1989 Tranniversary: Max

ACT UP Poster: Silence = Death (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power)

1989 was a pivotal year marked by the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, symbolized by the fall of the Berlin Wall, alongside the violent suppression of the Tiananmen Square protests in China, the devastating Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, and significant technological milestones like the invention of the World Wide Web. It also saw the inauguration of George H.W. Bush, the end of Soviet involvement in Afghanistan, and the introduction of the Game Boy and Lexus.

In LGBTQ+ news, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (aka ACT UP) held what is arguably its most notorious demonstration. ACT UP is an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic and improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action, medical research, treatment and advocacy, and working to change legislation and public policies.[1][2][3] ACT UP was formed on March 12, 1987, at the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center in New York City.[4] 

The STOP THE CHURCH protest in 1989 brought the coalition worldwide attention for the first time.  Held in collaboration with WHAM! (Women’s Health and Action Mobilization) to protest the AIDSphobic, homophobic, misogynistic and  anti-abortion policies of the Catholic Church and, in particular, John Cardinal O’Connor, Archbishop of New York.  Over 7,000 protestors gathered in the bitter cold on December 10, 1989 outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.  Several hundred protestors peacefully entered the church and 111 were arrested for disrupting the mass.

In sports news, ninety-seven football (aka Soccer) fans were fatally injured in a terrace crush at an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest on 15 April 1989. Each year, folks pause for a minute of silence across Liverpool at 15:06 BST, the exact time when the match at Sheffield Wednesday's stadium in 1989 was halted.

The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake struck on October 17, 1989, at 5:04 p.m. Game 3 of the baseball World Series was scheduled to start at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, and thousands of people were already in the stadium when the quake hit. It was the first major earthquake in the United States to be broadcast by live television.

In US football, the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Cinncinati Bengals to win Super Bowl XXIII (23). 

Jodie Foster won the Oscar for her leading role in The Accused and Dustin Hoffman won best actor in a leading role for Rain Man. Other popular movies in 1989 included Batman, Do The Right Thing, A Fish Called Wanda, Mississippi Burning, Die Hard, Beetlejuice, Dangerous Liaisons and When Harry Met Sally (RIP Rob Reiner).  

The music charts shifted from bright 1980’s pop hits by Madonna, Paula Abdul, Milli Vanilli and Janet Jackson to alternative/underground and hip hop music.  Nirvana released their first album, De La Soul’s “Me Myself and I” and Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” were influential.