Arzish Baaquie | arzish@gmail.com
the ridge lifestyle
A NUSSU Publication
It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees – Emiliano Zapata
Loki refused to bow down to the god Balder (the Norse god of Lightning) and in a subsequent scuffle, ended up killing him. As a result, the god Odin punishes Loki by binding him in his (Loki’s) son’s entrails (yes, the Norse were an imaginative bunch) for all of eternity. This month, the ridge looks at some figures over the course of history who have questioned authority and refused to take things as they were.
Joan of Arc
Photo: http://library.shu.edu
The year is 1424. A 12-year old French girl is lazing about in the fields owned by her family. Out of the blue, she begins having what she refers to as ‘divine visions’, persuading the girl to assist in France’s effort to drive out the English. For four years, these visions occur ever-so-often, resulting in this girl volunteering to join the French army. This girl, as you’ve probably guessed, was Joan of Arc. At the age of 16, she attempted, unsuccessfully, to become part of the French resistance forces. Due to ther lack of training and the fact that she was a young girl, she was denied any role in the forces. After making several remarkably accurate predictions about the military maneouvers of the English, French army commanders began taking notice of her. She dressed like a male soldier so as to not attract unwanted attention and not be singled out by her comrades. Joan of Arc turned out to be a remarkable military leader and tactician, engineering several key victories. She was captured at the tender age of 19 and subsequently burnt at the stake as a ‘witch’ by the English. Her acts of heroism and the strength of her character have been etched into the annals of history.
Giordano Bruno
Photo: http://palermo.blogolandia.it
Bruno was an Italian scientist and philosopher who refused to recant any of his beliefs or theories, which eventually led to his death. In the 16th century, Italy was not exactly a hotbed of new ideas in science and religion, with any ideas that sounded remotely different or unfamiliar being deemed ‘heretical’, a crime punishable by death. Giordano Bruno insisted that the universe was an infinite realm and that the Sun is at the center of the Solar System (heliocentrism). Bruno was Galileo’s predecessor and set the tone for the rebellious scientists of Italy. Captured by the Romans in 1592, Bruno was tortured for a good seven (yes, you read that right, seven) years before he was sentenced to be burned at the stake as a heretic. When the judge announced the death sentence for Bruno, he was met with the following statement: “”Maiori forsan cum timore sententiam in me fertis quam ego accipiam (Perhaps you pronounce this sentence against me with greater fear than I receive it).” A martyr for science, Giordano Bruno willingly accepted death so that his theories and teachings could live on.
Spartacus
Photo: http://www.militaryartgallery.com
A slave who went on to lead his own army of rebels against the mighty Roman Empire, Spartacus embodies the never-say-die attitude that makes a true leader. Trained as a gladiator before his enslavement, Spartacus was known to be an astute tactician and a great motivator. In 73 B.C., whilst in captivity, he led a rag-tag bunch of seventy other slaves to rebel against their Roman captors and escape. As legend has it, Spartacus turned back from the border of Italy, i.e. from safety and freedom, and instead, accompanied by his ‘army’, turned around and marched back into the heart of Italy. He amassed an amazing support, with his army of followers and fellow slave-soldiers numbering 140,000 at one point of time. Sadly, the most powerful empire in the world was not about to be brought down by a runaway slave and Spartacus was eventually slain. According to the Roman historian Plutarch, “finally, after his companions had taken to flight, he (Spartacus) stood alone, surrounded by a multitude of foes, and was still defending himself when he was cut down by a shower of arrows and a blur of swords”.
Che Guevara
Photo: http://photosthatchangedtheworld.com
Ernesto Che Guevara, or simply ‘Che’ to his near and dear, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, politician, author, physician, military theorist, and guerrilla leader. Born in 1928 into a middle-class family, Che was surrounded by a plethora of books from an early age, which led to his great pool of knowledge. Che admired the revolutionaries who had graced the history books and idolized Spartacus. He was known for his refusal to turn a blind eye towards injustice and his attempts to alleviate this injustice took him all the way from Argentina to Congo, with countless other countries thrown in between. One of his greatest achievements was the successful overthrowing of the dictator Batista in Cuba, done alongside his comrade-in-arms, a certain Fidel Castro. Castro described Guevara as intelligent, daring, and an exemplary leader. In 1967, whilst deep in hiding in the Bolivian forests, Che was captured by the CIA-backed Bolivian army, who went on to brutally execute him. As he was about to be shot, he was asked if he was thinking of his own immortality. His response was “No, I am thinking about the immortality of the revolution.”
Omar Mukhtar
Photo: http://en.wikipedia.org
Often referred to as the ‘Lion of the Desert’, Omar Mukhtar led the Libyan resistance against the Italian colonial forces for a good twenty years. A religious teacher who was well-versed in guerrilla warfare, Mukhtar became the arch-nemesis of the Italians in Libya. Mukhtar and his small, compact army of rebels were very familiar with the harsh terrain and were able to make life for the Italians miserable. General Teruzzi, the main military authority overseeing Italian colonialist operations in Libya, described Mukhtar as possessing “exceptional perseverance and strong will power.” From 1911 till his capture in 1931, the Lion of the Desert steadily led his men to protect their homeland from the powerful colonialists. Soon after his capture, he was hanged in front of a concentration camp of Libyans, but not before deeply affecting the Italian prison wardens, who were moved by his stoic demeanour and refusal to cower in fear.
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