title: José Martí

text: Before leaving for Cuba, Martí wrote his "literary will" on April 1, 1895, leaving his personal papers and manuscripts to Gonzalo de Quesada, with instructions for editing. Knowing that the majority of his writing in newspapers in Honduras, Uruguay, and Chile would disappear over time, Martí instructed Quesada to arrange his papers in volumes. The volumes were to be arranged in the following way: volumes one and two, North Americas; volume three, Hispanic Americas; volume four, North American Scenes; volume five, Books about the Americas (this included both North and South America); volume six, Literature, education and painting. Another volume included his poetry.


title: José Martí

text: The expedition, composed of Martí, Gómez, Ángel Guerra, Francisco Borreo, Cesar Salas and Marcos del Rosario, left Montecristi for Cuba on April 1, 1895. Despite delays and desertion by some members, they got to Cuba, landing at Playitas, near Cape Maisí and Imías, Cuba, on April 11. Once there, they made contact with the Cuban rebels, who were headed by the Maceo brothers, and started fighting against Spanish troops. The revolt did not go as planned, "mainly because the call to revolution received no immediate, spontaneous support from the masses." By May 13, the expedition reached Dos Rios. On May 19, Gomez faced Ximenez de Sandoval's troops and ordered Martí to stay with the rearguard, but Martí became separated from the bulk of the Cuban forces, and entered the Spanish line.


title: José Martí

text: José Martí was killed in battle against Spanish troops at the Battle of Dos Ríos, near the confluence of the rivers Contramaestre and Cauto, on May 19, 1895. Gómez had recognized that the Spaniards had a strong position between palm trees, so he ordered his men to disengage. Martí was alone and seeing a young courier ride by said: "Joven, ¡a la carga!" meaning: "Young man, charge!" This was around midday, and he was dressed in a black jacket while riding a white horse, which made him an easy target for the Spanish. After Martí was shot, the young trooper, Angel de la Guardia, lost his horse and returned to report the loss. The Spanish took possession of the body, buried it close by, then exhumed the body upon realization of its identity. He was buried in Santa Ifigenia Cemetery in Santiago de Cuba. Many have argued that Maceo and others had always spurned Martí for never participating in combat, which may have compelled Martí to that ill-fated two-man charge. Some of his "Versos Sencillos" can seem premonition-like: "No me entierren en lo oscuro/


title: José Martí

text: The death of Martí was a blow to the "aspirations of the Cuban rebels, inside and outside of the island, but the fighting continued with alternating successes and failures until the entry of the United States into the war in 1898".


title: José Martí

text: Martí's political ideas were shaped by his early encounter with Krausist liberalism and its defense of spirituality and solidarity. Radical liberalism in Latin America during this time period often took on a nationalist and anti-imperialist cast, as shown by the examples of Francisco Bilbao in Chile, Benito Juárez in Mexico, José Santos Zelaya in Nicaragua, and Ramón Emeterio Betances in Puerto Rico, whom Martí deeply admired and considered one of his teachers. An increasingly radicalized liberalism emphasizing democratic participation, economic equality, national sovereignty, and supplemented by his exposure to doctrines such as Georgism, remained the dominant basis of Martí's outlook.


title: José Martí

text: Martí wrote extensively about Spanish colonial control and the threat of US expansionism into Cuba. To him, it was unnatural that Cuba was controlled and oppressed by the Spanish government, when it had its own unique identity and culture. In his pamphlet from February 11, 1873, called "The Spanish Republic and the Cuban Revolution", he argued that "Cubans do not live as Spaniards live... They are nourished by a different system of trade, have links with different countries, and express their happiness through quite contrary customs. There are no common aspirations or identical goals linking the two peoples, or beloved memories to unite them. ... Peoples are only united by ties of fraternity and love.".


title: José Martí

text: Martí opposed slavery and criticized Spain for upholding it. In a speech to Cuban immigrants in Steck Hall, New York, on January 24, 1879, he stated that the war against Spain needed to be fought, recalled the heroism and suffering of the Ten Years' War, which, he declared, had qualified Cuba as a real nation with a right to independence. Spain had not ratified the conditions of the peace treaty, had falsified elections, continued excessive taxation, and had failed to abolish slavery. Cuba needed to be free.


title: José Martí

text: Martí proposed in a letter to Máximo Gómez in 1882 the formation of a revolutionary party, which he considered essential in the prevention of Cuba falling back on the Home Rule Party ("Partido Autonomista") after the Pact of Zanjón. The Home Rule Party was a peace-seeking party that would stop short of the outright independence that Martí thought Cuba needed. But he was aware that there were social divisions in Cuba, especially racial divisions, that needed to be addressed as well. He thought war was necessary to achieve Cuba's freedom, despite his basic ideology of conciliation, respect, dignity, and balance. The establishment of the "patria" (fatherland) with a good government would unite Cubans of all social classes and colours in harmony. Together with other Cubans resident in New York, Martí started laying the grounds for the Revolutionary Party, stressing the need for a democratic organization as the basic structure before any military leaders were to join. The military would have to subordinate themselves to the interests of the fatherland. Gómez later rejoined Martí's plans, promising to comply.


title: José Martí

text: Martí's consolidation of support among the Cuban expatriates, especially in Florida, was key in the planning and execution of the invasion of Cuba. His speeches to Cuban tobacco workers in Tampa and Key West motivated and united them; this is considered the most important political achievement of his life. At this point he refined his ideological platform, basing it on a Cuba held together by pride in being Cuban, a society that ensured "the welfare and prosperity of all Cubans" independently of class, occupation or race. Faith in the cause could not die, and the military would not try for domination. All pro-independence Cubans would participate, with no sector predominating. From this he established the Cuban Revolutionary Party in early 1892.


title: José Martí

text: Martí and the CRP were devoted to secretly organizing the anti-Spanish war. Martí's newspaper, "Patria", was a key instrument of this campaign, where Martí delineated his final plans for Cuba. Through this medium he argued against the exploitative colonialism of Spain in Cuba, criticized the Home Rule ("Autonomista") Party for having aims that fell considerably short of full independence, and warned against U.S. annexationism which he felt could only be prevented by Cuba's successful independence. He specified his plans for the future Cuban Republic, a multi-class and multi-racial democratic republic based on universal suffrage, with an egalitarian economic base to develop fully Cuba's productive resources and an equitable distribution of land among citizens, with enlightened and virtuous politicians.


title: José Martí

text: From Martí's 'Campaign Diaries', written during the final expedition in Cuba, it seems evident that Martí would have reached the highest position in the future Republic of Arms. This was not to be; his death occurred before the Assembly of Cuba was set up. Until his last minute, Martí dedicated his life to achieve full independence for Cuba. His uncompromising belief in democracy and freedom for his fatherland is what characterized his political ideology.


title: José Martí

text: Martí demonstrated an anti-imperialist attitude from an early age, and was convinced that the United States posed a danger for Latin America. While critiquing the United States for its stereotypes of Latin Americans and preoccupation with capitalism, Martí also drew parallels with the American Revolution and the nationalist movement in Cuba. At the same time, he recognized the advantages of the European or North American civilizations, which were open to the reforms that Latin American countries needed in order to detach themselves from the colonial heritage of Spain. Martí's distrust of North American politics had developed during the 1880s, due to the intervention threats that loomed on Mexico and Guatemala, and indirectly on Cuba's future. Over time Martí became increasingly alarmed about the United States' intentions for Cuba. The United States desperately needed new markets for its industrial products because of the economic crisis it was experiencing, and the media was talking about the purchase of Cuba from Spain. Cuba was a profitable, fertile country with an important strategic position in the Gulf of Mexico. Martí felt that the interests of Cuba's future lay with its sister nations in Latin America, and were opposite to those of the United States.


title: José Martí

text: Another trait that Martí admired was the work ethic that characterized North American society. On various occasions Martí conveyed his deep admiration for the immigrant-based society, "whose principal aspiration he interpreted as being to construct a truly modern country, based upon hard work and progressive ideas." Martí stated that he was "never surprised in any country of the world [he had] visited. Here [he] was surprised... [he] remarked that no one stood quietly on the corners, no door was shut an instant, no man was quiet. [He] stopped [him]self, [he] looked respectfully on this people, and [he] said goodbye forever to that lazy life and poetical inutility of our European countries".


title: José Martí

text: Although Martí opposed US intervention in Cuba, he found American society to be so great that he believed Latin America should consider imitating the United States. Martí argued that if the US "could reach such a high standard of living in so short a time, and despite, too, its lack of unifying traditions, could not the same be expected of Latin America?" However, Martí believed US expansionism represented Spanish American republics' "greatest danger." Martí was amazed at how education was directed towards helping the development of the nation and once again encouraged Latin American countries to follow the example set by North American society. At the same time, he criticized the elitist educational systems of Cuba and the rest of Latin America. Often, Martí recommended countries in Latin America to "send representatives to learn more relevant techniques in the United States". Once this was done, Martí hoped that this representatives would bring a "much-needed modernization to the Latin American agricultural policies".


title: José Martí

text: However, not everything in the United States was to be admired by Martí. When it came to politics Martí wrote that politics in the US had "adopted a carnival atmosphere... especially during election time". He saw acts of corruption among candidates, such as bribing "the constituents with vast quantities of beer, while impressive parades wound their way through New York's crowded streets, past masses of billboards, all exhorting the public to vote for the different political candidates". Martí criticized and condemned the elites of the United States as they "pulled the main political strings behind the scenes". According to Martí, the elites "deserved severe censure" as they were the biggest threat to the "ideals with which the United States was first conceived".


title: José Martí

text: Martí started to believe that the US had abused its potential. Racism was abundant. Different races were being discriminated against; political life "was both cynically regarded by the public at large and widely abused by 'professional politicians'; industrial magnates and powerful labor groups faced each other menacingly". All of this convinced Martí that a large-scale social conflict was imminent in the United States.


title: José Martí

text: On the positive side, Martí was astonished by the "inviolable right of freedom of speech which all U.S. citizens possessed". Martí applauded the United States' Constitution which allowed freedom of speech to all its citizens, no matter what political beliefs they had. In May 1883, while attending political meetings he heard "the call for revolution – and more specifically the destruction of the capitalist system". Martí was amazed that the country maintained freedom of speech even with respect to calls that "could have led to its own destruction". Martí also gave his support to the women's suffrage movements, and was "pleased that women here [took] advantage of this privilege in order to make their voices heard". According to Martí, free speech was essential if any nation was to be civilized and he expressed his "profound admiration for these many basic liberties and opportunities open to the vast majority of U.S. citizens".


