an incredibly powerful trait, one that impacts learning, creativity, and success. A study conducted in 2011 found that curiosity, or a “hungry mind” is just as useful for predicting academic performance in children as intelligence and effort, writing, “Our results highlight that a “hungry mind” is a core determinant of individual differences in academic achievement.”“And everything’s changing so rapidly—from a technology perspective, just the world in general. So just, you know, be curious. That’s what I try to get them to do, right? Be curious so that you always want to learn something, and figure things out. The more knowledge you have, the more—not power, but the more capabilities you have, and the more options are available to you.”It even makes us feel good: our brains release dopamine and other feel-good chemicals when we encounter new experiences, places, ideas, and people. Science also shows that curiosity is associated with higher levels of positive emotions, a higher satisfaction with life, lower levels of anxiety, and greater psychological well-being.via GIPHYHow to raise curious kids in four key principlesHowever, for children, embracing uncertainty and stepping out of their comfort zones might feel scary. Which is why Cuban and his wife made curiosity a high priority when raising their kids. Here are four strategies for nurturing this trait in children—and with some luck, successful adults will appear on the other end. "Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back." Credit: Justin Peterson on Unsplash Don’t pressure them to choose careers too early. Despite society’s love of asking children “So, what do you want to be when you grow up?” Cuban strongly believes that expecting children to know their life’s calling at 18 or even 22 is outdated and unrealistic. “I was talking to one of my kids about college the other day, and it’s like, you don’t have to know what you’re going to be when you grow up,” he shared. “I don’t think any kid should be under the pressure at 18 or 22, when they graduate from college, to know exactly what they’re going to do.”Knowledge is power. One of the most common adages in the book, but for Cuban, it was essential that his children learned that curiosity leads to real-life skills, abilities, and talents, unlike control. “The more knowledge you have, the more—not power, but the more capabilities you have, and the more options are available to you,” he explained.Change is the only constant. Get used to it. As someone whose made billions from multiple side projects, investments, and major sports team ownership, Cuban understands better than most that life doesn’t always follow a straight and narrow path. Rather than clinging to the ways things were, Cuban encourages parents to embrace the rapidly changing world we live in. Children who are taught to adapt, pivot, and evolve will be better suited in a world where entirely new fields of work emerge constantly–and will be better equipped than their peers to handle the job market’s volatility.Let them decide their own path. Ensuring their children had the freedom to explore and discover their own interests was of the utmost importance to Cuban. Other parents might want to project an agenda onto their children, reflecting their own insecurities or need for reassurance that they’ve raised a “successful kid.” And while letting go of the reins may be scary for parents, it will be well worth it: “I want them to go on their own path,” Cuban says. “Whatever it might be, I want them to be themselves. I don’t want them to be Mark Cuban’s kid for their entire lives.”via GIPHYIt’s clear from the interview that Cuban and his wife recognized the uniqueness and the scale of their position. At one point, when talking about his kids' future inheritances, he says, “I’ve watched Succession. I don’t want it to be like that.” And while he, like any other parent, wants their child to do well and to succeed in life, when it’s all said and done, he really just loves being a father. “My favorite word in the world is 'Dad,’” he says, smiling.

