Of New Things

In his encyclical, “Rerum Novarum” (Translation: Of New Things) issued on May 15, 1891 Pope Leo XIII  said, amongst other things, that, “To suffer and endure is the lot of Humanity”. In other words, keeping people in their place, denying them the right and opportunity to step out and improve their living conditions.

History has shown us many examples of people rebelling against tyranny. For example…

In 73 BC the slave, Spartacus, led a revolt of slaves against Rome, using kitchen tools to escape from the Gladiator School. Gathering supporters on his way, Spartacus’ army swelled to 70,000. His early successes against many Roman Armies would seem to support the theory that he was originally trained as a Roman Auxilliary. He was finally defeated by Marcus Crassus, but Rome never trusted its slaves after that.

Around  the year AD 60, Boudica, the leader of the Brittanic tribe, the Iceni, revolted against the occupying Roman forces. This was because Boudica’s husband, Prasutagus, who had ruled as an independent ally of Rome, left his kingdom jointly to his daughters and the Roman Emperor in his will which was ignored after his death. Rome annexed the territory, Boudica was flogged, her daughters assaulted, and Roman financiers foreclosed on their loans. Her exploits were rediscovered from the writings of Tacitus during the  Renaissance, and Queen Victoria was portrayed as her namesake!

The Indian Mutiny of 1857 began on the 10th  May by the Sepoys, but quickly spread. It is now referred to as Great Rebellion, the Indian Mutiny, the Revolt (or the Uprising), the Sepoy Mutiny, and India’s First War of Independence.  As in the revolts of Spartacus and Boudicca, the British never regarded India the same way after the Mutiny.

Gandhi, after his  experiences with racism and intolerance in South Africa went to India and started the movement to remove British  rule from India. His non-cooperation and non-violent methods were to prove instrumental in swaying world opinion, and in 1947 his methods achieved independence for India.

Finally, the Holocaust, which was to see millions exterminated during Nazi occupation of Europe – not just Jews, but Gypsies, ethnic Poles, Soviet civilians and prisoners of war, people with disabilities, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and other political and religious opponents; and this was achieved because what was being said about them dehumanised them.