title: José Martí

text: The works of Martí contain many comparisons between the ways of life of North and Latin America. The former was seen as "hardy, 'soulless', and, at times, cruel society, but one which, nevertheless, had been based upon a firm foundation of liberty and on a tradition of liberty". Although North American society had its flaws, they tended to be "of minor importance when compared to the broad sweep of social inequality, and to the widespread abuse of power prevalent in Latin America".


title: José Martí

text: Once it became apparent that the United States were actually going to purchase Cuba and intended to Americanize it, Martí "spoke out loudly and bravely against such action, stating the opinion of many Cubans on the United States of America."


title: José Martí

text: José Martí as a liberator believed that the Latin American countries needed to know the reality of their own history. Martí also saw the necessity of a country having its own literature. These reflections started in Mexico from 1875 and are connected to the Mexican Reform, where prominent liberals like Ignacio Manuel Altamirano and Guillermo Prieto had situated themselves in front of a cultural renovation in Mexico, taking on the same approach as Esteban Echeverría thirty years before in Argentina. In the second "Boletin" that Martí published in the "Revista Universal" (May 11, 1875) one can already see Martí's approach, which was fundamentally Latin American. His wish to build a national or Latin American identity was nothing new or unusual in those days; however, no Latin-American intellectual of that time had approached as clearly as Martí the task of building a national identity. He insisted on the necessity of building institutions and laws that matched the natural elements of each country, and recalled the failure of the applications of French and American civil codes in the new Latin American republics. Martí believed that "el hombre del sur", the man of the South, should choose an appropriate development strategy matching his character, the peculiarity of his culture and history, and the nature that determined his being.


title: José Martí

text: Martí as a writer covered a range of genres. In addition to producing newspaper articles and keeping up an extensive correspondence (his letters are included in the collection of his complete works), he wrote a serialized novel, composed poetry, wrote essays, and published four issues of a children's magazine, "La Edad de Oro"(The Golden Age, 1889). His essays and articles occupy more than fifty volumes of his complete works. His prose was extensively read and influenced the modernist generation, especially the Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío, whom Martí called "my son" when they met in New York in 1893.


title: José Martí

text: Martí did not publish any books: only two notebooks ("Cuadernos") of verses, in editions outside of the market, and a number of political tracts. The rest (an enormous amount) was left dispersed in numerous newspapers and magazines, in letters, in diaries and personal notes, in other unedited texts, in frequently improvised speeches, and some lost forever. Five years after his death, the first volume of his "Obras" was published. A novel appeared in this collection in 1911: "Amistad funesta", which Martí had made known was published under a pseudonym in 1885. In 1913, also in this edition, his third poetic collection that he had kept unedited: "Versos Libres". His "Diario de Campaña" (Campaign Diary) was published in 1941. Later still, in 1980, Nicaraguan poet Ernesto Mejía Sánchez produced a set of about thirty of Martí's articles written for the Mexican newspaper "El Partido Liberal" that weren't included in any of his so-called "Obras Completas" editions. From 1882 to 1891, Martí collaborated in "La Nación", a Buenos Aires newspaper. His texts from "La Nación" have been collected in "Anuario del centro de Estudios Martíanos".


title: José Martí

text: Over the course of his journalistic career, he wrote for numerous newspapers, starting with "El Diablo Cojuelo" (The Limping Devil) and "La Patria Libre" (The Free Fatherland), both of which he helped to found in 1869 in Cuba and which established the extent of his political commitment and vision for Cuba. In Spain he wrote for "La Colonia Española",in Mexico for "La Revista Universal", and in Venezuela for "Revista Venezolana", which he founded. In New York he contributed to Venezuelan periodical "La Opinión Nacional", Buenos Aires newspaper "La Nación", Mexico's "La Opinion Liberal", and "The Hour" from the U.S.


title: José Martí

text: The first critical edition of Martí's complete works began to appear in 1983 in "José Martí: Obras completas. Edición crítica". The critical edition of his complete poems was published in 1985 in "José Martí: Poesía completa. Edición critica."


title: José Martí

text: Volume two of his "Obras Completas" includes his famous essay 'Nuestra America' which "comprises a variety of subjects relating to Spanish America about which Martí studied and wrote. Here it is noted that after Cuba his interest was directed mostly to Guatemala, Mexico and Venezuela. The various sections of this part are about general matters and international conferences; economic, social and political questions; literature and art; agrarian and industrial problems; immigration; education; relations with the United States and Spanish America; travel notes".


title: José Martí

text: According to Martí, the intention behind the publication of "La edad de oro" was "so that American children may know how people used to live, and how they live nowadays, in the United States and in other countries; how many things are made, such as glass and iron, steam engines and suspension bridges and electric light; so that when a child sees a coloured stone he will know why the stone is coloured. ... We shall tell them about everything which is done in factories, where things happen which are stranger and more interesting than the magic in fairy stories. These things are real magic, more marvelous than any. ... We write for children because it is they who know how to love, because it is children who are the hope for the world".


title: José Martí

text: Martí's "Versos Sencillos" was written "in the town of Haines Falls, New York, where his doctor has sent [him] to regain his strength 'where streams flowed and clouds gathered in upon themeselves'". The poetry encountered in this work is "in many [ways] autobiographical and allows readers to see Martí the man and the patriot and to judge what was important to him at a crucial time in Cuban history".


title: José Martí

text: Martí's writings reflected his own views both socially and politically. "Cultivo Una Rosa Blanca" is one of his poems that emphasize his views in hopes of betterment for society:


title: José Martí

text: This poem is a clear description of Martí's societal hopes for his homeland. Within the poem, he talks about how regardless of the person, whether kind or cruel he cultivates a white rose, meaning that he remains peaceful. This coincides with his ideology about establishing unity amongst the people, more so those of Cuba, through a common identity, with no regards to ethnic and racial differences. This doctrine could be accomplished if one treated his enemy with peace as he would treat a friend. The kindness of one person should be shared with all people, regardless of personal conflict. By following the moral that lies within "Cultivo Rosa Blanca", Martí's vision of Cuban solidarity could be possible, creating a more peaceful society that would emanate through future generations.


title: José Martí

text: After his breakthrough in Cuba literature, José Martí went on to contribute his works to newspapers, magazines, and books that reflected his political and social views. Because of his early death, Martí was unable to publish a vast collection of poetry; even so, his literary contributions have made him a renowned figure in literature, influencing many writers, and people in general, to aspire to follow in the footsteps of Martí.


title: José Martí

text: Martí's style of writing is difficult to categorize. He used many aphorisms—short, memorable lines that convey truth and/or wisdom—and long complex sentences. He is considered a major contributor to the Spanish American literary movement known as Modernismo and has been linked to Latin American consciousness of the modern age and modernity. His chronicles combined elements of literary portraiture, dramatic narration, and a dioramic scope. His poetry contained "fresh and astonishing images along with deceptively simple sentiments". As an orator (for he made many speeches) he was known for his cascading structure, powerful aphorisms, and detailed descriptions. More important than his style is how he uses that style to put into service his ideas, making "advanced" convincing notions. Throughout his writing he made reference to historical figures and events, and used constant allusions to literature, current news and cultural matters. For this reason, he may be difficult to read and translate.


title: José Martí

text: His didactic spirit encouraged him to establish a magazine for children, "La Edad de Oro" (1889) which contained a short essay titled "Tres Heroes" (three heroes), representative of his talent to adapt his expression to his audience; in this case, to make the young reader conscious of and amazed by the extraordinary bravery of the three men, Bolivar, Hidalgo, and San Martín. This is his style to teach delightfully.


title: José Martí

text: José Martí is universally honored as a great poet, patriot and martyr of Cuban Independence, but he was also a translator of some note. Although he translated literary material for the sheer joy of it, much of the translating he did was imposed on him by economic necessity during his many years of exile in the United States. Martí learned English at an early age, and had begun to translate at thirteen. He continued translating for the rest of his life, including his time as a student in Spain, although the period of his greatest productivity was during his stay in New York from 1880 until he returned to Cuba in 1895.


title: José Martí

text: In New York he was what is known today as a "freelancer," as well as an "in house" translator. He translated several books for the publishing house of D. Appleton, and did a series of translations for newspapers. As a revolutionary activist in Cuba's long struggle for independence he translated into English a number of articles and pamphlets supporting that movement. In addition to fluent English, Martí also spoke French, Italian, Latin and Classical Greek fluently, the latter learned so he could read the Greek classical works in the original.


title: José Martí

text: There was clearly a dichotomy in Martí's feeling about the kind of work he was translating. Like many professionals, he undertook for money translation tasks which had little intellectual or emotional appeal for him. Although Martí never presented a systematic theory of translation nor did he write extensively about his approach to translation, he did jot down occasional thoughts on the subject, showcasing his awareness of the translator's dilemma of the faithful versus the beautiful and stating that "translation should be natural, so that it appears that the book were written in the language to which it has been translated".


title: José Martí

text: The modernists, in general, use a subjective language. Martí's stylistic creed is part of the necessity to de-codify the logic rigor and the linguistic construction and to eliminate the intellectual, abstract and systematic expression. There is the deliberate intention and awareness to expand the expressive system of the language. The style changes the form of thinking. Without falling into unilateralism, Martí values the expression because language is an impression and a feeling through the form. Modernism mostly searches for the visions and realities, the expression takes in the impressions, the state of mind, without reflection and without concept. This is the law of subjectivity. We can see this in works of Martí, one of the first modernists, who conceives the literary task like an invisible unity, an expressive totality, considering the style like "a form of the content" (forma del contenido).


title: José Martí

text: The difference that Martí established between prose and poetry are conceptual. Poetry, as he believes, is a language of the permanent subjective: the intuition and the vision. The prose is an instrument and a method of spreading the ideas, and has the goal of elevating, encouraging and animating these ideas rather than having the expression of tearing up the heart, complaining and moaning. The prose is a service to his people.


title: José Martí

text: Martí produces a system of specific signs "an ideological code" (código ideológico). These symbols claim their moral value and construct signs of ethic conduct. Martí's modernism was a spiritual attitude that was reflected on the language. All his writing defines his moral world. One could also say that his ideological and spiritual sphere is fortified in his writing.