We take the wins where we can get them. And sometimes that win is showing off your amateur painting to a "paint and sip" group, only to have the audience erupt in cheers. - YouTube www.youtube.com That's what happened when a woman and a man stood before a group and were prompted to reveal their renditions of a red and black "model" painting. "Three, two, one!" we hear on the short clip posted on Australian YouTube user @pintoandpicasso's channel. They reveal their work simultaneously, and the crowd goes wild.They both light up with smiles, but she's especially excited that her art is so appreciated. She first shakes her hips back and forth and then begins a victory lap, reminiscent of Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)." The man turns his painting toward her, perhaps thinking she'll see it then or that the crowd's supportive outburst might make her look. But she's deep in her "moment," even when she circles back to him. Beyonce struts in concert. Giphy Finally, she looks and sees what the crowd has seen all along. On his canvas, he has painted the words, "Will You Marry Me?" When she spots it, she seems in shock at first. We hear an outcry of "Oh my God" from the crowd. And it's that moment that he gently puts the sign down and gets on bended knee, popping out a ring. She covers her mouth and crouches down with him as she tries to regain her composure.Eventually, they both stand up, as she seems to nod a yes over and over — overwhelmed with joyous tears. A man proposes with a ring. Giphy Broad City Season 5 On the subreddit r/MadeMeSmile, a commenter posted the video with the caption "Men in Love." There are over 77 thousand upvotes and counting, with nearly 600 comments. One writes, "The best part is when she THINKS they are shouting for her painting skills and models it out~ and then '... Oh.'" To which someone replies, "What a good day for her TBH. First she wins. Then she gets proposed."Another jokes that perhaps he only chose to propose because he was impressed by her art skills. "Probably proposed because she won."Others compare it to other similar, public proposals. "It's almost like that proposal at a game on the kiss cam, where the lady just vibed and danced. And when people pointed at the screen, she just kept dancing like 'yeah yeah I know,' then she finally realized." A man kisses a woman at the Carolina Hurricanes hockey game. Giphy A few dared to ask a more cynical question: what was her answer? "Did she say yes or is this a plot-twist: too embarrassed to say no?" A few offer answers. "Could be nodding or hyperventilating… let's see how this develops."The crux of the comments, however, remains their love of her unabashed confidence. "The fact she thought everyone just loved the s--t out of her painting haha. I want the confidence." With another exclaiming, "That cracked me up. No hesitation, just 'wow, they must really love my painting.'"And best of all, Redditors took note of just how patient he was with her oblivion. "And the fact he was just laughing at her and waiting for her to notice tells you a lot about how he understands her."

An iconic track.

  Ancient Greece was never a centralized and united country. It was a network of dispersed city-states, called polis or poleis in the plural, organized into kingdoms and federations. The most famous of these cities, Athens and Sparta, were merely the biggest players in a complex and dynamic world. Modern studies have counted at least 1,035 poleis during the Archaic and Classical eras and around 800 in 400 BCE (Hansen & Nielsen, 2004, 53). Many were tiny by modern standards but considered themselves autonomous, self-governing, and fiercely protected their independence. The decentralized nature of ancient Greece was key to its political and cultural development. In this article, we will meet four of Greece’s smaller poleis that had a big impact on history.   Eretria View of modern Eretria with the acropolis in the background. Source: Copyright Neil Middleton   A visit to Eretria gives you a glimpse into the reality of a polis. As you approach the coast of central Evia by ferry, you can see in a single glance the entirety of Eretria from the harbor up to the acropolis. The site is easily walkable in a few hours. Yet, this small slice of Greece was one of the most important places in the Mediterranean for hundreds of years. It was conquered by and resisted empires and contributed to the development and spread of the Greek alphabet.   When Greece was going through its Dark Ages following the collapse of Mycenaean civilization in the 12th century BCE, Eretria and its neighbor and rival Chalkis emerged as centers of the Aegean world. While much of Greece was still in an era of decline, the inhabitants of the long and narrow island of Euboea placed themselves at the heart of trade and communication between the east and west of the Mediterranean. Euboians pioneered the colonization phase of Greek history, which saw settlements founded in the Levant, Northern Aegean, Sicily, and Italy. Many of these were trading posts, but culture and innovation also spread. Their contacts with the Phoenicians in the east made the Euboians good candidates for adapting the Phoenician alphabet to the Greek language (Walker, 2004, 145). Their Western contacts spread this to Italy, beginning the long process that ultimately led to the creation of the Latin alphabet and its modern descendants.   