Dec. 18. 1830: Trial of Swing Rioters, peasants and workers who fought for minimum wage. 1972: Bach Mai hospital, Vietnam, bombed by the US. US launches heaviest air barrage of the entire Indochina war against North Vietnam, the so-called "Christmas bombing."

Dec. 19. 1994: Zapatista rebels in Southeastern Mexico slip through army siege and briefly occupy 38 towns in Chiapas state, crippling Wall Street investments in Mexican bond market.

Dec. 20. 1876: Hannah Omish at 12 is youngest person ever hung in US. 1990: Reservist Dr. Yolanda Huet-Vaughn refuses orders for Gulf War, Kansas. She is later sentenced to prison, and the Kansas medical board strips Huet-Vaughn of her license to practice because of her conscientious objection.

Dec. 21. 1892: Birth of Rebecca West, London. Writer, feminist, critic, companion for 10 years of author and socialist H.G. Wells. "People call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute."

Dec. 22. 1972: US again bombs the Bach Mai Hospital in the center of Hanoi, destroying it and allegedly killing 25 doctors, pharmacists, and nurses. 1982: Congress passes first version of the Boland Amendment (411-0), which prohibited covert efforts by the President to overthrow the Nicaraguan government. So he ordered someone else to do it.

Dec. 23. 1972: About 350 anti-war protesters march through stores in the downtown Seattle shopping district.

Dec. 24. 1906: First radio broadcast in public. 1970: Taiji Yamaga dies; long-time secretary of international relations for the Anarchist Federation of Japan.

Dec. 25. 1875: Jessie Wallace Hughan, founder of War Resisters League, born. Merry Christmas! 1978: Four "Santa Clauses" arrested for climbing a fence at Pilgrim Nuclear Plant, Plymouth, Mass.

Dec. 26. 1894: Birth of African American novelist Jean Toomer. Known as part of the "Harlem Renaissance." 1971: Two dozen Vietnam Veterans Against the War "liberate" the Statue of Liberty with a sit-in to protest resumed bombings in Vietnam. They fly an inverted US flag from the crown as a signal of distress.

Dec. 27. 1913: Mass rebellion by IWW workers in Edmonton, Alberta, forces city to house 400 unemployed during winter. 1914: Founding of International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR), multi-faith peace group, Cambridge, Great Britain.

Dec. 28. 1879: Birth of long-time Seattle labor leader Jimmy Duncan. 1996: Three arrested at Capitol Hill post office in Seattle for refusing to leave after attempting to mail humanitarian supplies to Iraq in defiance of US-led embargo.

Dec. 29. 1893: Birth of Vera Brittain. British pacifist and feminist. 1994: A state court rejects property rights advocates and reaffirms the fishing harvest rights of 15 Indian tribes in Washington state.

Dec. 30. 1972: Pres. Richard Nixon orders end to North Vietnamese bombing. The campaign was a last attempt to get North Vietnam to submit to the US: 18 days of carpet-bombing of homes, hospitals, and civilians of Hanoi and Haiphong through Christmas. For the first time, B-52 pilots refuse to fly missions.

Dec. 31. 1871: Ellen Horup, anti-militarist feminist, born, Denmark. 1915: US branch of Fellowship of Reconciliation founded.