title: José Martí

text: The difference between Martí and other modernist initiators such as Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera, Julián del Casal, and José Asunción Silva (and the similarity between him and Manuel González Prada) lies in the profound and transcendent value that he gave to literature, converting prose into an article or the work of a journalist. This hard work was important in giving literature authentic and independent value and distancing it from mere formal amusement. Manuel Gutiérez Nájera, Rubén Darío, Miguel de Unamuno and José Enrique Rodó saved the Martínian articles, which will have an endless value in the writings of the American continent.


title: José Martí

text: Apart from Martínian articles. essay writing and literature starts to authorize itself as an alternative and privileged way to talk about politics. Literature starts to apply itself the only hermeneutics able to resolve the enigmas of a Latin American identity.


title: José Martí

text: Martí's dedication to the cause of Cuban independence and his passionate belief in democracy and justice has made him a hero for all Cubans, a symbol of unity, the "Apostle", a great leader. His writings have created a platform for all that he went through during the duration of this period in time. His ultimate goal of building a democratic, just, and stable republic in Cuba and his obsession with the practical execution of this goal led him to become the most charismatic leader of the 1895 colonial revolution. His work with the Cuban émigré community, enlisting the support of Cuban workers and socialist leaders to form the Cuban Revolutionary Party, put into motion the Cuban war of independence. His foresight into the future, shown in his warnings against American political interests for Cuba, was confirmed by the swift occupation of Cuba by the United States following the Spanish–American War. His belief in the inseparability of Cuban and Latin American sovereignty and the expression thereof in his writings have contributed to the shape of the modern Latin American Identity. Through his beliefs for Cuban and Latin American sovereignty, Cuba revolted on former allies. This is why Cuba became an independent nation. His works are a cornerstone of Latin American and political literature and his prolific contributions to the fields of journalism, poetry, and prose are highly acclaimed.


title: José Martí

text: Despite the history of post-1959 Cuba's affiliation as a Communist state, it has been acknowledged that it is in fact Martí's ideology which serves as the main driving force of the ruling Cuban Communist Party. Regarded as Cuba's "martyr" and "patron saint," several landmarks in Cuba are dedicated to Martí. Following his death in 2016, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who played a major role in promoting Martí's image in Revolutionary Cuba, was buried next to Martí in Santiago. Martí's writings on the concepts of Cuban nationalism fuelled the 1895 revolution and have continued to inform conflicting visions of the Cuban nation. The Cuban nation-state under Fidel Castro consistently claimed Martí as a crucial inspiration for its Communist revolutionary government. During Castro's tenure, the politics and death of Martí were used to justify certain actions of the Cuban state. The Cuban government claimed that Martí had supported a single party system, creating a precedent for a communist government.


title: José Martí

text: The vast amount of writing that Martí produced in his lifetime makes it difficult to determine his exact political ideology, but his major goal was the liberation of Cuba from Spain and the establishment of a democratic republican government. Despite Martí never having supported communism or single party systems, Cuban leaders repeatedly claimed that Martí's Partido Revolucionario Cubano was a "forerunner of the Communist Party".


title: José Martí

text: Martí's nuanced, often ambivalent positions on the most important issues of his day have led Marxist interpreters to see a class conflict between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie as the main theme of his works, while others, namely the Cuban diasporic communities in Miami and elsewhere have identified a liberal-capitalist emphasis. These Cuban exiles still honor Martí as a figure of hope for the Cuban nation in exile and condemn Castro's government for manipulating his works and creating a "Castroite Martí" to justify its "intolerance and abridgments of human rights". His writings thus remain a key ideological weapon in the battle over the fate of the Cuban nation.


title: José Martí

text: José Martí International Airport, Havana's international airport, is named after Martí. A statue of Martí was unveiled in Havana on his 123rd birth anniversary, with President Raúl Castro attending the ceremony. The José Martí Memorial in the Vedado neighborhood of Havana includes a 109-m tower and is the largest monument in the world dedicated to a writer.


title: José Martí

text: The National Association of Hispanic Publications, a non-profit organization to promote Hispanic publications, each year designates the José Martí Awards for excellence in Hispanic media.


title: José Martí

text: On the waterfront of Cap-Haïtien, Haiti, a city that José Martí visited three times, a power station is named after him. The home where he resided during his final visit in 1895 bears a marble plaque. Place José Martí (José Martí Square), featuring a bust of the poet, was inaugurated in 2014.


title: José Martí

text: Parque Amigos de José Martí is a small park located in the Ybor City neighborhood of Tampa, FL. In 1956, the land was gifted to Cuba and the park was officially dedicated in 1960. The park prominently features a statue of Martí and a plaque erected in 1998. Near the park’s entrance is a plaque commemorating the site of La Casa De Pedroso, a boarding house where Martí convalesced following an attempted poisoning. About a block away is another historical marker commemorating his impromptu speech to Cuban cigar workers from the steps of the Ybor Factory Building in 1893. The parks and markers are inside the Ybor City Historic District.


title: José Martí

text: The "White Rose" name of Germany's Anti Nazy resistance group (led by Sophie and Hans Scholl) of Munich university was apparently inspired by Jose Marti's verse "Cultivo Una Rosa Blanca".


title: José Martí

text: In Romania, a Bucharest public school and the Romanian-Cuban Friendship Association from Targoviste are both named "Jose Martí".


title: José Martí

text: In Shively, Ky., part of Louisville Metro, a bronze bust atop a marble monument pays tribute to José Martí.


title: Silicosis

text: Silicosis is a form of occupational lung disease caused by inhalation of crystalline silica dust. It is marked by inflammation and scarring in the form of nodular lesions in the upper lobes of the lungs. It is a type of pneumoconiosis. Silicosis (particularly the acute form) is characterized by shortness of breath, cough, fever, and cyanosis (bluish skin). It may often be misdiagnosed as pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs), pneumonia, or tuberculosis. Using workplace controls, silicosis is almost always a preventable disease.


title: Silicosis

text: Silicosis resulted in at least 43,000 deaths globally in 2013, down from at least 50,000 deaths in 1990.


title: Silicosis

text: The name "silicosis" (from the Latin "silex", or flint) was originally used in 1870 by Achille Visconti (1836–1911), prosector in the Ospedale Maggiore of Milan. The recognition of respiratory problems from breathing in dust dates to ancient Greeks and Romans. Agricola, in the mid-16th century, wrote about lung problems from dust inhalation in miners. In 1713, Bernardino Ramazzini noted asthmatic symptoms and sand-like substances in the lungs of stone cutters. With industrialization, as opposed to hand tools, came increased production of dust. The pneumatic hammer drill was introduced in 1897 and sandblasting was introduced in about 1904, both significantly contributing to the increased prevalence of silicosis. In 1938, the United States Department of Labor, led by then Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins, produced a video titled 'Stop Silicosis' to discuss the results of a year-long study done concerning a rise in the number of silicosis cases across the United States.


title: Silicosis

text: Because chronic silicosis is slow to develop, signs and symptoms may not appear until years after exposure. Signs and symptoms include:


title: Silicosis

text: Patients with silicosis are particularly susceptible to tuberculosis (TB) infection—known as silicotuberculosis. The reason for the increased risk—3 fold increased incidence—is not well understood. It is thought that silica damages pulmonary macrophages, inhibiting their ability to kill mycobacteria. Even workers with prolonged silica exposure, but without silicosis, are at a similarly increased risk for TB.


title: Silicosis

text: Pulmonary complications of silicosis also include chronic bronchitis and airflow limitation (indistinguishable from that caused by smoking), non-tuberculous Mycobacterium infection, fungal lung infection, compensatory emphysema, and pneumothorax. There are some data revealing an association between silicosis and certain autoimmune diseases, including nephritis, scleroderma, and systemic lupus erythematosus, especially in acute or accelerated silicosis.


title: Silicosis

text: In 1996, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) reviewed the medical data and classified crystalline silica as "carcinogenic to humans." The risk was best seen in cases with underlying silicosis, with relative risks for lung cancer of 2–4. Numerous subsequent studies have been published confirming this risk. In 2006, Pelucchi et al. concluded, "The silicosis-cancer association is now established, in agreement with other studies and meta-analysis."


title: Silicosis

text: When small silica dust particles are inhaled, they can embed themselves deeply into the tiny alveolar sacs and ducts in the lungs, where oxygen and carbon dioxide gases are exchanged. There, the lungs cannot clear out the dust by mucus or coughing.


title: Silicosis

text: When fine particles of crystalline silica dust are deposited in the lungs, macrophages that ingest the dust particles will set off an inflammatory response by releasing tumor necrosis factors, interleukin-1, leukotriene B4 and other cytokines. In turn, these stimulate fibroblasts to proliferate and produce collagen around the silica particle, thus resulting in fibrosis and the formation of the nodular lesions. The inflammatory effects of crystalline silica are apparently mediated by the NLRP3 inflammasome.


title: Silicosis

text: Characteristic lung tissue pathology in nodular silicosis consists of fibrotic nodules with concentric "onion-skinned" arrangement of collagen fibers, central hyalinization, and a cellular peripheral zone, with lightly birefringent particles seen under polarized light. The silicotic nodule represents a specific tissue response to crystalline silica. In acute silicosis, microscopic pathology shows a periodic acid-Schiff positive alveolar exudate (alveolar lipoproteinosis) and a cellular infiltrate of the alveolar walls.


title: Silicosis

text: Silicon (Si) is the second most common element in the Earth's crust (oxygen is the most common). The compound silica, also known as silicon dioxide (SiO), is formed from silicon and oxygen atoms. Since oxygen and silicon make up about 75% of the Earth's crust, the compound silica is quite common. It is found in many rocks, such as granite, sandstone, gneiss and slate, and in some metallic ores. Silica can be a main component of sand. It can also be in soil, mortar, plaster, and shingles. The cutting, breaking, crushing, drilling, grinding, or abrasive blasting of these materials may produce fine to ultra fine airborne silica dust.


title: Silicosis

text: Silica occurs in 3 forms: crystalline, microcrystalline (or cryptocrystalline) and amorphous (non-crystalline). "Free" silica is composed of pure silicon dioxide, not combined with other elements, whereas silicates (e.g., talc, asbestos, and mica) are SiO combined with an appreciable portion of cations.