Archaeological site of Eretria. Source: Copyright Neil Middleton   Once the fog of prehistory starts to lift, the Eretrians are one of the first Greek communities we meet. They engaged in, and seemingly lost, one of the first recorded wars, the Lelantine War, against their neighbor Chalkis. This did not hold the Eretrians down for long. The late 6th and early 5th centuries saw them closely connected to Athens, perhaps joining that city as an early democracy. They certainly did join the Athenians in the ill-fated attempt to help the Greeks of Asia Minor revolt from Persia. That entangled the Eretrians in a war with the most powerful empire of their day, leading to the destruction of the city by the Persians on their way to Marathon in 490 BCE.   Again, the Eretrians recovered from this disaster and fought the Persians alongside other Greeks in 480/79 BCE. Eretria’s relations with a shifting array of great powers shaped its history in the Classical and Hellenistic eras. They were alternatively allied or subjugated to the Athenians but led key revolts against them, particularly in 411 BCE. Along with the other poleis on Euboia, they occasionally experimented with federalism, but gradually, Eritrea’s importance diminished as Chalkis became a much fought-over strategic location.   A 4th-century mosaic from Eretria. Source: Copyright Neil Middleton   Eretria and its surrounding territory continue to be archaeologically significant. The city’s site has produced beautiful 4th-century BCE mosaics, while its rural sanctuary of Artemis has recently been rediscovered and is one of the most promising new archaeological sites.   Plateia Remains of the walls of Plataea. Source: Pausanias Project   Plataea, tucked away in the southwest corner of the central region of Boeotia, was, by any measure, a minor city. Its total estimated territory was around 170 km2, and it was home to only a few thousand citizens (Hansen, 2004, 450). Despite this, Plateia played a major role in not one but two of antiquity’s greatest conflicts.   As a Boiotian town, the Plataians’ main relationship was always going to be with Thebes, which sat in the center of Boeotia and often dominated the region. When Plataia emerged in the historical record in the late 5th century BCE, we see a small community defending its own identity and autonomy against Thebes (Herodotus, 6.108). If Plataea and Thebes had an antagonistic relationship, this naturally improved the Plataians’ connection with its other big neighbor, Athens. The alliance with Athens set the course of Plataian history for two centuries.   Such was the bond between the two cities that the Plataians were the only people to stand with Athens at the battle of Marathon in 490 BCE. Having faced down the mighty Persian Empire once, the Plataians did so again when they returned ten years later. While much of Boeotia went over to the Persians, the Plataians resisted and saw their land occupied as a result. The decisive battle of the Persian Wars in 479 BCE took place on their land and came to be known as the Battle of Plataea. As the site of the liberation of Greece, those Greeks who resisted promised to guarantee Plataia’s future freedom. But this would turn out to be too idealistic a dream (Thucydides, 2.71.2).   Having hosted the end of one era-defining conflict, Plataia was tragically caught up in the beginning of another in the 420s BCE. With the Peloponnesian War between the Athenians and Spartans brewing, Thebes, a Spartan ally, once again tried to assert control over Plataea. The Theban attack was initially unsuccessful, but it helped trigger a 27-year war and a catastrophe for the Plataians. The failed Theban attack drew in the Spartans, who besieged the city between 429-427 BCE. A Plataian garrison, with some Athenian assistance, bravely held on, but was forced to surrender. Upon handing themselves over to the Spartans, the garrison was cruelly executed, and Plataea razed to the ground.   Burial mound of the Plataians at Marathon. Source: Wikimedia Commons   The Plataians spent a large part of the next century in exile. Their city was briefly restored after 386 BCE, but was again attacked and destroyed by the Thebans in 373 BCE. Only the defeat of Thebes by the Macedonians in 338 BCE saw a stable restoration of Plataea. It is hardly surprising that the Plataians joined in the destruction of Thebes in 335 BCE.   Despite its small size and violent history, Plataia developed into a distinguished corner of Greece. Not only was the memory of the liberation from the Persians kept alive for centuries, but Plateia played a role in maintaining a Boiotian identity by hosting a regular pan-Boeotian festival (Pausanias, 9.3.4), demonstrating the complexity of local Greek identities. Nor was Plataea lacking culturally as the tiny city boasted works by Praxiteles, Pheidas, and Polygnotos, some of ancient Greece’s finest artists (Pausanias, 9.2-4).   Rhodes Remains of the Acropolis of Rhodes. Source: City of Rhodes   Even small and medium-sized islands often hosted multiple poleis. This was true of Rhodes, which was divided into three communities until the late 5th century BCE. Things changed in 408 BCE, when the three poleis collectively formed a new city in the island’s northeast corner. This new city of Rhodes, with its five harbors, was founded in the perfect location to take advantage of the island’s strategic position on Aegean and Mediterranean trade routes (Berthold, 2009, 22).   