June 30. 1914: Gandhi's first arrest, in campaign for Indian equal rights in South Africa. 1974: Selective Service law authorizing the draft expires, marking the official end of conscription in the US.

July 1. 1944: Guatemalan dictator Jorge Ubico resigns in the face of a massive general strike and nonviolent protest; a decade of peaceful democratic rule follows, until a CIA-backed coup in 1954 ushers in a new, even more brutal era of genocidal regimes.

July 2. 1970: Exposure of "tiger cages" at Con Son Prison, used by US-backed South Vietnamese government to torture political prisoners. 1976: US Supreme Court rules death penalty not inherently cruel or unusual. In short, nothing is.

July 3. 1835: Children strike at Paterson, New Jersey, for eleven-hour day and six-day week. With the help of adults, they win a compromise settlement of a 69 hour work week. 1997: Poland abolishes death penalty.

July 4. 1976: Coalition brings together 60,000 marchers to demand women's rights, jobs for all, independence for Puerto Rico, and gay rights under the slogan "A Bicentennial Without Colonies." Philadelphia.

July 5. 1948: War-ravaged Britain adopts National Health Service Act, which includes medical, unemployment, motherhood, widow, orphan, old age, and death benefits. 1965: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), federal agency which investigated discrimination charges, becomes operational. Essentially rendered useless by Reagan administration.

July 6. 1907: Birth of Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter, communist. 1945: Nicaragua becomes first nation to ratify United Nations charter.

July 7. 1863: First military draft by US (exemptions cost $100). 1941: US occupies Iceland. 1977: Labor Party declares moratorium on uranium mining, Australia.

July 8. 1822: Death of Percy Shelly, radical poet, Italy. 1937: Britain sends 13,000 troops to Palestine, and martial law is declared, in an attempt to crush Arab fight for land.

July 9. 1776: Lead statue of King George in Bowling Green, NY, melted down to make bullets for American Revolution. 1998: Statues of Martin Luther King, Jr., and other Christian martyrs unveiled, Westminster Abbey, London.

July 10. 1981: Bay Mills and Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa and Grand Traverse of Ottowa tribes win fine-year court battle for fishing rights in Lakes Michigan, Superior, and Huron.

July 11. 1947: Eight black prisoners killed in Georgia for refusing to work in swamp without boots. 1967: A week of riots begins in Newark, New Jersey, eventually leaving 26 dead, 1,500 wounded and over 1,000 arrested amidst widespread charges of police brutality.

July 12. 1933: Congress passes first minimum wage law ($0.33 per hour). 2000: One minute of silence to protest terrorism is widely observed, Greece.

July 13. 1863: Three days of massive anti-draft protests in New York City. Modern history's bloodiest riot began when a mob of 50,000 Civil War draft protesters burned buildings, stores and draft offices, attacked police, and clubbed, lynched, and shot large numbers of blacks, who they blamed for the government's position. Rioters were protesting the provision allowing cash payment in place of service. When troops returning from Gettysburg finally restored order, 1,200 were dead.