title: Silicosis

text: Silica flour is nearly pure SiO finely ground. Silica flour has been used as a polisher or buffer, as well as paint extender, abrasive, and filler for cosmetics. Silica flour has been associated with all types of silicosis, including acute silicosis.


title: Silicosis

text: Silicosis is due to deposition of fine respirable dust (less than 10 micrometers in diameter) containing crystalline silicon dioxide in the form of alpha-quartz, cristobalite, or tridymite.


title: Silicosis

text: There are three key elements to the diagnosis of silicosis. First, the patient history should reveal exposure to sufficient silica dust to cause this illness. Second, chest imaging (usually chest x-ray) that reveals findings consistent with silicosis. Third, there are no underlying illnesses that are more likely to be causing the abnormalities. Physical examination is usually unremarkable unless there is complicated disease. Also, the examination findings are not specific for silicosis. Pulmonary function testing may reveal airflow limitation, restrictive defects, reduced diffusion capacity, mixed defects, or may be normal (especially without complicated disease). Most cases of silicosis do not require tissue biopsy for diagnosis, but this may be necessary in some cases, primarily to exclude other conditions. Assessment of alveolar crystal burden in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid may aid diagnosis.


title: Silicosis

text: For uncomplicated silicosis, chest x-ray will confirm the presence of small (< 10 mm) nodules in the lungs, especially in the upper lung zones. Using the ILO classification system, these are of profusion 1/0 or greater and shape/size "p", "q", or "r". Lung zone involvement and profusion increases with disease progression. In advanced cases of silicosis, large opacity (> 1 cm) occurs from coalescence of small opacities, particularly in the upper lung zones. With retraction of the lung tissue, there is compensatory emphysema. Enlargement of the hilum is common with chronic and accelerated silicosis. In about 5–10% of cases, the nodes will calcify circumferentially, producing so-called "eggshell" calcification. This finding is not pathognomonic (diagnostic) of silicosis. In some cases, the pulmonary nodules may also become calcified.


title: Silicosis

text: A computed tomography or CT scan can also provide a mode detailed analysis of the lungs, and can reveal cavitation due to concomitant mycobacterial infection.


title: Silicosis

text: Classification of silicosis is made according to the disease's severity (including radiographic pattern), onset, and rapidity of progression. These include:


title: Silicosis

text: Using the Hierarchy of Controls, there are various methods to preventing exposure to respirable crystalline silica. The best way to prevent silicosis is to avoid worker exposure to dust containing respirable crystalline silica. The next best preventive measure is to control the dust. Water-integrated tools are often used where dust is created during certain tasks. To avoid dust accumulating on clothing and skin, wear a disposable protective suit or place clothes in a seal-able bag and, if possible, shower once returning home. When dust starts accumulating around a workplace, and the use of water-integrated tools is not feasible, an industrial vacuum should be used to contain and transport dust to a safe location for disposal. Dust can also be controlled through personal dry air filtering. The use of personal protective equipment (PPE) is a measure of last resort when attempting to control exposure to respirable crystalline silica.


title: Silicosis

text: Preventing silicosis may require specific measures. One example is during tunnel construction where purpose-designed cabins are used in addition to air scrubbers to filter the air during construction. Items to be considered when selecting respiratory protection include whether it provides the correct level of protection, if facial fit testing has been provided, if the wearer is absent of facial hair, and how filters will be replaced.


title: Silicosis

text: Silicosis is a permanent disease with no cure. Treatment options currently available focus on alleviating the symptoms and preventing any further progress of the condition. These include:


title: Silicosis

text: Silicosis is the most common occupational lung disease worldwide. It occurs everywhere, but is especially common in developing countries. From 1991 to 1995, China reported more than 24,000 deaths due to silicosis each year. It also affects developed nations. In the United States, it is estimated that between one and two million workers have had occupational exposure to crystalline silica dust and 59,000 of these workers will develop silicosis sometime in the course of their lives.


title: Silicosis

text: According to CDC data, silicosis in the United States is relatively rare. The incidence of deaths due to silicosis declined by 84% between 1968 and 1999, and only 187 deaths in 1999 had silicosis as the underlying or contributing cause. Additionally, cases of silicosis in Michigan, New Jersey, and Ohio are highly correlated to industry and occupation.


title: Silicosis

text: The latest data from The Health and Safety Executive shows that there are typically between 10 and 20 annual Silicosis deaths in recent years, with an average of 12 per year over the last 10 years. In 2019, there were 12 deaths in 10 in 2020, in the UK.


title: Silicosis

text: Although silicosis has been a known occupational disease for centuries, the industrialization of mining has led to an increase in silicosis cases . Pneumatic drilling in mines and less commonly, mining using explosives, would raise fine-ultra fine crystalline silica dust (rock dust). In the United States, a 1930 epidemic of silicosis due to the construction of the Hawk's Nest Tunnel near Gauley Bridge, West Virginia caused the death of at least 400 workers. Other accounts place the mortality figure at well over 1000 workers, primarily African American transient workers from the southern United States. Workers who became ill were fired and left the region, making an exact mortality account difficult. The Hawks Nest Tunnel Disaster is known as "America's worst industrial disaster. The prevalence of silicosis led some men to grow what is called a miner's mustache, in an attempt to intercept as much dust as possible.


title: Silicosis

text: Chronic simple silicosis has been reported to occur from environmental exposures to silica in regions with high silica soil content and frequent dust storms.


title: Silicosis

text: Also, the mining establishment of Delamar Ghost Town, Nevada was ruined by a dry-mining process that produced a silicosis-causing dust. After hundreds of deaths from silicosis, the town was nicknamed "The Widowmaker". The problem in those days was somewhat resolved with an addition of a nozzle to the drill which sprayed a mist of water, turning dust raised by drilling into mud, but this inhibited mining work.


title: Silicosis

text: Because of work-exposure to silica dust, silicosis is an occupational hazard to construction, railroad, demolition, mining, sandblasting, quarry, tunnelling, ceramics and foundry workers, as well as grinders, stone cutters, stone countertops, refractory brick workers, tombstone workers, workers in the oil and gas industry, pottery workers, fiberglass manufacturing, glass manufacturing, flint knappers and others. Brief or casual exposure to low levels of crystalline silica dust are said to not produce clinically significant lung disease.


title: Silicosis

text: In less developed countries where work conditions are poor and respiratory equipment is seldom used, the life expectancy is low (e.g. for silver miners in Potosí, Bolivia is around 40 years due to silicosis).


title: Silicosis

text: Recently, silicosis in Turkish denim sandblasters was detected as a new cause of silicosis due to recurring, poor working conditions.


title: Silicosis

text: Silicosis is seen in horses associated with inhalation of dust from certain cristobalite-containing soils in California.


title: Silicosis

text: Social realist artist Noel Counihan depicted men who worked in industrial mines in Australia in the 1940s dying of silicosis in his series of six prints, 'The miners' (1947 linocuts).


title: Silicosis

text: A recent rise of cases in Australia has been associated with the manufacture and installation of engineered stone bench tops in kitchens and bathrooms. and 2019Engineered stone contains a very high proportion of silica. The Australian Government Department of Health established a National Dust Disease Taskforce in response to the number of reported cases of silicosis in 2018. Workplace health and safety regulations for cutting these bench tops have been tightened in response. The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union, the major workplace trade union representing construction workers in Australia, has called for a nationwide ban on high-silicon engineered stone by 2024, and stated that it will ban its members from using the material if a governmental ban is not put in place.


title: Silicosis

text: Silicosis has also been identified as one of many long-term health outcomes for first responders from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, after having been exposed to dust containing high concentrations of respirable crystalline silica, as well as other metals and toxins.


title: Silicosis

text: A non-occupational form of silicosis has been described that is caused by long-term exposure to sand dust in desert areas, with cases reported from the Sahara, Libyan desert and the Negev. The disease is caused by deposition of this dust in the lung. Desert lung disease may be related to Al Eskan disease, a lung disorder thought to be caused by exposure to sand dust containing organic antigens, which was first diagnosed after the 1990 Gulf war. The relative importance of the silica particles themselves and the microorganisms that they carry in these health effects remains unclear.


title: Silicosis

text: In March 2016, OSHA officially mandated that companies must provide certain safety measures for employees who work with or around silica, in order to prevent silicosis, lung cancer, and other silica-related diseases.


title: Silicosis

text: One of the main updates to OSHA's silica standard was the reduction of the permissible exposure limit (PEL) for respirable crystalline silica from 250 to 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air, averaged over an 8-hour shift. The updated standard also shifts the focus of controlling silica exposure from the use of PPE (respirators) to the use of engineering controls (such as using water-integrated tools or vacuum systems) and administrative controls (limiting exposure time per shift). Employers are still required to provide respirators when engineering and administrative controls cannot adequately limit exposure. Additional provisions include limiting worker access to high exposure areas, signage requirements in high exposure areas, the development of a written exposure control plan, medical exams to highly exposed workers (optional for exposed employees), and training for workers on silica risks and how to limit exposures. Some recent studies have found workers who grind granite counters and use water controls to eliminate dust are becoming ill from exposure to dust after water has evaporated the next day. The standard also provides requirements for cleaning up the slurry left behind when water-integrated tools are used as an engineering control.


title: Silicosis

text: The medical exams include a discussion with a physician or licensed health care provider (PLHCP) of prior respiratory health, chest X-ray, pulmonary function test, latent tuberculosis infection, and any other tests deemed necessary by the PLHCP. These medical exams are to occur within 30 days of the initial assignment that includes silica exposure and must be made available for renewal at least every three years unless the PLHCP deems otherwise.


title: Silicosis

text: As part of the updated standard, OSHA created a table of specific engineering and administrative control methods to reduce silica exposure when using specific tools in 18 different applications that are known to create an exposure to silica from stationary masonry saws to using handheld grinders.


title: Silicosis

text: Both standards contained in the final rule took effect on June 23, 2016, after which industries had one to five years to comply with most requirements, based on the following schedule:


title: Diet of Worms

text: The Diet of Worms of 1521 ( ) was an imperial diet (a formal deliberative assembly) of the Holy Roman Empire called by Emperor Charles V and conducted in the Imperial Free City of Worms. Martin Luther was summoned to the Diet in order to renounce or reaffirm his views in response to a Papal bull of Pope Leo X. In answer to questioning, he defended these views and refused to recant them. At the end of the Diet, the Emperor issued the Edict of Worms ("Wormser Edikt"), a decree which condemned Luther as "a notorious heretic" and banned citizens of the Empire from propagating his ideas. Although the Protestant Reformation is usually considered to have begun in 1517, the edict signals the first overt schism.