Rhodes spent much of the Classical era alternating between alliances or subjugation to powers such as Persia, Athens and Sparta. But gradually, the city and its fleet became more influential as the Hellenistic era dawned. By the time the wars of Alexander the Great’s successors were underway, the Rhodians were said to be a wealthy naval power (Diodorus, 20.81). They sought their own autonomous position in a dangerous world by being friendly but not overly close to all the rival generals while increasing trade by sweeping the seas of pirates.   While the Rhodians may have tried to stay out of the wars raging around them, in 305 BCE, their island became the stage for one of the most famous sieges of antiquity. The warlords Antigonus and his son Demetrius judged that the Rhodians were too friendly with their rival Ptolemy. The 40,000 troops and 200 ships that Demetrius brought before the walls of Rhodes dwarfed the 7,000 or so defenders (Wheatley & Dunn, 2020, 186). Though outnumbered, the Rhodians skillfully defended their city. With the siege dragging on into 304 BCE, Demetrius’ next move made his name. He ordered the construction of siege engines of unprecedented size, 44 meters high, and moved by 3,400 people, earning the nickname Demetrius Poliorcetes (the besieger). Still, the Rhodians held on, but gradually, Demetrius was grinding them down. Just before the city fell, a truce was agreed upon, which allowed the Rhodians to maintain their autonomy but made some concessions.   The Rhodians may not have defeated Demetrius, but they survived, and for that, they thanked their patron deity, Helios. Their offering to Helios became one of the seven wonders of the ancient world: the Colossus of Rhodes. This 30-meter-high statue of Helios placed at the entrance of one of Rhodes’ harbors was by far the largest sculpture made in antiquity. The Colossus only stood for a few decades before being toppled by an earthquake in 226 BCE.   Le colosse de Rhodes, by Louis de Caulery, c. 17th century. Source: Louvre   During the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE, Rhodes became a major Aegean power with a significant navy and territory on the opposite coast. When the Romans arrived, the Rhodians were important allies and aided in the defeat of the Macedonians and Seleucids. This led to the brief apogee of Rhodian influence as they shared power in Asia Minor and the Aegean with Rome’s other ally, the Attalids of Pergamon. However, this power based on Roman friendship was just as fragile as the Colossus proved to be. When the Rhodians sought to arbitrate between the Romans and Macedonians in the Third Macedonian War, Rome withdrew its favor and cut Rhodes down to size. Trade had powered Rhodes’ rise. Rome removed this by allowing the island of Delos to develop as a free port. While Rhodes did go into decline, much like Athens, it compensated by becoming a major cultural center during the early Roman period.   Messene Ruins of Messene. Source: Wikimedia Commons   Messene is not one of Greece’s most famous archaeological sites, but it tells an important story. The most prominent feature of this southern site is the eight kilometers of fortified walls, which attest to a people determined to defend themselves (Shipley, 2004, 563). The Messenian story is one of the most remarkable in Greek history. Every polis suffered a disaster at some point in its history, but few matched that of the Messenians, who were defeated and occupied by their neighbors for centuries before re-emerging as a free community.   The southwestern region of Messenia bordered the Spartan territory of Laconia, and the two regions were intimately linked. In a series of mythologized conflicts in the 8th and 7th centuries BCE, the Spartans conquered and subjugated Messenia. To do so, they had to transform themselves into a society geared to producing soldiers, becoming the infamous Spartans. This new Spartan society was built upon the Messenians, who saw their land occupied and became one of the only Greek communities to be virtually enslaved by fellow Greeks.   The Messenians were an occupied and repressed community for centuries, largely forgotten by their neighbors, but remarkably, they endured. The few opportunities to resist the greatest army in Greece were seized, but with little success. The greatest revolt came in 464 BCE when an earthquake came close to destroying Sparta. The Messenians defended themselves in the fortress of Mount Ithome for years, but with the aid of allies, the Spartans eventually triumphed. From this defeat, however, came a relationship with the Athenians, who settled a group of Messenian exiles in central Greece at Naupactus.   