On the 7th of january in 1919, the “Semana Trágica” began in Argentina when police attacked striking metalworkers in Buenos Aires, killing five, after workers set the police chief’s car on fire. The city was quickly placed under martial law.

The “Semana Trágica” (Tragic Week in English, not to be confused with the Spanish Tragic Week) was the violent supression of a general workers’ uprising, beginning with the attack on January 7th. In addition to the actions of the police and military, right-wing vigilantes launched pogroms against the city’s Jews, many of whom were not involved, in order to suppress the rebellion.

The conflict began as a strike at the Vasena metal works, an English Argentine-owned plant in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. On January 7th, workers overturned and set fire to the car of the police chief Elpidio González. Militant workers also shot and killed the commander of the Army detachment protecting González. Following this, police attacked, killing five workers and wounding twenty more.

On the same day, maritime workers of the port of Buenos Aires voted in favor of a general strike for better hours and wages. After the police attack at Vasena, a waterfront strike began: all ship movements, and all loading and unloading, came to a halt.

Rioting soon spread throughout Buenos Aires, and workers battled with both state and right-wing paramilitary forces. Police utilized members of the far-right Argentine “Patriotic League”, who targeted the city’s working class Russian Jewish population, which they associated with the rebellion, beating and murdering many uninvolved civilians.

On the 11th, the city was placed under martial law, and the military restored control over the city over the next several days. Estimates of the death toll range from between 141 to over 700. The United States embassy reported that 1,500 people were killed in total, “mostly Russians and generally Jews”

La Semana Trágica - el historiador ancaptain

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    • SpiderFarmer [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      10 months ago

      Damn, I never learned. It didn’t stop me from drawing constantly though. I shoulda tried learning, but at least I can say I have a bit of an outsider style.

      • Moss [they/them]@hexbear.net
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        10 months ago

        Yeah I was following a shading tutorial for the first time last night, I drew an apple and was really unhappy with it. I thought it was the wrong shape, I had shaded it badly, and it looked really amateurish. I woke up this morning and looked at it and was like “damn that’s a good apple”. Looking back at my old drawings, there’s a bit of a visible improvement which is cool to see

        • Frank [he/him, he/him]@hexbear.net
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          10 months ago

          “You are your own worst critic” is so painfully true. When I make stuff I see flaws that no one else who isn’t good at what I’m doing would even be able to recognize, but to me it’s like a signal flare.

          But you’re right, looking back at old things, and seeing improvement, really good feeling! : )