title: Diet of Worms

text: The diet was conducted from 28 January to 25 May 1521 at the Heylshof Garden, with the Emperor presiding. Other imperial diets took place at Worms in the years 829, 926, 1076, 1122, 1495, and 1545, but unless plainly qualified, the term "Diet of Worms" usually refers to the assembly of 1521.


title: Diet of Worms

text: In June of the previous year, 1520, Pope Leo X issued the Papal bull "Exsurge Domine" ("Arise, O Lord"), outlining forty-one purported errors found in Martin Luther's Ninety-five Theses and other writings related to or written by him. Luther was summoned by the emperor. Prince Frederick III, Elector of Saxony obtained an agreement that if Luther appeared he would be promised safe passage to and from the meeting. This guarantee was essential after the treatment of Jan Hus, who was tried and executed at the Council of Constance in 1415 despite a promise of safe conduct.


title: Diet of Worms

text: Emperor Charles V commenced the Imperial Diet of Worms on 23 January 1521. Luther was summoned to renounce or reaffirm his views. When he appeared before the assembly on 16 April, Johann Eck, an assistant of the Archbishop of Trier (Richard von Greiffenklau zu Vollrads at that time), acted as spokesman for the emperor.


title: Diet of Worms

text: On 16 April, Luther arrived in Worms. Luther was told to appear before the Diet at 4 p.m. the following day. Dr. Jeromee Schurff, Wittenberg professor in Canon Law, was to act as Luther's lawyer before the Diet. The Pope was not at the Diet of Worms.


title: Diet of Worms

text: On 17 April, the imperial marshal, Ulrich von Pappenheim, and the herald, Caspar Sturm, came for Luther. Pappenheim reminded Luther that he should speak only in answer to direct questions from the presiding officer, Johann Eck. Eck asked if a collection of books was Luther's and if he was ready to revoke their heresies. Dr Schurff said, "Please have the titles read." There were 25 of them, probably including "The 95 Theses", "Resolutions Concerning the 95 Theses", "On the Papacy at Rome", "Address to the Christian Nobility", "The Babylonian Captivity of the Church", and "On the Freedom of a Christian". Luther requested more time for a proper answer, so he was given until the next day at 4 p.m.


title: Diet of Worms

text: On 18 April, Luther, saying that he had prayed for long hours and consulted with friends and mediators, presented himself before the Diet. When the counselor put the same questions to him, Luther first apologized that he lacked the etiquette of the court. Then he answered, "They are all mine, but as for the second question, they are not all of one sort." Luther went on to place the writings into three categories: (1) Works which were well received even by his enemies: those he would not reject. (2) Books which attacked the abuses, lies and desolation of the Christian world and the papacy: those, Luther believed, could not safely be rejected without encouraging abuses to continue. To retract them would be to open the door to further oppression. "If I now recant these, then, I would be doing nothing but strengthening tyranny". (3) Attacks on individuals: he apologized for the harsh tone of these writings but did not reject the substance of what he taught in them; if he could be shown by Scripture that his writings were in error, Luther continued, he would reject them. Luther concluded by saying:


title: Diet of Worms

text: According to tradition, Luther is said to have declared "Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise", before concluding with "God help me. Amen." However, there is no indication in the transcripts of the Diet or in eyewitness accounts that he ever said this, and most scholars now doubt these words were spoken.


title: Charvaka

text: Charvaka (; IAST: Cārvāka), also known as Lokāyata, is an ancient school of Indian materialism. Charvaka holds direct perception, empiricism, and conditional inference as proper sources of knowledge, embraces philosophical skepticism and rejects ritualism and supernaturalism. It was a popular belief system in ancient India.


title: Charvaka

text: Brihaspati a philosopher, is traditionally referred to as the founder of Charvaka or Lokāyata philosophy, although some scholars dispute this. During the Hindu reformation period in the first millennium BCE, when Buddhism was established by Gautama Buddha and Jainism was re-organized by Parshvanatha, the Charvaka philosophy was well documented and opposed by both religions. Much of the primary literature of Charvaka, the Barhaspatya sutras, were lost either due to waning popularity or other unknown reasons. Its teachings have been compiled from historic secondary literature such as those found in the shastras, sutras, and the Indian epic poetry as well as in the dialogues of Gautama Buddha and from Jain literature. However, there is text that may belong to the Charvaka tradition, written by the skeptic philosopher Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa, known as the Tattvôpaplava-siṁha, that provides information about this school, albeit unorthodox.


title: Charvaka

text: One of the widely studied principles of Charvaka philosophy was its rejection of inference as a means to establish valid, universal knowledge, and metaphysical truths. In other words, the Charvaka epistemology states that whenever one infers a truth from a set of observations or truths, one must acknowledge doubt; inferred knowledge is conditional.


title: Charvaka

text: Charvaka is categorized as one of the "nāstika" or "heterodox" schools of Indian philosophy. It is considered an example of atheistic schools in the Hindu tradition.


title: Charvaka

text: The etymology of Charvaka (Sanskrit: चार्वाक) is uncertain. Bhattacharya quotes the grammarian Hemacandra, to the effect that the word cārvāka is derived from the root , 'to chew' : "A Cārvāka chews the self (carvatyātmānaṃ cārvākaḥ). Hemacandra refers to his own grammatical work, Uṇādisūtra 37, which runs as follows: mavāka-śyāmāka-vārtāka-jyontāka-gūvāka-bhadrākādayaḥ. Each of these words ends with the āka suffix and is formed irregularly." This may also allude to the philosophy's hedonistic precepts of "eat, drink, and be merry".


title: Charvaka

text: Others believe it to mean "agreeable speech" or pejoratively, "sweet-tongued", from Sanskrit's "agreeable" and "speech" (which becomes in the nominative singular and in compounds). Yet another hypothesis is that it is eponymous, with the founder of the school being Charvaka, a disciple of Brihaspati.


title: Charvaka

text: According to claims of Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, the traditional name of Charvaka is Lokayata. It was called Lokayata because it was prevalent () among the people (), and meant the world-outlook of the people. The dictionary meaning of Lokāyata (लोकायत) signifies "directed towards, aiming at the world, worldly".


title: Charvaka

text: In early to mid 20th century literature, the etymology of "Lokayata" has been given different interpretations, in part because the primary sources are unavailable, and the meaning has been deduced from divergent secondary literature. The name Lokāyata, for example, is found in Chanakya's "Arthashastra", which refers to three "ānvīkṣikīs" (अन्वीक्षिकी, literally, examining by reason, logical philosophies) – Yoga, Samkhya and Lokāyata. However, Lokāyata in the Arthashastra is not anti-Vedic, but implies Lokāyata to be a part of Vedic lore. Lokāyata here refers to logic or science of debate ("disputatio", "criticism"). Rudolf Franke translated "Lokayata" in German as "logisch beweisende Naturerklärung", that is "logically proving explanation of nature".


title: Charvaka

text: In 8th century CE Jaina literature, "Saddarsanasamuccaya" by Haribhadra, "Lokayata" is stated to be the Hindu school where there is "no God, no samsara (rebirth), no karma, no duty, no fruits of merit, no sin."


title: Charvaka

text: The Buddhist Sanskrit work Divyavadana (ca. 200–350 CE) mentions "Lokayata", where it is listed among subjects of study, and with the sense of "technical logical science". Shantarakshita and Adi Shankara use the word "lokayata" to mean materialism, with the latter using the term Lokāyata, not Charvaka.


title: Charvaka

text: In Silāṅka's commentary on "Sūtra-kṛtāṅgna", the oldest Jain Āgama Prakrt literature, he has used four terms for Cārvāka viz. (1) Bṛhaspatya (2) Lokāyata (3) Bhūtavādin (4) Vāmamārgin.


title: Charvaka

text: The tenets of the Charvaka atheistic doctrines can be traced to the relatively later composed layers of the "Rigveda", while substantial discussions on the Charvaka is found in post-Vedic literature. The primary literature of Charvaka, such as the "Brhaspati Sutra", is missing or lost. Its theories and development has been compiled from historic secondary literature such as those found in the shastras (such as the Arthashastra), sutras and the epics (the Mahabharata and Ramayana) of Hinduism as well as from the dialogues of Gautama Buddha and Jain literature.


title: Charvaka

text: In the oldest of the "Upanishads", in chapter 2 of the "Brhadāranyaka" (ca. 700 BCE), the leading theorist Yājnavalkya states in a passage often referred to by the irreligious: "so I say, after death there is no awareness."


title: Charvaka

text: This declaration arises in a discussion with his female philosophy interlocutor, Maitreyi, who notices that this might mean there is no afterlife – no religion: "After Yājñavalkya said this, Maitreyi exclaimed: 'Now, sir, you have totally confused me by saying 'after death there is no awareness'."


title: Charvaka

text: Substantial discussions about the Charvaka doctrines are found in texts during the 6th century BCE because of the emergence of competing philosophies such as Buddhism and Jainism. Bhattacharya posits that Charvaka may have been one of several atheistic, materialist schools that existed in ancient India during the 6th century BCE. Though there is evidence of its development in Vedic era, The Charvaka school of philosophy predated the Āstika schools as well as being a philosophical predecessor to subsequent or contemporaneous philosophies such as Ajñana, Ājīvika, Jainism and Buddhism in the classical period of Indian philosophy.


title: Charvaka

text: The earliest Charvaka scholar in India whose texts still survive is Ajita Kesakambali. Although materialist schools existed before Charvaka, it was the only school which systematised materialist philosophy by setting them down in the form of aphorisms in the 6th century BCE. There was a base text, a collection sūtras or aphorisms and several commentaries were written to explicate the aphorisms. This should be seen in the wider context of the oral tradition of Indian philosophy. It was in the 6th century BCE onwards, with the emergent popularity of Buddhism, that ancient schools started codifying and writing down the details of their philosophy.