During the great 5th-century wars that pitted Athens against Sparta, the Messenians in Naupactus did what damage they could to the Spartans. There must have been some satisfaction when these exiles contributed to the humiliating Spartan defeat at Sphacteria in 425 BCE as the legendary Spartans surrendered en masse. But only the total defeat of the Spartans was able to restore the Messenians. For that, they had to wait another half-century for the Thebans to triumph at the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BCE. Two years later, the Theban leader Epaminondas led an invasion of Sparta and liberated Messenia. On the slopes of Mount Ithome, Epaminondas helped found Messene. From behind the city’s massive fortifications, the Messenians were sure to defend their restored freedom and be a thorn in the side of Sparta.   Remains of the walls of Messene. Source: Wikimedia Commons   After recounting their long history, Pausanias estimated that the Messenians had been in exile or subjugation for close to three hundred years (4.27.9-11). Despite this, they had, remarkably, maintained their identity and even their own Messenian accent. Having suffered such a long occupation, the Messenians were naturally wary of any potential threats. Hostility to Sparta or any potential masters ran through their remaining history. They were one of the few Peloponnesian states to resist joining the Achaian federal state, going as far as to kill the so-called “last of the Greeks,” Philopoemen, when he tried to force Messene to join the Achaians in the 2nd century BCE.   Bibliography   Berthold, R. (2009) Rhodes in the Hellenistic Age, Cornell University Press: London and Ithaca   Hansen, M.H. and Nielsen, T.H. (2004) An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis, Oxford University Press: Oxford   Hansen, M.H. (2004) “Boiotia,” in An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis, Oxford University Press: Oxford, pp. 431-461   Shipley, G. (2004) “Messenia,” in An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis, Oxford University Press: Oxford, pp. 547-568   Walker, K. (2004) Archaic Eretria: A Political and Social History from the Earliest Times to 490 BC, Routledge: London and New York   Whealey, P. and Dunn, C. (2020) Demetrius the Besieger, Oxford University Press: Oxford

  Bishop of San Salvador, El Salvador’s capital, in 1980, Óscar Romero was shot to death by a member of the government’s notorious death squads while delivering mass. In the years since, he was declared a martyr and then canonized by Pope Francis in 2018, becoming Central America’s first saint. Due to an amnesty law passed in 1993, no one was ever held accountable for his murder, but his dedication to justice for the country’s poor and oppressed has made him a national hero.   Romero’s Early Life A young Óscar Romero celebrating mass, undated. Source: Catholic Agency for Overseas Development   Óscar Romero was born in 1917, one of eight children who, in his youth, apprenticed with his father as a carpenter, perhaps a fitting career for a man who would go on to defend and champion El Salvador’s impoverished and oppressed majority. Ultimately feeling drawn to the Church, he entered the seminary at age 13, moving to the national seminary in San Salvador and then to Rome, where he completed his studies and was ordained in 1942.   For the 25 years that followed, he ministered in San Miguel, one of El Salvador’s largest cities and a center of industry, where his exposure to the rural poverty plaguing El Salvador, particularly its Indigenous people, was limited. He was then moved to a more bureaucratic position in San Salvador, largely devoid of ministerial work, before spending a short period as Bishop of Santiago de Maria. It is at this point, scholars suggest, that his eyes were opened to the plight of El Salvador’s campesinos, not only toiling in poverty but targeted and murdered by the government’s security forces.   In a move that seemed to surprise everyone but was perhaps driven by his tendency to toe the line handed down by Rome, Romero was named Archbishop of San Salvador in 1977, to the disappointment of the country’s increasingly progressive clergy.   El Salvador: A History of Poverty and Repression Security forces patrolling a village in El Salvador in 1979. Source: NPR   As Romero settled into his new position, El Salvador was on the brink of civil war. The country had long been plagued by severe socioeconomic inequality that placed the vast majority of the country’s wealth in the hands of a tiny percentage of landed elites. To uphold this power imbalance, it had been governed by a series of military dictatorships or military-backed “elected” civilians. Meanwhile, resentment among the poor and middle class had been festering since the last major uprising against the landed class in the 1930s, during which thousands had been slaughtered by security forces in an event known as La Matanza.   Cracks in the elite-military coalition began appearing in the 1970s when a reform-minded urban middle class began pushing for change through peaceful electoral means. The government’s response was to further crack down on dissent and violently repress grassroots organizations, ostensibly in the name of maintaining “public order.” As the Cold War raged and the United States was eager to stop the spread of communism—or any pro-left sentiment—in Latin America, El Salvador’s military juntas retained outside support despite growing human rights violations. At the same time, any opposition group or movement could be labeled “communist” to justify action against it.   