title: Charvaka

text: E. W. Hopkins, in his "The Ethics of India" (1924), claims that Charvaka philosophy predated Jainism and Buddhism, mentioning "the old Cārvāka or materialist of the 6th century BC". Rhys Davids assumes that "lokāyata" in ca. the 5th century BC came to mean "skepticism" in general without yet being organised as a philosophical school. This proves that it had already existed for centuries and had become a generic term by 600 BCE. Its methodology of skepticism is included in the "Ramayana", Ayodhya kanda, chapter 108, where Jabāli tries to persuade Rāma to accept the kingdom by using nāstika arguments (Rāma refutes him in chapter 109):


title: Charvaka

text: There are alternate theories behind the origins of Charvaka. Bṛhaspati is sometimes referred to as the founder of Charvaka or Lokāyata philosophy, although other scholars dispute this. states that a philosopher named Charvaka lived in or about the 6th century BCE, who developed the premises of this Indian philosophy in the form of "Brhaspati Sutra". These sutras predate 150 BC, because they are mentioned in the "Mahābhāṣya" (7.3.45).


title: Charvaka

text: Arthur Llewellyn Basham, citing the Buddhist "Samaññaphala Sutta", suggests six schools of heterodox, pre-Buddhist and pre-Jain, atheistic Indian traditions in 6th century BCE, that included Charvakas and Ajivikas. Charvaka was a living philosophy up to the 12th century in India's historical timeline, after which this system seems to have disappeared without leaving any trace.


title: Charvaka

text: The Charvaka school of philosophy had a variety of atheistic and materialistic beliefs. They held perception and direct experiments to be the valid and reliable source of knowledge.


title: Charvaka

text: The Charvaka epistemology holds perception as the primary and proper source of knowledge, while inference is held as prone to being either right or wrong and therefore conditional or invalid. Perceptions are of two types, for Charvaka, external and internal. External perception is described as that arising from the interaction of five senses and worldly objects, while internal perception is described by this school as that of inner sense, the mind. Inference is described as deriving a new conclusion and truth from one or more observations and previous truths. To Charvakas, inference is useful but prone to error, as inferred truths can never be without doubt. Inference is good and helpful, it is the validity of inference that is suspect – sometimes in certain cases and often in others. To the Charvakas there were no reliable means by which the efficacy of inference as a means of knowledge could be established.


title: Charvaka

text: Charvaka's epistemological argument can be explained with the example of fire and smoke. Kamal states that when there is smoke (middle term), one's tendency may be to leap to the conclusion that it must be caused by fire (major term in logic). While this is often true, it need not be universally true, everywhere or all the times, stated the Charvaka scholars. Smoke can have other causes. In Charvaka epistemology, as long as the relation between two phenomena, or observation and truth, has not been proven as unconditional, it is an uncertain truth. In this Indian philosophy such a method of reasoning, that is jumping to conclusions or inference, is prone to flaw. Charvakas further state that full knowledge is reached when we know all observations, all premises and all conditions. But the absence of conditions, state Charvakas, can not be established beyond doubt by perception, as some conditions may be hidden or escape our ability to observe. They acknowledge that every person relies on inference in daily life, but to them if we act uncritically, we err. While our inferences sometimes are true and lead to successful action, it is also a fact that sometimes inference is wrong and leads to error. Truth then, state Charvaka, is not an unfailing character of inference, truth is merely an accident of inference, and one that is separable. We must be skeptics, question what we know by inference, question our epistemology.


title: Charvaka

text: This epistemological proposition of Charvakas was influential among various schools of in Indian philosophies, by demonstrating a new way of thinking and re-evaluation of past doctrines. Hindu, Buddhist and Jain scholars extensively deployed Charvaka insights on inference in rational re-examination of their own theories.


title: Charvaka

text: Charvaka epistemology represents minimalist "pramāṇas" (epistemological methods) in Hindu philosophy. The other schools of Hinduism developed and accepted multiple valid forms of epistemology. To Charvakas, "Pratyakṣa" (perception) was the one valid way to knowledge and other means of knowledge were either always conditional or invalid. Advaita Vedanta scholars considered six means of valid knowledge and to truths: "Pratyakṣa" (perception), "Anumāna" (inference), "Upamāna" (comparison and analogy), "Arthāpatti" (postulation), "Anupalabdhi" (non-perception, cognitive proof) and "Śabda" (word, testimony of past or present reliable experts). While the Charvaka school accepted just one valid means for knowledge, in other schools of Hinduism they ranged between 2 and 6.


title: Charvaka

text: Since none of the means of knowing were found to be worthy to establish the invariable connection between middle term and predicate, Charvakas concluded that the inference could not be used to ascertain metaphysical truths. Thus, to Charvakas, the step which the mind takes from the knowledge of something to infer the knowledge of something else could be accounted for by its being based on a former perception or by its being in error. Cases where inference was justified by the result were seen only to be mere coincidences.


title: Charvaka

text: Therefore, Charvakas denied metaphysical concepts like reincarnation, an extracorporeal soul, the efficacy of religious rites, other worlds (heaven and hell), fate and accumulation of merit or demerit through the performance of certain actions. Charvakas also rejected the use of supernatural causes to describe natural phenomena. To them all natural phenomena was produced spontaneously from the inherent nature of things.


title: Charvaka

text: The Charvaka did not believe in karma, rebirth or an afterlife. To them, all attributes that represented a person, such as thinness, fatness etc., resided in the body. The "Sarvasiddhanta Samgraha" states the Charvaka position as follows,


title: Charvaka

text: Charvaka believed that there was nothing wrong with sensual pleasure. Since it is impossible to have pleasure without pain, Charvaka thought that wisdom lay in enjoying pleasure and avoiding pain as far as possible. Unlike many of the Indian philosophies of the time, Charvaka did not believe in austerities or rejecting pleasure out of fear of pain and held such reasoning to be foolish.


title: Charvaka

text: The scholar Bhattacharya, argues that the common belief that "all materialists are nothing but sensualists" is a misconception, as no authentic Carvaka aphorism have been cited by the movement's opponents to support this view.


title: Charvaka

text: Charvakas rejected many of the standard religious conceptions of Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Ajivakas, such as an afterlife, reincarnation, samsara, karma and religious rites. They were critical of the Vedas, as well as Buddhist scriptures.


title: Charvaka

text: The "Sarvadarśanasaṃgraha" with commentaries by Madhavacharya describes the Charvakas as critical of the Vedas, materialists without morals and ethics. To Charvakas, the text states, the Vedas suffered from several faults – errors in transmission across generations, untruth, self-contradiction and tautology. The Charvakas pointed out the disagreements, debates and mutual rejection by "karmakanda" Vedic priests and "jñānakanda" Vedic priests, as proof that either one of them is wrong or both are wrong, as both cannot be right.


title: Charvaka

text: Charvakas, according to "Sarvadarśanasaṃgraha" verses 10 and 11, declared the Vedas to be incoherent rhapsodies whose only usefulness was to provide livelihood to priests. They also held the belief that Vedas were invented by man, and had no divine authority.


title: Charvaka

text: Charvakas rejected the need for ethics or morals, and suggested that "while life remains, let a man live happily, let him feed on ghee even though he runs in debt".


title: Charvaka

text: The Jain scholar Haribhadra, in the last section of his text "Saddarsanasamuccaya", includes Charvaka in his list of six "darśanas" of Indian traditions, along with Buddhism, Nyaya-Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Jainism and Jaiminiya. Haribhadra notes that Charvakas assert that there is nothing beyond the senses, consciousness is an emergent property, and that it is foolish to seek what cannot be seen.


title: Charvaka

text: An extract from "Aaine-Akbari" (vol.III, tr. by H. S. Barrett, pp217–218) written by Abul Fazl, the famous historian of Akbar's court, mentions a symposium of philosophers of all faiths held in 1578 at Akbar's instance. The account is given by the historian Vincent Smith, in his article titled "The Jain Teachers of Akbar". Some Carvaka thinkers are said to have participated in the symposium. Under the heading "Nastika" Abul Fazl has referred to the good work, judicious administration and welfare schemes that were emphasised by the Charvaka law-makers. Somadeva has also mentioned the Charvaka method of defeating the enemies of the nation.


title: Charvaka

text: In the epic Mahabharata, Book 12 Chapter 39, a rakshasa dresses up like a Brahmin and appoints himself as spokesperson for all Brahmins is named "Charvaka". Charvaka criticizes Yudhishthira for killing his kinsmen, superiors, and teacher, and claims that all the Brahmins are uttering maledictions to him. Yudhishthira is ashamed of this, but the Brahmin Vaishampayana reassures him. The Brahmins, now filled with rage, destroy Charvaka with the power of their mantras.


title: Charvaka

text: No independent works on Charvaka philosophy can be found except for a few sūtras attributed to Brihaspati. The 8th century "Tattvopaplavasimha" of Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa with Madhyamaka influence is a significant source of Charvaka philosophy. Shatdarshan Samuchay and Sarvadarśanasaṅ̇graha of Vidyaranya are a few other works which elucidate Charvaka thought.


title: Charvaka

text: One of the widely studied references to the Charvaka philosophy is the "Sarva-darśana-saṅgraha" (etymologically all-philosophy-collection), a famous work of 14th century Advaita Vedanta philosopher Mādhava Vidyāraṇya from South India, which starts with a chapter on the Charvaka system. After invoking, in the Prologue of the book, the Hindu gods Shiva and Vishnu ("by whom the earth and rest were produced"), Vidyāraṇya asks, in the first chapter:


title: Charvaka

text: Sanskrit poems and plays like the Naiṣadha-carita, Prabodha-candrodaya, Āgama-dambara, Vidvanmoda-taraṅgiṇī and Kādambarī contain representations of the Charvaka thought. However, the authors of these works were thoroughly opposed to materialism and tried to portray the Charvaka in an unfavourable light. Therefore, their works should only be accepted critically.


title: Charvaka

text: There was no continuity in the Charvaka tradition after the 12th century. Whatever is written on Charvaka post this is based on second-hand knowledge, learned from preceptors to disciples and no independent works on Charvaka philosophy can be found. Chatterjee and Datta explain that our understanding of Charvaka philosophy is fragmentary, based largely on criticism of its ideas by other schools, and that it is not a living tradition:


title: Charvaka

text: "Though materialism in some form or other has always been present in India, and occasional references are found in the Vedas, the Buddhistic literature, the Epics, as well as in the later philosophical works we do not find any systematic work on materialism, nor any organised school of followers as the other philosophical schools possess. But almost every work of the other schools states, for refutation, the materialistic views. Our knowledge of Indian materialism is chiefly based on these."