Opposition continued to grow, however, mostly underground, but hopes for peaceful change dimmed as repression increased and elections were held with blatantly fraudulent results. Though popular organizations would continue to be targeted by the government in the run-up to and throughout the country’s impending civil war, they found an unlikely ally in the 1970s: the Catholic Church.   Romero’s “Conversion” and Liberation Theology A mural of Óscar Romero on a building in Panchimalco, San Salvador. Source: The Irish Times   The Catholic Church in Latin America had long been allied with conservative governments and elites when Vatican II (officially the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican) gathered Catholic leaders from around the world in a series of meetings to discuss modernizing the Church. Clergy in Latin America pushed a more progressive approach to political and social justice issues. From these meetings, as well as a meeting of the Latin American Episcopal Conference in Colombia in 1968, “liberation theology” was born.   “Proposing a ‘preferential option for the poor,’ the Church was encouraged to extend its work to directly address the struggles of the impoverished and to work specifically to ameliorate ‘physical and spiritual oppression.’” (Sigmund 1988, pp. 21-22)   As this was happening, Óscar Romero was just beginning his service in San Salvador and was reportedly skeptical of the movement. He was compassionate toward the poor but, long a religious conservative, wary of a progressive movement that demanded a dramatic change in ministry. Though his contemporaries maintain that he never adopted the banner of liberation theology, his more conservative views did seem to be tempered by his experience as Bishop in Santiago de Maria. Then, just weeks after being ordained Archbishop of San Salvador, a life-changing experience led to a dramatic shift.   Undated photo of Óscar Romero in San Salvador. Source: The Catholic Sun   Fr. Rutilio Grande, a long-time friend of his, was gunned down by government forces for helping peasants organize. The tragedy seemed to open his eyes to not only the government repression being carried out by military and paramilitary forces but also the exploitation and abject poverty people were being punished for trying to free themselves from. He later told a colleague, “If they killed him for doing what he did, then I too have to walk the same path.”   Returning from Fr. Grande’s funeral, Romero took swift action. He announced his decision to boycott all events with the country’s president until an investigation into his friend’s death was undertaken. The following Sunday, he suspended all masses in the country, holding a single mass in the capital to honor Fr. Grande and the cause he supported. From that point forward, he became a staunch advocate of the oppressed and a voice for the voiceless.   Targeted From All Sides Romero in San Salvador, 1979. Source: LA Times   For the next three years, as El Salvador teetered on the brink of civil war, Romero railed against the violence that was plaguing his country. While the country’s left-wing groups had begun organizing counterattacks, the overwhelming majority of the violence was being carried out by and on behalf of the right-wing government—the post-war UN Truth Commission found 85% of the war’s 75,000 deaths and other violent atrocities were carried out by the government and its allies.   Romero used his pulpit, and later his radio presence, to denounce the murders and disappearances of community organizers, broadcasting the names of the victims. While demanding justice that would never be delivered, he stepped in where the government failed, creating legal aid projects and other programs to support victims. For his efforts, he was repeatedly tattled on to the Vatican, vilified in the press, and denounced by some of his peers.   In 1979, a more moderate military junta replaced the military-backed president, also named Romero, who had fallen out of favor. Initially promising to protect human rights, enact land reform, and hold elections, offering a brief glimmer of hope for the country, the junta quickly fell apart under pressure from the country’s far right. Left-leaning groups that hoped for more space for political activity organized peaceful protests, only to be met yet again with violent repression; the belief that armed insurrection was the only viable option grew. Moderates in various center-right parties were ousted and sometimes murdered.   Óscar Romero working in a makeshift radio studio in San Salvador, undated. Source: America Magazine   Romero’s long-time secretary notes that, while he was an outspoken voice for the poor, the country’s increasingly agitated left-wing factions who also sought justice for the poor weren’t necessarily enamored with him either. “They threatened to kill him because, they said, he blessed the coup d’etat and the agricultural reform proposed by the 1979 coup d’etat.” While this was not true, Romero always remained a proponent of peaceful solutions and did not sanction anti-government violence from the country’s growing guerrilla movement either.   