title: Charvaka

text: states that the claims against Charvaka of hedonism, lack of any morality and ethics and disregard for spirituality is from texts of competing religious philosophies (Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism). Its primary sources, along with commentaries by Charvaka scholars, are missing or lost. This reliance on indirect sources raises the question of reliability and whether there was a bias and exaggeration in representing the views of Charvakas. Bhattacharya points out that multiple manuscripts are inconsistent, with key passages alleging hedonism and immorality missing in many manuscripts of the same text.


title: Charvaka

text: The "Skhalitapramathana Yuktihetusiddhi" by Āryadevapāda, in a manuscript found in Tibet, discusses the Charvaka philosophy, but attributes a theistic claim to Charvakas - that happiness in this life, and the only life, can be attained by worshiping gods and defeating demons. Toso posits that as Charvaka philosophy's views spread and were widely discussed, non-Charvakas such as Āryadevapāda added certain points of view that may not be of the Charvakas'.


title: Charvaka

text: Buddhists, Jains, Advaita Vedantins and Nyāya philosophers considered the Charvakas as one of their opponents and tried to refute their views. These refutations are indirect sources of Charvaka philosophy. The arguments and reasoning approaches Charvakas deployed were so significant that they continued to be referred to, even after all the authentic Charvaka/Lokāyata texts had been lost. However, the representation of the Charvaka thought in these works is not always firmly grounded in first-hand knowledge of Charvaka texts and should be viewed critically.


title: Charvaka

text: Likewise, states Bhattacharya, the charge of hedonism against Charvaka might have been exaggerated. Countering the argument that the Charvakas opposed all that was good in the Vedic tradition, states, "It may be said from the available material that Cārvākas hold truth, integrity, consistency, and freedom of thought in the highest esteem."


title: Charvaka

text: According to reports, the Europeans were surprised by the openness and rational doubts of the Mughal emperor Akbar and the Indians. In Pierre De Jarric's "Histoire" (1610), based on the Jesuit reports, the Mughal emperor is compared to an atheist himself: "Thus we see in this Prince the common fault of the atheist, who refuses to make reason subservient to faith (…)"


title: Charvaka

text: Hannah Chapelle Wojciehowski writes this concerning the Jesuit descriptions in the paper "East-West Swerves: Cārvāka Materialism and Akbar's Religious Debates at Fatehpur Sikri" (2015):"…The information they sent back to Europe was disseminated widely in both Catholic and Protestant countries (…) A more detailed understanding of Indian philosophies, including Cārvāka, began to emerge in Jesuit missionary writings by the early to mid-seventeenth century."The Jesuit Roberto De Nobili wrote in 1613 that the "Logaidas" (Lokayatas) "hold the view that the elements themselves are god". Some decades later, Heinrich Roth, who studied Sanskrit in Agra ca. 1654–60, translated the "Vedantasara" by the influential Vedantic commentator Sadananda (14th). This text depicts four different schools of the Carvaka philosophies.


title: Charvaka

text: Wojciehowski notes: "Rather than proclaiming a Cārvāka renaissance in Akbar's court, it would be safer to suggest that the ancient school of materialism never really went away."


title: Charvaka

text: In "Classical Indian Philosophy" (2020), by Peter Adamson and Jonardon Ganeri, they mention a lecture by Henry T. Coolebrooke in 1827 on the schools of the Carvaka/Lokayata materialists. Adamson and Ganeri compare the Carvakas to the "emergentism in the philosophy of mind," which is traced back to John Stuart Mill.


title: Charvaka

text: They write that Mill "sounds like a follower of Brhaspati, founder of the Cārvāka system, when he writes in his "System of Logic" that 'All organised bodies are composed of parts, similar to those composing inorganic nature (…)'"


title: Charvaka

text: The historian of ideas Dag Herbjørnsrud has pointed out that the Charvaka schools influenced China: "This Indian-Chinese materialist connection is documented in a little-known but groundbreaking paper by professor Huang Xinchuan, "Lokayata and Its Influence in China," published in Chinese in 1978 (English version in the quarterly journal "Social Sciences" in March 1981). Xinchuan, a senior researcher at the China Academy of Social Science, demonstrates how the Indian Lokāyata schools exercised an influence on ancient Chinese over the centuries. He lists 62 classical texts in China that refer to these Indian material-atheistic schools, from the "Brahmajala Sutra" translated by Zhi Qian (Chih Chien, 223–253), of the Kingdom of Wu, to "An Explanation for Brahmajala Sutra" written by Ji Guang (Chi-kuang, 1528–1588) of the Ming Dynasty. In addition, Xinchuan mentions four texts on Lokayata in Chinese by Japanese Buddhist writers."


title: Charvaka

text: Xinchuan's paper explains how the Buddhists regarded the Lokayatikas as fellow-travellers of the Confucian and the Taoist Schools, and how they launched an attack on them because of their materialistic views. Xinchuan cites, as also Rasik Vihari Joshi noted in 1987, dozens of texts where Chinese classical works describe Lokayata either as "Shi-Jian-Xing" ("doctrine prevailing in the world"), "Wu-Hou-Shi-Lun" ("doctrine of denying after-life"), or refers to "Lu-Ka-Ye-Jin" (the "Lokāyata Sutra").


title: Charvaka

text: Aviddhakarṇa, Bhavivikta, Kambalasvatara, Purandara and Udbhatabhatta are the five commentators who developed the Carvaka/Lokayata system in various ways.


title: Charvaka

text: Ain-i-Akbari, a record of the Mughal Emperor Akbar's court, mentions a symposium of philosophers of all faiths held in 1578 at Akbar's insistence (also see ). In the text, the Mughal historian Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak summarizes the Charvaka philosophy as "unenlightened" and characterizes their works of literature as "lasting memorials to their ignorance". He notes that Charvakas considered paradise as "the state in which man lives as he chooses, without control of another", while hell as "the state in which he lives subject to another's rule". On state craft, Charvakas believe, states Mubarak, that it is best when "knowledge of just administration and benevolent government" is practiced.


title: The Smurfs (2021 TV series)

text: The Smurfs () is a Belgian computer-animated television series developed by Dupuis Audiovisuel, IMPS, and Peyo Productions, in association with KiKA, Ketnet, RTBF and Dargaud Media, with the participation of TF1. It is the third television show based on the Belgian comic franchise of the same name, created by Peyo, after the 1961 series and the 1981 series of the same name.


title: The Smurfs (2021 TV series)

text: The series was almost entirely produced in Belgium, with 75% of the animation completed at Dupuis' DreamWall animation studio in the city of Charleroi. Its CGI animation style is mainly based on the film "" and serves as a stand-alone sequel to the film.


title: The Smurfs (2021 TV series)

text: The show was announced by Peyo Productions in 2017. The next year, its European broadcasters were announced: Ketnet (Flanders), TF1 (France), KiKA (Germany), and La Trois (Wallonia). In 2020, it was reported that the broadcast rights had been picked up by the American entertainment brand Nickelodeon for several of its channels, but the airing agreement does not extend to the original 1980s "Smurfs" series (which continues to be distributed by Warner Bros. in North America).


title: The Smurfs (2021 TV series)

text: After 18 months on pay-TV, "The Smurfs" will stream on Netflix in the United States and abroad. The series made its world premiere on April 18, 2021, on the La Trois channel in Belgium.


title: The Smurfs (2021 TV series)

text: A 26-episode second season was announced in February 2022, which premiered on July 18, 2022 in the United States.


title: The Smurfs (2021 TV series)

text: In its country of origin (Belgium), the series airs on La Trois (a channel of RTBF) during the "OUFtivi" programming block, and on the Flemish channel Ketnet. It airs on TF1 in France and on KiKA in Germany. The English-dubbed version currently airs on Nickelodeon in the United States and Nickelodeon, Nicktoons and Channel 5 In the United Kingdom. The Indonesian-dubbed version currently airs on RTV since May 2022. The Bengali-dubbed version of the series debuted on Duronto TV in Bangladesh on October 30, 2022.


title: De-Stalinization

text: De-Stalinization () comprised a series of political reforms in the Soviet Union after the death of long-time leader Joseph Stalin in 1953, and the thaw brought about by ascension of Nikita Khrushchev to power, and his 1956 secret speech On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences, which denounced Stalin's cult of personality and the Stalinist political system.


title: De-Stalinization

text: Monuments to Stalin were removed or toppled, his name was removed from places, buildings, and the state anthem, and his body was removed from the Lenin Mausoleum (from 1953 to 1961 known as Lenin and Stalin Mausoleum) and buried. These reforms were started by the collective leadership which succeeded him after his death on 5 March 1953, comprising Georgi Malenkov, Premier of the Soviet Union; Lavrentiy Beria, head of the Ministry of the Interior; and Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU).


title: De-Stalinization

text: The term "de-Stalinization" is one which gained currency in both Russia and the Western world following the collapse of the Soviet Union, but was never used during the Khrushchev era. However, de-Stalinization efforts were set forth at this time by Khrushchev and the Government of the Soviet Union under the guise of the "overcoming/exposure of the cult of personality", with a heavy criticism of Joseph Stalin's "era of the cult of personality". However, prior to Khrushchev's "Secret Speech" to the 20th Party Congress, no direct association between Stalin as a person and "the cult of personality" was openly made by Khrushchev or others within the party, although archival documents show that strong criticism of Stalin and his ideology featured in private discussions by Khruschchev at the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet.


title: De-Stalinization

text: De-Stalinization meant an end to the role of large-scale forced labour in the economy. The process of freeing Gulag prisoners was started by Lavrentiy Beria. He was soon removed from power, arrested on 26 June 1953, and executed on 24 December 1953. Khrushchev emerged as the most powerful Soviet politician. A period of "silent de-Stalinization" subsequently took place, as the revision of Stalin's policies was done in secret, and often with no explanation. There were dangers in denouncing Stalin as he was placed on a pedestal both at home and among communists abroad. This period saw a number of non-publicized political rehabilitations, by way of persons and groups such as Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky, Politburo members Robert Eikhe and Jānis Rudzutaks, those executed in the Leningrad Affair, and the release of "Article 58ers". However, due to the huge influx of prisoners returning from the camps (90,000 prisoners in 1954–55 alone), this could not continue.


title: De-Stalinization

text: Anastas Mikoyan, a close ally of Khrushchev, played a significant role in the early de-Stalinization process. In March 1954, he called for the rehabilitation of the poet Yeghishe Charents, a victim of the Purges, in a speech in Yerevan in his native Armenia. He subsequently played a leading role in the rehabilitation of political prisoners, and worked with Gulag returnees Alexei Snegov and Olga Shatunovskaya to convince Khrushchev of the necessity of denouncing Stalin. In December 1955, Khrushchev proposed that a commission be set up in order to investigate Stalin's activities on behalf of the Presidium. This investigation determined that out of the 1,920,635 arrested for anti-Soviet activities, 688,503 (35.8 per cent) were executed. Many of these had been arrested on fabricated evidence and confessed under torture authorized by Stalin.


title: De-Stalinization

text: While de-Stalinization had been quietly underway ever since Stalin's death, the watershed event was Khrushchev's speech entitled "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences", concerning Stalin. On 25 February 1956 de-stalinization became official when he spoke to a closed session of the 20th Party Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, delivering an address laying out some of Stalin's crimes and the "conditions of insecurity, fear, and even desperation" created by Stalin. Khrushchev shocked his listeners by denouncing Stalin's dictatorial rule and his cult of personality as inconsistent with communist and Party ideology. Among other points, he condemned the treatment of the Old Bolsheviks, people who had supported communism before the revolution, many of whom Stalin had executed as traitors. Khrushchev also attacked the crimes committed by associates of Beria.


title: De-Stalinization

text: One reason given for Khrushchev's speech was his moral conscience; Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said that Khrushchev spoke out of a "movement of the heart". This, the Communists believed, would prevent a fatal loss of self-belief and restore unity within the Party.


title: De-Stalinization

text: Historian Martin McCauley argues that Khrushchev's purpose was to "liberate Party officials from the fear of repression". Khrushchev argued that if the Party were to be an efficient mechanism, stripped from the brutal abuse of power by any individual, it could transform the Soviet Union as well as the entire world.


title: De-Stalinization

text: However, others have suggested that the speech was made in order to deflect blame from the Communist Party or the principles of Marxism–Leninism and place the blame squarely on Stalin's shoulders, thus preventing a more radical debate. The publication of this speech caused many party members to resign in protest, both abroad and within the Soviet Union.


title: De-Stalinization

text: By attacking Stalin, McCauley argues, he was undermining the credibility of Vyacheslav Molotov, Georgy Malenkov, Lazar Kaganovich and other political opponents who had been within "Stalin's inner circle" during the 1930s more than he had been. If they did not "come over to Khrushchev", they "risk[ed] being banished with Stalin" and associated with his dictatorial control.


title: De-Stalinization

text: The amnesty decree of March 1953 began the release of most prisoners. Former political prisoners often faced ingrained hostility upon their return, which made it difficult to reintegrate into normal life. On 25 October 1956, a resolution of the CPSU declared that the existence of the Gulag labour system was "inexpedient". The Gulag institution was closed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) order No 020 of 25 January 1960.


title: De-Stalinization

text: For those who remained, Khrushchev attempted to make the Gulag labour system less harsh, by allowing prisoners to post letters home to their families, and by allowing family members to mail clothes to prisoners, which was not allowed under Stalin.


title: De-Stalinization

text: Khrushchev renamed or reverted the names of many places bearing Stalin's name, including cities, territories, landmarks, and other facilities. The State Anthem of the Soviet Union was purged of references to Stalin, and so were the anthems of its republics. The Stalin-centric and World War II-era lines in the lyrics were effectively excised when an instrumental version replaced it. The Joseph Stalin Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, Poland was renamed in 1956. Stalin Peak, the highest point in the USSR, was renamed Communism Peak. After the collapse of the USSR, the mountain was renamed Ismoil Somoni Peak.


title: De-Stalinization

text: Following the momentum of these public renamings, the Soviet government dismantled hundreds of Stalin monuments across the USSR. For example, the monument to Stalin in the Armenian capital Yerevan was removed in spring 1962 and replaced by Mother Armenia in 1967. Several more monuments were dismantled or destroyed across the Eastern Bloc. In November 1961, the large Stalin Statue on Berlin's monumental Stalinallee (promptly renamed Karl-Marx-Allee) was removed in a clandestine operation. The Monument in Budapest was destroyed in October 1956. The biggest one, the Prague monument, was taken down in November 1962.


title: De-Stalinization

text: The process of de-Stalinization peaked in 1961 during the 22nd Congress of the CPSU. Two climactic acts of de-Stalinization marked the meetings: first, on 31 October 1961, Stalin's body was moved from Lenin's Mausoleum in Red Square to the Kremlin Wall Necropolis; second, on 11 November 1961, the "hero city" Stalingrad was renamed Volgograd.


title: De-Stalinization

text: In the aftermath of the Stalin era, Khrushchev defined Soviet foreign policy during the Cold War. The biggest change to foreign policy dealt with "uncommitted nations". There were two types of neutrality according to the Soviets, those by ideology and those by circumstance. Many of the nations that were neutral came from both of these groups and were former colonies of European powers. During Stalin there was no room for neutral countries and the idea of neutral powers came about under Khrushchev. Khrushchev's biggest contribution to foreign policy is taking advantage of other aspects of de-Stalinisation to try to show the world a different Soviet Union more in line with traditional socialist ideals.


title: De-Stalinization

text: Contemporary historians regard the beginning of de-Stalinization as a turning point in the history of the Soviet Union that began during the Khrushchev Thaw. It subsided during the Brezhnev period until the mid-1980s, and accelerated again with the policies of "perestroika" and "glasnost" under Mikhail Gorbachev.


title: De-Stalinization

text: De-Stalinization has been considered a fragile process. Historian Polly Jones said that "re-Stalinization" was highly likely after a brief period of "thaw". Anne Applebaum agrees: "The era which came to be called the 'Thaw' was indeed an era of change, but change of a particular kind: reforms took two steps forward, and then one step—or sometimes three steps—back."


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy () is an Indian musical trio consisting of Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa. They have composed music for over 50 soundtracks across five languages: Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and English. Amongst the most critically acclaimed Indian musicians, the trio have won numerous awards, including National Film Award (India), Filmfare Awards, and IIFA Awards. They are often referred to as the "Amar Akbar Anthony" of the Hindi film music industry.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: Shankar Mahadevan, the main vocalist of the trio, was born and brought up in Chembur, a suburb of Mumbai, in a Tamil family from Kerala. He learned Hindustani classical music and Carnatic music in his childhood and started playing the veena at the age of five. He studied under Shrinivas Khale, a popular Marathi music composer. After graduating in 1988 with a degree in Software Engineering from Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology in Navi Mumbai under the auspices of Mumbai University, he worked as a software engineer on Oracle Version Six. After working for a while for Leading Edge Systems, Shankar ventured into the field of music. He earned his first award as a playback singer in a Tamil movie, collaborating with A. R. Rahman and winning a National Film Award for his song in "Kandukondain Kandukondain". A prominent star in Tamil cinema, he gained further recognition upon the release of his first music album, "Breathless", in 1998. In 2019 he was felicitated with the Padma Shri Award for his contribution to Film Music. He has two sons, Siddharth and Shivam Mahadevan, both of whom are singers as well.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: Ehsaan Noorani is the guitarist of Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy. He studied music with Bismarck Rodrigues from a young age. Prior to going abroad to study further music at GIT (Los Angeles), Ehsaan was an integral part of two local bands in Mumbai, Pegasus and Crosswinds. Ehsaan returned to Mumbai and was in demand for his musical skills in composing jingles, working for all the top composers of the time. Until the day Magic Box productions approached him to compose the jingle for Sona Spices, and that marked the beginning of Ehsaan's independent journey as a composer of jingles in India.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: Ehsaan was approached by Mukul S. Anand to compose the music for his film "Dus", and he in turn asked Shankar and Loy to join him in composing the music for the film. "Dus" never made it to the big screen, due to the death of the director.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: Ehsaan is the only Indian musician to have endorsed a signature line, 'The Ehsaan Noorani Fender Squire' signature series, for Fender guitars, one of the largest and most reputed guitar manufacturers in the world.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: Loy Mendonsa plays the piano, bass guitar, and harmonica and is currently learning to play the trumpet. Loy was a genius music teacher for a school in New Delhi, when he was invited to write the music for the show "Quiz Time" by Siddharth Basu, who gave him his first break. Loy then went on to compose the title track for "The World This Week" and for the Shahrukh Khan TV serial "Fauji". Loy moved to Bombay and met Ehsaan in 1989, and together they composed several ad jingles. His daughter Alyssa Mendonsa is a playback singer who has lent her voice to their songs.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: Shankar Ehsaan and Loy came up from the ranks of the non-film music scene, performing rock, blues, jazz and pop before entering the film music industry. Shankar Mahadevan, a software engineer, worked on Oracle Version Six and studied Western, Hindustani and Carnatic classical music. He made his debut with the 1985 Marathi film "Vahinichi Maya". A leading playback singer with "Pukar", "Sapnay" and "Biwi No.1" to his credit, he also composed "Breathless".


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: Ehsaan Noorani studied music at the Musicians' Institute in Los Angeles and worked with the like of Ronnie Desai, Laxmikant–Pyarelal, Kalyanji-Anandji and Louis Banks. He composed Alien Desire, did several jingles and like Loy, was part of a blues-and-acid jazz band. Loy Mendonsa is trained in Western classical and also learnt the rudiments of Indian classical music. He performed with several group bands and plays ("Godspell", "West Side Story", "Jesus Christ Superstar") and composed jingles and signature tunes ("Fauji", "The World This Week").


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: Ehsaan was doing jingles and Loy was in Delhi before the union. Loy was writing for television then. The show "Quiz Time" was his first work and Siddharth Basu gave him his first break. Then he did Prannoy Roy's "The World This Week". A few more shows came along and he also did theatre and Shahrukh Khan's Fauji. Loy had also worked as keyboardist with A. R. Rahman and Shankar had sung many famous tracks for him. In 1989, Ehsaan met Loy, who was working for Ranjit Barot, an ad film composer. From then on, they joined together and composed several ad jingles together. Later, Ehsaan and Loy met Shankar when he was roped in by Ranjit Barot to sing for the Pepsi ad directed by Mukul Anand. Since then, they started to compose for ads as a trio.