In February 1980, Romero announced in his radio address that he had written to the president of the United States, Jimmy Carter, asking him to cease military aid to the new government, stating “…the contribution of your government, instead of promoting greater justice and peace in El Salvador, will without doubt sharpen the injustice and repression against the organizations of the people who repeatedly have been struggling to gain respect for their most fundamental human rights.” The country’s Catholic radio station was bombed the next day, but military aid continued and would ultimately increase. Colleagues recount that Romero was receiving death threats and had come to see his murder as inevitable.   In what would be his final Sunday sermon, on March 23, 1980, Romero delivered a stern appeal to El Salvador’s military, paramilitary, police, and security forces, demanding they stop the violence.   “I want to make a special appeal to soldiers, national guardsmen, and policemen: each of you is one of us. The peasants you kill are your own brothers and sisters. When you hear a man telling you to kill, remember God’s words, ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ No soldier is obliged to obey a law contrary to the law of God. In the name of God, in the name of our tormented people, I beseech you, I implore you; in the name of God, I command you to stop the repression.”   Death Comes for the Archbishop Photo of the chaos at Óscar Romero’s funeral, 1980. Source: The Irish Times   On the evening of March 24, while saying mass in the chapel of a hospital in San Salvador, Óscar Romero was shot to death by a lone gunman. Many scholars argue this was the moment that made the outbreak of civil war unavoidable; if not even church was safe, what recourse did the country’s oppressed have but armed insurrection? The events of his funeral a week later further cemented this. Presided over by Mexican cardinal Ernesto Corripio Ahumada, Romero’s funeral was attended by thousands of Salvadorans. The service was interrupted by bombs and gunfire as the military opened fire on mourners. Dozens were killed and hundreds more wounded.   A farcical investigation into Romero’s murder was begun but never completed; the presiding judge received death threats and resigned. The United States, still pouring military aid into El Salvador, publicly insisted the culprit be held accountable but took no action for fear of jeopardizing its anti-communist crusade. The arrest of an army intelligence officer and known paramilitary leader, Roberto d’Aubuisson, several months later netted documents that implicated him in organizing Romero’s assassination. But right-wing pressure led the government to release him. He would go on to found the ARENA party and become one of El Salvador’s most prominent politicians during the 12-year civil war.   Once the war ended, a 1993 amnesty law prohibited criminal trials related to the war; no one was held accountable for the thousands of deaths and disappearances. A UN Truth Commission determined d’Aubuisson had ordered Romero’s execution, but he had died of cancer by then, and further information about who had actually pulled the trigger was unknown. As details slowly trickled out and the amnesty law was rescinded, attempts were made to bring Romero’s killer and others involved in the plot to justice, both within and outside El Salvador, but to no avail.   Sainthood and Óscar Romero’s Legacy A portrait of Óscar Romero hangs at St. Peter’s Basilica for his canonization, Oct. 14, 2018. Source: CNS photo, Paul Haring   Claims of Romero’s martyrdom and calls for his canonization began shortly after his death but, for a long time, went nowhere. Romero’s activism in support of El Salvador’s impoverished and oppressed had the whiff of the controversial liberation theology that had become associated with Marxism and was opposed by Pope John Paul II. Similarly, the country’s right-wing held staunchly to the belief that Romero was a communist, even a terrorist. The pope did ultimately go on to visit Romero’s grave twice and, in 1997, declared him a Servant of God, the first step toward canonization.   Progress froze there until 2013, with the election of a new pontiff, Pope Francis, an Argentine who, some scholars argue, better understood the politics of Latin America, having lived through his own country’s “dirty war” against the left. Francis beatified Romero as a martyr in 2015 and canonized him in 2018. The government of El Salvador also formally offered an apology for Romero’s death, and he has since been embraced as a national hero.   Though El Salvador’s civil war ended in 1992, violence still plagues the country, now predominantly from gangs like MS-13 that formed in the US among refugees fleeing the war who were then deported back to El Salvador in the 1990s. Amidst the violence, Romero remains a prevalent and powerful symbol, particularly for those fighting for human rights and social justice who look to him as an example. Not limited to El Salvador, a number of ministries and organizations worldwide are named in his honor, often to support his legacy by continuing to seek justice for the marginalized and oppressed.   References   Modern Latin America, 5th edition, Thomas E. Skidmore and Peter H. Smith, Oxford University Press, 2001.   Sigmund, Paul E. “The Development of Liberation Theology: Continuity of Change?.” Ed. Richard L. Rubenstein and John K. Roth. The Politics of Latin American Liberation Theology: the Challenge to U.S. Public Policy. Washington, D.C.: Washington Institute, 1988.